Jeremiah spoke with great clarity when he said: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:5-6).
It may be asked, Where is the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:33-43) mentioned in connection with the earthly kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ? We would refer you to Zechariah 14.
“And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem….And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord and His name one….And it shall come to pass, that every one 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…” (Zech. 14:4, 9, 16-18).
The literal fulfillment of prophetic Scripture is an unanswerable argument for the supernatural inspiration of the Word of God. One-fifth of the Bible deals with the foretelling of future events. The holy men who penned the prophetic Scriptures, “being moved” as Peter said, “by the Holy Ghost,” wrote with such amazing accuracy that even the most skeptical of men, if honest, have to admit that, were those prophets writing a history book today, they could not write with more certainty and exactness than they did centuries ago.
In the Old Testament, there are two distinct groups of prophetic statements which referred to Christ: those concerning “the sufferings of Christ” and those which told of “the glory that should follow” (1 Pet. 1:11). The Jews never did see the first group of prophecies, or if they did see them, they did not understand them. They were not expecting a Messiah who would come in humiliation: One who would be born in a sheep pen, live in a humble carpenter’s home, spend His time of ministry among the sinners and outcasts, be mocked by enemy soldiers, and finally be put to death between two thieves. They only saw their Messiah as One who would come in glory, who would wield a scepter and liberate them from their enemies, establishing an eternal kingdom which God had promised so many times to the fathers.
Because of this failure on their part to understand the whole scheme of God, Jesus was continually rebuking them. After His resurrection, as He walked with Cleopas and his companion on the Emmaus road, they expressed their vain hope that the One whom they trusted as their Messiah was to have “redeemed Israel.” Then He said to them: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
In our day, things are just the opposite. If the Jews were farsighted, we have been nearsighted. As they, in their study of prophetic scripture, could see only the “glory which should follow,” so the majority of Christians have seen only the “sufferings of Christ.” Please do not misunderstand, for we must not minimize the Calvary work of our Lord. His finished work at the Cross will be the perpetual topic of conversation among the redeemed for all eternity. Let us continue to preach “the sufferings of Christ,” but we cannot exalt His atoning work by minimizing “the glory which should follow.” The greatest event in all past history was His first coming: the greatest event in future history will be His second coming.
In the wisdom and counsels of God, Christ is today where He ought to be–a Risen Man in the glory. He has been highly exalted and has been given the Name which is above every name. He is our Great High Priest and intercedes for us. He is also our Advocate, and is filling God’s eternal purpose perfectly. But, in relation to this world, the throne which belongs to Him is still vacant.
Where will His throne be, and where shall be the capitol of His kingdom? In Isaiah 2:3, we read: “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” The city of Jerusalem, thus restored, will be the center of the world. That is to say, Jerusalem will be not only the religious center but the political center of the whole earth. From thence shall be administered the perfect law of God and from thence also shall be regulated the world’s worship. “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem” (Zech. 14:8).
How extensive will be His kingdom? “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him” (Ps. 2:8-12). “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).
What will His kingdom be like? There will be changes in nature. Instead of the briars and thorns we will have the fir tree and the myrtle. The curse that was placed on the creation after man’s sin will be lifted. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The leopard will lie down with the kid. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb. The cow and the bear shall feed; and their little ones shall lie down together. The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all His holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (see Isa. 11:6-9). There will also be righteousness: “He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth…And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins” (Isa. 11:3-5).
“Endeavor then,” says Mr. W. Trotter, “to realize what would be the condition of a kingdom under the absolute government of a monarch so wise as never to make one single mistake, so equitable as to deal even-handed justice to all, so tenderhearted as to rule with the gentlest sway, so pious and benevolent as to seek no object but the glory of God and the well-being of His subjects, and so powerful as to secure the absolute submissions of all within the sphere of His dominions!
What a kingdom! But when we think of such a kingdom as extending over the whole earth, and embracing all nations within its limits; and when we understand that Christ Himself is to be its Head and Lord, and that the risen saints are to be His associates on the throne, all language fails, and the heart can only find relief in adoration too profound to be expressed.”
Harris H. Gregg concluded a very helpful little pamphlet, The History And Relief of Doubt, with a statement which we have chosen to sum up this brief study:
“The feasts of the Lord (Lev. 23) were God’s annual clock in the tabernacle and temple. But, like the sun and solar system, they were for signs as well as seasons (Gen. 1:14). The solar system is God’s clock for earth, for our clocks and watches, for vegetation and animal life, and for man’s welfare. All light and time come from the heavens. The Lord’s feasts were the clock of Christ and prophecy.
“It was Passover when Christ died as the Paschal Lamb of God, to take away, finally, the sin of the world. The clock pointed to ‘the feast of firstfruits’ on the morning of His resurrection. It pointed to Pentecost when He sent the Holy Spirit to gather His firstfruits, His exodus from Israel and all Gentile nations (Acts 2). For over nineteen centuries, it has slowly moved toward the Feast of Trumpets, and Christ’s return. Then it will point to the Day of Atonement, when, on the ground of Calvary, He will show Himself in His glory to Israel. He will be their glory, and Israel will be His glory. It will be His year of Jubilee, and theirs. Then the clock will point to the Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel will bring all Gentiles to their Christ. The Garden and City of God will fill the earth with His glory, His love, and resurrection life and light. Then the clock will stop at the eternal Sabbath of God’s rest, in the new heaven and earth. ‘There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.'”
Reprinted from Feasting on the Feasts, published by Dunham, out of print.