◈ A Booth on The Roof ! Neh . 8 : 1 ~ 17 source By David Wilkerson July 25 , 1988 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 . ▲ The First Evidence of RevivalIs A Great Desire to Hearand Obey the Word of the Lord . " 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 ! " ▲ The Second Evidence of RevivalIs a Heart - Breaking Repentance . " 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 ! ▲ The Third Sign of Revival Isan Incredible Spirit of Joy and Celebration . " 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 ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... ▲ The Fourth Evidence of RevivalIs a Booth on the Roof ! 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 ? ▲ The Sukkah Signifies ThatWe 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 ! ▲ God Knows How Easily WeAre Blinded By His Blessings . 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 . " ▲ We Own Nothing Here on Earth ! 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 ) . ▲ The Booth is a Reminder toAbstain From All Fleshly Lusts . " 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 . ▲ The Final Evidence of Revival IsAbsolute Separation From the World . 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 .