Sukkot lesson for the coming Kingdom: What is a ‘believer’?

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“The way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level. Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. At night my soul longs for You, indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; for when the earth experiences Your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:7-9)

One of the lessons about the forthcoming physical presence of the Kingdom of God on Earth in the future, which is foreshadowed through the memorial of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles), is that “believers” have learned the judgments of God to teach them to others. When His judgments arrive in person, they will establish righteousness on Earth.

“When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Matt. 13:53-57)

They saw the miracles and heard Yeshua’s wisdom but Matthew tells us that the people in his hometown didn’t believe. They believed in Torah, they believed in God but they didn’t trust or believe in Yeshua.

“Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, ‘Get up, and do not be afraid.’ And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, ‘Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.’ And His disciples asked Him, ‘Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ And He answered and said, ‘Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.” (Matt. 17:1-13)

After the Transfiguration, the three main students of Yeshua went back to the multitude. A man was there who brought his son to be healed but the disciples were unable to heal him of his lunacy. The man believed that Yeshua could heal his son, but the disciples were not able to do so. He may have lacked trust, according to Yeshua.

“And Iesous answered and said, ‘You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.'” (Matt. 17:17)

The word that is translated as perverted in the New American Standard Bible is διαστρέφω diastrefo (Strong’s lexicon No. G1294). A more literal meaning of this word is “distort, turn away,” metaphorically meaning also “corrupt” [Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, 2011]. What was lacking in the disciples? Did they not believe in Yeshua? Of course, not. They had seen Yeshua heal numerous people of many different kinds of infirmities. They had even healed demoniacs in other places, but this time was different. They did not trust.

“Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?” (Rom. 3:1-3)

We develop trust and belief when we understand God’s word. We will jump into the middle of Paul’s argument in Romans 4:

“Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore (trust) WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS [Gen. 15:6].” (Rom. 4:19-22)

The “faith” or “trust” we have that a light switch will come on when we turn it is a worldly “trust” not an everlasting faith. There are many who have “faith” in their church denomination, but that is perishable, too. In the Kingdom of God, there will be people there who are still undergoing a transformation from worldly faith to everlasting trust in God.

“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree….” (Rom. 11:17)

The wild olive tree still produces fruit, but it doesn’t have the fatness or richness of the best root.

“Do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.” (Rom. 11:18)

When the wild olive is not attached to the true root, it doesn’t produce enough oil and fruit to be useful. When it’s grafted into the best root, it will produce if it has faith and trust in the Lord.

How often do you do to the Bible and learn something new? When we learn something new from God’s word, that is like new, interesting food and nourishment for us.

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.” (1st Tim. 1:12-14)

Yeshua taught Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of Israel, about what it means to trust God completely:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:14-21)

Did Nicodemus understand this?

“For I have taken all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God.” (Eccl. 9:1)

This is not an easy path to travel. It’s not an easy way to live. It’s much more comfortable to conform to the world. It’s hard to stick with and trust fully in the Lord. When we trust in God, we can overcome and our works will be preserved in God.

Recorded on day six of Sukkot 2013 in Occidental, Calif. Speaker: Richard. Summary: Tammy.