Month: August 2016

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Recounting-the-faithfulness-of-God.mp3″]

[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of the Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

The context of this text is that it is the eighth day of solemn assembly after the Feast of Booths. The Israelite’s prepare themselves for this solemn assembly by fasting, wearing sackcloth, having dust on their heads and separating themselves from foreigners. Why did they do this?

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[bctt tweet=”Recounting the faithfulness of God. (Nehemiah 9:6-38)” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

They were setting apart themselves for God. The people of God were commanded to not intermarry with foreign nations in the OT. They disobeyed God and intermarried with foreign nations which led to spiritual decline. They began worshiping foreign gods and idols as a result of intermixing with other nations. Therefore this act of separating themselves from them meant that they were separating themselves from anything or anyone that might contaminate their worship and loyalty to God.

I believe today’s passage talks about recounting the faithfulness of God. And whenever that’s truly done it leads to:

1. Sincere Confession
2. Serious Commitment

Sincere Confession

V6-38 is a prayer of sincere confession to God. And it happens when they hear and review God’s grace and power right through redemptive history.

• In Creation

You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (v6)

God created everything brought everything to existence. Nothing existed without him. He made the heavens, the starts, the earth and sea and everything in it. He sustains everything. (Heb 11:3, Col 1:17) We see God’s power at work when we consider how He created everything out of nothing and continues to sustain everything.

• In Abraham

“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous. (v7-8)

In God’s sovereignty he chose and purposed to call Abraham out of his land and family to make a covenant with him and to give him the Promised Land. In wasn’t because Abraham did something, it’s was out of God’s sovereign will and mercy.

• In Egypt

You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea.[b] 10 You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. (v10-11)

God’s justice and compassion is viewed here as he responds to the Israelites cry for help. They were being oppressed and mistreated. God sees their suffering and responds by performing miraculous signs and wonders against Pharoah and the Egyptians.

• In Exodus

You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.(v11)

God acted by protecting the Israelites while they were on the brink of the Red Sea with the army of the Egyptians chasing after them. God divided the sea and allowed the Israelites to pass on dry ground and hurled the pursuers into the sea.

• In the desert

By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take. (v12)

But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. 17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies. 19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. (v16-21)

We see God being their guide by personally directing them to the Promised Land. He not only directed them but also provided for them throughout the 40 years by supernaturally giving them bread from heaven and water from a rock. We also see God’s grace when he endured their rebellion and sustained them for 40 years despite their disobedient and arrogant response. Here’s a definition that helped me understand the difference between Grace and merciful. Often the two words are mixed but biblically it actually is different.

Mercy: God withholding the punishment that we deserve

Grace: God giving us blessings that we don’t deserve

• At Mt. Sinai

You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. 14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. (v13-14)

God wanted to relate with the people personally, hence he spoke to them and communicated laws and regulations that are just and right. But why did he do that? He wanted the Israelites to understand what it meant for them to relate to a Holy and Awesome God!

• In their possession of Canaan

“You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon[c] king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan. 23 You made their children as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their parents to enter and possess. 24 Their children went in and took possession of the land. You subdued before them the Canaanites, who lived in the land; you gave the Canaanites into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to deal with them as they pleased. 25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness. (v22-25)

We see God’s favour and goodness being displayed through God’s promise and encouragement to go and possess the Land. God displaced kings and were given all nations and gave them over to Israel. Not just that they were given all kinds of good things to enjoy without having to work for it. And sometimes we forget that. Everything that we have has been graciously given to us by God. All our accomplishments, our possessions, our education, money everything belongs to God and he’s given it to us. And it’s critical that we know and acknowledge it in our hearts.

• In the Era of Judges

“But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. They killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies. 27 So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.28 “But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time. (v26-28)

In the book of Judges it tells us of a very rebellious nation that disregards God and turns away from him time and time again yet we are able to see great compassion in the response of God when he sends them deliverers during their time of oppression.

• Of the prophets

For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. (v30)

Still we see God’s patience and correction at work when he continues to send them prophets to warn them and turn back to Him. But they wouldn’t listen and in their disobedience they were exiled.

