Well, we come back to Zechariah
for what I think is the last time. I'm pretty sure it's the
last time. We'll move on to something else next week. It's been almost
six months because the first message in this prophecy of 14
chapters was the first Sunday of January. I think it's the
22nd message in the series. It's been an utter delight to
see the Gospel in here, but there have been some very difficult
passages. And I must acknowledge, I must acknowledge our debt to
Don Fortner, who's left such a wealth of notes from his extensive
studies. So I acknowledge that straight
away. I have made extensive use of
the notes that Don left behind on his website for us. It's been
very, very useful. The original purpose of the prophecy
of Zechariah, and we're talking 2,500 plus years ago, probably
2,550 years ago, the original purpose of it was to motivate
the returned exiles to Jerusalem, the destroyed Jerusalem, destroyed
by the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar, the destruction of the temple,
absolutely flattened, totally destroyed, all its treasures
taken away, but sent back under the purposes of God after their
70 years of exile. But they lost heart, and so the
original purpose of the prophecy of Zechariah was to motivate
the people then, the returned exiles, to complete the restoration. But as with all things, This
is the scripture that speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, these are they that speak of me. Therefore, our learning,
that we might know more of the kingdom and purposes of God.
Much more, this book, rather than what it did in its day,
it was very successful. It succeeded. They finished the
restoration of the temple. But its purpose is much more
to point to the triumph of God's kingdom. And what do I mean by
the triumph of his kingdom? I mean the completion of the
salvation of his people, of his elect multitude that he loved
from before time. The salvation of them from their
sins by Jesus. Call his name Jesus. He shall
save his people from their sins and thereby to qualify his people
for eternity. How should a man be just with
God? In everything that the Lord Jesus Christ has done, a man
should be just with God. And you say, well, it's all right
for you to have your religion and follow this. You know, you
can have that as your hobby if you've got nothing better to
do, but I'm quite happy with my hobbies. No, I'm sorry, there's
no opt out. You're all either in the kingdom
of God or you're out of it, but you can never be neutral. You
cannot be neutral. It's the great divide of life. As I said last week, There's
a contrast between the inestimable privilege of being a child of
God and knowing that you are a citizen of the kingdom of God
and the appalling peril, the appalling peril of being outside
of that, of having to face death and judgment in your own strength.
And it is at hand, this kingdom of God. It's not relevant to
me. Jesus came preaching. The kingdom of God is at hand. It's right here. It's near each
and every one of us. For in Him, in God, we live and
move and have our being. The majority live as if it's
irrelevant to them. But as David said to Jonathan,
David fleeing from Saul in 1 Samuel 20 verse 3, he said this, you
know, when you think of the power of a handful of very, very simple
words, you won't find many simpler phrases of half a dozen words
than this, but what power they've got. I hope you're listening.
He said this, there is but a step between me and death. Oh, how
true that is. There is but a step between me
and death. In India the other day, a whole
load of people, many of them rejoicing and taking selfies
and sending them to their relatives because of the hopes and aspirations
that were ahead of them when they got on that plane. And what? I don't know how long it was.
Less than an hour later, but seconds after they took off,
they were all but one dead, along with many on the ground. There
is but a step between me and death. And all, as the scripture
says, it's appointed to die once, and then the judgment. But you
say, what a terrible situation to face God as we are without
any hope. But Zachariah repeatedly proclaimed
the day of the Lord. In that day, the day of the Lord,
what is that day? It's the day of salvation. We
live in the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation.
