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2:03You just think about it. We wouldn't have any of these scriptures had it not been for God's plan to use the Jewish people to be the scribes to bring us the scriptures. But not only the scriptures, also the Savior. Some of us put it like this: if Jesus isn't the Jewish Messiah, he ain't nobody's Messiah. You see, he was the Messiah of Israel, so that therefore, through being the Messiah, who was called even in that inscription on his cross, the King of Israel, the King of the Jews, so that he could be the king over all the earth. And this specific final celebration on the annual calendar called the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles is that which brings his kingdom plan, his salvation plan to a grand conclusion. It is the grand finale on the calendar, and it is the conclusion of our. Time together today, looking first at the Feast of Trumpets, and then at the festival, which is the only one out of seven, which is not a feast, but a fest, the Day of Atonement. And then this evening with Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. We begin reading there in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 34 and following. And on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Booths. Now, we mentioned the importance of a certain number several times throughout our morning and focused on how that particular number is used repetitively throughout this calendar to indicate certain feast days. In fact, the first of the annual festivals, Passover, occurs on the 14th day of the month. But even before the annual cycles were listed, there is one festival that is so important, it comes around every week. It's the seventh day, it's the Sabbath. And therefore, the first of the annual celebrations, the festival of Passover, on the 14th day of the first month, comes like on a double seven, just to start things out right and appreciate the significance of this number. But additionally, we would find that the next number after a seven, like the eighth day, well, that's going to become important too, because the day of first fruits, the day which prefigures the first fruits of the resurrection, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15, is something that happens on the day after the Sabbath. If you will, on the eighth day, the eighth day is associated with new creation because it took one week for the creation week, and then the Lord rested on the seventh day. The next day, which you could call a new first day of the week, would be the eighth day. And in a very similar way, the first of the annual cycles was celebrated on the 14th day of the first month, but now in the seventh month, on the 15th day, what do you think is going on there? You're adding one day to a double seven.

5:03So, here on the 15th day of the same month, is the feast of booths to the Lord. You shall, this was the commandment to Israel living in the land. Again, these festivals, I want you to be set at ease. I'm not going to try to rip away celebrations of Christmas and Easter from you and to say we can't celebrate the 4th of July or something like that, and you only need to celebrate Jewish holidays. No, no, no, there's so much to learn from these festivals, but they are not commanded to the believer today. They were commanded to Israel so that God could set in motion this teaching opportunity throughout all their generations, and therefore Israel in one more way could be a light to the nations.

5:47They were commanded, you, the nation of Israel, shall live in booths for seven days. All the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I have this. Sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Now, it's fascinating that each of these seven festivals on the annual calendar can be studied historically to say what was it in Israel's past that this holiday caused them to remember. And here, we're told right away that the historical connection to something in Israel's past is that time when they were wandering in the wilderness without permanent dwelling places. And the Lord protected them by having them dwell in booths while they were wandering in the wilderness when God had taken them out of the land of Egypt. By the way, this is a photo of the first sukkah I ever built in the land of Israel.

6:53It was built on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee on a kibbutz where I spent my junior year of college. And now, you know, some of the people in these photos are professors at Christian colleges, they're leaders and principals at some schools, and others have a beard. And so here is my little group of some of my fellow students and one of our teachers building that sukkah. But not only can these celebrations be studied historically, They can also be studied agriculturally. Like what was being grown in the land of Israel at that time of the year? Because for each of the various festivals, certain crops were being harvested. And this particular festival is like the Jewish Thanksgiving. It's when you have the cornucopia of all of the various products of the land. And for that matter, there is a specific set of verses that tell us about the native plants and crops of Israel. It is Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 8. I like to say, Deuteronomy 8:8 tells us what they ate. You get it? Exactly. And so we can study this both historically, but also agriculturally. We can also study these feasts sacrificially because, wouldn't you know, God had it in his plan that he would tell the Israelites to bring certain things at certain times that were actually growing in the land. It's not like he said, all of you Minnesotans bring me strawberries in January.

8:39That'd be hard to do unless you import them from, you know, someplace south. No, he said, bring these offerings to me, and they were actually things that would be growing naturally at that time. And so you can study the feasts historically. You can study the feasts. Agriculturally, you can study them sacrificially, and you can even study them prophetically or messianically. What did they teach us about the coming of the Messiah? And we'll be doing that tonight. But take a look at Deuteronomy 8:8 and its context, verses 7 through 9. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs flowing out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat.

