                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                           A Booth On The Roof!

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By David Wilkerson
July 25, 1988
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          Here at Times Square Church we have designated this
          year as one of prayer for revival. By "revival" we are
          not thinking of some great emotional stirring, with
          people coming from miles around to see something
          sensational. Instead, we are wanting a prepared people
          - prepared in holiness! We want a revival of the Lord's
          holy presence, where things are so pleasing to God,
          that He will come down to meet every need - where His
          glory is revealed!

          In Nehemiah, the eighth chapter, there are to be found
          what I call "the five absolute evidences of revival."
          It cannot be called revival or awakening unless all
          five of these evidences are present. Nehemiah is a
          revival book. It is the story of 42,360 Jews returning
          to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon to rebuild the walls
          and get back to the old paths of holiness and true
          worship. Their leaving Babylon is a type of believers
          leaving dead, compromising, worldly churches to go
          forth with a remnant to Holy Zion, to return to the old
          paths, and to go on with a people and shepherds who
          walk in truth.

          This holy remnant rolled up their sleeves and worked in
          unity to remove the rubbish and filth that had polluted
          Jerusalem. They rebuilt the crumbling walls and put up
          the gates. That's what we are doing at Times Square
          Church: removing the rubbish that has accumulated, the
          rubbish of false doctrines, of materialism, of sin and
          compromise in the pulpit and pew! We are rebuilding the
          walls that had crumbled. Hundreds of God's people have
          been plundered and ravaged by Satanic powers; homes and
          marriages have been in turmoil; many are backslidden,
          starving for God's Word. We've been working together to
          put up walls and gates to keep the enemy out. God has
          gathered together a remnant of all who have escaped
          Babylon and are ready to take the five great steps to
          restoration and revival.

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                       The First Evidence of Revival
                         Is A Great Desire to Hear
                      and Obey the Word of the Lord.

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          "And all the people gathered themselves together as one
          man into the street that was before the water gate; and
          they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of
          the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to
          Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the
          congregation both of men and women, and all that could
          hear with understanding, upon the first day of the
          seventh month. And he read therein before the street
          that was before the water gate from the morning until
          midday, before the men and the women, and those that
          could understand; and the ears of all the people were
          attentive unto the book of the law... And Ezra opened
          the book in the sight of all the people... and when he
          opened it, all the people stood up" (Nehemiah 8:1-5).

          The cry of their hearts was, " Bring us the true Word
          of the Lord!" Ezra stood on a raised, wooden pulpit and
          read God's Word for six hours while the multitude stood
          at attention, learning that the cause of their
          suffering was their own stubbornness and rebellion. The
          surest evidence of revival in a soul or a church or a
          city is a great hunger for God's Word. Backslidden
          Christians don't want to hear the Word - it bores them!
          What they want is excitement. Backslidden preachers
          don't preach much of God's Word - instead, they give
          short sermonettes. They don't preach the Law because
          that produces conviction and shakes up the church! It
          makes compromisers squirm!

          Where the Holy Spirit is at work, the people in the pew
          are clamoring for the Word. I get hundreds of letters
          from famished saints crying, "We are so hungry. We
          don't hear the true Word. We get the dead letter with
          no anointing - soft soap!" Where God is at work there
          are Bibles everywhere. There's an excitement about
          preaching and teaching with a true reverence for the
          Word. The Word is loved and honored.

          How sad it is that in many Charismatic churches,
          preaching is endured. They can't wait to get it over
          with, to get to the praise and worship. It is music,
          entertainment, and special singers that they want! When
          the Holy Ghost comes, there is no longer some star
          evangelist or teacher on center stage, but the Word
          being hailed. Their cry will be, "Lord, I want it all:
          the good, the bad, the commandments, the promises, the
          whole counsel of God!"

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                       The Second Evidence of Revival
                      Is a Heart-Breaking Repentance.

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          "Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the
          people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their
          hands; then they bowed low and worshipped the Lord with
          their faces to the ground... And they read from the
          book, from the law of God, translating to give the
          sense so that they understood the reading. Then
          Nehemiah... and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the
          Levites who taught the people said to all the people,
          "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or
          weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard
          the words of the law" (Nehemiah 8:6-9, NAS).

