The Feast of Tabernacles - Oct. 16-23 - Richard Maisenbacher

The Feast of Tabernacles – October 16-23

Exodus 23:14 says, “Three times a year you shall make a festival to Me.” Those three times are 1) Passover 2) Pentecost (Shavuot) 3) Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot or the Feast of Booths). The harvest was over, they no longer needed to toil in the fields. They could now rest and rejoice at the fruit of their labors!

Sukkot is the Hebrew word that also means booths. They are temporary shelters for the wandering in the wilderness. They are looking back as God is reminding them of their wanderings and unbelief and how He met their every need.

Our English translation of Sukkot is Feast of Tabernacles suggesting the connection to the Tabernacle. A sukkah is just a tent. It is not like a Tabernacle. The sukkah is designed to be temporary while the Tabernacle represented the permanent place of God’s presence. God’s image is tied to His visible presence among His people.  So, in the tent when David needed to run and hide, he knew where to go. He went to God’s tent where he felt God’s presence. The temporary sukkah tent was the shelter representing the tabernacle that God provided for His people in the wilderness.  

Jesus it the ultimate tabernacle in our hearts! He doesn’t just give us life, He is our life, love and peace. The Feast of Tabernacles is about coming into the presence of God’s shelter where we can find His covering and care. Every year God’s people are required to remember His provision and protection; not just in the wilderness, but as a reminder of His continuing grace each year of our lives.

To see the faithfulness of God in the present is to experience a celebration that connects us with the same God who cared for all the freed slaves. I think He knows how we need reminders. He knows the chaos of the world and how we can be distracted from His grace and goodness.

You might not have gone into a booth or tent, but you may have memories of a tent when you went camping or fishing or if you were in the military and went camping during bivouac. Part of the purpose of this Feast is to remember that He is the Lord who brought us out of a house of bondage! Part of this festival is its’ emotional tone. This is a time of rejoicing in God’s goodness during the years of wandering. It is a time of undoing bitterness and complaining to focus on His provision and grace.

Even though the world seems to be in chaos right now it is a time of thanksgiving; when we as His body honor God’s fulfillment of His promises and we look forward to His redemptive process. Sukkot is a festival, which comes from the Hebrew word hagag (to feast). It involves dancing, celebrating, eating, leaping, feeling giddy, and making a pilgrimage.
Even though we presently are walking through challenging, even to some devastating circumstances, He wants us to choose to look to Him and find joy in His presence and celebrate! God bless and keep you!

 In His Covenant Love,

Richard Maisenbacher
www.thecovenantcenter.com
www.info@thecovenantcenter.com

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

We have celebrated Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets) by blowing the Shofar and eating apples and honey in hope that the Days of Awe which includes the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) God will judge us kindly and look down on us with sweetness and help us walk into our calling in this next new year!

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) begins October 9th and goes through October 16th. Many individuals will choose to live outside in shelters (booths). This is a remembrance of the time in the wilderness when God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt. This Feast has been celebrated for thousands of years. It recalls God’s faithfulness, compassion, reliability and provision.

This is a time of rejoicing in God’s goodness during the years of wandering. It is a time of undoing the bitterness and complaints of the actual wanderers by reflecting on God’s provision and unwavering grace in our lives. I believe it is also a great time to reflect and focus on God’s goodness during 2022 even though it may not have met everyone’s expectations.

The Feast (Sukkot) today is a time of great thanksgiving when the community honors God’s fulfillment of His promises and we look forward to the completion of His redemptive process. This Feast is definitely a big celebration!  It involves dancing, singing, eating and being joyously thankful. God commands or guides us to celebrate, to dance, to revel in His goodness, and to jump up and down with gladness. A festival of unrestrained jubilation!

Let’s look forward to this Hebrew New Year and celebrate God’s faithfulness and love, even if it may not look exactly like what we expect!

In His Covenant Love,

Richard

Let's Celebrate - Richard Maisenbacher

Now that we have passed through an intense time of introspection and repentance with the Lord during Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe, we move toward a time of celebration during the Feast of Tabernacles. We are thankful for all that God has done for us this past year and for His provision, grace, mercy, and revelation for the New Year!

I believe we have an opportunity to continue to increase our intimate relationship with the Lord and become more conscious of His heart and mind. As our awareness of His ways increase, it will change our perceptions of what He wants us to do by following Him.

There are so many distractions that occur in our lives, on the Internet, television, and the news that affect us emotionally and even spiritually. I believe the same tactic of the enemy is similar today as it was in the Garden. Use any technique possible to discredit God so we won't believe His love and not follow Him.

Since there is a relationship bond in the Semitic lands when one eats together, the enemy will always get us to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, because it eventually brings death. The opposite is to eat (an intimate relationship of love and obedience) from the Tree of Life (Jesus) that will bring truth and life.

The distractions in the world are incredible. The enemy wants us to determine what is good for us and what is evil. Therefore, we look at our desires as being equal to God's. The subtlety of believing our thoughts and desires are the same as His needs to be examined. It is a big decision, because it goes back to: "Do I follow my will and my desire, versus His will and desire for me?"

Decisions will be made this year. Hopefully, His written logos Word and His rhema words we receive in prayer will take priority, rather than the distractions that tempt us to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Let's celebrate as we enter this Hebraic New Year with joy and thanksgiving, that the Lord has given us the choice to live and love abundantly and intimately with Him!