Don't harden your hearts and turn away. Today is the day of
salvation. Of every issue of life and death,
this is the most important. Don't sidestep it. The end of
Zechariah talks of the end of this world. It talks of eternal
glory. It's pictured in the restored
temple in two and a half thousand plus years, uh... ago five hundred
bc and keeping the final feast of the old testament year which
was this feast of tabernacles and so i've got three points
this morning number one the temple was finished in accordance with
god's word and so will his kingdom be that's for sure you say all
that's interesting that they finish rebuilding a temple two
and a half thousand years ago utter affirmation and underlining
and confirmation that the Kingdom of God will be completed. And
the Kingdom of God being completed means that all of this is going
to be ended. All of this, in which most had
their hopes, is going to be ended. Secondly, what is the significance
of this Feast of Tabernacles? Mysterious words in those verses
we read earlier. And then thirdly, this world's
solemn closure. So firstly, the temple was finished. If you turn back, and you don't
have to because I'll read it to you, if you turn back to Zechariah
chapter 4 and verse 6, remember we looked at this months ago
now, then he answered, and spake unto me, saying, This is the
word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by
power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou,
O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof, with shoutings, crying,
Grace, grace, unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house. His hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. That's what God said via
Zechariah. to Zerubbabel, who was the rightful
prince. He was the heir to the throne
of Israel. He was the heir to the throne
of the people of God here in Jerusalem. And to him was said,
you've laid the foundation, you will complete it. God was telling
him, there's no question, you will finish this. Now look back
at Ezra chapter 6. And again, you don't need to
turn to it, but I'll do that. Ezra chapter 6 and verse 14. The elders of the Jews built
it. Right? This is in the history books.
That was in the prophecy. This is in the history books.
This is the record. The elders of the Jews built it. And they
prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah,
the son of Iddo. And they built it and finished
it. according to the commandment
of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus,
and Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. And this house was
finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was the
sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." You see, exactly as
God had promised, and exactly as God had confirmed by His prophet,
it was finished. In the face of, you know, if
it was down to human investment, are you going to invest in the
completion of this temple? They'd all run amok. No, no,
no, there's far too much opposition. But God was in it and God prospered
them. They prospered and they finished
it. And it was done exactly that way. Now, what does it say to
us now? Zerubbabel pictured Christ in
his kingly office. Christ, pictured by Zerubbabel,
laid the foundation and he will finish it. Christ, pictured by
Zerubbabel, is the chief cornerstone of his temple, of his living
temple, made out of living stones, who are the people he has redeemed
from the curse of the law. Christ has laid the foundation
and Christ will finish it. He has accomplished salvation.
He will finish the triumph of his kingdom. God had spoken and
had promised and it was done. All obstacles, all hindrances
were removed to the building of the temple and the same for
God's kingdom. What's the main obstacle in the
way of the completion of the temple of the kingdom of God.
It's the sin of his people who are to be the citizens of that
kingdom. That mountain of sin keeping
God's people out of his paradise, what happens to it? In verse
4 of chapter 14, it is cleaved, it is broken, it is split down
the middle and a valley is made, a valley which is a way A way
unto Ezal. Ezal, you remember, is the place
of sanctification. It's the place of holiness. A
way is made. He is the way. He is the way,
the truth, and the... We don't know the way. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. That way is made
in what he did, coming as substitute of his people to redeem them.
As it says in chapter 13 and verse 7, Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, and against... This is God speaking by the prophet.
God says, Awake, O sword of divine justice, against my shepherd,
and against the man that is my fellow. He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. The Lord Jesus Christ, though
he was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation. Smite the shepherd. Awake, O
sword, and smite the shepherd, the man who is my fellow. That
man who is my fellow, says God, is our Lord Jesus Christ. That
man who is the shepherd of God is the good shepherd, for Jesus
said, I am the good shepherd. I am the shepherd of the sheep.
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. The sheep shall be
scattered, but he will turn his hand upon the little ones. He
accomplishes, he has accomplished the triumph of his kingdom in
the death of his son. For the obstacle of sin is removed
by what he did. His precious blood cleanses his
people from all sin. And God's kingdom will be finished.
And God's kingdom will triumph over Satan's. It's unavoidable,
despite what many will say, ah, but science, science says it's
absolute rubbish. The world isn't going to end.
