Meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles

28 September 2023, by Yolandie Mostert

 

This is a very special year for us at Lighuis. Before every feast, we pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how He wants us to celebrate each specific feast. We don’t follow any traditional or Jewish customs. Only that which Scripture teaches and whatever instructions the Holy Spirit give us.

We see the feasts as a way of worship. Not from a place of works. We don’t think that the celebration of the feasts of the Lord make us holy or more acceptable to God. Because we love God, we want to please Him. Our motivation is love and worship, not works and religion.

 

When we can start to see how the whole plan for redemption is woven into the seven feasts, we can start to understand the heart of the Father regarding His times. We also become more sensitive to changes in the seasons according to YHVH’s calendar and not the typical January to December calendar.

We don’t make a law of the feasts and believe that every person must hear from God themselves. Paul wrote that we should not allow anyone to judge us if we celebrate the feasts and if we don’t. As long as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we won’t go wrong.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (Col 2:16-17) 

Let me just add that Paul doesn’t refer to the celebration of pagan feasts, he talks about the feasts prescribed in the Torah that is a shadow of the real. Many people use this verse to get a free pass to celebrate just any feast.

 

If you are not so familiar with the feasts of the Lord, we do have a separate teaching available. Today I don’t want to talk about why we celebrate the feasts and why it’s important for believers to at least acknowledge them. I want to talk about the meaning of the Feast of Booths. Another term for this feast is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot in Hebrew.

 

At the beginning of this year (2023), the Lord told us that were going to celebrate the Feast of Booths this year. We were very excited, but at the same time had to idea as to what to expect. As we approached the date, I started to pray and began to study the Scriptures in order to understand the historical and prophetical fulfilment.

 

The Feast of Booths is the last feast and spans over seven days. We read that only this feast of all the seven feasts will be celebrated during the thousand-year reign of peace. Zechariah 14 describes the pouring out of the last vial and the dawning of the next age, the millennium. All the nations, not only the Jews, will be going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths. Should a nation choose to disobey, the Lord will withhold their rain. This is how important this feast is to God.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zech 14:16-19)

 

So what makes this feast so important?

In order to answer this question, we have to go back to the original instruction in the law. We find it in Leviticus 23:33-43. The next two verses summarise the reason and it’s quite easy to miss if we don’t pay attention.

You shall live in booths (temporary shelters) for seven days; all native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Lev 23:42-43 AMP) 

Allow me to summarise it in my own words: every person that has the LORD (YHVH) as their God, must bring the provision and protection of the Lord in remembrance by dwelling in temporary shelters for seven days. When we peek through the openings between the leaves and look at the moon and stars, we must remember the column of fire and know that it’s the Lord that protects us against the terrors of night. When we eat and visit there together during the day, we must remember the shelter that the column of cloud provided against the striking sun. The inadequacy of the booth as a proper dwelling place must remind us that the Lord chose to make us, mere men, His dwelling place. It’s a time to look around and to look back in order to remember the only reason we were able to capture from spiritual Egypt – the Blood of the Lamb that God provided for us. It’s a time of deep gratefulness followed by worship.

 

The day when we applied the Blood of Jesus to the gates of our heart, our exit from Egypt started. There are three basic things without which we will not be able to survive spiritually. The first is the fountain of living waters that flows from the throne of God through the Holy Spirit living in our spirit.

but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (Joh 4:14) 

Besides protection, the pillar of cloud promises us living water.

It’s no coincidence that Jesus called out these specific words on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

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.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (Joh 7:37-39) 

 

These words of Jesus then bring us to the next thing we cannot live without and that is the Holy Spirit. Think about the pillar of fire.

We need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit every moment of each day. Moses wasn’t the one to decide when the people had to pack up and journey onwards. Too many people depend on spiritual leaders, churches and institutions instead of following the direct leading of the Holy Spirit. We need to move into a place of first-hand, radical obedience to the Holy Spirit.

Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (Ex 40:36-38) 

 

And finally the people wouldn’t have survived without the daily manna – the bread of life. The collection of manna also contains a lesson for us. First thing in the morning – before it will melt. It will benefit our spiritual growth greatly if we can seek God’s face before the day with its voices and responsibilities starts. We cannot afford to skip one day without feeding on Jesus. And again, first-hand. Be careful to confuse sermons and morning messages with the personal collecting of manna. The time for second-hand is over, we need to seek the Lord ourselves.

Back to the Feast of Tabernacles…

 

If I had to summarise the meaning of the feast of booths, this is what it will sound like:

The Feast of Booths is a symbol of our dependency on God for all our needs.

 

God lived among His people in the desert. He tabernacled among His people. This means that He led them and provided for everything they needed, spiritually and physically.

In the New Testament Jesus became flesh and dwelled among men; He tabernacled among men (John 1:14). He also came to demonstrate to us how to be a tabernacle that points people to the Father.

Today, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. In other words, we are now the tabernacle from which the living waters flow.

 

How should we respond to this feast?

In the Northern hemisphere this feast occurred right at the end of the summer fruit harvest. It’s therefore a time to be grateful for the Lord’s blessings on the harvest. With harvest I refer to our spiritual work as well as in every other area of our lives.

The gathering of the harvest compels us also to take stock. Was there even a harvest to gather?

Did we put any seed in the ground? Were we focused on the harvest and the gathering of it? Were we labourers in the Lord’s field or did we watch from the side?

How many talents did we receive and how many to we return as an offering of worship?

Did you know that no-one was allowed to appear empty handed before the Lord during this feast?

Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) and at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and at the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing which the LORD your God has given you. (Deut 16:15-17)

To appear with empty hands before YHVH shows dishonour and ungratefulness towards Him. Many times we expect a harvest, but are too stingy to sow seed in abundance e.g. finances, our time, talents, hospitality, ministering and testifying. If the Lord then blesses those few seeds and we are able to gather a small harvest, we keep our fists tightly closed with an almost toddler mentality: ‘it’s mine’.

I want to encourage you to become still and remember the blessings from the Lord during the past twelve months. Do a stocktake. Bring everything in remembrance, even the insignificant things. I’ve once read something that stays with me. If we only have the things tomorrow that we thank the Lord for today, how much will we have? The Lord loves a grateful heart and then He blesses us even more. Once you’ve completed the stocktake, decide then what will be a suitable offer of thanks.

 

When we are going to adorn the sukkot with branches, lights and fruit this year, it’s not just for our own pleasure. It’s a sign of gratefulness. We are closing off a spiritual season. Our Heavenly Father provided in all our needs and we come to say thank you.

Also, when we break bread and celebrate together with God’s people, we remember that we will never be able to be in right standing with the Father if our relationships with people are out of order. It’s a time of love, extravagant joy and happiness in the Lord our God. He is truly a good Father!

 

Shalom!