The Feast of Tabernacles is a time of great joy for us in God’s Church since for some of us who are scattered it is the one and only opportunity within a year to fellowship personally with God’s people. We renew old friendships, make new ones and with the spiritual food we receive, we continue to grow in grace and knowledge which is crucial for our walk with Christ.
What will it take to make you walk away from the Truth? In the 70’s a couple we knew left the church because in their minds, prophecy was not being fulfilled fast enough. Even in the time of Christ, there were some who walked away. This seems somewhat incredible in view of the fact they witnessed firsthand all the signs, wonders and miracles which He did.
Let us look at the following example in John 6:48-58, beginning with the words of Christ who said:
”’I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.’
“The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.'”
Note the reaction of many of His disciples, as recorded in John 6:66: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
Notice: “Many” just walked away and abandoned Him. In their minds what He was saying was against laws in the Old Testament. They reasoned: “‘Eating His flesh and drinking His blood’– That’s cannibalism, and we know we are not to eat human flesh and drink blood.”
What they failed to do was to ask for an explanation as to what Christ meant by His statements. He was referring to the new Passover symbols which would be introduced by Him shortly, speaking of eating a piece of unleavened bread and drinking a little bit of wine, to picture His suffering and death. This constituted a radical change from the current practice of sacrificing and eating a Passover lamb.
Why they never questioned Him is a bit of a mystery. They just walked away, rejecting His words. When you hear something from the pulpit which doesn’t seem quite right to you, do you head for the door or do you go and ask the speaker as to what he meant by what he said?
As a speaker, sometimes things don’t come out just right as intended. It is the responsibility of the hearer to ask.
As we head into the winter months which in the northern hemisphere are long and cold, we look forward to springtime and the spring Holy Days. We will face trials and tests, as Christ told us. It is important for us not to get rattled by anything which happens to us, including imagined or real offenses, misunderstandings and illusions of our own minds, but rather, to look to the purpose of our calling and to the reward ahead.
When we face serious trials and tests, just how strong will our commitment be? Will we hold fast or will we walk away?
