THE STORY
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES: The Second Coming
Celebrated: September/ October
Historical background
We read about the Feast of Tabernacles as part of God’s feasts or appointed times with us in Leviticus 23:33-36. It is also called the Feast of Ingathering because it was at the end of the harvest season and the Feast of Booths because the Hebrews slept in booths or shelters during the feast (Exodus 23:16 & Deuteronomy 16:16). The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated the final ingathering of the harvest God had blessed the people with for the year. The fruit of the land had been reaped, so the people could rest from their work. It was a time of great rejoicing and it completed the religious season – number seven in the Bible represents completion – the Feast of Tabernacles therefore represents the completed or finished work of God in both the present age in which we live and the lives of individual believers. We reach spiritual maturity and rest in our souls in our walk with God – this means we learn to rest in God and be content in whatever circumstances we find ourselves (Phil 3:12-14 & 4:11-13).
The Lord gave the following INSTRUCTIONS for the feast (Lev 23:33-43): On the 15th day of the 7th month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for 7 days – no work may be done. On the 1st day there shall be a holy convocation (gathering) and a Sabbath rest. They had to DWELL IN BOOTHS and had to take fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the borough of leafy trees and willows of brook and REJOICE before the Lord for 7 days. For 7 days they had to offer an offering made by fire for the Lord and on the 8th day there had to be another holy convocation and offering and a Sabbath rest characterized by much rejoicing.
The FEAST had 2 aspects associated with it:
- It looked back to the 40 years the Hebrews wandered in the desert living in shelters or tabernacles. They had to be reminded that the wanderings of their forefathers were brought about by UNBELIEF and DISOBEDIENCE but it was only temporary. Even during these wanderings, GOD WAS IN THEIR MIDST, PROVIDING their every need and eventually bringing them into the LAND OF REST He had promised them.
- It looked forward – the shelters were loosely constructed so that the Hebrews could see through its roof into the heavens. This reminded them that they were pilgrims passing through this life and that God had an even greater REST for them in the future when HE WOULD COME AND LIVE AMONG THEM PERMANENTLY (Heb 11:8-10).
How did Jesus (Yeshua) fulfill this feast?
Jesus is the ultimate tabernacle (dwelling place) of God IN humans through the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:14 & Col 2:9). Jesus will fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles at HIS SECOND COMING. There will then be a literal REST for the earth and all its inhabitants – until then we find REST IN HIM for our souls through a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM (Matt 11:28-30). Jesus doesn’t give us life; HE IS OUR LIFE. He doesn’t give us peace; HE IS OUR PEACE. He doesn’t give us love; HE IS LOVE. He IS all we need. Many believers never enter into God’s rest because they seek things from God, rather than God Himself.
There were TWO rituals associated with the FEAST of TABERNACLES:
The first one was the pouring of WATER. This took place on the last day of the feast. The day was called Hoshanah Rabbah (in Hebrew) which means: The Day of the Great Hosanna (this word express adoration, praise or joy and means: “save now or deliver us”). On this day they prayed for rain to soften the ground for plowing and God’s SALVATION THROUGH MESSIAH who would give them the LIVING WATERS of HIS SPIRIT. They singed and praised God with the word of Isaiah 12:3 & 44:4 “…with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”
Jesus kept the FEAST in obedience to the TORAH and at the outpouring of the water He boldly declared: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying: ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” (John 7:37-39) – With this Jesus was saying: Look unto Me and be saved now. I am the GREAT HOSANNA. I am your salvation. I will give the LIVING WATERS of the HOLY SPIRIT to all who will receive Me as the TRUE TABERNACLE OF GOD
The second ritual was the LIGHTING OF THE TEMPLE. Tens of thousands of pilgrims came to Jerusalem to keep the feast and would carry a LIGHTED TORCH so that the ENTIRE CITY WAS ILLUMINATED for miles! This had a physical and spiritual significance. Plenty of sunshine was needed along with the rain to have a successful agricultural season. They thanked God for the sun that was necessary for the life of the harvest. They also recognized GOD HIMSELF is the TRUE LIGHT (Ps 27:1) who would give them SPIRITUAL LIGHT and LIFE through MESSIAH. Jesus made another bold statement during the Feast: “…saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’”(John 8:12). Jesus therefore CLEARLY and POWERFULLY proclaimed that HE WAS THE REALITY to which the feast pointed.