There's billions of years to go yet before solar evolution
runs its course. We've no need to worry about
anything like that. You know what the Bible calls that sort
of science? It says science falsely so-called, because it isn't the
true science of God. And that scoffing at the things
of God, that mocking that these things are not going to happen,
there are so many warnings that tell us quite clearly, this is
coming to pass. There are many warnings telling
us to be ready for that coming of the end, for the accomplishment,
for the triumph of the kingdom of God. There's the parable that
Jesus told of the wise and foolish virgins, how easy it is to drift
through this life unprepared for that step, that step, but
a step between me and death, that step. If you scoff that
the world is going to come to an end when God comes again in
glory, You can't scoff at the certainty of your own death,
for that is just around the corner for us all. But a step. Are you
ready? Are you ready for the certainty
which is the completion of the kingdom of God? For it is coming.
It is at hand. It is near. Okay. God said it
would be finished, it was finished. His kingdom, He said it will
be completed, it will be accomplished, and it will be accomplished.
So then, this Feast of Tabernacles in these verses here, 16 to 19. What is it all about? It shall
come to pass, it says, that everyone that is left of all the nations
which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to
year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the
Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will
not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to
worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be
no rain, etc. Right then, what's it all about?
Yet more dark sayings, yet more mysterious things. What do we
do? We need to compare scripture
with scripture, because you know the best commentary on the scriptures
is the scripture itself. In verse 16 it says this, there
will be a people left of the nations, there will be a people
out of the nations which When you look at them now, look like
they're completely against Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the kingdom of God,
the city of God, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church
of God, the people of God, the elect of God. There are people
that look. like they are in the nations,
but they are left of the nations, and they shall come and go up
from year to year to worship the king. What is it to go up
from year to year? It's those feasts, the seven
feasts in Leviticus that Stephen read to us earlier. Those seven
feasts, this is the last one of the year's calendar of feasts.
This feast of tabernacles, it says that they shall go up to
worship the king. It's picture language. It's poetic language. It's talking about the people
of God, redeemed out of the curse of sin, redeemed out of this
world, rejoicing in the kingdom of God and worshipping the king,
worshipping the Lord who is king over all. And they will keep
the Feast of Tabernacles, right? There will be a people out of
the nations that were set against the kingdom of God that will
keep this feast. I can see one or two of them
in this room now, and I count myself among them. I was among
those nations that hated the things of the kingdom of God,
and yet he's brought me to come up, year by year, as it were,
in poetic language, to keep the feast of tabernacles. All the
rest, look at verse 17, all the rest, those that will not come
up of all the families of the earth, of all the nations round
about that were opposed to the kingdom of God, All the rest
that will not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, all that
will not bow the knee to the Lord of hosts, even upon them
shall be no rain. What's the significance of that?
There won't be any rain. The rest shall be deprived of
rain. You know, in the Old Testament
law, in the Old Testament dealings of God with humanity in general,
drought, lack of rain, was punishment for idolatry. You remember that
Elijah, because of the idolatry of Ahab and the kings of Israel,
Elijah called down the drought, three and a half years of drought
upon the land in the days of Ahab. It's punishment for idolatry. What is idolatry? It's going
after false gods. It's sin against God. The Jews
asked Jesus in John 6, 29, 28 I think it was, What must we
do to do the works of God? What must we do to be acceptable
to God? What must we do to keep the commandments
of God? And Jesus said this. He didn't
give them a whole list of commandments, did he? He said, this is the
work of God. that you believe on him whom
he sent. It's the sin of unbelief that
he's going after false gods, the sin of unbelief, and there'll
be no rain, no rain. Not physically no rain, but no
blessing, no blessing from heaven. There's a division of all humanity. Some will keep this feast and
others will not. Some will keep this symbolical
feast, I don't mean literally keep it because we don't keep
these feasts in these days, but spiritually we keep this feast.
