27.4 The First Day
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I watched a movie yesterday in which the question was asked with strength: What do you really want? And in the context of that wanting is where your ship WILL go. Sometimes such questions are more real to us when they come in the midst of story. I paused and asked myself, in light of my present today, what do I really want?
We are in the time of year of the Feast of Tabernacles, called by some, the Shemitah. In fact, some call this year of 2016 to be the greatest of all Shemitah’s, a time of Jewish fulfillment, the year of Jubilee. (I do not regard Jewish fables, but only what God speaks.)
What Do I Want?
When I asked myself the question, what do I really want, I answered myself with only one response. “Oh, my Father, I want to be right in the middle of Your fulfillment of the first Day of Tabernacles in the life of Your church, and in the middle of all of Tabernacles all the way through to the final Day of Tabernacles.” And I have wanted this one thing, now, for 38 years.
I did not commit my life to a myth, nor to a “Christian” fable, but to the fulfillment of all that God speaks, fulfilled in me. I know I can “do” none of it, but I also know that God does what He says and that God does what He says in me.
The Fulfillment of Tabernacles
The fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles is an experience far greater than the Day of Pentecost and the birthing of the church from Peter’s sermon; it is the full application of the Feast of Passover, the Walk of the Atonement.
I recommend that you read through my book, The Feast of Tabernacles, to know more of what that means. I now see that this fulfillment of Tabernacles and the unveiling of Jesus Christ, the Apocalypse, are the same thing. The first Day of Tabernacles is Jesus unveiled to His firstfruits, those who open Tabernacles for all. Then the in-between days are Jesus unveiled to His church and the final Day is Jesus unveiled to the cosmos.
The Unveiling
The unveiling is the removal of the cataracts from off of our eyes that we might see and KNOW what is and has always been the only thing real. The unveiling is the substance of Christ becoming the appearance of the new creation – yet that appearance does not happen until the final Day of Tabernacles, the Day of Victory.
I do not know how long the in-between days will be, whether 3 ½ years or 7 years or some other number, though I lean to 3 ½. Through that time, we will walk KNOWING without outward seeing, as if KNOWING is all we need. And remember that the PROOF of knowing is not the performance of miracles, but walking together in love.
Caught in a Race
Now here is the urgency I feel when I read about the expectation that this year’s Shemitah is a big deal in God acting upon the earth through the Jews. I feel as if I am caught in a race between Christ and anti-Christ, between the Seed of promise and the claim of the natural man to the inheritance and the fulfillment of a Nicene “Christ.”
What word and what spirit and what people will govern the release of Tabernacles/Shemitah? Will the longing of my heart for 38 years be swept aside by an outward performance of a Constantinian Christ, and of Old-Testament-style prophets as the two witnesses?
Which Doors?
All of our brethren, including all of the heavenly woman, our mother, are convinced that it will be an Old Testament Christ. I suspect, even, that most who know me are convinced it will be anything other than me, that the desire of my heart is folly.
Why would God choose Daniel Yordy? I cannot think of any reason. Yet it would absolutely break my heart if the Christ God reveals is not the Christ that I know.
The critical question in my book, The Feast of Tabernacles, is – Who is it that will open the Doors of Tabernacles for many? But the race is – which doors will be thrown open?
The First Unveiling
You may not have known it, but from the first Christ Our Life letter I sent out, this is the only race in which I have been running, with all of my might.
The first unveiling and the fulfillment of the First Day of Tabernacles, the flinging open of its Doors, are the same thing. Here is the first unveiling.
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:22-23). The word “manifest” is emphanizo, meaning to appear in Person, to make visible outwardly.
Margaret MacDonald’s Vision
It is this private revelation of Christ to His own ones that Margaret MacDonald saw in her vision in 1830, a vision that speaks the same as what I teach. Yet religious intellects took that wonderful vision and created “the rapture” from it as a doctrine of the Bible.
Margaret MacDonald did NOT see an outward physical removal of the Church from the earth, but rather she saw what Jesus says, that He reveals Himself to His elect privately. Margaret MacDonald saw that the great PROVING by fire was between our KNOWING of a Christ not outwardly visible versus the outward expression of Constantine’s “Christ.”
Stand Unmovable
Will there be an outward “two witnesses” speaking from an Old Testament “Christ” just as most of Christianity believes? And will we stand unmovable against that false fulfillment entirely because we KNOW what we do not see?
Will there be an outward fulfillment of “Jesus and the Jews” seizing the inheritance just as most of Christianity believes? And will we stand unmovable against that false fulfillment entirely because we KNOW what we do not see?
I will not predict the future, but I know where my own heart stands unmovable. I will hold to the Word God speaks fulfilled in all fullness as Christ through me regardless of all outward appearance.
The Proving of Our Faith
I will hold. That the proving of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is proven by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
HOWEVER – let us not think for one moment that the true fulfillment of Tabernacles will ever sit in static boredom. ON THE CONTRARY. It is God’s fulfillment of Tabernacles through you and me that rules all things happening upon this earth. Anything other is a vapor, a mist that vanishes as the Daystar arises in our hearts.
People Who Know God
Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who KNOW their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many… (Daniel 11:32-33). – Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3). – ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘…And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace” to it’ (Zechariah 4:6-7).
It’s all one word.
The Gathering of Pentecost
Let’s look at the first unveiling, the Father and Son coming privately to Their completed house, the firstfruits walking together as one body, and making Their Home among us.
First, Pentecost came into the experience of the church in AD 29, and again restored in 1901, in a specific circumstance. In both instances saints of God had gathered together in one room, seeking God with all the intensity of their hearts for a promised fulfillment, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a body of people in a way that had never before been known in the experience of humanity. And upon that one group gathered together, the Spirit was poured out – after which the same experience came to many scattered everywhere.
The Real Deal
This experience of Father and Son making Their Home among us together as the Body of Christ is a trillion times greater than the outpouring of Pentecost. Pentecost was the guarantee; Tabernacles is the real deal.
The operative word of Tabernacles is “gather together.” That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ… (Ephesians 1:10a).
I do not think, however, that the first fulfillment of Tabernacles will happen in quite the same way as the first fulfillment of Pentecost and its restoration. The truth is I don’t know how it will happen.
I Will NOT Let You Go
What I do know is that I am waiting on God with all the intensity of my heart, writing furiously that I might know Him, that I might find myself right in the middle of however it is that Father and Son first make their Home among us. I have no other means in my hand of being part of that fulfillment than seeing the Word God speaks flow through me by writing; thus write I will.
I will not let You go until You bless me. I will see all the Word that God speaks be fulfilled in me and through me towards you. Yet what is it that we will see and experience as the first Day of Tabernacles breaks upon our lives?
Walking Together
To have some idea we must look at the Final Day of Tabernacles – that they world may know.
That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me (John 17:21-23).
The real glory of Jesus upon us, together as one body. Made perfect in one – the entire body of Christ. Walking together in the same Love of our Father that Jesus knows.
Neither Might nor Power
Thus we see the first Day of Tabernacles as the firstfruits that will draw the entire heavenly woman into that same reality – that is, the Christ child seized into God and into His throne. What will be the outer circumstances of our passing from being a bunch of isolated individuals hoping in God into our being together the firstfruits of God, nourishing His woman?
I would be a part of a local community of Christ gathered together right now if there were any way that I could be. But I do not possess any leadership gifting, nor any money sufficient, nor any physical strength to MAKE it happen. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.
I Will Shout
Thus I WILL do the only thing I can do. I will SHOUT “Grace, Grace” to the gathering together. “Grace,” I say, “Grace to that gathering together.” “Grace, Grace” to the community of Christ.” Calling those things that be not as though they are.
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy (Psalm 137:5-6). We call forth the city of God, the Jerusalem above, the true Jerusalem, the mother of us all; we call her into her place.
I WILL NOT Hold My Peace
For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name (His Bride, the Church, the NEW Jerusalem).
You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate… For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married (Isaiah 62:1-4).
Watchmen on the Wall
For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall YOUR SONS marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62:5-7).
You and I are watchmen on the wall. Let us obey God. Let us never stop crying “Grace, Grace” to the gathering together. Let us never give God a moment of peace until He makes Jerusalem, our bride, a praise in all the earth.