What is the personal significance for believers?
There is a REST for our souls today as well as a future HEAVENLY REST. We read in Heb 3:7-11 what we must do to enter this REST: “…Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me and saw My works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”
It was God’s desire to lead the Hebrews into the PROMISED LAND OF REST. But an entire generation did not make it. They died in the wilderness because of UNBELIEF and DISOBEDIENCE brought about by a hard heart against God (Heb 3:16-19). We are warned TODAY against the same problem. We read in Heb 3:12-15 “Beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today’, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ (Messiah) if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
We see in Numbers 14:19-23 that the Hebrews who came out of Egypt and died in the wilderness WERE SAVED, but THEY DID NOT ENTER GOD’S REST. God’s REST is NOT dying and going to heaven – it is LIVING in the FULLNESS of GOD’S LIFE HERE AND NOW. It is WALKING IN HIS PEACE, HIS POWER, and HIS REST as PICTURED in the FEASTS.
In the Bible, EGYPT symbolizes the WORLD SYSTEM and the PROMISED LAND represents GOD’s REST. The WILDERNESS lies in between. When a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, God delivers him and her out of a type of SPIRITUAL EGYPT but, EGYPT (the ways of the world) doesn’t always come out of the believer! Like the Hebrews of old, we as BELIEVERS WILL NOT enjoy God’s REST in our lives UNLESS we WALK WITH HIM in LOVING TRUST and OBEDIENCE.
The Lord desires for us to enter His REST in our soul in this PRESENT LIFE through a DAILY WALK WITH HIM and to go through SEVEN STEPS:
STEP 1-3
- Accept JESUS as the PASSOVER LAMB WHO DIED FOR OUR SINS (we get spiritually born again – see John 3:1-8). WE DIE to our OLD SELF LIFE (the Egypt in us) by putting off the old man and putting on the new man (Col 3:9-10). This produces the character of Jesus in us.
- Now we have PEACE with God.
STEP 4
- We invite the Holy Spirit into our lives to lead, teach and comfort us and we become effective witnesses for the Kingdom of God.
- Now we experience the POWER of God.
STEP 5-7
- We go on to become a TABERNACLE CHRISTIAN
- We learn how to conduct SPIRITUAL WARFARE, REPENT OF OUR SINS, and overcome the TRIALS of FAITH.
As we take each of these steps in TRUST and OBEDIENCE to GOD, we will enjoy HIS DIVINE REST IN OUR SOULS.
What does the Feast of Trumpets mean in terms of future fulfillment (the prophetic aspect)?
The FEAST OF TABRENACLES represents the 1000-YEAR (Millennium) REIGN of MESSIAH JESUS on earth (Revelation 20). It will be a time of great rejoicing. The curse of sin will almost be completely lifted and Satan bound for 1000 years so that both the earth and inhabitants will enjoy the REST OF GOD.
Those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, who had NOT worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands will LIVE AND REIGN with JESUS CHRIST for a THOUSAND YEARS.
The prophets talked about it. Isaiah was looking forward to this time of REST when he wrote in Isa 51:11: “Therefore the redeemed for the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” Zechariah 14:16 said: “And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”
In anticipation of this glorious time of rejoicing on earth, Christians have been celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem since 1980. Each year approximately 5000 believers from 100 nations go to Jerusalem to keep the feast.
As wonderful as this time will be for the earth and all its inhabitants, it is still not the FFINAL REST that God has for us. We learn from Leviticus 23:39 that there was a SPECIAL SABBATH on the EIGHTH DAY. This was a day of GREAT REJOICING and corresponds to the NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH (Rev 21 & 22). God will transfer His home from heaven to earth and He will dwell in our midst in the NEW JERUSLEM. This is the FINAL rest all believers are waiting for. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying and no pain. There is a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the middle of the street, and on either side of the river, will be the TREE of LIFE, which bore 12 fruits every month. There shall be no more curse. We will serve the Lord and see His face and His Name shall be on our foreheads. There shall be no night and therefore no need for the sun or lamps “…for the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Rev 21:23). And they shall reign forever and ever.
Information based on: CELEBRATING JESUS IN THE BIBLICAL FEASTS – Dr. Richard Booker
Animated Story Board: Created by Danelle Harmse for HeBrews Coffee Roastery
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