חג שמח        Chag Sameach (Joyous Holiday!)

This the greeting heard all over Jerusalem beginning tomorrow night as the joyous Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) commences.  This is the final annual feast on the Jewish calendar, prescribed by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Leviticus 23, and is most certainly the most celebratory.

As with all Jewish feasts, this one contains dual significance and I want to focus on that today.  For the Jews, the exodus from Egypt is looked upon as perhaps the most important event in Jewish history.  Thus, Jewish feasts typically conjure up remembrance of God’s relationship with His chosen people.

I encourage you to take a moment to read Leviticus 23:33-43, in which the Lord describes how the feast is to be celebrated.  You will find that it is a week-long feast sandwiched between two Sabbaths, and that it is to include offerings to the Lord.  The festival commemorates God’s provision of shelter during the exodus, thus, Jews now construct temporary sukkot (shelters) in which to dwell during the Feast of Tabernacles.  During the exodus, God dwelt with His people in the tabernacle that was moved from place to place during the wilderness wandering.

The Jewish people have never forgotten God’s redemption of them from Egyptian slavery, and His miraculous provision of shelter.  Thus, they celebrate their deliverance during the Feast of Tabernacles.

For Christians, the Feast of Tabernacles carries added layers of significance.   First, the Feast of Tabernacles represents the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus!  Consider this: the festival is also known as the “Day of Ingathering,” similar to the American holiday of Thanksgiving.  In fact, part of the Jewish celebration includes joy and thanksgiving for the fruit harvest in the fall.  On that day when our Lord returns, He will gather all believers unto Himself!  The ingathering will be eternal and will bring great joy!

However, Sukkot also represents God’s sheltering presence over Israel.  During the Millennial Kingdom, the Bible tells us that Israel will no longer be subjected to the oppression of enemy nations and people!  Indeed, the Messiah Himself will set up a sanctuary for His people!  Ezekiel 37:26-28 says:

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.

Finally, of all the feasts and celebrations prescribed by the God of Israel, only one will be celebrated by Jews and Gentiles alike in the future.  Which feast?  The Feast of Tabernacles!

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
~Zechariah 14:16 (NIV)

Indeed, after the Glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus, when we as believers return to earth to rule with Him during the Millennial Kingdom, one of the things we will do each year is go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles!  What rejoicing that will be!  But, interestingly enough, we are invited even in these days to journey to Jerusalem for the Feast!  It begins tomorrow, so those of us who are not there already will likely not make it this year!  Good news however!  The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) plays host to the Feast of Tabernacles each year and the festivities are streamed live!  So, don’t wait until the Millennium…enjoy the festivities now!  (Click here)

Finally, I want to share the greatest thing about the Feast of Tabernacles.  John 1:14 tells us that Jesus came in the flesh to dwell (tabernacle) among us!  Jesus is the fulfillment of Sukkot!  In fact, Jesus is the fulfillment of every Jewish feast!  However, we will not reign with Him during the last feast unless we believe in His fulfillment of the first 6!  Please see Jesus: The Fulfillment of Every Jewish Feast

חג שמח