Our Father God is the great arranger!
From Abraham came Isaac.
From Isaac came Jacob.
Jacob had twelve sons.
These twelve sons became the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their stories are wonderful and full of adventure. So many of the things that happened to the sons of Jacob teach us how God wishes for His people to live on this earth.
By the time these sons of Jacob were grown; God had changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob meant “trickster.” The new name of Israel means “Fighter of God.” Jacob had wrestled with God and won his blessings.
One of Jacob’s sons was born from his beloved wife named Rachel. This son was called Joseph. Joseph’s story is very interesting; but today we will be short and only speak of a small part of Joseph’s lifetime; that time that Joseph spent as a boy with his Father Jacob. Joseph loved his father very much.
The story of Joseph’s father; Jacob’s life is also very interesting. It is a long and detailed story with many stories folded inside other stories.
Today though, we will only speak of a short time in Jacob’s life when he was raising his young son named Joseph.
To make things very short I will not give you all the details but only say that Jacob did something terribly wrong to his brother for which he had to ask forgiveness from God.
Asking forgiveness is not always easy. Sometimes God has to help us know what to do. At first Jacob didn’t know what he should do. This wrong thing between Jacob and his brother (Esau) caused Jacob to run away from home; but later on he did return to face his brother and with God’s help Jacob was able make amends to their relationship.
Jacob called this time of asking forgiveness from his brother, “doing Teshuva.” Most of us today try to do Teshuva before we reach The Day of Atonement so that only love is between us and God and our brothers and sisters when we come up to celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles; which is a lot like it will be when we are all living in The Kingdom of God together one day in the future.
Jacaob’s teshuva; (or asking forgiveness by being sad for what he did wrong and saying he was sorry) was a good thing.
Whenever we ask forgiveness for how we have wronged someone today we still call it; “doing Teshuva.”
Doing Teshuva is simply saying “I’m sorry; please forgive me and I will change.”
Finally; Jacob did this act of Teshuva, and it pleased God greatly.
God was happy to see that the two brothers were finally friends again, and now they were able to live together in peace and harmony inside the Promised Land that God had given to Abraham and all of his descendants; which included Jacob and Esau.
So; time went on and on.
Years and years passed by in Jacob’s life.
It is clear that Jacob had not enjoyed living outside the land of his heritage. He was happy to be living in his homeland again. After the days when Jacob made peace with his brother, he rode back into the land that God had promised his father; Abraham and began to settle his livestock and his family.
The beautiful Promised Land was full of milk and honey. The land of Jacob’s rightful heritage was a wonderful place to raise a family. After a time of settling into that land, Jacob wanted to begin building a permanent and proper home for his family. That permanent home would be a solid structure that would not be easily destroyed by natural elements of nature, like a storm or a flood. It would be a place with a strong foundation. Until that permanent home could be finally completed; the family lived in a temporary shelter which Jacob had also built. Joseph helped his father to arrange the temporary structure where they would live until the permanent homesite was chosen.
Jacob’s livestock had walked many miles from a foreign land and they were very hungry and very tired. These animals had been gained from blessings that God gave to Jacob while he was living in the far away foreign land. All of the blessing Jacob obtained while living away from home had made Jacob’s family very prosperous and wealthy.
The animals were very valuable to Jacob.
One day Jacob decided that he would build the animals temporary shelters to live in too.
Until Jacob, made this decision; no man in history had ever built a shelter for animals to dwell in.
This idea that God gave to Jacob was brand new.
No one had ever done it before!
But; as you know; God is always letting his people help Him to bring new things about. Everything is more fun when families do them together and we all are members of God’s Great Family.
Jacob; with God’s inspiration, had done a good thing.
The cattle, sheep and donkeys of the past had always needed to brave the harsh elements of nature in the land. Whether it was hot or cold, dry or rainy, the cattle, sheep and donkeys were always left outdoors without a shelter to protect them from the elements. They were always exposed to the harsh weather and they had no dry place to lay their heads at night. The winter nights were cold. They had to stand in the ice and snow and shiver in the cold.
Because Jacob built temporary shelters for his family as well as his animals; and because the land became dotted and scattered with these little temporary shelters that Jacob had erected; the first city in The Promised Land where Jacob dwelled after his return was called Sukkot!
The word “Sukkot” is the Hebrew word we use today which describes the eight days when we celebrate our time of joy with God at the Feast of Tabernacles!
This word “Sukkot” means “temporary dwellings.”
We come to The Feast of Tabernacles each year and we stay in places that are not our permanent homes; they are “temporary dwellings.” Sometimes we build sukkahs that help us remember all the sukkahs that God’s people (like Jacob and Joseph) have built over the years as they too would celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles.
We especially enjoy remembering Jacob putting these “temporary shelters” out in his fields and allowing his animals to come inside.
It is said that all of the major blessings of Jacob were gifts of God that came because God was pleased with his care and concern for the animals of God’s creation. You see; God had originally put the first man named Adam in charge of all of the animals of the earth. God had even let Adam help Him to name each of the animals that lived in The Garden of Eden where they were first created. Mankind has been given the task for caring for the animals of the earth ever since that day; but Jacob was the very first man to care enough to provide a temporary shelter from the elements for them.
Jacob, in his own way was just carrying on the purpose that God had given to Adam. He was carefully tending to the creatures of the earth.
Sometimes the gifts and the destiny that God gives to each of us in the purposes of our daily lives begins to play out into the whole story of eternity. That seems to be what happened in Jacob’s story. Most times; like Jacob in our story today; we never realize exactly what is happening for the future at the very time that it is taking place.
Often God makes provisions for the future way ahead of what happens.
In Jacob’s story; It was noted that it was Jacob who said to his son Joseph “Please go check on the welfare of the sheep!”
Jacob was a good shepherd and he truly cared for all of the sheep within his pastures.
As a young boy, Joseph lived inside the temporary shelter (called a sukkah) which he and Jacob had built for the family to dwell in until they reached the place of their permanent home. Joseph also helped his father to build the temporary shelters (called sukkahs) that they used only for the livestock.
Now close your eyes and sit silently for a moment as we let many years of time pass us by.
Let’s leave this time of Joseph’s youth and Jacobs early manhood, and let’s go on to a future time beyond the days of Jacob and young Joseph’s lifetime.
Close your eyes and think far, far ahead.
Keep going in your mind through time until you reach the days of the times of The First Temple in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
In this new time we can glimpse a picture of a young couple traveling into the city for a religious festival and also to pay their taxes and to be counted among their people for the government’s census.
Their names were Mary and Joseph. This was ANOTHER Joseph (not Jacob’s son), and Mary (his wife) came riding on a donkey.
She was expecting a baby and her tummy was large.
Earlier; during the beginning of God’s Fall Holy Days season, they had spent Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets) with some of their loved ones and relatives. Happy days and many memories had been made with Elizabeth and Zachariah back in Bethany.
During the Feast of Rosh Hashanah the relatives spoke frankly with Joseph about how they feared Mary could not endure the bumpy donkey ride they would need to make to Jerusalem to pay their taxes. They were afraid she might be forced into labor because of the very bumpy ride, and perhaps she could even end up giving birth to the child too early.
They urged Joseph to stay with them until after the harvest feast of Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles); but he could not do so.
The young couple felt they had to be counted in the census, and they had to pay their taxes before the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles festivities.
So; for Mary’s sake, on the way to Jerusalem, Joseph stopped often and rested from the long and treacherous journey.
As they sat on the side of the road, they chatted happily, remembering all of the sweet times they had spent resting and celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the 10 Days of Awe and The Day of Atonement with their family members and relatives who lived only days by foot from the city of Bethlehem, which was just outside Jerusalem.
Eventually the couple then made their way on into the city of Bethlehem to find a good shelter for staying close to Jerusalem while they were paying their taxes, and for staying longer to celebrate with the people there during the Holy Time of Sukkot. Their own personal celebration would most likely include the blessings of a child.
When they first arrived in Bethlehem, the city was loud, very busy; and very crowded.
It was the time of Sukkot!
The people were happily celebrating the blessings of the harvest of the fall crops. The celebration from Jerusalem had overflowed into the streets of the neighboring villages.
Practically everyone in the nation of Israel had entered Jerusalem to celebrate the great festival and their sukkahs were now dotting the cityscapes for miles and miles.
The people celebrating the Fall Harvest times went into their sukkahs to eat and drink together during the Holy Day festivities. Most of them had made reservations to stay somewhere nearby in the city, either in inns or with relatives or friends, but sometimes they even slept in their sukkahs. They liked to decorate them and make them look festive.
There were large colorful crowds of celebrating people everywhere that Joseph and Mary went.
They were all gathered for Sukkot.
Sukkot was the Hebrew name for the festival we sometimes call The Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot is the Hebrew word and The Feast of Tabernacles is our English translation.
In the days of Mary and Joseph, it was the time when all the men from everywhere came to Jerusalem and built temporary shelters to dwell in with joy and worship for eight days in order to have a harvest festival before God. They built shelters for themselves and their families, and often they also built shelters for their animals and livestock in honor of the temporary shelters their ancestor (Jacob) had built for his livestock when he had re-entered the Promised Land so long ago.
Mary and Joseph had not had enough time to gather together the materials they needed to build a temporary shelter. Even if they had; they would not have been able to carry it with them on this long, long journey. They had planned on finding some materials from the woods along the roads and building such a place when they arrived, but all of the available materials for building a sukkah in the city were already taken and used up by those who were dwelling there before Joseph and Mary arrived.
After paying their taxes; Joseph and Mary had only a very little bit of money and it was almost time for Mary to deliver the child!
Their best hope was to find an open door or an inexpensive room at an inn.
Frantically Joseph knocked on the doors of inn after inn and house after house, asking for a place for his wife to lie down in order to give birth to her child.
Joseph did not tell them the things that were racing through his head.
He did not say “THIS IS THE CHILD FROM GOD!!!! YOU MUST LET US HAVE A PLACE!!!
Joseph knew no one would believe him.
They would probably just think he was crazy; so he kept up his stressful search, going to house after house and inn after inn until he realized he was not going to find a place.
In sheer desperation, Joseph sat down beside the road and buried his head in his hands.
He did not want to go back to tell his wife she must give birth to The Messiah on the side of the road.
With great emotion; Joseph prayed to God for help!
When Joseph finally raised his head and looked up, a kind man with twinkling eyes was standing right next to him.
“What is the matter my son?” asked the kind man.
“My wife is with child and will deliver any minute. I do not have a place for her. I have tried to get into the inns in the city but with the harvest festival going on everywhere, everyone is all booked up, and every house is filled to the brim with guests from out-of-town. There is NOWHERE for us to go. I do not want to go back and tell this to my poor wife.”
Joseph’s face showed his distress.
The kind stranger could hear the desperation in Joseph’s voice.
“My son,” said the kind stranger, “I do not wish to see you in such distress in the time of such a joyful celebration and festival! Surely Our Father God has already picked the perfect place and time for the birth of this child. Come with me.”
And the kind stranger led Joseph to a temporary shelter!
It was a sukkah built for the animals; the temporary place where the animals of the people coming to the festival were being kept. The wealthy travelers celebrating could not leave their flocks unattended while they were at the feast; so this shelter was made and some humble shepherds were hired to oversee their care and feeding whenever they had a break.
“Will this do for a while, until the child has come? The entrance is temporary and the roof is only covered with palm and willow branches, but in the back of this shelter there is the entrance to a cave. You can find water and privacy there, even though people will be coming and going to look in on their animals. Will this work for you?”
Joseph looked up to the kind stranger through thankful and teary eyes.
‘Yes!” said Joseph.
