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Charles YTK
1st December 2002, 02:33 AM
The feast of tabernacles is the feast that will be required by all nations during the Millennial Kingdom. Any nation that does not take part in this feast will no longer have rain.  (Zech 14:16)

This is the feast that we are to pay special attention to the fact that the Lord is King.It is the time when God dwells with His people, in the wilderness coming out from Egypt, when Messiah was born in Bethlehem, and when He reigns as King from Jerusalem.

During this feast in the days of the second temple there is a feature called the water pouring ceremony. A  large group of priests go out to the valley of Motzah and cut 25 ft long whips, while another large group goes to the poor of Siloam to get living water (flowing fresh water). Then both groups would begin to march slowly toward the temple in Jerusalem. All the priests would step out on the left foot, and the ones with the long whips would whip them from one side to the other with each step creating a "whooshing" sould like a great wind. Wind in Hebrew is Ruach, and is symbolic of the Holy spirit, like the mighty wind of shavuot when the Holy spirit was poured out. Both groups would progress toward Jerusalem and meet there at the same time, and would then wait for the signal, (sounded by trumpets) and a special priest playing a flute would lead them in together. This priest was called "the pierced one", and was symbolic of Messiah. When the swooshing group reached the altar, they would circle it 7 times and then the living water was mixed with wine, and the two were poured out over the sacrifice.  The wine represents blood. Now think of Messiah on the cross, and when his side was pierced, both water and blood poured out.

In the days of Yeshua during the feast of Tabernacles, he finds a man who is blind from birth.

 JN 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. [2] And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? [3] Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. [4] I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. [5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. [6] When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, [7] And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

 

A couple things are very interesting about this passage. Why did the Lord use clay to put in the mans eyes rather than just speaking the word to heal him, and why did he tell him to wash in the pool of Siloam? Well since this takes place during Tabernacles I think we know why, because the priests who would be collecting the living water, (symbolic of Gods life in us) for the water pouring ceremony would be there at that exact time.  Yeshua makes clay from the dry ground, and puts it into the mans eyes.  How  could he put this clay into the mans eyeballs? I think we have missed something.  The man had no eyes, he was born with no eyes. (The Greek may allow this) When God created man he did so  by forming him from the clay from the dust of the earth.  Now in this scene while the priests are seeking Gods blessings on the lands of Israel and on the people, here comes Yeshua and putting before their faces the fact that the creator was present among them. As Yeshua told the disciples, the man was born blind not because of sin, but so that the glorious works of God could be shown.  Yeshua is the way the truth and the life. and here he is showing the nation of Israel that he is the giver of life and the creative hand, who formed Adam from the dust of the earth.

Another event that takes place during the feast of tabernacles is the transfiguration. Three are seen, Moshe (the Torah) Elijah (the prophets) and Yeshua (the livng word of God or the Living Torah).

We know it is Tabernacles, because the disciples remark"It is good for us to see this. Allow us to go an make three Tabernacles, one for each."  This is exactly what would need to be done for this feast. In tabernacles (symbolic of the Millennial Kingdom) the law and the prophets are fulfilled in the Lordship of Messiah on the earth.

Charles YTK 

plum
20th February 2006, 09:58 PM
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anabaptist
25th June 2006, 03:36 AM
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stranger
29th July 2006, 11:43 AM
....when Messiah was born in Bethlehem...

Nay my friend, the messiah was bornn, according to the scriptures when shepherds sit around with their flocks in the fields at night


Ths only happens in the Holy Land in the spring, at lambing time , it des not happn at Xmas as christians mostly claim, and it does not happen in the autumn as you claim...

the flocks are not left out in the cold in the winter , they would die, and shepherds have more sense tha to let that happen , and there is no cause for the sheep to be brought into the fields in autumn either, they are groued only at lambing time, for the purpose of the shepherds saving lambs and sheep who have difficulties at birthing time... that is why the shepherds were out at night and they only do so in the Spring... so Jesus was born in the spring, the Lamb of God at lambing time ..

JoelParks
18th September 2006, 03:25 PM
Excellent post, excellent research Charles.

JoelParks
18th September 2006, 03:47 PM
This is a post I made on another board in relation to Christ's conception and birthing sequence......





It's true, IMHO. Christ, the Light of the World (John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46) was appropiately and dramatically conceived on the eight-day Festival of Light... God is quite the "romantic", actually.

This deduction comes for a couple reasons. The first reason is if we look at Luke chapter 1.

In Luke chapter 1, we're given some interesting facts..




Luke 1:5 - There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

These are John the Baptist's parents, as we'll come to find out when we further read the account here in Luke. In Luke 1:8-23 we see an angel visits Zacharias as he's ministering in the Temple, and prophesies of John's coming birth.

In verses 26-38 we see an angel now visits Mary, and prophesies over her of Jesus' coming birth. We see this piece of useful knowledge in verse 1:36 - And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

We also recognize Elisabeth, a Levite, was cousin to Mary of the house of Judah. But the crucial part here is the fact that John the Baptist's father (Zacharias) ministered in the 'course of Abijah'.

This gives us a time-lock which helps us identify what part of the year he was most likely ministering and thusly, when he received the prophesy of his wife's conception of John the Baptist shortly afterwards.

Now firstly, you may be wondering what the 'course of Abijah' even means, exactly. Well, we're given a particular list in the book of 1st Chronicles chapter 24.

In that chapter, we are shown that King David set up a system... a system of Levite Priests divided up into 24 divisions (according to family roots) to minister in the temple. Starting on Nisan 1 (the Jewish 'new year') - one division would minister in the temple for one week, before the next division would come into place.. rotating on a weekly basis.

For the major Jewish Holidays (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles) all 24 Priestly divisions were required to come up to the Temple (there were a LOT of people in Jerusalem, and subsequently around the Temple on those particular days).

The course of Abijah happened to be the 8th course of the 24 divisions. Due to Passover's interjection, the course of Abijah ministered in the 9th week of the 'new year'.. and subsequently stayed in Jerusalem for the tenth week (as Pentecost had just arrived).. causing Elisabeth to conceive most probably in the end of June/early July.

there's more calculations that can be said, but to sum it all - given the information we are provided, and providing we properly clue it all in together... it's very probable that when Mary visited Elisabeth (Luke 1:39-56) in her sixth month of pregnancy, it was thusly December.. (and the same time when Jesus was conceived).

This also shows Jesus and John (who were 'cousins') were only six months apart, being conceived six months apart from one another as can be plainly seen from the testimony of Scripture.

We are told in scripture that Mary remained with her cousin Elisabeth for three additional months afterwards (verse 56)... so she most likely witnessed the birth of John the Baptist, considering that would have been full-term time for Elisabeth.

This places John the Baptist's birth most probably around Passover (late March/early April), and the beginning of the Jewish New Year.. if this is true, then six months later one would arrive at around the Feast of Tabernacles (in September) for the delivery of Christ into this world.

Indeed, the feast of Passover begins on Nisan 15.. and lasts unto Nisan 21. Exactly six months later, God set up His prophetic feasts so that on Tishri 15, unto Tishri 21.. the Feast of Tabernacles also occured.

So the two feasts are linked together by exactly six months of seperation, and for various prophetic reasons, are most likely the times of birth for John the Baptist and Christ the Messiah, respectively.



Indeed, John the Baptist was often mistaken for 'Elijah', and Christ even said he was indeed working in the spirit and power of Elijah (Matthew 11:14, 17:12)...

knowing these things, it's very very interesting to note that the Jews mark only the feast of Passover as the time of the season that they expect and welcome Elijah to return to earth (they anticipate Elijah will return to earth since he was caught up in a chariot of fire per 2nd Kings chapter 2, and due to the Lord's declaration in Malachi 4)..

they even leave an empty seat ready for Elijah at the Passover dinner table, nearly every Jewish household does this... and has done this for millennia. Thusly, at Passover alone, there is a high expectancy amongst the Jewish nation to see Elijah return... and also explains why the crowd mistook Jesus' words at Calvary (on Passover, remember) as calling out for Elijah (Matthew 27:47-49).

With all these details in mind, it's highly appropiate that John the Baptist (who was 'Elijah' in spirit) was brought into this world on Passover: Nisan 15... with his cousin, Jesus - born six months apart, on Tishri 15 -- the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The gospel of John alludes to this fact in the opening chapter as he describes Christ's beginnings..


John 1:14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us

the word for dwelt there in the Greek is 'skenoo', which means 'tabernacled'. John is literally saying Christ was made flesh, and 'tabernacled' amongst us.. a pecular word to use, and thought, due to the preceding scriptural circumstance, to infact allude to the idea that Christ truly 'tabernacled' amongst us, being introduced and born into this world on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Indeed, the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles (or sometimes called the "Feast of Booths"), even before Christ was born... was to represent the idea of God dwelling with His chosen nation.. this was only matter of factly fulfilled in greater degree, realizing God Himself was brought into His chosen nation on this same feast.

Other clues exist in the accounts and circumstance of Christ's birth... the fact the inns were filled, for example (and Christ was born in a "manger", or "booth") - show that there most likely must have been a national holiday occuring for such a magnitude of people to be present in the Bethlehem area.

If Christ was indeed born on Tishri 15 (Tabernacles) and John was indeed born on Nisan 15 (Passover)... then, as the opening post suggests, nine months earlier -- Christ's conception was very most likely in December, and thusly in the eight-day Feast of Light, 'Hanukkah'.

JoelParks
18th September 2006, 03:48 PM
rabbi Kev had an alternate understanding which I'll post for consideration in regards to the timing of Christ's conception....




[9] If Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus were a perfect pregnancy – which I believe it was (He was perfect in every way), then ponder this: A perfect human pregnancy takes 267 days from gestation to birth. If Jesus were born on the first day of Tabernacles in 2 BC, exactly 267 days before that day was the ‘ Day of Implantation’ when two priests would go out to sow the seed of the First Fruits offering. The timing is due to a 'Shem Adar' or Adar II being added that year to align the barley harvest. On The Day of Implantation, two priests would go forth from the Temple and find a virgin field ("one that had never been watered, never been dunged, never been planted, nor part of an orchard") to sow the seed of the First Fruits offering. One priest would sow the seed, and the other priest would announce to the virgin field that it was blessed of the LORD being chosen to carry the seed of the First Fruits offering (cp Luke 1:26-38). (also compare this to the required 2 priest at Jesus conception – Gabriel and The Holy Spirit).