Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

           

            Deuteronomy 16:13-15 (NKJV) ¹³ "You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 
¹⁴ And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. 
¹⁵ Seven days you shall keep a sacred 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 surely rejoice.

             The Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkoth, commemorates Israel’s wandering forty years in the desert and God’s provision. According to Nehemiah, during the forty years in the desert, their clothes did not wear out. In other words, along with manna and water, God provided for all the rest of the people’s needs. During this feast, the Jewish people build tabernacles or huts, and have meals in them and often sleep in them as well.  The huts represent the temporary dwelling places, tabernacles or tents, that the Israelites lived in during the wilderness wandering.  The Hebrew word is for tabernacle is “Sukkoth.”

Sukkoth is the autumn harvest time when the final fruits of the land are gathered in.  It is a time of thanksgiving and praise. Sukkoth looks forward to that time of rejoicing when all believers are gathered together and God tabernacles (dwells) with us.

            Sukkoth is one of the three pilgrim festivals when all the men of Israel were required to bring offerings and to worship the Lord first at the Tabernacle and later at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Solomon dedicated the first temple during the Feast of Tabernacles.  The Lord spoke the following at that dedication: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) Sukkoth reminds us that obedience to the Lord will bring forth fruitfulness in both our lives and our land.

            After the return from the Babylonian Exile, Ezra read the law and led the Israelites in acts of repentance during the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8:13-18).It was at this reestablishment of the Feast of Tabernacles that Ezra proclaimed, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV))

            The Feast of Tabernacles occurs at the time of the Harvest Moon, the first full moon after the autumnal equinox, the largest full moon of the year.  It is a symbol of what the Bible refers to as “the fullness of time” and celebrates the completed harvest.  The final crop, the fruit of the land, has been gathered.  In this manner, the feast also looks forward to the final harvest, the great revival to come. John, the Revelator, writes, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.  Then, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4 NKJV)

            This is a time to bring an offering of the fruits of the land to our Lord and an offering of praise for both His provision and His presence among and in us.  Give an offering of worship to Him and look forward to the future gathering together of all His people and worshiping at His throne.