Good morning, 

This devotion reminds us what God has done for us. It tells of His love, devotion, and power. It is God centered. We need to thank God every day for His goodness to us! 

God-pardoned, God-reconciled, Sin-delivered, God-arrayed, Heaven-entitled souls! 

(Archibald Brown, “What Christ Has Done for Me!” 1872)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio 

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.) 

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul!” Psalm 66:16 
 
No one word can fully express all that God has done for my soul, though in general it may be described as saved. Saved! Ah, that is a grand word worthy of being written in letters of gold! A saved soul includes many things–I can only mention them: 
 
1. A saved soul is a God-pardoned soul. All its sins are forgiven, and its iniquities are drowned in that deluge of pardoning love that rises high above the topmost peaks of all its mountain sins! 
 
2. A saved soul is a God-reconciled soul. Once at enmity, God and the sinner are now at peace. All differences are at an end. The prodigal sinner has been embraced and kissed by the father. The rebel has thrown down his weapons, and bent his knee to the Monarch–and the Monarch has raised him up, and with a smile of love, has put him among His children. If I may so express it, God and the sinner have met and shaken hands beneath the shadow of the cross! They are at at-one-ment there. 
 
3. A saved soul is also a sin-delivered soul. This is something more than pardon, or reconciliation. It is a higher blessing. Pardon remits the punishment of sin, but leaves the guilt of sin. But justification acquits the person of every charge. Believer, your sins are not merely forgiven–but they are done away with, put out of sight, removed from you as far as the remotest east is from the extreme west! In the eye of God, you are as guiltless as His spotless Son! “You are altogether beautiful, My love; there is no flaw in you!” Song of Songs 4:7 
 
4. A saved soul is also a God-arrayed soul. This is higher still. The former blessing was a negation of guilt, this is a possession of righteousness. A righteousness, mark you, that is not capable of improvement, but a righteousness that is superlative in its quality–it is the righteousness of God Himself! A saved soul, even to the omniscient eye of Deity, is not only without spot or wrinkle or any such thing–but it is altogether lovely and glorious, robed in the splendor of “Jehovah Tsidkenu”–“The Lord our Righteousness!” 
 
5. A saved soul is a Heaven-entitled soul. This crowns all. Not merely am I delivered from Hell, but in my hand is placed a title-deed to eternal glory! This is no fiction or flight of imagination, but a blessed fact. Possessed by every saint, is a title to Heaven that God Himself will declare to be valid to all eternity. 
 
Now believer, if all these things are included in what God has done for our souls, then did I not say rightly that many words were necessary to describe the work? Let us then, as God-pardoned, God-reconciled, Sin-delivered, God-arrayed, Heaven-entitled souls–call on all, far and near, to come and listen to our joyous tale. 
 
God looks upon His redeemed people as the masterpieces of His love and power; and He will before assembled worlds exhibit us as the grandest trophies Heaven contains! 
 
   ~  ~  ~  ~ 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning, 

It is amazing what God has done for us. This devotion plus the “Something to ponder” should be an encouragement to all of us. 

Christ takes the garbage! 

(Charles Spurgeon)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio 

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.) 

Jewelers can only prepare and polish the choicest diamonds. 
But Jesus Christ polishes a common pebble, and makes a jewel of it! 
 
Jewelers make their precious treasures, out of precious materials. 
Christ makes His precious things, out of dross! 
 
He always begins with bad material. Christ takes . . . 
  the despicable, 
  the vilest, 
  the scum, 
  the off-scouring, 
  the filth, 
  the garbage of the world, 
and out of such stuff and matter as that, He builds up a holy temple, and gathers to Himself trophies for His honor and praise! 
 
“Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 
 
~  ~  ~  ~ 
 
Something to ponder 
Don Fortner: “All true doctrine entirely rests upon the Word of God–upon the plain statements of Holy Scripture; and not upon history, religious creeds, religious traditions; or human inferences, logic or reason of any kind.” 

~  ~  ~  ~ 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning,  

Salvation is the first act of obedience for all individuals. Second is baptism. Scriptural baptism is by immersion and pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what does that mean in the life of a believer?  