          Their first reaction to the Word was excitement and
          joy. They cried, "Amen, Amen, with lifting up their
          hands." David said, "Lift up your hands in the
          sanctuary, and bless the Lord" (Psalm 134.2). But the
          Word soon brought them down on their faces. This is
          true repentance when we are brought by God's Word to
          the ground. "They bowed low and worshipped the Lord
          with their faces to the ground." "...All the people
          were weeping when they heard the words of the law."
          They trembled at God's Word, then took it to heart and
          repented!

          When a Holy Ghost revival comes, Christians don't hold
          grudges - they don't gossip or backbite or find fault.
          They are not trying to straighten out the church or the
          pastors. They don't sit around like couch potatoes in
          front of the TV! No! They are on their faces before
          God, weeping, because the Word has smitten their
          hearts. They are not judging others or looking at
          others. They are being convicted by the Word for not
          measuring up themselves!

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                        The Third Sign of Revival Is
               an Incredible Spirit of Joy and Celebration.

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          "Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of
          the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing
          prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be
          grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So
          the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still,
          for the day is holy; do not be grieved." And all the
          people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and
          to celebrate a great festival, because they understood
          the words which had been made known to them" (Nehemiah
          8:10-11, NAS).

          Wherever the love of God's Word has been restored and
          repentance has resulted, and where there has been
          self-mortification of sin, there will always come forth
          a mighty wave of joy and celebration. But there is a
          kind of phony joy and false celebration in the land
          today: It is the celebration of self and idolatry - the
          dancing around the golden calf! We need great
          discernment to know the difference between the true joy
          of repentance and the false rejoicing of idolaters.

          Moses and Joshua came down from the mount to a great
          shout in the camp: "It is not the sound of the cry of
          triumph, nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; but
          the sound of singing..."(Exodus 32:18). They were
          shouting, singing, and dancing and Moses knew all along
          it was of the flesh. He knew they were a stiff-necked,
          rebellious people, full of lust, fornication, nudity,
          and sensuality. It was the shout of Idolatry!

          Can you tell the difference? If there is no preaching
          of the Law to convict of sin - if there is no weeping
          or faces on the ground - if there is no love of God's
          reproving Word - if there is no repentance - then there
          is no spiritual shout, no godly song! Be careful! You
          may get caught up in the song of idolatry.

          Why was there such great mirth, such a festive spirit
          of joy in this revival recorded in Nehemiah? They had a
          great happiness "...because they understood the words
          which had been made known to them" (Nehemiah 8:12,
          NAS). In other words, they discerned and took it to
          heart: they obeyed!

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                       The Fourth Evidence of Revival
                          Is a Booth on the Roof!

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          "On the second day were gathered together the chief of
          the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the
          Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the
          words of the law. And they found written in the law
          which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the
          children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast
          of the seventh month: and that they should publish and
          proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying,
          Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and
          pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches,
          and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is
          written.

          "So the people went forth, and brought them, and made
          themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his
          house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the
          house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and
          in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the
          congregation of them that were come again out of the
          captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for
          since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day
          had not the children of Israel done so. And there was
          very great gladness" (Nehemiah 8:13-17).

          The Word of the Lord was restored and the repentance
          and obedience were genuine. The joy of the Lord had
          become their strength, but something was missing: the
          booths! There can be no real and lasting revival, no
          fullness of God, until we erect a booth! This is truly
          a message for these last days.

          The leaders, the priests and the Levites gathered with
          Ezra to search the Scriptures to see what God wanted of
          them. They found something the Lord had commanded years
          before, a perpetual commandment that had been neglected
          since the days of Joshua. It was found in Leviticus
          23:40-43: "Ye shall take you on the first day the
          boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the
          boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye
          shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. And
          ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in
          the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your
          generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh
          month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that
          are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your
          generations may know that I made the children of Israel
          to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land
          of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." For seven days God's
          people were to erect a temporary shelter (in Hebrew
          "Sukkah") made with a roof of various branches. They
          were commanded to live in their shelters for seven
          days.

          The New York Times had an entire section devoted to
          building a Sukkah. In New York City they are
          constructed on tiny balconies, small yards, and
          rooftops at the end of September into the first week of
          October. Of the 613 Jewish commandments, this is still
          considered one of the most important. Orthodox Jews
          practice it rigorously. Living in the hut still
          signifies today: "We are just passing through this
          world -just spending the night - so we must not be
          concerned with it's pleasures and vanities." The Sukkah
          is so holy to a Jew that it is sinful to take even a
          splinter from it to use as a toothpick! Even a bad odor
          will pollute it. It is said, "If one cannot keep Sukkot
          [the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths], he can't keep any
          of the 613 Torah commandments!"

          The leaders in Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah made
          aproclamation: "We will again celebrate the feast of
          Sukkot! Go to the mountains and bring back olive, pine,
          myrtle, and palm branches. And make your Sukkah, as it
          is written." What excitement must have filled the air:
          children and families, all loaded with branches,
          building Sukkahs! What a sight it must have been from
          above: on every flat rooftop a little hut - in every
          empty lot or city Square, in the temple courtyard,
          visitors camping - even Ezra, Nehemiah, and all the
          priest! For seven days no one ate or slept in his home
          - no one slept in the lodges. The entire population
          lived in these temporary huts!

          These were not seven sad days of hardship. Instead,
          they were seven days of mirth, of great gladness.
          "...Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven
          days" (Leviticus 23:40). "Seven days shalt thou keep a
          solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which
          the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall
          bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works
          of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice"
          (Deuteronomy 16:15).

          There is much preaching today about this Feast of
          Tabernacles. It is said the church is entering it's
          time of harvest, "a gathering of the corn and the
          wine," a time of blessing and increase - that we are in
          a time of great rejoicing and singing, a time of
          glorious joy in the Lord! What is missing from the
          message is the Sukkah, the moving into the hut! All the
          praising, worshipping, shouting, and gladness was to be
          under the booth, "in the place which the Lord shall
          choose."

          What does it all mean to us today? What does the Sukkah
          have to do with walking with Jesus right now?

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                         The Sukkah Signifies That
                           We Are Strangers Here,
                       Citizens of Another Country.

              -----------------------------------------------

          The seven days spent in the booth alluded to the human
          life-span of seventy years. The Sukkah was to remind
          them how temporary life is here. As the leaves faded,
          they were to see the fading of life, health, and
          strength. God wanted their hearts and minds set on
          eternity. They were to remind themselves and their
          children: "We are only camping here. We rejoice not
          only for all these temporal blessings, but our hope and
          joy is in the city coming down out of heaven, Zion!" In
          Nehemiah's day, this is what God had them to
          understand: "You have rebuilt the walls, set the gates,
          established homes, and planted gardens and vineyards.
          The Lord has been good, but this is not your resting
          place. You must look for a city whose builder and maker
          is God!" David loved his city, Zion. He wrote great
          poems and songs about its beauty: "Beautiful for
          situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion...
          the city of the great King" (Psalm 48:2). David became
          wealthy and gave cartloads of gold and silver to the
          building of the temple, "of the gold, the silver, and
          the brass, and the iron, there is no number..." (1
          Chronicles 22:16). Yet David makes this incredible
          statement: "...for I am a stranger with thee, and a
          sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Psalm 39:12). This
          was said after Israel was settled and prosperous.
          "Sojourner" means resident alien, one passing through.
          The word "stranger" in Hebrew comes from a root word
          meaning "to shrink back with fear, as in a strange
          place." All our fathers in the faith considered this
          world "a strange land." They were aliens, citizens of
          another world.

          "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a
          place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
          obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
          By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a
          strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and
          Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he
          looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder
          and maker is God.... These all died in faith, not
          having received the promises, but having seen them afar
          off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
          confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
          earth. For they that say such things declare plainly
          that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been
          mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
          might have had opportunity to have returned. But now
          they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly:
          wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
          for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:8-10,
          13-16). They desired "a better country, that is, an
          heavenly..." There is a better country than America or
          whatever your native land. It is New Jerusalem - heaven
          with Christ!

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                          God Knows How Easily We
                       Are Blinded By His Blessings.

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          Why would God put the entire nation into tiny huts for
          seven days? Because He knows the terrible danger His
          children are in when blessed. He knows how easily we
          are swept away and forget Him, becoming blinded by ease
          and comfort. He knows how prone we are to pamper
          ourselves and become ensnared by the things of the
          earth.

