Rehearse Rejoicing – The Feast of Tabernacles

REHEARSE REJOICING – THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES

I hate being late for an appointment. I plan my time and rehearse my route. After that, I set a phone reminder, but sometimes I’m late. However, there’s someone who is never late for an appointment especially when it comes to a Feast.

The Sukkah filled with Light in the dark autumn night for the Feast of Tabernacle where we rehearse rejoicing!In the Old Testament, God gives us a list of appointments He intends to keep, the “Feasts of the Lord.” In Hebrew, the word “feasts” is moadim or appointed times. These are God’s appointments with us. He wants us to mark our calendars and practice being ready.

The Feast of Tabernacles is my favorite when we rehearse rejoicing!

God making appointments may be a new concept for you, but in Leviticus 23, the Lord gives us His list of Feasts on a yearly cycle in Spring and Fall. God’s people are commanded to keep them.

Keeping the feast is a “holy convocation,” a rehearsal in preparation for the time when God will actually show up for the literal appointment.

WHY DO SOME CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE FEASTS?

You may wonder why as New Testament Christians we would even consider the Feasts.

When I married my husband, two cultures came together. I was a Pittsburgh girl, and he was Iranian. I loved him so much, I wanted to learn everything about his culture, his language, his food, and customs. I wanted to know him.

It is the same with Jesus. He is our Bridegroom and we are His beloved Bride!  Shouldn’t we want to know everything about Him?

Jesus was born into the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through King David’s lineage. Jesus was born a Jew, circumcised, raised in synagogue, went to the Temple, educated in Hebrew and the Torah, etc. He also celebrated the Feasts.

Are you saying we must become Jewish? – By no means. I did not “become” Iranian when I married my husband, that would be impossible. However, as his bride, I learned all I could to teach my children and honor my husband.

WHAT ARE THE APPOINTMENTS?

The first Appointment is the Sabbath, a weekly appointment to meet with God. Leviticus 23:

After that, seven follow: 4 in Spring and 3 in Fall. God gives the Feasts for us to rehearse His story of redemption. Imagery and symbols abound giving clues to how God will fulfill them.

My favorite is the last feast Succoth, the Feast of Tabernacles. It’s the grand finale. During Succoth God commands us to rehearse rejoicing!

The Jewish people have rehearsed these appointments since Leviticus was written, over 3400 years ago. I’m sure they are tired of waiting for God to show up.

APPOINTMENTS KEPT

Amazingly, Jesus fulfilled the four spring appointments on the very day of each Feast.The Angel of Death passed over the homes, marked with the Blood of the Lamb

1) Passover – Jesus was crucified and shed His blood as our Passover Lamb.

2) Feast of Unleavened Bread – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried Jesus on Friday right before sundown.

3) Feast of FirstfruitsJesus rose from the dead sometime Sunday morning before the women got to the grave.

4) Shavuot – We call it Pentecost. The Holy Spirit fulfilled Shavuot in Acts 2 showing up with fire!

New Testament Believers can see the symbols of Jesus rehearsed in the elements of the feasts, but most Jewish people cannot yet see Him. We pray for eyes to be opened!

FALL APPOINTMENTS

What about the Fall Feasts? God is yet to show up, so we keep rehearsing.

5)  YOM TERUAH The Day of Blowing Trumpets  

Although it is the seventh month and not the first, the rabbis renamed Yom Teruah to Rosh Hashanah, “Jewish New Year.” Jews believe it is the day which God created the world and rehearse rejoicing in the sweetness of a new start.

Tradition holds this day is the future day of the Resurrection of the Dead. They read the story of Abraham offering Isaac, celebrating God’s faithfulness in sending help from Heaven.

However, the Biblical feast focuses on the blowing of shofars. Today, in synagogues, they blow the shofars to awaken their spirits to God. Service concludes with one long blast, the last trumpet sound.

Since God fulfilled the Spring Feasts in Jesus, can we expect Him to fulfill the Fall Feasts as well?

Jesus taught one day there will be a final trumpet blast, the heavens will open, and He will return. But it’s not a New Year horn!

Jewish Man sounds the Shofar on the Feast of Yom Teruah!

CONFUSION

The context of the “last trumpet sound” is the final dark days of Tribulation when Jesus returns on the white horse, crushing the Antichrist.

Jewish people are rehearsing rejoicing on Rosh Hashanah, however the actual feast is Yom Teruah, a day of alarm! The new tradition obscured the possible connection of Yom Teruah to Messiah’s return.