9:26How many fruit? How many crops, by the way? Just take a look here, count with me. A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey. Now, wait, honey. Wait, honey comes from bees normally. However, since this is in a list of the agricultural produce of the land, and because we're lacking here one other item that is listed elsewhere in Scripture as being common as a fruit-bearing tree in the land, in fact, the city of Jericho in Joshua chapter 6 is called the city of palms. The palm tree from which we get the word the date palm is also that which breeds this little fruit, a date, and these dates are like instant ancient Near Eastern sugar infusions. They were like the Cliff bar for the traders of the ancient Near East. You could put them in your knapsack and take them on your journey. And notice I didn't say Snickers bar, even though I like those better personally.

10:44They don't melt. So the dates dry, and you can eat this dried fruit, and it is this instant energy provider for those travelers of the ancient world. It's like what we would call honey in the date. And so there was not only honey from bees, but honey from dates, the date honey. Thus, you have these, notice how many there were. Yeah. See, if there is a quiz question about something dealing with some number, you know, it's got to probably be seven. Someone was talking to me about the Sunday school kid in their class that was so cute this morning. And he wanted to answer the question so badly, but he was a little uncertain. It reminded me of the Sunday school teacher who asked her students, What is this little brown furry animal that has a big fluffy tail and hides acorns in a tree?

11:39And the class, they were quiet. And so she thought, well, let me just call on someone. So she asked Johnny specifically, like, hey, Johnny, can you tell us the answer? And he looked really scared. He said, Teacher, I know the right answer is Jesus, but it really sounds like a squirrel. Hey, the number's probably. On the quiz, just in case. You see, this land is a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. This land is then the land in which these celebrations were to be honoring the Lord. And again, as they honored the Lord, they often did so by making a pilgrimage to the place that God would choose. Now, you already learned the verse that tells us what they ate in the land. It was Deuteronomy.

12:35But now, math majors, if we could double the eight, you'd come to 16. Deuteronomy 16:16 is the easiest thing to remember about the three annual festivals, the three pilgrim festivals. In fact, it's mentioned in Exodus 23, 14, but unless 23, 14 is your address on your street or something, it's probably harder to memorize than 16, 16. So go to Deuteronomy 16, 16, and you find it there as well at the bottom of this slide here. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses. Notice that place is not even revealed in the five books of Moses. It's not really until Joshua takes them across into the promised land. And it's not even until the Ark of the Covenant is brought by King David to this place which God chose that it's revealed as Jerusalem. Jerusalem, yes, is. Mentioned in part in Genesis because a certain mountain is the mountain where Abram was commanded to take his son up to Mount Moriah. And where is that? But it is in Jerusalem. But that's not revealed yet. You'll search far and wide for the full word Jerusalem, and you'll not find it in the Torah in the first five books. But you will find Genesis chapter 14, the king of Salem, Melchizedek. Yes, Salem is a shortened form for Jerusalem, but not quite the full word. The full word is revealed in the time of King David. But this is the place that we all know that the Lord eventually chooses. And it is the place where three times a year, Deuteronomy 16, 16 told them, All your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses. Here are the three times. Notice, two are in the spring of the year, the feast of unleavened bread, and seven weeks later, at the feast of weeks. Pentecost, you know it as. And then finally, in the fall of the year, the culmination of the calendar at the feast of booze, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Now, you'll notice I have a Hebrew word, a very short one, up here on the screen. I wonder if any have taken Hebrew. A few people have told me they have. And this will be an easy test question. How do you pronounce that word? Anybody? Just shout it out. That's right. Emotional extra credit for you. Hag is the word. It is very much like the Arabic word Hajj. Perhaps you've heard of Leon Uris's book, The Hajj. It's about the pilgrimage that faithful Muslims are to make at least one time in their life to go to Mecca. But where do they get this term, the Hajj? But from this Hebrew word, Hag. The word Hag is now more commonly known as the basic word for a holiday in Israel. Or in the Jewish community, people may greet each other at almost any celebration except for the observance of Yom Kippur, because rather than a feast day, it's a fast day rather than a happy holiday. You don't say happy holiday at Yom Kippur. You say something like, may you have a light fast. It's more solemn. But for all the others, you can basically say, Hag Sameach, or happy holiday. Here is the word for Hag, and from it we get the idea of the Hajj or pilgrimage. This is one of those days in which they were to make a pilgrimage. In fact, a little more information about the commandments of God concerning the Feast of Tabernacles in the past, again, studying this historically. They were to make a pilgrimage. They were to live in a booth for seven days. This was a reminder of God's protection of the Israelites during the time of the wilderness wandering, of his provision for them. Notice how he provided men. Manna for them and provided water, provided the quails when they needed, and so forth. God met their needs during this time, even when they didn't have a permanent dwelling place and were not in their permanent homeland. And thus, it's also a reminder of the ingathering of the produce from the fields.