• Their present condition

But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.(v31)

God did not destroy them or abandon them even after they rebelled so much but lovingly brought them back into Jerusalem and rebuilt the walls so that they could inhabit the land and re-establish the worship of Yahweh.

In all of this we see on one hand God who is faithful, righteous, compassionate, forgiving, gracious and merciful. On the other hand, it talks about a people being extremely rebellious and sinful. What was the source of their problems?

One thing that repeatedly gets mentioned in this text is the arrogance of the people. We’ve often thought or said these things:

1. Who are you to tell me what to do?
2. Why should I change?
3. I think I know better when it comes to living my life, my desires and decisions, my pleasure and plans.

And we’re actually guilty of saying and thinking these things when it comes to submitting to God’s law. We all fail and are guilty of being arrogant toward God. That’s why we’re no different than the Israelites. All of us have acted arrogantly and rebelliously toward God and deserve His just wrath and punishment. But the message of the cross is One of a great exchange. It’s like the judge giving up His Son to die for a criminal who deserves to die. A great exchange took place on the cross for us. It’s on the basis of Christ’s death that we experience life in a relationship with God. And that’s what God wants us to do in response…not work our way but humbly accept God’s way of saving us through the death of His Son. When we accept His sacrifice we are pardoned and justified just like the criminal who has been set free because His penalty was fully paid by the judge’s Son.

James 4:6: That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble”

Serious Commitment

“In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.(v38)

The verbs that are used here: making, binding, putting, writing, affixing make it very evident that these people were very serious about their commitment. They were in a culture where breaking a covenant was a big deal. Especially making a covenant with God meant that if they obeyed God and were faithful to Him they would enjoy blessings but if they turned away from Him they would have a curse. Here’s an example to show what covenant making meant in Near Ancient History. (Genesis 15)

How can we apply all of this today? By asking ourselves:

• What is something that God wants you to confess today?
• How does a Christian today show sincerity in one’s confession? Here are a few handles to help you:

1. God’s Word: Allow the Word to be the basis and fruit of your confession. Only the Word can bring about real conviction and confession. Secondly, true confession will result in fidelity to the Word as well.
2. Private/Silent Prayer: This reveals the honesty in repentance.
3. Confess to other believers: This reveals the seriousness of your confession. (James 5:16)

Public confession/Corporate Confession: This is an expression of confession but will only be fruitful if the attitude toward a public confession is genuine and authentic. It can’t be done with the right motivation until the other three points in this list are happening first. Saying confessional prayers as a corporate body is deeply spiritual because the whole congregation identifies themselves as sinners who are in need of a Savior and trust in His provision to help and deliver them.

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/dealing-with-sin-1.mp3″]

[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of the Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Our text for this morning is form the book of Nehemiah 9:1-5 (Click verse to read).

The walls of Jerusalem is now re-built, people are protected from their enemy nations, no fear of the enemy nation invading and destroying their homes and killing their people.

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But most importantly they have arrived at a place of rest, where God is their Savior and Keeper. God has gathered them together to re-establish His worship.

[bctt tweet=”The Seriousness of Sin and ways to deal with it. (Nehemiah 9:1-5)” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

In chapter 8 we saw that the first thing they do is to go back to the Law of God, the Law of God was read out in the open assembly. When the Law was read they wept and mourned out of conviction of their Sins – and conviction lead them to repentance – True Repentance.

The leaders than explain the meaning of the words spoken in the Law and they end up rejoicing in the Lord.
Last Sunday we saw how they celebrates the festival of the Booths, also called as the Festival of the Tabernacle. They celebrate this particular festival as a reminder of what God did for them when He brought them out slavery in Egypt. They remembers the goodness and the blessings of God over their lives and rejoices and praises God for His great work in their lives.

In chapter 9, especially in the verses 1-5 we see a seriousness in their actions while dealing with their Sins.
Just when we think that they are done with the reading of the Law, repenting of their Sins and reminding themselves of God’s goodness in their lives, on the 24th day of the month the Israelite again assemble and this time they are fasting, wearing sackcloth, and put had put dust on their heads.

Wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads were done in the Old testament times as a symbol of mourning and repentance. Someone wanting to show their grief and repented heart would often wear a sackcloth. Sackcloth was a coarse material usually made of black goats hair, making it quite uncomfortable to wear.

They even separate themselves from all foreigners, stand and confess their sins and the guilt of their fathers and end up worshiping God even more.

Why do you think they went back to God again, repenting of their sins?
What do their actions teach us?

The first thing we learn from them is that are damn serious about dealing with sin, not just their sins but even for the sins of the fathers.

Their actions are a good trigger for us to ask some serious questions about ourselves.

• How serious are we in regards to dealing with the remaining sins in our lives?
  Are we too casual about them?
• Do we feel happy with the fact that God has forgiven our sins for eternity and therefore use that freedom as licence to continue sinning?
• Are we happy by just confessing our sins once twice and then go back again when everything seems normal?
• Has sin become a pattern in our lives and it pricks no more, feels no more?
• What is the state of your heart right now?

Imitating Christ

We all have heroes. We all have people we want to be like. One of the most startling realization I came to as a father is that my sons wants to be like me. They follow me; they watch me; they imitate me. Overtime, I see my strengths reflected in them, and far worse I see my weakness reflected in them. I even see an imitation of my most annoying habits, like repeating the same sentences again & again till I annoy Jane to get my point across.

Meanwhile, I can also think back to my own childhood and remember all the ways I attempted to imitate my own father to please him by just being like him.

In the same way, do you know that when we gave our lives to God that he gave us both the responsibility and the desire to be like Christ – to be more like him than anyone else.

Romans 8:29 says

“For those He for knew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son”

God saved us so we could be confirmed to the likeness of Christ. So we can imitate him and be like him.

We need to be conformed to his image in our thoughts, in our emotions, in our intellect, in our behavior – in Every way.

We should desire to see how he lived and live like him. We should want to see what he valued and value those things.

We should want to see what he hated and hate those things, We should want to see how he responded to life’s events and respond in the same way.

But let’s be honest here. We are long, long away from our goal, we behave badly, we respond badly, we are a sinner. We are marred and marked by sin, and therefore Christlike-ness is far far away from us.

• How can we pursue such life?
• How can we become like Christ?

In the Old Testament the people would go into fasting and mourning, separate themselves from ungodly things and ungodly people, put sackcloth, offer sacrifices to God in the form of grain, animals etc.

But today, we been in the new covenant relationship with God, how can we eradicate sin and imitate Christ?

I can’t tell you to offer such and such sacrifice for the kind of sin you have committed. In case one of you comes and tells me that you stole your neighbors cow and is guilty of sinning against him, I can’t give a solution saying go offer 2 chicken on the alter and your guilt will be washed away.

Because as you know that a perfect sacrifice for all our past, present and future sins have already been offered to God. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten son (as a sacrifice), that whoever believes in HIM will perish but have eternal life”

Jesus died for our sins and a perfect sacrifice and no other sacrifice will ever please God anymore.

And the truth is that today in this new convenient relationship all I can do is to point you to the perfect sacrifice and encourage you to put your trust in him and his finished work by which he has eradicated all our sins and put it to death.

Therefore my first encouragement to you today to help you pursue holiness and imitate Christ is

1. Stop playing dead when you are alive in Christ

John 11 tells the story of Jesus’ good friend Lazarus. As this passage begins, we see a group of people coming to Jesus to tell him that Lazarus is sick and nearly dead. Jesus makes his way to his friends hometown, but by the time he gets there, Lazarus has already died. Everyone is sad and mourning and quietly accusing Jesus “You know, if only you had gotten here a little bit sooner, you could have saved him. After all, you are the miracle man”. But Jesus wasn’t in a hurry because He already knew how this story would end. He had something he needed to show everyone, and a lesson he needed to teach them.

In Lazarus, we see an amazing picture of what happened to us when we became Christian. When Christ saved us, he brought from death to life – spiritual death to spiritual life. Our heart and soul had been dead to God, lifeless and rooting. And suddenly God brought life, just like he brought life to the body of Lazarus.

