Seven Feasts of Israel – The Feast of Tabernacles
The final feast mentioned in Leviticus 23 is Sukkot, referred to as the feast of tabernacles or the feast of booths. Sukkot is a harvest festival, also called the feast of ingathering. This 8 day feast is a ‘season of rejoicing’.
Israel is to live in booths each year, reminding them of the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Then, as a harvest feast, it reminds us of God’s provision for our lives. Both point to the end-time harvest of Jewish and Gentile souls for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word for booth is Sukkah, meaning covering or protection. Today Jews celebrate this festival by building temporary three-sided frail booths besides their homes. They will eat, pray, sing psalms, and sleep in their sukkah during the festival.
Mt. Transfiguration –
In Matthew 16:28 Jesus told his disciples that ‘some’ of them would not taste of death until they saw Christ coming in His kingdom. Since all of them died before Jesus Christ has returned as King of kings over Jerusalem, Jesus must have meant something else by His words. Matthew 17:1-9 shows Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration talking with Moses and Elijah. The face of Jesus shone as the sun and His raiment was white as the light. Jesus was temporarily glorified before them in His Kingdom as He spoke with Moses and Elijah about their roles in the last days.
Peter blurted out, “Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses and one for Elijah. This is when God spoke from the bright cloud overshadowing, them telling them to listen to what His Son was telling them.
Moses saw the Promised Land –
Remember, Moses died just outside the Promised Land because he had disobeyed God and struck the rock twice in anger. He never got to see the land of Israel, until Jesus called Him to stand with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John had a glimpse of Jesus as the Glorified King of Israel. Peter understood that in the Kingdom, he would be celebrating the Feast of Booths for Yeshua!
Zechariah 14:16-19 says, “Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.”
Everyone will be celebrating the Feast of Booths during Christ’s Millennial Kingdom when He sits on His throne in Jerusalem as King of all the nations of the earth. If anyone does not celebrate Sukkot, no water will be provided. Their refusal to celebrate will be their refusal to accept the righteous reign of Christ and show of resistance to His universal authority. Feast of Booths is important to God.
Israel will be the Head and not the Tail –
The Feast became identified with the King reigning in Jerusalem, when Israel would become the ‘head’ and not the ‘tail, as foretold in Deuteronomy 28:13.
Ezekiel 37:26-28 says, “ I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”
Israel will finally be the Nation of People for their God that she was promised to be with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Rome, Russia, Iran and Muslim nations, all will have to acknowledge once and forever that Israel is God’s earthly people and that Christ is her King, as well as theirs. Sukkot will be an ingathering of all nations to our God, acknowledging that He provides for and protects all who serve Him.
John shows us that Jesus not only participated in the Feast of Booths, but that He fulfills it –
The brothers of Jesus encouraged Him to go up to the feast and reveal Himself early. (John 7:2) Jesus waited until the height of the seventh day celebration, “on the last day of the feast” to go up to Jerusalem. (John 7:1-10)
The Golden Pitcher of Water-
The Feast of Tabernacles was for 8 days. The seventh day was known as ‘The Great Day’. On the Seventh day, the priest would take a golden pitcher and walk down the pool of Siloam, followed by palm waving pilgrims. He would fill the golden pitcher with water and return to the temple, followed by the crowds chanting Isaiah 12:3, “We will gather water from the wells of salvation, and ‘Hoshiaynu’, or Hosanna, meaning to ‘save us now’! The priest would make a circuit around the altar and pour out the water, praying for God to provide what He alone could give.
Seventh Day equals seven times around the altar –
The priest did this for six days, but on the seventh day he walked around the altar seven times, and the crowd of pilgrims would grow louder and louder in their cry for provision and salvation from God.
Isaiah 44:3 says, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”
Living Waters –
This is when Jesus shows up at the feast and announces John 7:37-39, “ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Keep on coming to Jesus to drink –
Jesus declared Himself to be the fulfillment of the promise of God for Israel and for the world! Are you spiritually dry? Cry out to Yeshua the Messiah! Or maybe you came to Him many years ago, but are dried out from the circumstances and hurts of life. The ‘come’ is in the present tense, thus we can come to Him, and keep coming to Him, as often as we need spiritual drink.
Isaiah 58:11 says, “The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
Sukkot reminds us that when the King reigns on the throne, God will provide for us. When Christ is glorified, His Spirit is given and rivers of water will flow into our hearts.
Light of the Candlesticks –
On the first day of Sukkot, three 75’ high candlesticks were erected in the Court of Women, where the treasury was located. This is where all could come to give their gifts. Men of piety and good deeds would dance before them, singing songs and praises. Levites played harps, lyres, cymbals, and trumpets upon the steps. These celebrations continued for seven days, and on the eighth day the lights were extinguished for the holy and solemn assembly.
Light was a reminder of God’s revelation and guidance. Psalm 4:6, 18:28, 27:1, 118:27, Proverbs 29:13, and Micah 7:8 all speak of God’s light in our darkness. God was the light for Israel as He led them through the wilderness for forty years. Jesus has become the light of the world for the New Covenant.
The light of the candlesticks pointed to the future kingdom predicted by Isaiah and Zechariah.
Isaiah 60:19-20 “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.”
Zechariah 14:6-7 says, “It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish. It shall be one day which is known to the Lord neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light.”
Revelation 21:22-23 says, “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”
Christ will be the Light and Living Water during the Millennium –
The Feast of Tabernacles is the last feast, and it will be celebrated during the 1000 year reign of Christ as King of all the nations of the earth. It is also fulfilled in Jesus Christ for the Church Age today, as Christ is our Living Waters and He is our Light. He is our provision for our daily lives and He is our future King. Israel will be brought back to Jerusalem, and all nations will visit Christ, sitting on His throne, during a millennium of peace. The lamb and the lion shall play together, and all men shall know the Lord, from the child to the old man.