16:51Again, like a Jewish Thanksgiving or fall harvest festival. And so, wouldn't it be appropriate to realize that this coming week is the week when Jewish people all around the world will be building these little structures and giving special acknowledgement to God as the one who provides for all our needs. By the way, here's a sukkah that we built last year, a booth, a tabernacle. And this was just the bones of the structure. Eventually, we tried to make it nice, nice, you know, used some painters' tarps, and then we wrote the word in Hebrew, sukkah, or tabernacle, on the outside, put some plants and even some lanterns, and at night, it really looked nice. And then we invited the seminary students locally, and if you all would like to come this Friday, it is in North Carolina, so it's a bit of a schlep, but you're welcome. 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time for some fancy. Festivities. You see, it's traditional to build a sukkah with a certain style because it was suggested by the rabbis in their traditions that if you're going to build a sukkah, why not build it in the shape of these three Hebrew letters? So they would say the summit on the right here has four sides, so you can build a sukkah with four walls. Or the middle letter here, the cuff, has three sides, so you can build your sukkah with three sides. Or the letter He at the end has two and a half sides, so you can have a sukkah with two and a half sides. The rabbis really like traditions like these. Further, they had a tradition of illuminating the whole temple area around Jerusalem with large candelabras. Some were even, we read, 50 feet high, and they would have candles mounted on them. And additionally, there was the famous drawing of water ceremony from the pool of Siloam.

19:05In Jerusalem, this little pool at the end of Hezekiah's tunnel, where you see our children when they were very young, they're now 18, 19, and 25, but here, something like 5, 6, and 12, at the place on those little pillars, where if you picked up a book on New Testament history, you would often find a picture of this. Little pool with those pillars in it, and it will say the Pool of Siloam. And well, that's technically correct. I mean, it is part of the water system associated with the Pool of Siloam. This is more of a Byzantine era, like from the 500s or so AD. Not really the first century Pool of Siloam. It, as we'll see, was much more impressive. Here on the right, you find Roni Reich, a famous Israeli archaeologist.

20:06By the way, I taught archaeology in Israel for a couple of semesters for the Master's College Ibex program. And I really began to doubt my teaching abilities when I asked on the midterm exam define archaeology, and a student said the study of the ark. I thought, no, no, no, that's not at all where I was going with that. So I thought I'd change up for the final exam and try again from another angle. I said, what is an archaeologist? And the same student wrote, a person whose career lies in ruins. I thought, all right, I give, we gave him credit. But here's an archaeologist, a real live archaeologist, Roni Reich, who with his colleague Eli Shukran in 2004 and 2005 discovered a first-century pool and identified it. Accurately, as the pool of Salom. I had the privilege of interviewing Roni Reich at a Jerusalem hotel when I was writing my archaeology course. It was my goal to meet up with about 20 different Israeli archaeologists, ask them my list of 20 questions, get their answers, and it was a great experiment. And he told me of his discovery when he and his colleague were finding these steps leading down, down, down to an area that is, well, off to the left in the picture there, you see the debris still in place. That fence on the left really enters into the backyard of some property owned by the Greek Orthodox Church. And they were like, no, stop right there. That's our property. You can't dig anymore. It's made me want to have all of the people that I take on Israel tours sign a little petition. Pretty, please, would you let us excavate a little bit more? Honestly, your backyard looks kind of junky anyway. Wouldn't it be nicer if you had a first-century pool of Siloam that Jesus actually had been to? But so far, we haven't convinced them. And Roni Reich explained to me how he properly identified this area as first century. He said the pool area was covered in a plaster, and he took a metal detector and he scanned over the plaster. And every time it indicated the beep, beep, beep, he would take out a screwdriver from his back pocket, dig through the plaster, and I'm thinking he's digging through first century plaster. But then I think, well, he's Roni Reich. He can kind of do whatever he wants. He's like the big dog archaeologist of Jerusalem. And he pulled out from under the plaster, like three different times, coins. Coins are datable. These coins all dated to the first century. This is the first century pool of Siloam. And an artist's rendition of what this huge pool would have looked like is much more impressive than that little pond my kids were standing in.