Romans 6 answers that question. Verses 1-15 teach us about what baptism means to us. When we received Christ as Savior and were baptized, we identified ourselves with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. That means we are dead to sin, we walk in newness of life, and are freed from the dominion of sin. Do we still sin? Yes, but that is not our lifestyle. We repent and move on. 

Read and reflect on what Jesus has done for us. 

1) Believers must die to sin and live to Christ (6:1-2) 

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  

“That is, we are dead to the dominion of sin. Christ died for our sin, in our place. Now sin cannot take a believer to Hell. We have a new Master-Christ. This official separation from the lordship of sin over doomed slaves is pictured in baptism (v 3,5). Counting the old man dead, we had a funeral for him in baptism; but as Christ died in our place and arose, we can also claim Christ’s resurrection power (cf. Phil. 3:10). We should live as taking Christ’s place in righteousness and service, as he took our place as sinners.” (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216) 

2) Believers identify with Christ in baptism (6:3-10) 

³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin. ⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: ⁹Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 

“The unconverted man has a tainted, fallen, sinful nature. When one is saved, he is given a new nature. Therefore, we are exhorted to “put off” the manner of life of the “old man” (cf. Eph. 4:22, Col. 3:9), count him crucified with Christ, and never allow his control. Still the flesh “lustiest against the Spirit” (Gal. 5:17); and Paul, like all Christians, experienced the conflict between the “inward man” and the flesh (cf. 7:15-25).” (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216) 

3) Believers are made alive unto God through Christ Jesus (6:11-15) 

¹¹Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ¹³Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.  

“We are to count self dead, that is, with no right now to control. We are to take up the cross daily (cf. Luke 9:23). We are to resist the old nature, not yield to it (vv. 12-13). (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216) 

Tomorrow we will look at verses 16-23. 

Good morning, 

God made us with a “free will”. That means we are able to choose to do right or wrong. We may yield ourselves to righteousness or wickedness. We will be servants to whomever we choose. Each choice has a consequence. The two choices are righteousness, resulting in eternal life with Christ in Heaven or wickedness, resulting in death and separation from God for all eternity in Hell. 

Romans 6:16-23 deal with yielding and its results. 

4) Believers are freed from dominion of sin (6:16-20) 

¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ¹⁹I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. ²⁰For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 

“The Christian has a constant battle against the pull of the old nature. He must consciously and continually yield his members as servants to righteousness.” (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216)  

5) The end of sin is death and of holiness everlasting life (6:21-23) 

²¹What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. ²²But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. ²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

“Though the child of God has escaped the doom of the lost man, sin pays its hateful wages: death to peace, to fellowship with God, and to fruitfulness. To the unsaved, the wages of sin is eternal death; but to the Christian redeemed, sin still brings deadly wages. Salvation is a free gift, unearned, offered to all, and to the Christian it is a well continually flowing (cf. John 4:14)” ((The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1217) 

The choice is ours. Life or death. 

CHOOSE LIFE 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning, 

God made us with a “free will”. That means we are able to choose to do right or wrong. We may yield ourselves to righteousness or wickedness. We will be servants to whomever we choose. Each choice has a consequence. The two choices are righteousness, resulting in eternal life with Christ in Heaven or wickedness, resulting in death and separation from God for all eternity in Hell. 

Romans 6:16-23 deal with yielding and its results. 

4) Believers are freed from dominion of sin (6:16-20) 

¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ¹⁹I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. ²⁰For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 

“The Christian has a constant battle against the pull of the old nature. He must consciously and continually yield his members as servants to righteousness.” (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216)  

5) The end of sin is death and of holiness everlasting life (6:21-23) 

²¹What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. ²²But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. ²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

“Though the child of God has escaped the doom of the lost man, sin pays its hateful wages: death to peace, to fellowship with God, and to fruitfulness. To the unsaved, the wages of sin is eternal death; but to the Christian redeemed, sin still brings deadly wages. Salvation is a free gift, unearned, offered to all, and to the Christian it is a well continually flowing (cf. John 4:14)” ((The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1217) 

The choice is ours. Life or death. 

