Nehe 8:1-3 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that [was] before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that [was] before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people [were attentive] unto the book of the law.[from the morning until midday ... Sounds like Sunday Morning service today]
Nehe 8:6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with [their] faces to the ground.Nehe 8:8-10 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which [is] the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day [is] holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
I want to preach to you about what God’s word means when it says to eat and drink and rejoice.
Nehemiah 8:1 makes mention that this event occurred on the first day of the seventh month.
The first day of the seventh month initiated the Feast of Tabernacles with a feast called the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Tabernacles was a feast comprised of three feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles) just as the overall Feast of Passover was comprised of the three feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits). These two sets of Feasts were each comprised of three Feasts, and the Feast of Pentecost was sandwiched between the two sets.
Levi 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first [day] of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.The feast of trumpets occurred after four previous feasts...
These Feasts coincide with the New Testament pattern of...
1. Passover is the death of Jesus on the cross
2. Unleavened bread was the burial of Jesus.
3. Firstfruits, waving the first sheaves of harvest is the resurrection
of Jesus.
4. Pentecost was when the 120 received the Holy Ghost baptism.
God desires to do a work in our lives that begins with the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus, followed by our union into Christ through
the Pentecostal experience.
•This work following the previous four begins with what the FEAST OF
TRUMPETS represents.
On the very same day that this feast began, Israel was freed from Babylonian
captivity and living where they should have been, in Jerusalem.
•They rebuilt the city.
•And this parallels the experience of a person who has made the death
burial and resurrection of Jesus (Passover, unleavened bread and firstfruits)
their own experience by receiving Pentecost.
When you experience Pentecost, the death, burial and resurrection of
Jesus becomes your experience.
•YOU IDENTIFY YOURSELF WITH HIM IN HIS DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION.
•This is a very important concept that we must understand.
Jesus did not die, get buried and resurrect just to make a place for
Himself in history.
•He did it so that we could claim that experience as our own and thereby
be saved.
•THINK OF THAT CAREFULLY!
•He did it so that we could claim that experience as our own and thereby
be saved.
Jesus died, was buried and resurrected because WE HAD TO DIE, BE BURIED
AND RESURRECT.
•More specifically, we had to die to our entire existence as sinners
descended from Adam, have that existence buried, and resurrect into a new
existence in which God now deems us as descended from CHRIST, and part
of a new creation.
•Just as Adam was the Father of old creation, Jesus is the Father of
the New Creation.
We must change creations.
•We must be removed from Adam’s race.
•We must become part of Christ’s race, sons and daughters of God.
•And our deaths with Jesus who died on the cross, causes something
to happen to us which transfers us out of Adam’s race into a new race,
yet in the pattern that God used to create Adam’s race.
God made Adam multiply into other humans by taking something from within
his side and forming it into a woman.
•That is why it is no coincidence that the Bible reads that Jesus died
and a soldier pierced His side and blood and water flowed forth.
•The blood and water are very symbolic of BIRTH.
•New birth occurs.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people who asked him how to
be saved that they must initially repent, secondly, be baptized in Jesus
name for remission of sins and, thirdly, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
•Those three experiences coincide with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.
•Three parts to Acts 2:38 and three parts of the Gospel, death, burial
and resurrection.
So the first three feasts speak of Jesus’ three experiences, which basically
represent the Gospel.
•And then Pentecost comes next and speaks of a person making His experiences
their own experiences.
•We identify with His experiences at this point.
•They become our experiences.
•We identify with Him and understand that God made it possible for
us to be able to say we died and were buried and resurrected through Jesus’
death, burial and resurrection.
That is why Paul thanked God for delivering him from his body of death THROUGH CHRIST in Romans 7:24-25.
And when we have identified His experiences as our own, and are thereby
UNITED to Him, there is a whole “Kingdom of God” full of benefits and privileges
that are then our own.
•And we need teaching from the WORD TO LEARN ABOUT THEM.
•There is so precious little time we have in this life that we must
not waste it on missing all that God has for believers.
Just as the fifth feast of trumpets occurred after the previous four
which involve the Gospel and our IDENTIFICATION with the death, burial
and resurrection
•Ezra read to them the Word of God.
•He gave the “sense” of the Word and what it meant.
•He made them to UNDERSTAND the Word.
Isai 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people ....Trumpets in the Bible always speak of REVELATION.
So the Feast of trumpets most naturally is the learning process wherein we learn of all the blessings that we have, and how to do something for God in this world.
If you are not saved, or do not understand the plan of salvation as
you would like to, the first thing you must see is that Jesus died, was
buried and resurrected because you had to die and be buried to your old
life and resurrect from that grave, so to speak. All your old sins
and messes in life are then considered gone forever in God’s eyes, so that
He will not bring them up to you on judgment day.
•You resurrect and are to then consider yourself as an adopted child
who is now in God’s family.
•God’s process of adopting you takes place through your identification
with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, as your death burial and resurrection.
Christian people who fail to experience Acts 2:38 are people who believe
they are princes and princesses when in actuality it is a pretending game.
•We pray that these people see the light of true identification with
Jesus.
When the people were freed from Babylon, its is like a soul being freed
from the kingdom of darkness in which all people who have not identified
with Jesus are yet living.
•And in many cases when people finally learn to identify with Jesus
according to Acts 2:38, they have come out of Babylon in the form of religious
confusion and doctrinal error.
•“Babylon” literally means “confusion”.
•All they were told to do was accept Jesus in their hearts before.
•But they finally learned that the experiences Peter told the people
to move into in Acts 2:38 are what everyone experience in order to truly
be saved.
Then the people began to grieve after they learned the word of God.
Nehe 8:9-10 And Nehemiah, which [is] the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day [is] holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.What did they grieve about?