          The song of Moses was a prophecy, foretelling the
          eventual backsliding of God's people once they would
          grow prosperous. "But Jeshurun [God's people] waxed
          fat, and kicked [became unmanageable]: thou art waxen
          fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with
          fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and
          lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation"
          (Deuteronomy 32:15). This is not a message only to the
          wealthy, but to us all. The more we are blessed, the
          more we tend to want, to dig in to this world, to get
          attached, to buy and spend more. Everything we buy is
          like another rope tying us to this earth! The Lord
          wants our hearts to be "in the hut, " in the Sukkah.
          Every single day, many times each day, He would have us
          remember, "I'm an alien! I'm just passing through! I've
          got no roots here. I'm going to a better country. Thank
          you, Lord, for all my blessings - but I rejoice that
          I'm a citizen of Zion."

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                       We Own Nothing Here on Earth!

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          Everything God has given us is on lease! We are only
          caretakers. There is much written about the Promised
          Land. God promised to give Israel the land of Canaan, a
          land flowing with milk and honey, but God never gave up
          the title - he only leased it to them. "The land shall
          not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are
          strangers and sojourners with me" (Leviticus 25:23).
          They could only sell the crop rights, and even the
          poorest had their land released in the year of Jubilee.

          God owns everything we have. We keep saying, "Lord, I
          give this back to you!" But we have never really owned
          anything. "For every beast of the forest is mine, and
          the cattle upon a thousand hills.... The wild beasts of
          the field are mine.... For the world is mine, and the
          fulness thereof" (Psalm 50:10-12). The Lord is saying
          to us, "Go to the booth on the roof - examine your
          heart!" Are you a just steward of His property? In
          light of eternity, in light of the frailty of life, how
          much do you spend on yourself, in comparison to His
          work?

          The great effect of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
          is the laying down of everything on God's altar, as we
          get our eyes off the things we possess. At Pentecost it
          was said, "And the multitude of them that believed were
          of one heart and one soul: neither said any of them
          that aught of the things which he possessed was his
          own; but they had all things common"(Acts 4:32).

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                         The Booth is a Reminder to
                      Abstain From All Fleshly Lusts.

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          "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and
          pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against
          the soul"(1 Peter 2:11). It is almost impossible for
          anyone under fifty years of age to think of eternal
          values because they assume they still have so much time
          left. When you get into your sixties and seventies,
          nature teaches you how short life is! It is much easier
          to think of being an alien here! But God would have us
          all stop in the prime of life, rejoice, then take heed,
          asking ourselves, "Are our youthful, hurtful lusts
          worth the risk in light of eternity?

          Moses chose to "suffer affliction with the people of
          God, [rather] than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
          season" (Hebrews 11:25). So the Lord has instructed us
          to go to the booth, consider how short life is, suffer
          for awhile, endure for the joy that is set before us
          (see Hebrews 12:2). "...For what is your life? It is
          even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and
          then vanisheth away" (James 4:14). Try telling this to
          young people!

          The booth is meant to get the world out of us. Go
          there! Smite ambition! Kill pride! All failed goals,
          set by ambition, are open doors to lust and sin of all
          kinds. People say, "What's the use? I'll never make
          it." So they indulge! They are listening to lying
          spirits. Recognize these voices for what they are:
          demonic.

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                      The Final Evidence of Revival Is
                    Absolute Separation From the World.

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          Without a life of repentance and separation from the
          world there can be no true revival. "And the seed of
          Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and
          stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of
          their fathers" (Nehemiah 9:2). Wherever there is
          biblical restoration, there will be an ever-growing
          awareness of the Lord's call to separate from all that
          is worldly and sensuous.

          I have observed over the years that it is the
          separated, Christ-consumed, holy-living Christian who
          most effects the secular world. The ungodly expect
          Christians to be separate and clean. They expect them
          to be totally "other" than themselves. On the
          crime-infested streets of New York, with demonic
          spirits raging on all sides - only a pure, separated,
          Christ-filled Christian can put the enemy to chase.
          Compromisers are frightened off and their own sins
          condemn them.

          God is raising up a remnant of believers who want
          revival - but only as it conforms believers to the
          image of Jesus Christ. And when it comes in it's
          fullness, the majority of Christians will either not
          recognize it - or, if they do, they will reject it. The
          separated remnant will hear the trumpet sounding and
          will know what God is saying.

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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