22:58And from this base of the pool bottom here at the Pool of Siloam, the steps go up, up, up, back into that back area. And to kind of broaden out, I had to get on my extension ladder and use my wide-angle lens for this, but it was really worth it. You can tell now we have an aerial view of Jerusalem. And this red section, that's the city of David. And down at the tip, toward the bottom, that's where the valleys on the right, which would be the Kidron Valley, and the valley on the left, which is called by several names, but we'll call it the central valley because off to the far left, and you can see at the bottom of the screen, and it kind of goes way off to the left out of the picture, that would be the Hinnom Valley. So if you have the Hinnom Valley and the Kidron Valley, the one in the middle, the Central Valley. That's easy enough. It is the Kidron and the Central Valley, which provide the low points for the high. Area of the city of David in the red. It is in that area that there was a walled city, a walled city that David's men took, the city where David set up his original capital, and the city which later King Hezekiah had a tunnel dug through the limestone so that water could be brought from the Gihon Spring to the pool of Siloam. It was this famous pool of Siloam where this inscription, known famously as the Pool of Siloam inscription, I think the Creative Development Department was on leave that week when they named this, but hey, at least you know where it's from. It's the Siloam Tunnel Inscription. By the way, it's in Turkey, and if you end up going on our trip to the seven churches, we do get to see the actual real one in the museum there because it was discovered during the time of the Ottoman Empire. So it's in Turkey today. Now, the tunnel's construction is noted in the Bible in both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, as well as on this ancient six-line Hebrew inscription that was found near the end of the tunnel. And it describes how people were digging with pickaxes from two different directions. And as they began to hear, and they began to hear the pickaxes from the two directions, they sped up their digging and they met axe head to axe head and opened the channel so that the water could flow. Through. This water flows underground in the city of Jerusalem and it comes out at the pool, the pool of Siloam. It is customary, therefore, and we read about it in a number of Jewish texts, about the drawing of water ceremony from the pool of Siloam at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, because the Feast of Tabernacles was such a joyous occasion that people would take water from the Pool of Siloam and go up, up, up these steps. And by the way, these steps then were just being discovered after 2004 and 2005 when the pool was discovered, sometime around 2009, 2010, when our family was first living in Israel. There's our son Asher standing at those steps where first century worshipers would have been bringing large clay pots full of water up, up, up the steps, all the way up to the temple mount, all the way up to the altar. And as they did, people would be shouting out, Raise it, raise it higher, because the higher you raise the jar, the bigger the splash is going to be when you pour it on the altar. The Mishnah, a text of Jewish tradition, says, He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life. In other words, this was a good time. This was the party not to miss. And verses like Isaiah 12:3 would have been read, and you shall. Draw waters with joy from the wells of salvation. You see, the drawing of water ceremony reminds us of the joy really predicted in association with the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, you can study it not only historically, what was the tabernacle illustrating about Israel's past, you can study it agriculturally and sacrificially, what was growing in the land, so that you can actually bring that crop when the Lord commanded. But this ingathering feast, this feast that related to the agriculture and the produce and the provision from God, it was also ultimately speaking about a greater harvest, a harvest of people. In fact, we read about this in Zechariah chapter 14, a prophetic way to study the feast. See, not only historically, agriculturally, sacrificially, but prophetically and messianically, when we read, behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather, here's that concept of ingathering, kind of like you do with crops. You gather in the crops. This is the first hint that he's going to end with talking about the feast of ingathering or the feast of the harvest, the feast of Sukkot, the feast of tabernacles. For I will gather all the nations, but this time a Against Jerusalem to battle. And the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, and the women raped, and half the city will go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. This is a terrible time, honestly. This is speaking about the time of the great tribulation, toward the end of the seven years when it looks like there is absolutely no hope.

