Categories
Discussions Tabernacles Torah

Sukkot: A reminder of Heaven’s extreme makeover of our lives

In the First Commandment, God says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex. 20:2). As ancient Israel fled from Egypt and travelled to the Promised Land, they lived in booths, or סֻכֹּת sukkot in Hebrew. They weren’t supposed to live in these temporary shelters for 40 years in the wilderness. It was only because of their disobedience that they had to live that way for so long.

This study explores a key lesson of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles): We should be orienting ourselves towards God, not expecting Him to orient Himself toward us. 

It’s crucial for us to understand God’s character, to submit to His timing and molding us into His image — revealed through Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) — so that we will be a suitable people for God to dwell with for all time.

Categories
Discussions Prophets and Writings

1st Kings 7:13-22: Prophecy of the two temple pillars

Like with the previous passages on the design of the temple and Solomon’s palace, the design of the two pillars at the entrance of the temple reveals the prophecy by Ezekiel’s lying on one side and the other. Solomon was prophesying the number of years the temple would stand before being destroyed.

Categories
Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Questions

Did the Apostle John and Ezekiel meet each other in vision at God’s Temple? (part 1)

In the vision Yekhezqel (Ezekiel) had of a temple, he watches a man measuring the temple. In the vision apostle Yokhanan (John) had of a temple, recorded in Revelation, God tells him to measure the temple. Was Yekhezqel watching Yokhanan measuring the temple? Did God give allow Yekhezqel to see someone who was born 600-plus years after him?

Categories
Discussions Prophets and Writings

1st Kings 5: Meet the King of Tyre who will help Solomon build the Temple

Solomon is a Messianic figure and Solomon is building a house for God’s name and Yeshua, the Messiah is building God’s name, not in a building but in His people.

This is a Messianic chapter and we are learning about the foundations of God’s house.

Categories
Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions

Rededicating our ‘temples’ to a unified portrayal of God and His High Priest

The overarching theme of Chanukah is dedication and rededication of the physical temples of God. Yet the prophets’ warned that God can’t be contained in buildings (1 Kings. 8:27; 2 Chr. 6:18; cf. Jer. 7:1–7), even ones He ordered built (Ex. 25:40; Heb. 8:5). And Messiah Yeshua told a woman in Samaria that worshiping God “in spirit and in truth” doesn’t have to be in a building (John 4:20-24).

The apostles Paul and Peter taught that the physical bodies of believers, especially their minds, are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 1 Pet. 2:4–8). As such, believers are interconnected with one another through the Spirit and Messiah in a mutually supportive network (Rom. 12:3–13; 1 Cor. 12:12–26).

Paul said we believers also are “ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). The need for unified “good news” is so important that the Messiah prayed, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21). Earthly leaders of nations recall their ambassadors or consuls general if they are not “one” in message and attitude with the leader. Yet many believers in the Messiah haven’t learned such “earthly things” in their treatment of other believers, and thus are working against the message of “heavenly things” (John 3:12).

Categories
Appointments With God Tabernacles

Sukkot — creating a place in our hearts and minds in which God will dwell

The Temple, as envisioned by King Solomon was meant to be a “house of prayer for all nations.” Yeshua was upset at the fact that the priests of His time had lost sight of that mission to the point that they set up sales tables in the courtyard where the Gentiles were supposed to pray. However, the Bible tells us that even in the Messianic age, there will be a temple for God to dwell.

Categories
Appointments With God Tabernacles

Sukkot — Solomon dedicates the temple and foreshadows his fall and that of the temple

Day 2 — Solomon’s life mirrors my own to a certain extent, minus the world-inspiring wisdom and riches plus hundreds of nuptials of geopolitical convenience.