CHOOSE LIFE 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning,  

Salvation is the first act of obedience for all individuals. Second is baptism. Scriptural baptism is by immersion and pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what does that mean in the life of a believer?  

Romans 6 answers that question. Verses 1-15 teach us about what baptism means to us. When we received Christ as Savior and were baptized, we identified ourselves with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. That means we are dead to sin, we walk in newness of life, and are freed from the dominion of sin. Do we still sin? Yes, but that is not our lifestyle. We repent and move on. 

Read and reflect on what Jesus has done for us. 

1) Believers must die to sin and live to Christ (6:1-2) 

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  

“That is, we are dead to the dominion of sin. Christ died for our sin, in our place. Now sin cannot take a believer to Hell. We have a new Master-Christ. This official separation from the lordship of sin over doomed slaves is pictured in baptism (v 3,5). Counting the old man dead, we had a funeral for him in baptism; but as Christ died in our place and arose, we can also claim Christ’s resurrection power (cf. Phil. 3:10). We should live as taking Christ’s place in righteousness and service, as he took our place as sinners.” (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216) 

2) Believers identify with Christ in baptism (6:3-10) 

³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: ⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin. ⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: ⁹Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. ¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 

“The unconverted man has a tainted, fallen, sinful nature. When one is saved, he is given a new nature. Therefore, we are exhorted to “put off” the manner of life of the “old man” (cf. Eph. 4:22, Col. 3:9), count him crucified with Christ, and never allow his control. Still the flesh “lustiest against the Spirit” (Gal. 5:17); and Paul, like all Christians, experienced the conflict between the “inward man” and the flesh (cf. 7:15-25).” (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216) 

3) Believers are made alive unto God through Christ Jesus (6:11-15) 

¹¹Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ¹³Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.  

“We are to count self, dead, that is, with no right now to control. We are to take up the cross daily (cf. Luke 9:23). We are to resist the old nature, not yield to it (vv. 12-13). (The Rice Study Bible, 1981, Dr. John R. Rice, D.D., Litt. D., S.T.D., pg. 1216) 

Tomorrow we will look at verses 16-23. 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning, 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering begins on the evening of 29 September 2023 and runs through the evening of 6 October 2023. This is one holiday with four different names and meanings. This week we will explore these events. 

What will the Messiah Yeshua be doing during the Millennial reign over the Earth? 

Micah 4:2 “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and HE (the Mashiach) will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law (Torah) shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” 

Isaiah 2:3 says the exact same thing. HE, the Messiah, will teach us His ways. I doubt Yeshua will be teaching replacement theology or modern church doctrine that speaks against the Torah and the feasts of the LORD. There will still be Gentiles or nations outside of the New Jerusalem that will be required to go up and keep the feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot or they will face famines and plagues as punishment. Does this sound like modern Christian doctrine? This is not a matter of liberty or grace but a righteous requirement. This isn’t the “well I don’t fully understand this feast stuff so God understands my heart and will be ok with it.” Read for yourself! The scriptures speak it clearly and overwhelmingly, leaving no shadow of doubt or question. 

Zechariah 14:11,16-18 “And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited… And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles… And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain… the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles… and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”  

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning, 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering begins on the evening of 29 September 2023 and runs through the evening of 6 October 2023. This is one holiday with four different names and meanings. This week we will explore these events. 

The Feast of Ingathering 

Another name given in scripture for the feast of Sukkot is the feast of Ingathering and also the feast of harvest. This is the end of the year in the fall when the fruit harvest was being collected. Three times a year males are to go up and pilgrimage to Jerusalem to keep the three “harvest feasts.” They are not to be empty handed because they are to produce the first fruits of their harvest as tithes to the LORD. The first harvest feast is Passover which is the barley harvest. The second harvest feast is Shavuot (Pentecost) which is the wheat harvest, and the third harvest feast is Sukkot for the fruit harvest. Notice that there are three harvest feasts to report to Jerusalem and there are three resurrections recorded in scripture. 

1. When Yeshua raised from the dead and those that raised with him called the first fruits of the resurrection (Matt. 27:53, 1 Cor. 15:20,23). 
2. The “first resurrection” or the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14) before the millennial reign of the Messiah (Rev. 20:4-6). 
3. The “second resurrection” after the millennial reign of the Messiah (Rev. 20:12) which has been titled the Great White Throne Judgment by many teachers. 

It is interesting to note that these were pilgrimage feasts symbolizing the resurrections into the Kingdom of Heaven or the New Jerusalem. It is also symbolized in scripture in various places as being the reaping of the harvest. 

Exodus 23:16 “And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.” 

Mark 4:29 “But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” 

Revelation 14:15 “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 
Remember that the “first resurrection” is called up at the feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) and those that are Atoned for under the blood of Yeshua (Yom Kippur) will be gathered together and made priests and judges in the Millennial kingdom, while tabernacling with the Messiah for 1,000 years. 

Isaiah 27:12-13 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” 

Zechariah 14:9 “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day (the millennium of the Lord) shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com

Good morning, 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering begins on the evening of 29 September 2023 and runs through the evening of 6 October 2023. This is one holiday with four different names and meanings. This week we will explore these events. 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering 

The Facts: 

What do the Scriptures say about it? 

Lev 23:34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.” 
Lev 23:35 “On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.” 
Lev 23:36 “Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHVH: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHVH: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.” 
Lev 23:39 “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.” 
Lev 23:40 “And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.” 
Lev 23:42 “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days…” 
Deut 16:13 “Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:” 
Deut 16:14 “And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.” 

When is it? 

Lev 23:34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto YHVH.” 

What are we commanded to do? 

1. Keep it Holy as a regular Sabbath, doing no servile work or the things associated with the seventh day Sabbath on the first day and the eighth day of the feast. 
2. Keep it at its time and season on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. 
3. Have a holy convocation on the first day of the feast and on the eighth day of the feast. This is a calling of the assembly or community of like-minded believers to assemble together and celebrate Tabernacles. If no one is able to convocate then call together your own family or travel to where another group of believers are assembling and keeping this day Holy or set apart. 
4. We are to build “booths or sukkahs” out of various branches mentioned in Lev. 23:40. We are to dwell in booths or tents for seven days and rejoice before YHVH. This is one of the pilgrimage feasts where all of the males have to appear in Jerusalem before the Lord.  

Spiritual/Prophetic Significance: 

Sukkot is significant of many things: 

1. The Israelites were led through the wilderness, being delivered from the bondage of Egypt and dwelt in booths and tents. YHVH provided everything they needed and protected them throughout their wanderings. 
2. Yeshua is believed to have been born on the first day of Sukkot (not on December 25th) and was the Word made flesh and dwelt (tabernacle/sukkoted) among us and was circumcised according to the covenant of Abraham on the eighth day (Hoshana Rabbah). 
3. Sukkot could also speak of a future exodus out of Babylon as scattered Israel and those nations that are grafted in journey through the Great Wilderness of the Tribulation and ultimately tabernacle with the Messiah in the New Jerusalem for 1,000 years. 

The Messiah in Sukkot 

Bible scholars believe that it was during the feast of Sukkot that Yeshua the Messiah was born upon this earth. Specifically, the first day of Sukkot the Son of God put on temporary flesh and dwelt among men. John the disciple alluded to this fact when he wrote where the Messiah came from. Matthew starts out showing the lineage of Joseph, while Luke eludes to the lineage of Miriam (Mary) through the family connection of Zechariah and Elizabeth but John spoke of the Heavenly DNA, linking Yeshua of Nazareth with the Word of God. 

John 1:1-2,14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” The word used for dwelt in this passage literally means “tabernacled.”  

The feast of Sukkot is a 7-day feast with a special 8th day observance called Hoshana Rabba (the last great day or the last great praise) and Yeshua was circumcised on this 8th day (of the feast), and it is recorded in Luke 2:21. 