28:52But then we read verse 3. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mountain will be moved northward and one half and the other half southward. By the way, the Mount of Olives is kind of this range on the eastern side of Jerusalem, separated from the Temple Mount area in the city of David by that deep valley, the Kidron Valley. And then you have this mountain all to the east. As you're looking at the mountain to the east, it's running north-south. But this is saying that that north-south range is going to be cut in two, part moving to the north, part moving to the south, and therefore it will open up so that as we read in yet another passage in Ezekiel, a river will flow through that newly formed valley. It will flow actually all the way down from Jerusalem to the Lowest point on the face of the earth, the Dead Sea. And Ezekiel tells us that the Dead Sea, which is so high in salt content that nothing lives in it currently, it will be a place for fishermen to go because now there will be fresh water and there will be fishing there. Further, the other side of Jerusalem will also become a valley and water will flow all the way to the Great Sea, to the Mediterranean. This will illustrate, if you will, the fountain of salvation that the Lord opens up to the nations. We continue reading later in Zechariah chapter 14, where in verse 16 we read, Then it will come about that any who were left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of booths. It's fascinating to think that this is what is predicted in the end times. First of all, let's ask that question again as we look back at the early verses of Zechariah 14, where we read in verse 4, on that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives shall be, you know, split in two. Has that ever happened yet?

31:22So if it has never happened yet, and because God does not lie, what should we expect will happen? There must be a future. Day when the Messiah will stand on the Mount of Olives. His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. It hasn't happened yet, and so we're looking forward to the day when his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. Further, then it will come about that any who are left of the nations who went against Jerusalem will go from year to year to worship the Lord, the king, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the feast of booths. You see, this is predicting a future time when all the nations, after the tribulation period, is concluded by the king coming to save his people, to restore his capital city, and to sit on the throne of his father David. We read in verse 17, and it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them. It will be the plague which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. It's as if, look, this is a big party. This is going to be a wonderful time to worship the Lord, to be in his presence. Who wouldn't want to go? But just in case you don't want to go, here's some incentive, maybe some negative incentive. And what do you know? Egyptians tend to respond well to plagues. And so that's what this one is called: a plague.

32:55A plague where no rain will fall on them if they do not go up year after year. Celebrate the Feast of Booze. This will take place during the Millennial Kingdom. For a thousand years, all the nations will go up year after year after year. In other words, we're going to be there together, you and I, if you know the Lord, celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. I like to tell my students, hey, when we're there someday every year at the Feast of Tabernacles, could you just kind of look out for me and say, hey, hey, Dr. Sigler, remember you taught us about this from Zechariah 14. You told us and we're here. Like, just say hi, you know, because, and, you know, even if I don't remember you, at least you remember this, right? This is what was prophesied, celebrating the feast of booze year after year. In fact, this is what is alluded to in a passage I don't have written for you here, but looking ahead to Revelation chapter 7, verse 9, it says this. After this, I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands. Why palm branches in their hands? Well, wouldn't you know that part of this celebration is about how the Messiah will rule all The nations. In fact, Zechariah 14, 9 says, and the Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day, the Lord will be the only one, meaning no other gods besides him. And his name will be the only one, meaning no other name will be worshipped. And this is celebrated, his lordship over all creation, with what is traditionally called the lulav and the ekrog. The lulav is a combination. In fact, how do we find out what it is? We turn to the source of all knowledge, of course. Oh, yeah. Don't cite this in your papers, but it works on the fly for some quick research. The lulav is a ripe green closed frond of the date palm tree. It's one of the four species used in the daily prayer services during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which is the Feast of Tabernacles. In fact, Leviticus 23, verse 40 says, Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and bows of leafy trees, willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. That's the celebration of this festival. In fact, in Leviticus 23, 40, the Hebrew terms for the four plants are the etz Hadar, the magnificent trees, the Tamar, the palm tree, the Etz. Avot, the bows of thick trees, and the Arava, the willows of the brook. In Talmudic tradition, this is the fruit of the citron tree. That's the little sort of like a lemon-looking thing, but a little more oval. And when you touch the skin, it smells like the citron candle. This is the citron. It's about the size of the human heart. Further, the lulav contains a ripe green close frond from the date palm tree. This long palm frond symbolizes something like the backbone. It's tall and steady. And then the hadass or hadassah are bows from the myrtle tree, and its leaves are something like the human lips. And then the arava has branches from the willow tree, which looks something like the human eye shape. And so it's as if to encompass all of you, these trees, these plants from the field, they are waved with a special. Whoops. I don't know what happened there.

