The Fall Feasts of the GOD of ISRAEL

2017

It is that time of the year when we gather together to celebrate the Fall Feasts of God:

A time for introspection A time for rededication A time to dress up with the Wedding Robe, ready to be the Bride of Messiah

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In order to help us to understand the protocol needed to approach the King of kings, we were given the Tabernacle in the Wilderness made according to the pattern of the Heavenly Tabernacle. It reveals the actions of worship, praise, service and dedication that is the minimum requirement for a priest.

Y’shua’s walk on earth changes the dimension of the physical tabernacle into the Spiritual realm.

The order of worship, praise and service remain the same.

Only now, you and I can be priests in this Tabernacle of LIVING STONES.

The Wilderness Tabernacle was described in so much detail … the artisans that build it were so highly talented and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

If we are going to be building this Tabernacle of LIVING STONES, then maybe we should also be taking care to ensure that we are doing all that we can to:

Make sure that we follow the design drawings Make sure that we invite the Holy Spirit to accompany us on this journey Make sure that we are sanctifying and anointing all of the utensils for their purpose

WHAT HAPPENS IF WE FAIL IN THIS REGARD?

I think that it’s relatively safe to think that very few people have considered “how” we should go about building this Tabernacle.

Many people think that all that is required is that we should gather believers together and then make a declaration that we are the Body.

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Why would we go about this process in such a casual fashion, when we know the efforts that were taken to build the physical tabernacle?

Is the LIVING STONE Tabernacle not MORE precious?

And yet the building specifications, and the work commitment of all the people involved are all explained in great detail.

What do I deduct from this?

That the task of building the Living Stone TABERNACLE requires a focused approach with a team of dedicated priests.

THE FALL FEASTS ASSUME THAT THE BRIDE OF MESSIAH IS READY TO MEET THE BRIDEGROOM

The context of these Fall Feasts includes the preparation of the BRIDE, and the wedding ceremony and the celebration afterwards.

The BRIDE is the LIVING STONE Tabernacle. It is made up of those:

1) who have become sons / daughters of Abraham through adoption based on the completed work of Messiah, AND

2) who are living in obedience to His Commandments

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Priests are required to live a set-apart, Holy and pure life. Priests cannot be contaminated by the world system Priests cannot be living according to their own plans and ego’s Priests cannot be building their own kingdoms

ARE WE BUILDING GOD’S KINGDOM BY REFLECTING THE LIGHT OF HIS GLORY, OR ARE WE BUILDING OUR OWN TOWER OF BABEL?

My prayer is that you are part of the BRIDE dressed in Robes without spot or wrinkle.

Are you the BRIDE filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, united by speaking in a common language - the Holy Spirit tongues?

Acts 2:1-11 “The festival of Shavu‘ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.”

Acts 2:5 “Now there were staying in Yerushalayim religious Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered; they were confused, because each one heard the believers speaking in his own language. Totally amazed, they asked, “How is this possible? Aren’t all these people who are speaking from the Galil? How is it that we hear them speaking in our native languages? We are Parthians, Medes, Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Y’hudah, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome; Jews by birth and proselytes; Jews from Crete and from Arabia. . . ! How is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things God has done?”

As we move closer to these Fall Feasts, let us take the time to do some introspection:

Have we allowed the spirit of Babel to creep into our thinking? Are we reacting like the masses … can we separate ourselves from the mad rush for a while in order to rationally think about what we are doing or saying?

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The spirit of Babel ‘LOOKS LIKE’ the Tabernacle—but it's an imitation!

It is built with the intention to last It is built in order to move closer to god (is just not YHVH) It is built with a sanctuary on the ground floor And it is built with a smaller sanctuary near the top

In order for you to understand the counterfeit, I include some detail of the probable Ziggurat - E-temen-an-ki 1

‘Let us start our discussion of the Etemenanki with some remarks about this Biblical story. The Hebrew word Bâbel, Confusion, is often used for Babylon (Akkadian Bab-ili), but this is not sufficient to prove the identification of the tower with a monument in this big city. (Imagine a legend about the unity of mankind, which is situated by scholars in Union, Connecticut.) Fortunately, the story contains a second geographical clue: the tower was erected on "a plain in the land of Šin'âr". This country is known from other books of the Bible (Isaiah 11.11 and Zechariah 5.11) and is translated as "Babylonia" in the Septuagint. So there is nothing that keeps us from identifying the Biblical building with a monument in ancient Babylon. This must be the building known as E-temen-an-ki, the 'House of the foundation of heaven on earth', a giant mountain of bricks and tiles with, on top, a temple for the god Marduk. He had a second temple in the neighborhood, the Esagila.

http://www.livius.org/1

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The ancient Babylonians called these brick mountains a ziqqurratu or ziggurat, which can be translated as "rising building" (Akkadian zaqâru, "to rise high"). This type of temple tower is the oriental equivalent of the Egyptian pyramid and just as old, although there are two differences: the ziggurat was not a tomb, and ziggurats were built well into the Seleucid age, whereas the building of pyramids came to an end after c.1640 BCE. Ziggurats played a role in the cults of many cities in ancient Mesopotamia. Archaeologists have discovered nineteen of these buildings in sixteen cities; the existence of another ten is known from literary sources.

The Etemenanki was among the largest of these, and the most important. (The largest was the shrine of Anu at Uruk, built in the third or second century BCE.) According to the Babylonian creation epic Enûma êliš the god Marduk defended the other gods against the diabolical monster Tiamat. After he had killed it, he brought order to the cosmos, built the Esagila, which was the center of the new world, and created mankind. The Etemenanki was next to the Esagila, and this means that the temple tower was erected at the center of the world, as the axis of the universe. Here, a straight line connected earth and heaven. This aspect of Babylonian cosmology is echoed in the Biblical story, where the builders say "let us build a tower whose top may reach unto heaven".

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The ruin of the Etemenanki: foundations in a wetland. The best description of the monumental tower can be found in a cuneiform tablet from Uruk, written in 229 BCE. It is a copy of an older text and is now in the Louvre in Paris. It states that the tower was made up of seven terraces and it gives the height of the seven stocks - 91 meters all in all. The ground floor measured 91 x 91 meters, and this is confirmed by archaeological excavations conducted by Robert Koldewey after 1913 (91,48 x 91,66 m). Large stairs were discovered at the south side of the building, where a triple gate

connected the Etemenanki with the Esagila. A larger gate in the east connected the Etemenanki with the sacred procession road. Seen from the triple gate, the Etemenanki must have resembled a true "stairway to heaven", because the gates on the higher terraces seemed to be standing on top of each other.’

WE MAY BE “BORN AGAIN” BUT THE QUESTION THAT WE MUST ASK IS THIS –HAVE WE ALLOWED TOO MUCH OF OUR OWN HUMANISTIC ENDEAVOURS TO ENTER INTO OUR WORSHIP / SERVICE AND PRAISE?

The BRIDE will give 100% of her heart to the BRIDEGROOM. There will be no room for others / things / world systems.

Have we made any of our own bricks this year? Have we built any of our own walls this year with the mortar of deceit, corruption, and hatred? Have we built a city of own efforts this year?

Genesis 11:1-9 “The whole earth used the same language, the same words. It came about that as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shin‘ar and lived there. They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them in the fire.” So they had bricks for building-stone and clay for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.”

Genesis 11:5 “ADONAI came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ADONAI said, “Look, the people are united, they all have a single language, and see what they’re starting to do! At this rate, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse their language, so that they won’t understand each other’s speech.” So from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. For this reason it is called Bavel [confusion] — because there ADONAI confused the language of the whole earth, and from there ADONAI scattered them all over the earth.’

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**NUGGET** IF YHVH CAME DOWN TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE: - Will He find works of gold / silver? - Will He find the Fruit of the Holy Spirit? - Will He find the Bride?

A FINAL THOUGHT

All that YHVH asks is a repentant heart and an obedient spirit. I realize that it’s hard to imagine what this LIVING STONE TABERNACLE looks like, but consider the words of John on PATMOS.

Let us build towards that image ….

Revelation 4:6-11 “In front of the throne was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living beings covered with eyes in front and behind. The first living being was like a lion, the second living being was like an ox, the third living being had a face that looked human, and the fourth living being was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living beings had six wings and was covered with eyes inside and out; and day and night they never stop saying, “Holy, holy, holy is ADONAI, God of heaven’s armies the One who was, who is and who is coming!”

Revelation 4:9 “And whenever the living beings give glory, honor and thanks to the One sitting on the throne, to the One who lives forever and ever, the elders fall down before the One sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, and worship him. They throw their crowns in front of the throne and say,”

Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, ADONAI Eloheinu, to have glory, honor and power, because You created all things — yes, because of Your will they were created and came into being!”

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