The Feast of Tabernacles

We have now come to the last of the seven feasts. While no greater than the other feasts that we have discussed, the Feast of Tabernacles is an important feast once you understand the meaning.

This feast begins five days after the Day of Atonement and after the fall harvest has been completed. This feast was a celebration as the Israelites remembered God’s provision for them during the current harvest as well as His provision and protection during the 40 years in the wilderness. This was also one of the pilgrim feasts in which the Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem to make sacrifices to God. This feast would last for eight days, beginning and ending on a Sabbath and the Israelites would dwell in tabernacles or booths during this time.

“39 ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. 40 Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and branches of trees with thick branches and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 So you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, 43 so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 44 So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord.”

Leviticus 23: 39-44

For the Christian’s today, the Feast of Tabernacles references an event that is yet to come, during the return of Jesus Christ. This feast is a celebration of a harvest being completed and is something that we will one day see after Jacob’s 70th week. The Feast of Tabernacles is a reminder that God provided for His people while they were living in tents and an encouragement for us to look forward to when He will dwell with us physically on earth. Next week we will dive in a little deeper and see the prophetic meaning behind what is to come.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex