While, experimentally, we must all begin with redemption - Passover, `the first month of the year to you' (Exod.

12:2) - God begins with the Sabbath, and the purpose of the age is to restore that which is past.

Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and the Firstfruits have received their fulfilment (1 Cor. 5:7,8; Acts 2;

1 Cor. 15:20). Between Pentecost and Trumpets (Nos. 4 and 5 in the list above) is an interval of some months, with

no feast to mark it, only a reference to `the poor, and to the stranger' (Lev. 23:22). Here, in these silent months

between Pentecost and Trumpets, is where the dispensation of the Mystery finds its place.

The Feast of Tabernacles, being the sunteleia, must be given a little closer attention. This feast celebrates both

the harvests of `the corn and the wine' (Deut. 16:13). At the return of the captivity under Ezra, and again under

Nehemiah (Ezra 3:4 and Neh. 8:14) this feast was observed, and this is the feast picked out by God for annual

observance by all the nations that are left after the coming of the Lord (Zech. 14:16-19). The association of

`tabernacles' and the coming of the Lord explains Peter's suggestion on the mount of Transfiguration, that he should

make three tabernacles (Matt. 17:4).

After the detailed statement of Leviticus 23:34-36, the writer returns to the Feast of Tabernacles to give further

particulars (verses 39-43), thus marking it as of great importance. Here we have the command to take boughs of

trees and to dwell in booths or tabernacles. Here also is emphasised the `eighth day' which is `the last day, that

great day of the feast' (John 7:2 and 37), when the Lord spake of the full outpouring of the Spirit - upon His own

glorification - partially fulfilled at Pentecost, but awaiting His second coming for its complete fulfilment.

The `eighth day' brings us to resurrection. The tabernacles speak of true `peace and safety', and all these typical

observances are covered by the word sunteleia used by the disciples when they came to the Lord with their question:

`What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and the end of the age'? That `end' they knew was harvest, ingathering,

rejoicing, peace; all inseparable from the coming of the Lord. Until He is `glorified' that `consummation' devoutly

to be wished is as unattainable as Utopia, a mirage, the will o'-the-wisp of politicians and reformers who have not

grasped the essential relation between `the times of refreshing' and `the presence of the Lord'. That wholesome

lesson it is hoped we have learned. And now, having some understanding of what the question of Matthew 24:3

includes and implies, we can give more earnest heed to the answers that follow.

(Matt. 24)

Having seen the Scriptural meaning of the `end', and its type in the Feast of Tabernacles, we now proceed to the

continuation of the Lord's answers to His disciples' questions. In verses 4-24 He takes up this question of the `end'.

The first and last words in this section deal with deception:

`And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My

name, ... and shall deceive many' (verses 4,5).

`For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch

that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect' (verse 24).

Following this opening warning concerning the false Christs, the Lord tells of the features indicative of the

beginning of sorrows, but adds, `The end is not yet'. Verses 6-14 are occupied with the characteristic features that

lead up to the `end' (telos):

Negative.- `The end is not yet' (verse 6).

Explanatory.- `All these are the beginning of sorrows' (verse 8).

Exhortative.- `Endure to the end ... be saved' (verse 13).

Positive.- `Then shall the end come' (verse 14).

As with the prophecies of the Old Testament, such as Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah, `the nations' are involved in

this period of the `end'. Wars and rumours of wars, with nation rising against nation, form part of the beginning of

sorrows. Hatred by all nations, yet the preaching of the gospel to all nations for a witness, ushers in the end.