Jesus called out to Lazarus and with a word brought life to this dead man wrapped in strips of linen like a mummy and Jesus said, “Take off those grave clothes”. People ran and started peeling them off. They took off the clothes that marked him a dead man. It would be absurd to leave him wearing the clothes of a dead man when he was alive.

You see, living people don’t act like dead people, and dead people don’t act like living people.

It was time for this living man to behave like a living man. It was time for this man to stop acting like a dead man or a woman.

Colossians 3:1-11 (Click the verse to read)

When we sin we are literally behaving like a dead man, trying to get in a dead man’s clothes.

Now, is it possible for us to stop playing dead while we are alive?

Yes, of course!

Romans 6:18 says “We have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness”

Before we became a believer sin was our master, we did what our sinful mortal bodies required us to do. But the day we gave our life to Christ we became slaves to righteousness. Sin does not have any hold over us as it did before. We now belong to God and do what the Holy spirit leads us to do.

Moreover in Philippians 4:13 Paul says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us”.

It wasn’t possible earlier with all our good works and acts of righteousness because we were slaves to sin. But in Christ it is possible.

Lets the visuals from the example of Lazarus remind us that whenever we sin we are trying to wear a dead man’s clothes.

My second encouragement to you is

2. Give yourself 100% towards sanctification

When God saved us, he immediately justified us. We were declared innocent.

Romans 4:5 – “But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness”

But remember God was not finished with us in that moment. There is still the matter of sanctification – of growing holiness.

We read that in Romans 6:22 – “But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification – and the end is eternal life”

How it is that we are Sanctified?

The primary way God sanctifies us is through the truth of his word. In John 17:17 Jesus is praying for his disciples saying “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”.

It is through the word of God that we are sanctified. When the truth of God enlightens our hearts and minds and our response is heartfelt repentance and turning around from sins that’s when sanctification takes place.

And therefore it is important that we immerse ourselves in the word of God day in and day out.

Some practical things you can do is

i) Pick up a daily bible reading plan that suits you and make it a habit to read your bible daily. I use a bible reading plan called “Read Scripture” by Crazy Love which is available in an app.
ii) Read spiritual books that enlighten you with the word of God. I tell you it is such a blessing.
iii) Encourage one another with the word of God as often as possible instead of just talking about the weather and sports.

We also find another clue in Colossians 3:5-10, it says

“Put to death therefore what is earthy in you”
“Put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator”

In the knowledge after the image of its creator – The knowledge of God revealed in his word and his works.

In practice the putting off of the old self and putting on of the new self happens when we genuinely repent of our sins as the word of God convicts us.

As we already discussed the 6 ingredients of True repentance which is

I] Sight of Sin
II] Sorrow over sin
III] Confessions of sin
IV] Shame of sin
V] Hatred of sin
VI] Turning away from sin

Let today’s passage from Nehemiah 9:1-5 remind and encourage you to seriously deal with your sins, imitate Christ and live in the light of God’s glory at all times.

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/remembering-god-2.mp3″]

[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” shadow=”shadow-down-right” rounded_corners=”rounded-10″]This sermon is part of the Expository Preaching Collective on the Book of Nehemiah. Follow the link below to know more about What Expository preaching is and Why is it important to us. (Click here)[/otw_shortcode_info_box]

Our text for today is Nehemiah 8:13-18

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A little bit of background to the text

After the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem takes place, the people repopulate the land. They then assemble together as one man at the square before the Water Gate. They tell Ezra to read the law of the Lord. While Ezra reads the Law, the Levites help the people understand the meaning of the words of the Law. When the people hear the words, they are convicted of their sins and begin weeping. A couple of weeks back we looked at the key ingredients for genuine repentance:

a) Sight of sin
b) Sorrow over sin
c) Confession of sin
d) Shame of sin
e) Hatred of sin
f) Turning from sin

The people are told not to weep but to rejoice because the day is holy to the Lord. In other words, even though the desired intent of teaching from the law was sorrow for sin but the purpose was always a restored and renewed relationship with God. The goal of repentance is always a restored relationship with God. Restore to me the joy of your salvation (Psalm 51:12) is the prayer that David prays in the confession prayer of Psalm 51.

[bctt tweet=”Remembering God – His Provision, Protection & Blessings. (Nehemiah 8:13-18)” username=”gatheringmumbai”]

That’s why they rejoiced, celebrated and sent portions of food because they understood the words that were spoken to them!

Repentance -> Restored relationship with God -> Rejoicing

And that’s how we arrive at v13. On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law.

You see an interesting thing take place out here. The leaders of the people come together alongside the priests and Levites in order to study the words of the Law! When does this happen? The very next day.

Why did they have to do it? Was it forced upon them or was it voluntary? Voluntary.

What does it tell us about their repentance the previous day?

i) It tells us that their repentance was genuine indeed. Matthew 3:8 says “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance”. In other words there is nothing known as fruitless repentance or unfruitful repentance!

ii) It tells us that their commitment to God was serious. They really wanted to know and obey God’s Word.

I think there’s a powerful point that we can learn from this. Your fruit: the seriousness toward knowing and obeying God’s Word provides the evidence to show whether your repentance is true or not!

Often we confess and repent during camps, revival meetings and church services. The message was powerful, tore open our hearts, we feel convicted and even we grieve over the sin. However, the real test for the repentance is not in the moment but the next day or the next week. If it was merely an emotional regretful feeling, it won’t produce any fruit the following day. You may feel compelled to stick to some list of rules in order avoid feeling guilty but it produces no change. True repentance will display itself in the seriousness and urgency of obedience! Understand what is being said here: obedience is both serious and urgent! You will relentlessly pursue the things of God if the repentance is true. You will want to reflect immediate obedience in your life if your repentance is true. Not delayed.

If we have to ask ourselves this question honestly, do we genuinely repent at the hearing of God’s Word? Is it real? Do we see any difference the day after? The week after? Does it lead us to seriously know and obey God’s Word? True repentance will produce things like: “I want to know God more, I want to obey Him, I want to grow in my understanding of God, I want to study His Word, I want to depend on Him more and more”…and guess what: not just on Sunday but it’ll be your heartbeat throughout the week! I’m not saying that you won’t have rough times during the week and neither am I saying that you’ll feel super excited every day but I’m saying that your spiritual life will certainly get more serious and committed if the repentance is true. What is God asking you to REPENT of today?

And by repent, we mean TRUE REPENTANCE? Producing urgent and serious obedience?

So what did these leaders see and notice written in the Law?

Neh 8:14-16: They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters”—as it is written.

So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.

What is the Festival of Booths? Also known as the Festival of Tabernacles.

There are two main texts that help us understand what this festival was about. 

Lev 23:33-44:

a) Starts on the 15th day of the seventh month and goes on for a week.
b) 1st and the last day are Sabbaths – days of rest.
c) Take branches from luxuriant trees, palms, willows and other leafy trees and build temporary shelters.
d) Live in it for 7 days!
e) It was meant to be a feast of rejoicing!
f) Lasting command to have this celebration every year for generations to come.

Now we may look at this festival and wonder “what a strange festival! Why did they have to do it year after year?”
And the answer lies in v43: so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”

The reasons why God wanted them to celebrate in this manner and live in temporary shelters were:

1) Remembrance of God’s provision and protection

Where were the Israelites before they came to the Promised Land? In the wilderness? Before that? In slavery in Egypt. They were being mistreated and oppressed. The Word says that the cries of the people reached God. And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and rescued them in a mighty and awesome way. (Ex 2:23-24) The Pharaoh wasn’t willing to let go of the Israelites and God sent plagues and after the 10th plague, Pharaoh yielded. When the people left Egypt Pharaoh thought he made a huge mistake by letting them go. He and his army chased after them until they came to the Red Sea. God performed an astonishing miracle by parting the Red Sea and allowing the people to walk on dry ground. The Egyptians pursued them but by that time the waters came back to their place and drowned all of the enemies and not a single one of them was left. They witnessed first-hand how God rescued them from the clutches of enemy and death.

After that for 40 years they roamed around in the wilderness but God provided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to lead them. He provided them with food and water. Their clothing didn’t wear out and their feet did not swell. He protected them from all their enemies and in fact routed all of them. He patiently endured their rebellion. He punished them but didn’t totally destroy them and brought them to the Promised Land as He promised their fore fathers.