Later on, in the life of Yeshua we see another mention of Sukkot and it is a powerful demonstrative teaching that causes much stir in the temple ceremonies. It is during the Feast of Sukkot that a temple ritual would take place called the water libation ceremony. A priest was dispatched from the temple mount out through the southern steps down to the pool of Shi loach (which means sent) and the priest fills a vessel with water and returns up the steps into the temple. This is the only time that water (mixed with a little wine) is placed upon the altar. As water is poured out down one side of a trough that led down to the altar, wine was poured down another trough leading to the altar and together they would meet together on the altar that was red hot at this point. As the mixture of wine and water splashed upon the altar it hissed and steamed as everyone huddled around praying for rain in the coming season, praying for the Messiah to come and the indwelling of the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit). It is at this moment that Yeshua stood up and proclaimed, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!’” (John 7:37-38). It is at this moment that everyone started putting together the pieces of the puzzle. The waters carried up from the pool of Shiloach were called the “waters of salvation” or quite literally the waters of Yeshua. Here they have the Messiah who was named Yeshua which meant salvation and he stands at this moment and makes this claim as the mixture of wine and water, which symbolized the blood and water that flowed from his side was spilled upon the altar. Some argued with him, and some believed while others pondered these things further. On Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of the feast four 75 foot tall Menorahs were lit in the temple courts and Yeshua continued his teaching by using the symbolism of the bright lights around him: 

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world: whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” 

The Feast of Ingathering 

Another name given in scripture for the feast of Sukkot is the feast of Ingathering and also the feast of harvest. This is the end of the year in the fall when the fruit harvest was being collected. Three times a year males are to go up and pilgrimage to Jerusalem to keep the three “harvest feasts.” They are not to be empty handed because they are to produce the first fruits of their harvest as tithes to the LORD. The first harvest feast is Passover which is the barley harvest. The second harvest feast is Shavuot (Pentecost) which is the wheat harvest, and the third harvest feast is Sukkot for the fruit harvest. Notice that there are three harvest feasts to report to Jerusalem and there are three resurrections recorded in scripture. 

1. When Yeshua raised from the dead and those that raised with him called the first fruits of the resurrection (Matt. 27:53, 1 Cor. 15:20,23). 
2. The “first resurrection” or the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14) before the millennial reign of the Messiah (Rev. 20:4-6). 
3. The “second resurrection” after the millennial reign of the Messiah (Rev. 20:12) which has been titled the Great White Throne Judgment by many teachers. 

It is interesting to note that these were pilgrimage feasts symbolizing the resurrections into the Kingdom of Heaven or the New Jerusalem. It is also symbolized in scripture in various places as being the reaping of the harvest. 

Exodus 23:16 “And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.” 

Mark 4:29 “But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” 

Revelation 14:15 “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 
Remember that the “first resurrection” is called up at the feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) and those that are Atoned for under the blood of Yeshua (Yom Kippur) will be gathered together and made priests and judges in the Millennial kingdom, while tabernacling with the Messiah for 1,000 years. 

Isaiah 27:12-13 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” 

Zechariah 14:9 “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day (the millennium of the Lord) shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” 

What will the Messiah Yeshua be doing during the Millennial reign over the Earth? 

Micah 4:2 “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and HE (the Mashiach) will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law (Torah) shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” 

Isaiah 2:3 says the exact same thing. HE, the Messiah, will teach us His ways. I doubt Yeshua will be teaching replacement theology or modern church doctrine that speaks against the Torah and the feasts of the LORD. There will still be Gentiles or nations outside of the New Jerusalem that will be required to go up and keep the feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot or they will face famines and plagues as punishment. Does this sound like modern Christian doctrine? This is not a matter of liberty or grace but a righteous requirement. This isn’t the “well I don’t fully understand this feast stuff so God understands my heart and will be ok with it.” Read for yourself! The scriptures speak it clearly and overwhelmingly, leaving no shadow of doubt or question. 

Zechariah 14:11,16-18 “And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited… And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles… And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain… the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles… and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”  

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning, 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering begins on the evening of 29 September 2023 and runs through the evening of 6 October 2023. This is one holiday with four different names and meanings. This week we will explore these events. 

Spiritual/Prophetic Significance: 

Sukkot is significant of many things: 

1. The Israelites were led through the wilderness, being delivered from the bondage of Egypt and dwelt in booths and tents. YHVH provided everything they needed and protected them throughout their wanderings. 
2. Yeshua is believed to have been born on the first day of Sukkot (not on December 25th) and was the Word made flesh and dwelt (tabernacle/sukkoted) among us and was circumcised according to the covenant of Abraham on the eighth day (Hoshana Rabbah). 
3. Sukkot could also speak of a future exodus out of Babylon as scattered Israel and those nations that are grafted in journey through the Great Wilderness of the Tribulation and ultimately tabernacle with the Messiah in the New Jerusalem for 1,000 years. 

The Messiah in Sukkot 

Bible scholars believe that it was during the feast of Sukkot that Yeshua the Messiah was born upon this earth. Specifically, the first day of Sukkot the Son of God put on temporary flesh and dwelt among men. John the disciple alluded to this fact when he wrote where the Messiah came from. Matthew starts out showing the lineage of Joseph, while Luke eludes to the lineage of Miriam (Mary) through the family connection of Zechariah and Elizabeth but John spoke of the Heavenly DNA, linking Yeshua of Nazareth with the Word of God. 

John 1:1-2,14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” The word used for dwelt in this passage literally means “tabernacled.”  

The feast of Sukkot is a 7-day feast with a special 8th day observance called Hoshana Rabba (the last great day or the last great praise) and Yeshua was circumcised on this 8th day (of the feast), and it is recorded in Luke 2:21. 

Later on, in the life of Yeshua we see another mention of Sukkot and it is a powerful demonstrative teaching that causes much stir in the temple ceremonies. It is during the Feast of Sukkot that a temple ritual would take place called the water libation ceremony. A priest was dispatched from the temple mount out through the southern steps down to the pool of Shi loach (which means sent) and the priest fills a vessel with water and returns up the steps into the temple. This is the only time that water (mixed with a little wine) is placed upon the altar. As water is poured out down one side of a trough that led down to the altar, wine was poured down another trough leading to the altar and together they would meet together on the altar that was red hot at this point. As the mixture of wine and water splashed upon the altar it hissed and steamed as everyone huddled around praying for rain in the coming season, praying for the Messiah to come and the indwelling of the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit). It is at this moment that Yeshua stood up and proclaimed, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!’” (John 7:37-38). It is at this moment that everyone started putting together the pieces of the puzzle. The waters carried up from the pool of Shiloach were called the “waters of salvation” or quite literally the waters of Yeshua. Here they have the Messiah who was named Yeshua which meant salvation and he stands at this moment and makes this claim as the mixture of wine and water, which symbolized the blood and water that flowed from his side was spilled upon the altar. Some argued with him, and some believed while others pondered these things further. On Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of the feast four 75 foot tall Menorahs were lit in the temple courts and Yeshua continued his teaching by using the symbolism of the bright lights around him: 

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world: whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com 

Good morning, 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering begins on the evening of 29 September 2023 and runs through the evening of 6 October 2023. This is one holiday with four different names and meanings. This week we will explore these events. 

The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot/Feast of Booths/Feast of Ingathering 

The Facts: 

What do the Scriptures say about it? 

Lev 23:34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.” 
Lev 23:35 “On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.” 
Lev 23:36 “Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHVH: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto YHVH: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.” 
Lev 23:39 “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.” 
Lev 23:40 “And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.” 
Lev 23:42 “ Ye shall dwell in booths seven days…” 
Deut 16:13 “Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:” 
Deut 16:14 “And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.” 

When is it? 

Lev 23:34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto YHVH.” 

What are we commanded to do? 

1. Keep it Holy as a regular Sabbath, doing no servile work or the things associated with the seventh day Sabbath on the first day and the eighth day of the feast. 
2. Keep it at its time and season on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. 
3. Have a holy convocation on the first day of the feast and on the eighth day of the feast. This is a calling of the assembly or community of like-minded believers to assemble together and celebrate Tabernacles. If no one is able to convocate then call together your own family or travel to where another group of believers are assembling and keeping this day Holy or set apart. 
4. We are to build “booths or sukkahs” out of various branches mentioned in Lev. 23:40. We are to dwell in booths or tents for seven days and rejoice before YHVH. This is one of the pilgrimage feasts where all of the males have to appear in Jerusalem before the Lord. 

Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com