Some will keep this feast by faith, others will not. So what
does it mean to you and to me? Well, There were seven Old Testament
feasts. There were seven and they were
specified in Leviticus chapter 23, and we only read about the
Feast of Tabernacles. But number one was the Feast
of Passover. Number two was the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, and it's so close to the Feast of Passover, in some places
it's regarded as pretty much the same thing. When you read
in Luke chapter 22, it says, the Feast of Unleavened Bread
had come, which is called the Passover. So the two get mingled
in together, but they are separate. Then there's the Feast of the
First Fruits. Then there's the Feast of Pentecost, then the
Feast of Trumpets, then the Feast of Atonement, and you've heard
of the Day of Atonement, and then, finally, the Feast of Tabernacles. For the Feast of the Passover,
for the Feast of Pentecost, for the Feast of Tabernacles, all
men in Israel were required to attend in Jerusalem. What were
they symbolical of? They were symbolical of salvation
out of this world for eternal glory. For the Passover portrays
redemption. Redemption from the curse of
sin by substitutionary sacrifice. Pentecost pictures, portrays
the ingathering of God's people from this world by the Holy Spirit
quickening them, giving spiritual life, the new birth. That's what
it's picturing. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the gathering
of God's redeemed people out of this world into eternal glory. The Feast of Tabernacles was
the final one of the year. It alludes to that day, it says
in Revelation 10 verse 6, when time should be no longer. the
angel, the mighty angel, who is clearly Christ, our God, says
there will be time no longer. The day is coming when time will
end. Do I understand that? Absolutely
not. I don't know what to make of
that, apart from the fact that God has said it, and it is true.
What we know and experience of our physical existence in this
space-time creation, time will be no longer. It will end. So
what is the origin of this feast? Well, turn back with me if you
can to the passage that Stephen read to us, and we'll look at
a couple of verses. In verse 39 of Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23 and verse 39. where it says this, In the fifteenth
day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit
of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. So
it was harvest time, the fruit of the land. On the first day
shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.
And ye shall take you on the first day boughs of goodly trees,
branches of palm trees, the boughs of thick trees, willows of the
brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in a
year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations. Ye
shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths,
in tabernacles that is, seven days. And 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. That's
where it was defined. That's where this feast was defined.
It remembered the exodus from the bondage of Egypt. It was
symbolical of God by the Israelites. Not all were Israel, which were
of Israel. Not all were the true Israel
of God, which were Israelites by physical descent. But God's
symbolical people, the Israelites, were taken out of the world's
bondage, symbolized by Egypt, to the promised land. And they
were told to commemorate it, to live for a week at harvest
time in tabernacles, in booths, and booths that, as we just read,
were made of vegetation, good vegetation, God's physical creation. They were to take it and make
themselves little booths, tents to live in, pointing to God in
the person of his son. God dwelt in a booth. He dwelt
in a tabernacle. He dwelt in a tabernacle of human
flesh. In the tabernacle of his human
flesh he came among us. That's what it was pointing to.
All God's people, all God's true people, by faith, looked forward
to God incarnate. In these days, the days when
the command was given, and then in the days of Zechariah, they
were still looking forward by faith to the day when God would
become flesh, when God would be made flesh. In Leviticus 23
and verse 39, you might remember, there are two Sabbaths. It says, In the 15th day, you shall keep
a feast. On the first day shall be a Sabbath,
and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. Two Sabbaths. What
are Sabbaths? Sabbaths are rests, rests. The first rest is pointing to
the rest of faith in Christ. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you trust in him? Do you strive
to make yourself right with God? No, you rest, for you look to
Christ. you look to him. And the second
Sabbath pictures the rest of eternal glory. There's a Sabbath
of believing him now in this life, in this space-time, and
trusting him now, and there's a Sabbath which looks forward
to that rest of eternal glory in heaven. All true believers,
by faith, now, in this life, what do we do if we're the true
circumcision of God? We worship God in the Spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. We discard all fleshly confidence. That's what Philippians
3 verse 3 says. This is the first Sabbath rest. It's pictured in this feast.
