A Day Of Celebration
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
Turn to Nehemiah 8
In October 444 BC, only days after the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, thousands of Jews gathered in Jerusalem and asked Ezra the scribe to read the law of Moses. He read from morning until afternoon. Others helped the crowd to understand the Scriptures. As Ezra read, the people began to respond. They worshipped, they wept, and they obeyed the words of the law. It was a day they would never forget. Their example showed us how we also must respond to the Scriptures with humility and obedience.
Introduction
Introduction
Read Nehemiah 8:13-18
You don’t have to travel very far across this world to find that humanity has developed some strange celebrations. Some of these are recent. Others date back centuries. Many just leave you scratching your head in amazement.
Our region has the tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut every January first, but that’s mild compared to some traditions that lie across the ocean.
Take Italy for an example. Italians do some crazy things. The city of Ivrea, Italy, has an annual event that is a basically a city-wide food fight. The weapon? Oranges. Matter of fact, it is called, “the battle of the oranges.” It began sometime in the 1800’s, but apparently it is based on medieval traditions.
If that’s not exciting enough for you, then go to Port Lincoln, Australia, where you can try tossing a tuna for a prize. Whoever tosses a tuna the farthest wins! Nothing like competitive fish-flinging.
But then there’s good ol’ England. When it comes to strange celebrations, I think they take the cake - or the cheese.
At least 200 years ago, some Englishmen got the bright idea to send a 9 lb roll of cheese down a steep hill and run down the hill after it. Whoever reaches the bottom of the hill first wins the cheese.
It’s called the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and the tradition continues annually to this day.
From food fights to cheese rolling, our world has some strange traditions.
In the passage that we just read, we find Nehemiah and the Jews practicing a tradition that is strange to us but that was full of meaning to them. It was called the Feast of Tabernacles.
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The practice of the Feast of Tabernacles - Nehemiah 8:13-18
Now I admit, the Feast of Tabernacles does not sound as exciting as chasing a big cheese down a hill, but if we are going to understand this passage, we have to get a sense for what was taking place here and why it mattered to the Jews.
Notice the timeline. If you go back to verse two, you’ll see that on the first day of Tishrei, everyone got together and heard the Scriptures read. In verse thirteen, the very next day, Nehemiah got the men together. This was a gathering of the family leaders only - It did not include women and children. This was a moment where the men were expected to step up and be the spiritual leaders of their homes!
Men, you are the God-ordained spiritual leader of your home.
Let that soak in to your thinking.
What were they supposed to lead their families to do? To celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles as commanded by the Lord.
During the Feast of Tabernacles, God commanded that the people of Israel go out, gather certain tree branches, and then return home and build small wooden dwellings that they would live in for seven days. The eighth and final day was a sabbath day wherein they would pause from their normal activities and labor.
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Leviticus 23:33-43
Exodus 23:16
Deuteronomy 16:13
It was also called the Feast of Ingathering because it occurred just after the fall harvest of crops.
Verse 17 - “and there was very great gladness”
This was a joyous celebration! It was a time of plenty! Here in Nehemiah’s day, it was a time of joyful obedience!
Notice the end of verse 15 - “as it is written.”
They had just read the Scriptures for several hours on the day before. Now they were excited to obey the Scriptures!
Now notice the beginning of verse 16 - “So the people went forth…” There wasn’t a question of what they were going to do. It wasn’t left up to debate. It wasn’t ignored. It was cheerfully obeyed!
Application: Christian, is obeying God something that excites you? Do you get excited to hear and obey His voice?
More often than not, I find that some Christians will get excited about their salvation but when it comes to living the way God wants us to live, you just can’t stir many of us up!
Don’t be that kind of Christian!
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Nothing should thrill you more than putting a smile on God’s face by your obedience.
May God convict us of having such apathy toward His commandments.
We’ve seen the practice of the Feast of Tabernacles, but secondly I want you to see…
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The purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles - Nehemiah 8:16-18
By now you might be asking, “what was this all about anyway?”
Every good parent knows that when raising young children, there is a time to explain why a command is given and there’s also a time when the command must simply be obeyed.
I’ve experienced that with several of my children.
I remember one of my kids in particular went through a season where it seemed like just about every time you gave them a command, they would look at you and say, “but why?”