By all of them living in temporary shelters made of branches and leaves they were to remember how God rescued them, provided for them and protected them the whole time. God’s marvelous acts are to be pondered upon, proclaimed, praised and retold! That was one of the purposes of having this festival.

2) Reminder that they are owned by God

V43b: I am the Lord your God!

The intention of this festival was also to remind them that they are now owned by God. They belong to God. This isn’t just God’s right because he created them but He also saved them for Himself. He is their Master. He is their Lord! I know culturally when we think of master/slave relationship it is seen as bad because we’ve seen a lot of expressions of abuse. But in this case, God being our Owner and Master is a good thing. It is the best thing! You see that in the way God takes care of His people. They enjoyed great blessings when they were faithful to God. God took care of their physical and spiritual needs.

3) Recognize that God is the source of all blessings

Deut 16:15: For seven days celebrate the festival 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.

V16b – 17: No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

This feast was to be celebrated after the harvest. And as you can see in these verses…God desired that they would acknowledge God’s goodness and thank Him for that. Also, celebrate and rejoice in the knowledge of God’s goodness. They were blessed abundantly so that they could recognize God as the one who blesses and give Him the thanks that was due. In return they were filled with joy!

This was a pretty cool thing right? Why don’t we have this festival now?
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. (Heb 10:1)
This festival of booths was a shadow of the One who was coming – Jesus. How come?

i) Jesus rescues us from our slavery to Sin.

We were bound and helpless. In fact the Bible tells us that we were dead in our sin and hopelessly heading for Hell. Dead to God. We were powerless to fight sin and also destined to face the penalty of sin. God’s wrath was upon us due to our rebellion. Like the Israelites we cried out for help! Was there anybody who could help us come out of the grave? God loves us so much that He sends His one and only Son into the World: Jesus. He lives the perfect life. He deserved to be honored for His life; rather He chose to be dishonored by dying on a cross. For whom? For you and for me.

God’s fury that was directed on us because of our sins was absorbed by the precious Lamb of God. God’s pure Lamb died because of us. We are responsible. But that was the only way sin and death could be dealt with and we could be alive in our relationship to God. Alive! Through faith in Jesus we experience life! Oh shouldn’t this be remembered?

ii) Jesus now owns us.

You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Cor 6:19,20)
You are slaves to righteousness (Rom 6:18)

How did he purchase us from our slavery to sin? Ephesians 1:7: we have redemption through His blood.

I think it’s safe to say, your maker and Savior knows what’s best for you. It is in your best interests that He owns you. Anybody else would seek to take advantage of you but not your Creator and Redeemer. But it’s important for us to understand what that means. We belong to Jesus. He owns us! He brought us with a price. Let these words resonate in our ears and hearts. What does this mean for each and every of us? Do you see Christ as truly Lord, Owner and Master of your Life? Or would you say He’s competing for authority?

iii) We now recognize that God is the source of all blessings

Believers should acknowledge the goodness of God through words, attitudes and actions of thanksgiving. It’s interesting how in the Bible: giving thanks to God is viewed as a sacrifice (Heb 13:15) and an imperative: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this the will of God in Christ Jesus for you( 1 Thess 5:18).

What is your attitude toward God when it comes to acknowledging in your heart who is responsible and the source of the blessings? Or do you believe it is because of your effort? What is your attitude toward praising God among other people?

The Feast of Booths was meant to be a reminder of what God did for them but in Neh 8:17-18 we see how the Israelites didn’t celebrate it frequently as God commanded until then. What happened as a result of that? They sinned more and more because they forgot what God did. What can we learn from this? Even though we don’t have the Feast of Tabernacles to remind us of God’s provision and protection, Ownership….what are some ways in which we can intentionally remember and celebrate the acts of God?

i) Memorize Scriptures that communicate the love and goodness of the gospel.
ii) Singing songs and hymns that are flowing with the truths of the gospel.
iii) Frequently sharing your testimony which declares the power of the gospel.
iv) Giving thanks to God privately and publicly which humbles you before God.