37:17They are waved with a just a moment. There we go. These things are waved. Every direction to symbolize the Lord's lordship over all things. The lulav is waved three times to the east, then over your back, three times to the west, then three times to the south, three times to the north, three times up, three times down, with a special rabbinic blessing that says something like, Shake, shake, shake, shake your lulav. I believe that's how it goes. But whatever it says, the concept is that you would rejoice before the Lord who reigns over all the earth.

38:05Further, all the earth will actually become God's sukkah or tabernacle. That's what we read about in Revelation 21, verse 1 and following. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men. This word tabernacle is the same word related to the feast of tabernacles or sukkot. And God is going to be the one who is dwelling. Just like he dwelt among the Israelites in the wilderness in the tabernacle, we read here, and he shall dwell among them. And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be among them, and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death, and there shall no longer be any mourning, nor crying, or pain. The first things have passed away. It is this joyous holiday at which there was a fantastic culmination to the seven-day feast on the last day of the feast recorded for us in John chapter 7. In John 7:37 and following, we read: Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Now, just think about what was happening all week long at the Feast of Tabernacles. Where were they going in Jerusalem to gather water? To the Pool of Siloam. What would they do with the jars of water that they would bring up to the altar of the Lord on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount? They would pour it out in worship to the Lord as a libation offering, as a liquid offering. They were all thinking about water. But Jesus is the one who reminds us that only he can quench man's thirst.

40:12He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, just like those rivers will flow from Jerusalem when the Mount of Olives is split in two. Further, not only, only Jesus can Quench man's thirst, but only Jesus can illuminate man's spirit. It was during this same time of year, in the very next chapter in the context, chapter 8, verse 12, that Jesus therefore spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Do you remember what was illuminated more than any other time of the year? Jerusalem was lit up. You wouldn't say like a Christmas tree, I guess, but you could like a Hanukkah bush. It was illuminated more than any other time of the year. And in this context, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. You see, while Jerusalem was bright with other lights, Jesus declares, I am the light of the world. And it is at this joyous holiday that we also are a reminder that Jesus is the provider of these same needs in the eternal state. You see, Revelation 21 goes on to say, And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. By the way, it's important to note, many commentators will add, just fixating on those words, I saw no temple. They will say, There will be no temple during the millennial kingdom. And I think, well, wait, wait, wait. Read the rest of the verse. The Lord, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. In other words, the Lord. Presence is going to inhabit all of the new Jerusalem, and therefore all of Jerusalem will be a temple. What does a temple mean anyway, but a holy place sanctified, set apart for God and his worship? All of the new Jerusalem will function as the temple for the whole world and for all the nations to come up and worship. Verse 23 says, And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the lamb. You see, the concept of water and the concept of light, all culminating in the one who gives the water of life freely and who himself is the light of the world. The message of tabernacles, then, for the present time, is to have us looking forward to the time when he shall reign over all the earth and to remind us of God's invitation even now that he wants to welcome you into his sukkah, into his tabernacle, to invite you to tabernacle to partner with, to be a part of, to worship.

43:12And the question is: will you trust in his Messiah who will cause all of these promises to be yes and amen in him? Will you bow before the king so that just like those who will one day shake that lulav or set up? Palm branches. Will you be listed among those mentioned in Revelation chapter 7, where John says, After this, I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. Will you be worshiping the Lord at the Feast of Tabernacles? Let's pray. Father, we come before you to thank you for the invitation to join you in worship with all the nations, to be among those whose knees bow, whose tongues confess, whose lips give praise, and whose feet walk them to the base of your throne, those who will one day be coming up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, the King of Kings.

44:37Lord, may today be the day that our knees willingly bow before you, that our tongues gladly confess your truth, and will give you the praise in Jesus' name. Amen.