Look, there are times with young children where they simply need to obey without understanding the “why”. By the way, that’s also true of us adults in regards to God’s commandments for us! We must obey God even when we don’t understand the “why” behind His commandments!
But when it comes to parenting, don’t be the parent that never explains the “why” either. You need to have a Bible principle to back up the “why” and you need to be able to explain that to your children. If you don’t ever explain the “why”, more than likely they’ll live by those rules while under your roof and then reject them once they’re older because you were teaching them that you were the authority rather than pointing to God as the authority.
Here with the Feast of Tabernacles, God explained the “why” or the purpose behind it.
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It was a time to look back
Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The Feast of Tabernacles was a time to look back and remember the Exodus that God brought them through. Their ancient forefathers had left Egypt and had lived in tents! That’s what the tabernacles of tree limbs represented. It reminded these Jewish families and it taught their children that their forefathers had lived in no permanent place. They had no rest - until God brought them to the land that He gave them.
Imagine what it must have been like for Nehemiah as he and the others remembered their ancient history. The Exodus out of Egypt had occurred approximately 1000 years earlier. Now they could look around and see that God had restored them to the land again!
It was a time to look back because God didn’t want them to forget their humble beginnings.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.
Application: Christian, don’t forget the life that God saved you out of when He saved your soul!
Don’t forget the life that He saved you from and the life that He kept you from when He saved your soul!
Don’t forget how far He has brought you compared to who you once were!
Let that memory move your heart! Let that gratitude well up deep in your soul! Let it move you to tears of humble thankfulness and joy!
Paul reminded the Ephesians of this in Ephesians 2:12:
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Christian, that was you at one point! Whether a year ago or decades ago, that was you!
You were without Christ!
You were excluded from the blessings and promises of God!
You had no hope!
You were without God in the world.
You were all alone. No hope, no purpose, no direction in life, no fellowship with your Creator and Sustainer of life.
But oh, the day you trusted Christ for salvation, that was the day that He moved in and took up residence in your soul! That was the day that He tabernacled within you and changed you forever!
Christian, don’t forget to look back with gratitude.
If you have never made a definite, conscious decision to trust Christ as your savior from sin, today must be the day of your salvation!
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near:
The Feast of Tabernacles was a time to look back, secondly…
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It was a time to look around
This feast was all about remembering God’s provision both in the past and in the present. Remember, this was also called the Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 23). It was celebrated after all of the major harvest season was over. God wanted them to remember His provision during both the wilderness wanderings and the harvest they had just gathered in.
In essence, the Jewish families would pause for one week, look around, and say to their children and to each other, “Look at all that God has done for us!!!”
Look at how God took care of our people and brought us out of slavery in Egypt!
Look at how God has restored us to our land!
Look at these walls that God enabled us to build!
Look at this abundant harvest that God has blessed us with!
This was the perfect time for Nehemiah and the Jews to pause and look around at all that God had done.
Application: Christian, are you discouraged? Are you battling anxiety, depression? If so, let me ask you a question:
When’s the last time you stopped and celebrated all that God has done in your life?
“Well, Pastor, that was last Thanksgiving.”
Then that just might be the problem. You are laser focused on your problems and its caused you to forget all of God’s blessings.
Maybe a present trial has caused you to forget all that God has done in your life. Maybe you’ve failed to look round and remember all that God has done. If so, repent of your unbelief. Turn and gaze upon your Savior. Count your blessings - name them one by one.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In Nehemiah’s day, the Feast of Tabernacles was a time to look back and a time to look around. In the years that followed, it would take on another dimension, one that we don’t have time to develop today. By the time of Christ, the Feast of Tabernacles would take on a prophetic element as well. It would become a feast where they would look ahead and anticipate when the Messiah will come and setup His earthly kingdom.
Christian, you are not under the law, but under grace. You are not required to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, but you might need to pause and look back at what God brought you from. You might need to look around and remember all that God has done. Maybe its time for you to set aside a day as a Day of Celebration.
Invitation
Invitation
Christian: “Pastor Tim, I have not remembered all that God has done for me. God convicted me about this. Pray for me that I would do that this week.”
Unsaved: “I am a sinner but I realize that I am missing something. I am missing a relationship with God. I want God to be close to me. I want to be saved.”
