This season beginning with Thanksgiving and ending with Christmas is usually a time of food, sales, and super-shopping.
Historically, in this nation, the Thanksgiving season marked the deliverance from near starvation for the first New England settlers with the help of a compassionate Native American, Squanto. It was also the beginning of acts of extermination committed against the Native Americans of the region. These acts were so malicious and perverse in viciousness, they make us hang our heads in shame when we read the historical accounts*.
As the nation became united under a central government, Presidents Washington, and later, Lincoln, called this nation to dedicate a day of Thanksgiving to God for the blessings He has given to us**.
Spiritually, the season between our Thanksgiving, and the approaching Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), which coincides with Christmas this year, has a profound meaning. The word "thanksgiving" first appears in scripture in Lev. 7:11-17. It is associated with sacrifice and offering in the tabernacle. Bread and oil were offered, and a flesh peace offering was sacrificed. The Hebrew word for thanksgiving used here is todah. It means extension of the hands in confession, thanksgiving and praise. The pictographical meaning of the Hebrew letters of the word, tav, yad, daleth, he, is "Behold, the cross, the hand (a finished work) and the door". This goes way beyond food, sales, and shopping, and we, God's people, are to be aware.
Jesus, at the time of the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem spoke of being The Door of the sheepfold (Grk. aule- courtyard of the tabernacle/Temple in Jerusalem):
"I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Jn. 10:9
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who gives His life a sacrifice, for the sheep (v.11). The Father in heaven loves Him because of this sacrifice, and His power to take His life back up again (v. 17-18).
The lifting of hands in sacrifice, thanksgiving and praise- this is our Thanksgiving. It leads us into that spiritual place for the coming Feast of Dedication. This feast commemorates the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, after it had been desecrated and defiled by an invading foreign leader. He had offered a pig of the altar to mock God, and to exalt his heathen gods in this holy place.
The purpose of the Temple, as originally dedicated by King Solomon, was to be a place of sacrifice and offering to God:
"Behold I build a house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel. And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods." 2 Chron. 2:4-5
It is the place where God sees, hears, forgives, and heals:
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctify this house, that My name may be there forever: and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually."
2 Chron. 7:14-16
We are this living tabernacle of His name, and from this place we extend our hands in confession, thanksgiving, and praise. We are the living stones from which this great tabernacle of God's name is built:
"Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. 2:5
This year at Thanksgiving, let us extend our hands to God, making confession for this nation, especially for the sins against the Native Americans of the Northeast, and for our own individual sins, and offer Him the sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise for His mercy and blessings towards us. As His holy, living temple, the place of His name, this is our purpose, and it begins within each of us.
As the year draws to a close, it is time to "do over", "to transmute" as the Hebrew meaning of the word "year" means. The letters of the Hebrew word shaneh are "shin, nun, he", and have the meaning "Behold, the heir to the throne consumed, El Shaddai". As Jesus had the power to lay down His life, and take it back again, He is indeed El Shaddai.
This season of Thanksgiving and the Feast of Dedication calls to each one of us, especially at such a time as this.
To hear the full message from Apostle Ken Stevenson please join us at https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8
To contact/ give:
Everlasting Covenant
PO Box 155
Christmas, Fl. 32709
No comments:
Post a Comment