That's the first Sabbath rest that we by faith believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ and we trust and we rest in him. If you're
doing that, you are keeping the Sabbath. You are fulfilling the
requirements of the fourth commandment of the table given in Exodus
20. You are fulfilling that. We keep
the Sabbath by faith in Christ. We do not keep it by a day of
deprivation and austerity, as so many seem to think. But the
second Sabbath is that to which we look forward increasingly.
And what makes us increasingly look forward to it? What makes
us do that? As we grow older, the flesh becomes
more frail. Mortality creeps on. The awareness
of mortality creeps on. It becomes more vivid. This Sabbath
culminates when God, God, still tabernacled in his human nature,
in that that booth, if you like, of his human nature, he is coming
again in glory. And it says, every eye shall
see him and every knee shall bow. He's coming to gather his
elect into heaven. Who are they? Revelation 7, verse
13. One of the elders answered, saying
to me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence
came they? And I said unto him, sir, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, looking at the people of God
in eternity. These are they which came out
of great tribulation, great trouble, great physical trouble, and have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Made them white in the blood.
You don't normally end up with something white when you wash
it in blood. It stains, but this is obviously symbolical language.
They made their robes white because of the accomplishment of the
blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the
throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. What
glorious prospect. You and me, believer, child of
God. He that sits on the throne of the universe shall dwell among
his people. And will we want anything? They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them
unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And you know they could take
that on in Revelation 21. True Old Testament saints, keeping
this feast, worshipped God by faith and looked to his promised
paradise. They rejoiced worshipping God. It's pictured again, I like to
compare scripture with scripture, but in Deuteronomy 33 and verse
26, here is the people of God saying, there is none like unto
the God of Jeshurun, that's another term for Israel, for the true
Israel of God, the people of God, the elect of God, there
is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the
heaven in thy help, and in his excellency in the sky. The eternal
God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And
he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say,
Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety
alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine, Also his heavens shall drop dew
down. Happy art thou, O Israel! Who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord? The shield of thy
help, and who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their
high places. It's a blessed thing to be amongst
this people of God, a happy people, worshipping God for the accomplishment
of salvation from sin. This keeping of the Feast of
Tabernacles, as it's depicted here at the end of Zechariah
14, is pointing to the people of God saved out of this world,
saved out of Egypt, and settled in eternal glory. It's a vivid
picture, but I just want to say briefly that religion all around
corrupts it with idolatrous superstition. If you just turn to John chapter
7, John chapter 7 was the Feast of Tabernacles in the days when
Jesus was on his earthly ministry. The Feast of Tabernacles, which
was clearly one of God's seven feasts, look what it had become.
In verse 2 of John chapter 7, it says, now the Jews' Feast
of Tabernacles was at hand. Why does it say that? I'll tell
you why. Because in their religious, self-righteous
idolatry, they had messed about with it. They had corrupted the
original meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles, and they'd brought
in all sorts of idolatrous practices. So they worshipped the power
of water drawn from the pool of Siloam. which they would spill
on the ground as a means of curing diseases. And it had all sorts
of superstition with it. And in that feast, Jesus observed
this going on. And in verse 37 of that chapter,
he says this, Jesus stands in the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, looking at this
water being superstitiously poured out to cure people of their diseases.
