Feast of Tabernacles

One of God's feasts from Scripture is the Feast of Tabernacles, also known by its Hebrew name Succot (pronounced sue-coat), which means "hut" or "booth". It is a remembrance of when God led us out of Egypt and had us live in humble huts, or booths, as we made our way to the land God gave us 4000 years ago.

This Feast is a week-long Feast that started last Thursday and will end this Thursday.

From Leviticus 23,

"'So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'"

To "tabernacle" means to dwell or live with. It is a picture of a time when God will dwell with all humanity. I'll touch on this more in a moment.

Is Tabernacles relevant anymore? Is it relevant to Christians?

Is Tabernacles relevant today? We know for certain it is relevant: God said Tabernacles is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. Scripture mentions that these are God's feasts that are eternal and everlasting.

Is Tabernacles relevant to Christians? Let's look at Scripture for the answer.

First, we must lose our man-inspired biases and preconceptions about the Feasts. We must remove from our minds the idea that the Feasts are Jewish. It just so happens that only the Jews, more or less, have kept God's Feasts for the last 1700 years; that does not make them Jewish. They are not Jewish, they are God's, God says this explicitly in Leviticus 23,

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are My appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as holy.

If they belong to God, we should neither belittle them as being only Jewish nor should we denigrate them by saying they are passed away.

If the Feasts are God's, then it is not man's theology that should decide whether they are relevant.

It is speculated that Jesus was born on the first day of Tabernacles: we know this by the hints in Luke where giving the timing of the priesthood appointments, festivals, and shepherds in the fields. See this article on Biblical dates for Messiah's conception and birth for more information.

If Jesus was indeed born on Tabernacles, fulfilling a part of the Feast where God tabernacles with us, it has some interesting connotations for Christians. In any event, we are not commanded to celebrate Jesus' birth, so it is a minute argument.

One Christian argument against keeping Tabernacles is this: "I am not an Israelite, and Tabernacles was commanded to Israel."

I contend that Christians are, in fact, an Israelites. You may not be a physical descendant of Israel, true, but Paul tells us that anyone who believes in Messiah is grafted into Israel and adopted into those God calls His own, the apple of His eye, His chosen.

Tabernacles points to a time where Messiah dwells with us for a fullness of time -- the 7 days is a picture of completeness, indeed, in Hebrew, 7 means completion or fullness. It is a picture of Messiah's thousand-year reign from Jerusalem, prophesied of in Zechariah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation.

The 3 Fall Feasts are, in order,

• Feast of Trumpets (Feast of Shofar Blasts and Shouting), the day when Messiah signals the beginning of the end with the blast on a Great Shofar.



• Feast of Atonements/Judgments (Yom Kippur), the day when Messiah will judge all the nations.



• Feast of Tabernacles, the time when Messiah will tabernacle with us on earth.

Given that Jesus fulfilled the first 4 Feasts in the spring (Unleavened Bread, Passover, First Fruits, and Pentecost) in order, in real-time fulfillment, fulling them on the exact appointed day, it is likely Messiah will fulfill the last 3 Feasts in order, in real-time as well.

If Messiah will fulfill the last 4 Feasts in real-time, then Tabernacles has a deep relevance to modern Christians; yes, it is a celebration of the time when both God brought Israel out of Egypt and we tabernacled in the desert, but it's also a celebration of the time when Messiah will return to Jerusalem and will tabernacle with us.

If you still aren't convinced that Tabernacles is relevant, perhaps explicit Scripture will convince you: Zechariah prophesies that all nations and all people will celebrate Tabernacles with Him in Jerusalem, regardless of whether you're a Jew or gentile.

Zechariah 14,

Then the survivors from all the land will go up every year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

Reminds me of this song by Meha Shamayim,

Surely it shall come to pass
That the remnant from all the lands
Shall come up every year to Yerushalayim
To worship the King, the Lord of Hosts,
And keep the Feast Succot

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