Pastor Joe Fuiten, October 12, 2003

 

Scripture Reading:  Acts 3:11-21 Page 772

11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. 17 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-- even Jesus. 21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

 

Today we are observing the Feast of Tabernacles.  The focus of the feast is twofold.  First it is a time of thanksgiving for the last crops “gathered in” as part of the fall harvest.  Our Thanksgiving Day is based on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Secondly it is a remembrance of the time that God tabernacled with his people Israel, as they lived in booths in the desert.  On both counts it was and is a tremendous time of rejoicing.  The people actually lived in their harvest booths for seven days as they rejoiced before God.

Over the course of Israel’s history, two additional elements in the Tabernacles celebration evolved: fire and water.  This is reflected in I Kings 8 where we are told that Solomon dedicated his temple on the Feast of Tabernacles. 

At the time of the dedication service, Solomon moved the Ark of the Covenant from Mt. Zion to Mt. Moriah and placed it in the temple.  Verses 10 and 11 reveal that, “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.  And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.”  The cloud was the Shekinah Glory, the incredible light of God’s presence.  This extremely significant event of Israel’s history led to a lasting commemoration of light, celebrating God’s presence, as part of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The prophet Zechariah wrote of a time when God will dwell with his people and his light will be the light of the world:

 

On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.  It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime--a day known to the Lord. When evening comes, there will be light.  Zech. 14:6-7

 

Solomon’s dedication of the temple also introduced another element to the Feast of Tabernacles:  Water.  In tonight’s message I will talk about how Jesus used that theme to relate to himself and the Holy Spirit.

In the passage that we just read, we do not find a Tabernacles discussion.  However, we see some of the key spiritual themes of it.  Peter’s theology and eschatology are revealed at several points starting with verse 18.  First, prophecy in the Old Testament pointed to Christ and his crucifixion.  Second, it is necessary to repent, that is, to turn from our sin.  Third, as we turn from sin we must turn to God.  Fourth, these two acts result in the wiping out of our sin.  Fifth, God will send times of refreshing (both in the present time as a deposit on the time of refreshing which is to come after his return).  Sixth, Christ will be sent to the earth once again.  Seventh, He is now in heaven waiting for the day of restoring everything (as it once was in the Garden of Eden).

At the very heart of the preaching of Peter is an anticipation of the way things will be one day.  For him, the miracle of the healing of the lame beggar at the gate Beautiful is wonderful in itself, but it also points to another day.  It points to the day when Jesus will rule on the earth, when all things will be restored.  The small victory over one man’s crippling disease points to the day when everyman will be healed, when every limp will disappear.  This healing is a time of refreshing in anticipation of the restoration of all things.

There is a mixture here of thanksgiving for the past and hope for the future.  We give thanks for the times of refreshing and hope for the restoration of all things.

In the present, our bodies do not always function as they should.  We get aches and pains.  Worse yet, there are the terrible diseases that strike people down.  Many of you have loved ones who are sick and some here are even battling cancer and other disorders.  In a time of refreshing, we see people made well.  There are miracles and other kinds of healing.  When these happen, we give thanks.  It is a tabernacles season.  Even when we give thanks for the small victories such as health or healing we still know we will face the last enemy.  Even though that enemy has been defeated and he has lost his sting, still he is an enemy.  We look forward to the restoration of all things when Jesus Christ will walk among us again.  The blind will see and their eyes will not again dim.  The lame will walk, and their stride will never again slow or falter.

We face the same situation in our economic lives.  Since the Garden of Eden we have had to work to overcome the curse that sin brought.  It has never been easy.  We don’t have the job we wish we had.  The expenses mount faster than the income.  We find ourselves in debt, with a lousy job.  We learn to be disciplined, to work hard, to be faithful to God and pray for his blessing upon us.  In fact, we get a raise, or a promotion, or find a new way of doing things that produces more money.  We have a harvest.  We rejoice because of the blessing.  We become like the Pilgrims and celebrate our victory.  That extra bit that we get is our time of refreshing.  We learn to be grateful.

I do believe in blessing.  I believe that God does bless us so that we in turn can bless others.  This is what Paul taught.  He taught hard work so that we would have something to share with those in need.  The work of God can never succeed more than you succeed.  People cannot be blessed more than you are blessed.

We really are a blessed people.  More than any people on the face of the earth, God has blessed us.  We not only have great resources, but we generally have the peace and safety to enjoy them.  The leader of Boeing may not speak too highly of our transportation system and our business environment, and it is not good, until you compare it to everything else.

Even so, these times do not compare to the Garden of Eden.  They do not compare to the time when we will beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.[1]  They do not compare to the restoration of all things when the trees that grow by the river of living water will supply their fruit each in its season.

 

Revelation 22:1-5 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

 

            I thank God for what he does in relationships.  Because of sin and selfishness we often inflict pain upon others.  The stresses on families are huge.  It is tough raising kids and its no picnic being a kid.  It isn’t always easy to be in the sandwich years when you are taking care of kids and parents.  A grown woman said to me recently.  “My mother said she loved me.  She almost never does that.”  When I say I love her, she says, “You too.”  Sometimes grown adults still long for a simple expression of love.  We never get to old to hear someone say, I love you.  We never hear it too many times, that we are unwilling to hear it again.

            I really love it when people find their way to the church because they want to find their way to each other.  People seem to intuitively know that God is love and if they want more love in their life they should make a place for God.  Christian families should be the best families.  Christian marriages should be the best marriages.  Why not?  We have tapped into the God of love.  We love at all the levels at which any human can love.  When we add the love of God to that, it adds something special to human relationships.

            As good as love can sometimes be, it is still impinged upon by our own pain.  We have our stuff from our past.  We have our insecurities.  We have our lack of self-esteem and we feel its imposition at times.  As a result we do not have perfect peace.  Love is a time of refreshing, but we still know our frailties and inadequacies.

            We look forward to a time when there will be no more conflict.  Isaiah saw it first because he wrote, “They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”[2]  Think of it.  You will never hurt another person’s feeling again.  You will never be insensitive, nor say the hurtful thing.  Why not?  Because the time of restoration will have come.  The knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth.

            That day is coming. Through Ezekiel God said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”[3]

            "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.”[4]

 

We have blessing today.  In our struggles we find God.  What we have today is only a deposit of what it will be.  We understand why John longed for the coming of the Lord.