The elements – Judgement averted, Alarm, Shofars, Help from Heaven, and Resurrection, give us clues to the fulfillment of this part of God’s story.

I am not setting a day or an hour, but Jesus kept the spring appointments on the actual days of the feasts.

Will our eyes see Jesus show up for Yom Teruah? I don’t know but we wait with hope.

6)  YOM KIPPUR – THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

This is the highest Holy Day of the Jewish calendar. Jews believe God judges them on this day, deciding whether to inscribe their name in His Book of Life for another year.

For 10 days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur, Jews fast and repent for their sins, forgiving others and asking for forgiveness. These are called the “Days of Awe” preparing for the Day of Judgement. It’s part of the rehearsal.

In the Old Testament, the high priest took the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. He interceded as a cry for forgiveness for Israel as a nation. The blood atoned for personal and national sin. If God accepted the blood, He would forgive and bless them for another year.

WAITING for YOM KIPPUR

Many Christians think Yom Kippur is the day of Good Friday and Jesus’s death on the cross. No, that was fulfilled on Passover. Yom Kippur points to judgement and the future appointment at the Great White Throne. 

The dead will rise and stand before the throne of God. Books are opened recording the deeds of every individual. We will all be judged by our deeds.

However, another book is opened, The Book of Life. Those whose names are written in this book, will live with God forever. This is the connection to our Passover Lamb of God, Jesus. The blood on the Mercy Seat is His blood shed for us. Because of Him, our names are written in the Book of Life.

HALLELUJAH!

WHAT COMES NEXT?

From Passover to Yom Kippur, we see the complete story of God’s great redeeming work. He brings all humanity back to Himself, through Jesus’s cross and resurrection.

Father God waits like the father of the prodigal, to get His children back. I am sure He is hoping we tell others the story, while there is time, so their names can be written in the Book of Life.

Now it’s time to REHEARSE REJOICING! The last and final Feast, my favorite, Succoth. I think it’s Father God’s favorite too!

7) SUCCOTH – FEAST OF TABERNACLES

Succoth is the happy ending of God’s story of redemption. Jews and Christians alike celebrate Succoth. The Feast points to the time when God Himself will bring Heaven back to earth and He will dwell with us forever!  Revelation 21 & 22

I also heard a loud voice coming from the throne, saying,
“Behold, the dwelling of God is among men,
and He shall tabernacle among them.
They shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be among them
and be their God.”

Revelation 21:3
Tree of Life Version

THE STORY OF GOD’s FAITHFULNESS

God instructs Israel to retell the story of their release from Egypt and deliverance from slavery by His hand. He asks them to remember how they wandered in the desert, in temporary dwellings; to remember how He provided for every need; to remember their hard journey to get to the Promised Land, their forever home.

We tell others our story how God rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Light in Jesus! We are no longer slaves to sin! We are FREE!

God is the source for everything we need. Jesus taught us to seek first His Kingdom and everything else will be added to us. Following Jesus we are pilgrims, in the world, but not of the world. At the end of the journey, we will be with Him in Heaven, our forever home.   HALLELUJAH!

THE SUKKAH

In the Sukka there is JOY in God's presence! Feast of Tabernacles - Rehearse Rejoicing
View from the Sukkah!

God directs His people to build Sukkahs like their temporary shelters in the desert. They sleep and eat in the sukkah for 7 days, reminding them of their wanderings.

The sukkah only has three walls because per tradition, God fills it with His presence and His

presence is the 4th wall.

For Believers, Jesus is our Immanuel, God With Us. His presence surrounds us and fills us like the 4th wall.

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.
John 1:14a
Tree of Life Version

LIGHT

Part of the Jewish celebration is to rejoice in the Light of God’s presence. On the dark autumn nights of the feast, they light the candles and fill their Sukkahs with light.

As Christians, we rejoice in Jesus filling us with His Light! He commands us to let that light shine before men.

In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overpowered it.
John 1:4-5
Tree of Life Version

The Sukkah filled with God's Light keeps us on the dark nights of the Feast of Tabernacles! We rehearse Rejoicing even in the dark!
God Fills the Sukkah with the Light of His Presence.

Jesus promised His followers:

Yeshua spoke to them again, saying,
“I am the light of the world.
The one who follows Me will no longer walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
John 8:10
Tree of Life Version

In the future, when God shows up for this appointment, there will be no more darkness and no more night.