What they grieved over was the fact that they began to realize they
had missed God’s will during their entire time of captivity in Babylon.
•The years wasted away being away from the place they should have been
in.
•They were enlightened by the TEACHING from the Word of God on the
feast of trumpets.
•And they saw how wrong their lives had been.
But Ezra told them to stop grieving.
•Rejoice.
•Eat and drink and have joy, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
•You came out of Babylon, now get on with your new life!
•Don’t fret, crank and worry.
•Eat, drink and be merry!
This reference to eating and drinking is very significant.
•Ecclesiastes shows God’s advice for those of us who ask WHY things
had to be the way they came to be.
•Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote about his attempts
to understand WHY things happened.
•Why do some oppressed people never get help, and why do the oppressors
continue to hold power?
•Why do some people die the way they do, and why did it happen when
it happened?
•Why are some people born into the situations they are born into, some
in poor families and other sin wealthy families?
After talking about the times of his searching for these answers, he realized that to everything there is a season and a time for it all. He said that all of it has a purpose, and IT IS NOT OUR BUSINESS TO KNOW WHY.
Eccl 3:11 He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.Its only vanity and vexation of spirit to try to discover these things.
And over and over again, Solomon simply repeats the words....
Eccl 2:24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.Eat and drink and ENJOY.
He thought of travail people go through.
Eccl 4:4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.A man gets rich and has all he wanted, and yet does not enjoy it.
Eccl 6:2 A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease.He spoke of his own searches.
Eccl 2:8-11 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts.So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.
Eccl 2:17-18 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.He got himself into a bad state:Eccl 2:20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
Eccl 4:2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.He said that anything outside of serving God exists in a realm of what we can call CURSING.
Notice this thought:
Eccl 2:22-23 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.One who seeks these things alone in life, never thinking of God, will find travail. And then we discover:
Eccl 2:25-26 For who can eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I? For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.The Travail the person experiences IS FROM GOD.
And between the reference to travail and God giving travail, we read:
Eccl 2:24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.Eating and drinking and rejoicing are repeated all through Ecclesiastes.
All these places: 2:24; 3:13; 3:22; 5:18; 8:15; 9:7-8
Eccl 3:13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it [is] the gift of God.Eccl 3:22 Wherefore I perceive that [there is] nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that [is] his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
Eccl 5:18 Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.
Eccl 8:15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
Eccl 9:7-8 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
Solomon said that seeking to know these things is vanity and vexation
of spirit.
• Chasing after the wind.
It is God’s business as to what happens in this world.
• You may not understand how there can be a purpose to a thing, but
that does not mean there is not a purpose.
• Our business is to eat and drink and rejoice.
• We enter a realm of cursing when we neglect the things of God for
other journeys.
• Let God deal with the business of WHY.
• Our business is to eat and drink and rejoice.
• MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
It may sound nonsense to not worry, be happy, but there is something
more to this repeated reference to eating and drinking and being merry.
Solomon mentioned it over and over again.
• Ezra told the people to do it.
EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY
Sounds a lot like:
John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.Eat, drink and rejoice.
Ezra was teaching at a FEAST OF TRUMPETS.
• A feast of revelation of the Word.
• And he told them to eat, drink and be merry.
We are feasting on the implications of what it means to be identified
with Jesus.
• His body is identified with us.
• His blood is identified with us.
• Eating that body is representative of feasting on what it means to
be one with Him.
• Drinking His blood is feasting on what it is to be one with Him.
• Learn all about our union to Him.
Its not your business to know why things happen the way they do.
• You walk into a cursed land in wondering why, because God chose to
handle it and not tell you why.
• And He says to trust Him and let Him handle it, and to eat and drink
and be merry.
Isai 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.He set it up so that only those who trust Him and go about their laid out business of seeking the things of the Kingdom of God will find joy.
Mind your own business.
Jesus told Peter his future:
John 21:18-22 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry [thee] whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what [shall] this man [do]? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what [is that] to thee? follow thou me.Peter wanted to know about John’s future.
Matt 13:27-30 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.In verse 41 we read that the tares are those who do iniquity.
Roma 14:2-4 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.Paul said “Stop criticizing each other for your little differences.”
Roma 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.Some regret past events in which circumstances that they were in did not go in the direction they assumed they were supposed to go.
Roma 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.His eye is on the sparrow and I KNOW he is watching me.
Don’t fret over past mistakes.
• Don’t be down over how you raised your children.
• Some children need to learn to eat drink and be merry, rather than
remaining bitter over worrying WHY such a thing happened.
• They are in a cursed land and need to learn to stop searching for
answers that God does not give to us.
I don’t need to understand, I just need to Hold His hand.
Nehe 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.Go YOUR WAY.
Some fret over the finances and live lives of unbelief in holding back
their tithe from God.
• When we worry about finance and fret over income, holding back tithe,
we are not trusting God at all.
• You enter a cursed land where the more YOU try to save, the more
you lose and never get ahead.
• You disobey God’s word and live a life of unbelief.
• Malachi said that stealing the tithe causes a curse.
Mala 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye [are] cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, [even] this whole nation.God’s business is to provide your needs.Matt 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Matt 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Matt 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Some married and single people need to stop regretting how another married
the one you were interested in.
• THAT IS A SPIRIT OF ADULTERY.
• I even heard of single people looking at a married person and hoping
that one would die so they could jump in and marry that person.
• THAT IS ADULTERY IN THE HEART!
• And such people exist in a cursed land and need to recover themselves
by repentance to God.
• Or nothing will ever go right with them.
Don’t rot away with bitterness and “If only’s” and regrets of the past.
• GO YOUR WAY.
• Forget about what way so-and-so should or should not go.
• Eat the flesh of Christ, drink his blood and have eternal life and
be merry.