And as suddenly as he had appeared; the kind old man was gone.
Joseph quickly loaded Mary up onto the donkey and brought her into the little temporary shelter where, until they had come along, only the animals were being housed.
As he took Mary inside and made his way through the sukkah and a little into the back that led into a cave; Joseph had thoughts of his ancestor Jacob entering into the temporary place that God had provided for his family. Joseph knew Jacob and his family had erected temporary shelters just like this one they were at.
It occurred to Joseph that God had started making preparations for this time and a way for their provision even way back many, many years into the past, even in the very long ago time that his ancestor Jacob had begun building these little temporary shelters for the animals to be sheltered in the fields!
Joseph pondered how amazing this fact really was and he took it all to be a sure sign from God that all was well.
Now he knew that Mary would lie down on a bed of soft hay and give birth to a perfect son in this little sukkah that backed up to a cave which was located right next to a well of fresh spring water.
Was this possibly one of the sukkahs that Jacob had constructed years ago?
No one really knows.
With God; anything is possible.
Jacob’s sukkah COULD have survived until the days of Mary and Joseph.
All I can truthfully tell you is that Joseph was very, very thankful to God for His good planning.
As he pondered all of these amazing facts inside his mind; Joseph swept the floor and made the area as clean as possible.
Thinking of all they would need soon; he went to the spring-fed well and retrieved a bucket full of fresh spring water.
He laid blankets down on the hay.
He led Mary in and then she laid down upon this fresh, soft bed of hay.
She was amazed to find she was not even afraid. The young girl had a great joy inside her heart now, as she looked from the opening of the cave and up through the covering of the willow branches on the roof of the little sukkah she could see the stars. One wild star was brighter and stood out from all the rest.
Mary took comfort from the sounds of the creatures from God’s creation as they shared their dwelling place with her. The cow mooed softy and the donkey munched his hay. The sheep huddled as if they were whispering secrets to one another.
All of these animals looked on with wonder, as if they knew the secret that Mary and Joseph shared about the child that was going to be born that very night!
Mary saw the stars of the sky twinkling through the palm and willow branches covering the shelter and she felt as if they too were preparing their own welcome for the little child that was soon to be born.
The grateful heart of Mary could almost hear the stars whispering in her ears.
As she struggled in the pain of labor and child birth; Mary could hear those beautiful stars repeating the same words over and over:
“God always keeps His promises!”
“God always keeps His promises!”
“God always keeps his promises!”
These words were the ones she began repeating softly to herself as she labored in childbirth.
When the little boy was born they wrapped him in the swaddling-cloth they had brought for him, and then they laid him inside a soft hay-filled manger.
The animals looked on with wonder as the Christ child who would grow up to become The Bread of Life was placed inside their feeding trough.
Each animal just seemed to know the baby boy was a holy being sent to earth from God.
They were amazed that he now lay sleeping inside their own dwelling place!
There was also a new sound in the air.
The animals and Mary and Joseph could hear the glorious sound of angels singing, even though the people passing by did not even seem to notice the heavenly choir in the sky; nor did they seem to recognize the fact that a Savior had come down to earth.
The night stars kept singing their lullaby to The Baby Jesus as Mary and Joseph huddled lovingly over Him giving thanks and praise to God.
Then a new noise was heard in the little sukkah.
No; it wasn’t the cry of the baby boy who lay peacefully sleeping in his lowly wooden bed.
This was the loud and rowdy sound of Seven Shepherds who suddenly appeared at the door of the shelter.
Not knowing they had company; they came barging into the little shelter.
After the day of celebrations; these ragged shepherds had come for just a little while to look in on and to feed and water the animals the rich owners had left in their charge.
Yet; there was something different in the air tonight.
Everyone felt it!
The seven shepherds came stumbling into the shelter with sheer excitement on their faces, each of them telling the astounding stories of how they looked up into the night sky from the hills of their family sukkahs while keeping the feast and heard a glorious heavenly announcement that a child would be born in Bethlehem and they would find him laying in a manger.
