Thought for the Month

"It shall come to pass that….all the nations…shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." (Zech.14:16)

The third feast of the agricultural and religious year under the law arrangement in Israel was Sukkot. It was the final harvest; the first being the barley harvest when our Lord died at the Passover and was raised from the dead as the first‑fruits of them that slept. (1 Cor.15:20) The second was the wheat harvest at the feast of weeks just seven weeks later at Pentecost when the holy Spirit came and the gospel message went out for Israelites to become the sons of God. Just three and a half years later it is reckoned the call went out to the nations, the Gentiles. The final feast comes months later. Anyone can see who visits Israel, Turkey or other countries around the Mediterranean there is the harvest after all the figs, vines and other agricultural produce are brought in. Therefore it pictures the harvest of the world in the age to come; the Messianic age.

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The year 2023 marks two anniversaries: firstly of 75 years of the state of Israel which country is so often in our news, and secondly it is 100 years since the Ottoman empire ended which also changed matters affecting the promised land and with it the beginning of the return of favour to Israel.