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