And the city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God lights it up,
and its lamp is the Lamb.
Revelation 21:23
Tree of Life Version

The ETROG and LULAV

We make bouquets called Lulavs of specific branches and an etrog fruit. A thousand traditions tell of what they symbolize, but all point to unity, the two hands coming together. In the Sukkah, we sing the Hallelujah Psalms and wave and shake the Lulav with joy calling for blessings and harvest all over the earth.

SACRIFICE for the NATIONS

During Succoth, priests sacrificed daily burnt offerings to God. Seventy bulls were offered to redeem the nations and an extra one on the eighth day for the redemption of Israel.

Israel offering sacrifices for the nations. This is clearly a symbol of the one Jewish rabbi, Jesus sacrificing His life on the cross, for the redemption of all who believe.

THE 8th DAY

The last day of the Feast is Simchat TorahRejoicing in the Word of God. On this day, some Jewish communities hold celebrations, dancing wildly with the Torah scrolls, expressing the joy of God’s Word given for us.

As Christians, we pray for the Jewish people that they will meet the Living Word of God, the Messiah Jesus. Many have accepted Him already and are spreading that Good News to their people. HALLELUJAH!Hands Holding a Lulav and Etrog for Feast of Tabernacles. We rehearse rejoicing as we wave the Lulav!

WATER

On the last and greatest day of the feast . . . We recognize these words. John writes on that 8th special day of Succoth, while Jesus and the disciples attended the Water Pouring ceremony at the Temple, Jesus stood and cried out.

37On the last and greatest day of the Feast,
Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly,
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says,
‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
John 7:37-38
Tree of Life Version

WOW! Can you imagine the reaction of the religious people? Jesus is The Living Water poured out for all.

In the future when God comes down for this appointment, He will give us the literal Living Water! We will never thirst again. HALLELUJAH!

Then He said to me,
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
To the thirsty I will freely give
from the spring of the water of life.”
Revelation 21:6
Tree of Life Version

REJOICING IN THE DARK

As I sit in my Sukkah on the dark autumn nights, I rehearse rejoicing in the Lord. But lately the darkness in the earth seems so deep, rejoicing seems impossible. Anxiety creeps in as I see horrors happening all around: drug addiction, war, suicide, lawlessness, abuse of all kinds, etc.

A Prayer Shawl covers the Sukkah for the Feast of Tabernacles.
The presence of Jesus covers us

I ask myself, “How can I rejoice when all these people are suffering?” I feel guilty just trying.

Perhaps this is why Father God commands us to REJOICE. He understands that at the end of this age, sin and evil are so prevalent, our hearts become heavy.

Last year, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and raped and murdered Israelis in horrific ways, it happened on the 8th day of Succoth, Simchat Torah. Imagine a feast day dedicated to joy and living water, manifesting in horrible darkness coming upon Israel.

The rehearsal will be ever more difficult for them this year, but that is truly the point. Amidst the pain and darkness of this earth, only the joy of the Lord can be our strength.

REHEARSE

As we rehearse Succoth, we remember that God is faithful and will keep His appointments. We can trust Him and hold on to knowing one day, at the happy ending, we will see our Father face-to-face. Then our joy will be complete.

“He shall wipe every tear from their eyes,
and death shall be no more.
Nor shall there be mourning or crying
or pain any longer,
for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
Tree of Life Version

If the pain of sin and darkness feels too great, remember He is coming for us! He will rescue us, even in the darkness. On that Day, relief will come, and we can truly rejoice!

Until then, let’s practice!

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Jonathan Cahn blowing the Shofar – 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4vh9_Su9E

Jonathan Cahn Teaching on Feast of Trumpets – 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLFC7QNGfqQ 

OTHER Inspire a Fire Articles on JOY!

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A Time to Sow ~ 10 Ways We Can Share the Joy of Sowing Seeds

 

Lori Assadi Ramsey

Lori Assadi Ramsey is an author, musician, and kid’s illustrator who loves communicating the love of Jesus through words, music, and pictures. Called to encourage others, she has spent 30 years leading and participating in praise and worship ministry. A founding member of Manna of Life Foundation and the Chicken Coop Children’s Library in Ghana, Lori lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Mr. Ed, and her rescue pup Missi. You can connect with Lori @lightyourlamps, or Auntylulav.com

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2 comments

  1. I really enjoyed reading this! I learned a lot about the Feasts. I have thought about finding a way to mark them in the upcoming year. You have encouraged me to do that!

    1. Yay Lis! There are so many good resources out there and especially from the Messianic Community. They bring such rich insight to the feasts from both sides. Enjoy!

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