Oct. 20, 2024

Believe Again

Feast of Tabernacles

Primary Text:  Deuteronomy 16:13–15        

Last Teaching:  Deep Waters

1)  Just and Unjust

Matthew 5:45:  He [your Father in heaven] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  

2)  Valley of the Shadow

Psalm 23:1, 4:  The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want….  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  

3)  Longing of the Soul

Psalm 42:1-2:  As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  

Psalm 42:5:  Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. 

This Week’s Teaching:

1)  Seven Festivals

Leviticus 23:1-2:  The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.’” 

DQ 1) To what do all of the Jewish feasts point?

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2)  Feast of Sukkot 

Leviticus 23:33–34:   The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.’” 

Deuteronomy 16:13–15:  Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.  Be joyful at your Feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.  For seven days celebrate the Feast to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose.  For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. 

DQ 2) What does it mean to “tabernacle” with God?  How is tabernacling with God past, present, and future for Christian people?

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3)  The Coming of the Lord

Zechariah 14:2-16:  I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.  Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.  Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.  On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem….  Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him….  When evening comes, there will be light.  On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.  The Lord will be king over the whole earth.  On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name….  Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. 

DQ 3) What signs of the coming of the Lord are present in our age?  

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4)  Living Water

John 7:37-39:  On the last and greatest day of the Feast [of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.  Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 

DQ 4) How does the Holy Spirit provide “living water”?

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5)  Light of Life

John 8:12:  When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

DQ 5) Describe different facets of how Jesus is the “Light of the World”?

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