He said, if any man thirst, Let him come to me and drink. He
that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. He's speaking about truth. Healing powers had been superstitiously
given to mere pond water. They were worshipping the mystical
power of mere pool water when the water of true life was in
their midst. And is that not typical of man's
religion? Is it not typical of so much
that calls itself Christianity? Adding physical things, physical
superstitions to the worship of God. It all basically corrupts
it. And I'm talking about this. I'm
talking about making superstitions, making rules and regulations
of a physical nature about the way we dress, the food we eat,
the things that we drink, the place that we go to. The denominational
traditions of men, they all corrupt the truth of God. Oh, by all
means, we need to maintain civil decency. That's important. We need to avoid being drunk
with wine wherein is excess, of course, but avoid the idolatry
of placing any significance on those things of a religious nature
which is not there. lead to the reign of spiritual
blessing, the r-a-i-n, the reign of spiritual blessing being withheld,
as it says in verse 17 of Zechariah 14, even upon them shall be no
rain. So then, let's close this. The
solemn closure. What do I mean by that? Look
at verses 20 and 21. and take of them, and seethe
therein. And in that day there shall be no more Canaanite in
the house of the Lord of hosts." Read what I put in the bulletin
by Robert Hawker, because I think he was very succinct. His way
with words is very good here. But what's this referring to?
It's referring to verse 36 of Leviticus 23, which says this,
If you read in the margin, it says, solemn it says a day of restraint
it shall be an assembly which is a day of restraint a better
a better translation still would be a solemn closure a solemn
end of all things this is speaking of the end of all things it's
speaking of the stopping of time the end of all things this feast
alluded to to the end of this creation. This feast alluded
to the day of visible triumph of the kingdom of God over that
of Satan, over the world, over that which is represented by
Egypt. That day is coming, and it's coming unexpectedly, like
a thief in the night, said Jesus. At the end of Zechariah, Here
we have it listed because it's the final accomplishment of God's
kingdom. It's spoken of throughout scripture,
this final day, of course in the book of Revelation, but look
in Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 6. In this mountain shall the
Lord of hosts make unto all the people a feast of fat things,
a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees well refined, and he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all the people, and the
veil that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow
up death in victory, and the Lord God will You see, it is
a solemn closure, meaning it is a serious thing. It is not
to be taken lightly. It is a joyful thing though.
Saying it's solemn doesn't mean it's sad and mournful. It is
for many who are outside of it, but it's solemn in that it's
serious and it's coming. And it's a joyful thing for the
people of God. Those verses 20 and 21 at the
end of Zechariah, speak clearly of something good. Holiness to
the Lord everywhere. This is heaven pictured. Everything
is holiness unto the Lord. The bells of gladness. What makes
glad? What is it that makes glad? What
is it that rings the joyful sound? It was the bells on the robes
of the priests. It was that speaking of the accomplishment
of salvation from sin. Salvation from sin is accomplished. It's affirmed, it's attained.
The kingdom prepared is finally inherited. Come you blessed of
my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. The fall of Eden, the fall in
the garden of Eden is finally recovered. The rebellion of Satan
there is finally crushed. The righteousness of God is maintained
in the salvation of a multitude of sinners for he is just. but
yet he's the justifier of those who come to God by him. This
is the eternal Sabbath rest in the completed work of God in
Christ. It isn't talking about a day
of austerity and deprivation, but it's talking about liberty
and bliss and rejoicing. where all of his people are kings
and priests to God, all wearing the same fair miter. Do you remember
back in Zechariah chapter 3, again going back a long way,
when Joshua, the high priest, again a picture of Christ in
his priestly role, and he's standing there being accused by Satan,
and he's dressed in filthy garments which speak of his sin, and God
says, take those filthy garments off him and put a new robe upon
him and set a fair mitre on his head. Do you know what was on
the priest's mitre in Exodus when the rules, when the regulations
were given about the priest's mitre in the book of Exodus by
Moses? What was to be written on the
priest's mitre was holiness unto the Lord. Holiness unto the Lord. How can this? You might read
novels and you think, wow, that's a clever novel. That's a clever
story. But look at this. How could any human intelligence
ever put this together? How can this not be true? You
say, hmm, I believe. Help my unbelief. Look, ask God. Say, show me the truth. Settle
me in this glorious Sabbath rest of the final feast of tabernacles. Amen.