As they proclaimed this amazing news to one another, the shepherd’s eyes all fell on Jesus!
Instantly they recognized the child as the Son of God!
That night as they entered the sukkah so unexpected and then saw the child that the angels had sung about; they quickly fell on their knees with praise and adoration to God.
Mary and Joseph, (though they were physically very tired and mostly preoccupied with the birth of the child); welcomed the seven shepherds into the little sukkah.
One-by-one, they invited these dirty, rough and ragged men of the fields to come closer and to gaze upon the sleeping child.
They invited these unexpected guests to share their meals and to join in with the singing of joyful hymns before God in keeping with the festival, but mostly from the joy of seeing the Child of God.
The obscure little Sukkah next to a cave with a well of fresh water was very full of joy and thanksgiving.
All guests knew the love of God was dwelling with them.
One by one these seven poor, humble shepherds were able to spend their time with the Christ Child.
They were there only because they had been hired by rich masters to feed and tend their sheep who were stored away inside a temporary shelter while the owners of the sheep went about their business and enjoyed the feast.
These men had been given the lowest and humblest of all jobs; but they were the very first people ever invited to know and to come close to Jesus.
Our Father God is the great arranger.
He has this special way of looking after all of His children and arranging the circumstances of their lives perfectly.
God never forgets one person.
Everyone has a special destiny in life and each special destiny always comes to pass when the time is right.
Then in that sacred night came the time of a miracle of all miracles.
One by one the seven shepherds were all allowed to hold the Christ Child in their arms!
Those poor, humble, uneducated men knew from The Father; God that a special miracle had happened at this Feast of Tabernacles, and in this sukkah on this very special and holy night.
Not one shepherd ever forgot that holy night.
Not one shepherd ever failed to pass the story on to their children and grandchildren, and they passed it on to us.
Every year at Sukkot afterwards, they all were reminded of this greatest of all miracles, and they all always led their families in worship and awe of The Christ Child from the temporary shelters of their own family sukkahs.
At their festivals, as at ours today, everyone shared praise and joy for Christ the King, the One the Angels of Heaven sang about that night as those shepherds of old tended their flocks in the hills of Bethlehem.
It was a sacred moment that would always be celebrated again year after year.
After the child was born on that first day of the feast, Joseph took their offering of two turtle doves up to the Temple in Jerusalem and gave them to the priest for an offering to God.
Then Mary and Joseph watched and listened to the whole world outside their doors; praising God in joyful celebration of the harvest festival when they returned to the little temporary shelter that God had provided.
From a distance they could hear the joyful sound of parades as the people took their offerings (the first-fruits of their fall harvests) up to the temple.
As they marched they sang praises to God.
They could hear the songs, the hymns from the Psalms of David, and Joseph and Mary knew there was dancing in the streets.
The people were celebrating the end of a good harvest year and the beginning of a brand new civil year.
The first day of each civil year was officially known as the day for the coronation of kings. That day had now passed; and God had blessed them indeed!
God had blessed them more than they had yet comprehended.
Little did the city know that their true King had now been born, and inside a lowly manger in Bethlehem lay a child who would one day be known as The King of Kings.
Joseph and Mary smiled at one another, knowing that from this moment on, the blessings of the world would fade a bit as the blessings of heaven were going to be so much greater!
Without saying a word to each other; they knew:
God always keeps His promises!
Jacob had passed away many long years ago; but the legacy of his sukkah-building still lived on in Bethlehem that holy night as the descendants of Abraham saw the coming of The Promised Messiah.
The Messiah had come down to earth to dwell with mankind and hardly anyone even noticed that He had come; but the form of a little tiny baby was laying in a manger inside a temporary dwelling in Bethlehem!
AND THE STARS KEPT ON SHINING,
AND THE WAVES OF THE SEA KEPT BRUSHING THE SANDS ON THE SHORE,
AND THE ANGELS KEPT SINGING FOR JOY BECAUSE:
GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES!