| Feast of Tabernacles: God's Appointed Time |
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 Deborah P. Brunt
Long ago and far away, God published an engagement calendar. In the heart of Leviticus, he announced: "These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of GOD which you are to decree as sacred assemblies." He added: "These are the appointed feasts of GOD, the sacred assemblies which you are to announce at the times set for them" (Lev. 23:2,4 MSG). Other translations call these occasions the Lord's "appointed festivals" (TNIV) or his "appointed times" (NASU).
God's appointed times include (but are not limited to) three annual feasts:
- Passover (Feast of Unleavened Bread) - 1 day, plus 7
- Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) - 1 day
- Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths) - 7 days, plus 1
"The people were expected to come and God promised to meet them there," says The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. "God keeps his appointments."
And the people? In some eras, the Jews have kept God's appointed times faithfully. In some eras, they have not. Ah, but the Lord did not designate his appointed times FOR JEWS ONLY. In the Old Testament Law, God linked the feasts with the offering of sacrifices. Yet even when the Temple was destroyed and the sacrifices stopped, he did not cancel his appointments.
The early church recognized the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice. They didn't offer bulls and rams, yet they met God at his appointed times. Over the centuries, that changed. The church developed calendars of its own. But about five years ago, the Lord began teaching me that he's still honoring the engagements he designated so long ago - and something remarkable happens when we honor them too. |
| The LORD's timing |
God's three feasts happen annually at specific times he has set. But unlike most of our holidays, God's appointed times don't take place the same date each year on our calendar.
The Lord has scheduled his feasts according to a 30-day month. His months jive with the Hebrew calendar (actually, their months jive with his), except that God's first month is the seventh month on the Hebrew civil calendar - and vice versa. Think of it this way: In the US, the first month of the year is January; but August - the eighth month of the calendar year - is the first month of the school year. Same calendar, different "first months" for different purposes.
In Scripture, the first month of the civil calendar - and the seventh month of the sacred calendar - is Tishri. September 19, 2009, on our calendar was Tishri 1:
- on the Hebrew civil calendar, Rosh Hashanah, New Year's Day;
- on the Hebrew sacred calendar, the first day of the seventh month, a day for blowing trumpets.
On God's calendar, the Passover takes place the fourteenth day of the first month (our March/April), immediately followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. The second feast, Pentecost, takes place 50 days later, in the third month. Succoth is the feast of the seventh month. It begins on Tishri 15 - 14 days after Rosh Hashanah and the blowing of trumpets. This year, Sukkoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, falls on October 3-9. |
| The LORD's summons |
At the LORD's appointed times, he invites - no, he summons - his people to meet with him.
Do not think, "Sunday morning church." Think, "Celebration!" God stresses that all his appointed times are holy. But all three feasts are, indeed, festivals. In the Old Testament, each involved rest from labor, offering of specified sacrifices - and celebration.
I urge you: Find out when the three feasts occur each year. Write the dates on your calendar. Then, at each of the Lord's appointed times, tell him you are answering his summons to meet with him. Ask him how he wants that to look, where he wants it to happen, what he wants it to involve. Then, get ready to be surprised and delighted. |
| The LORD's harvest |
You can begin by celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. Exodus 23:16 calls it "the Feast of Ingathering" (NASU) or "Feast of the Final Harvest" (NLT).
Deuteronomy 16:13-15 says: "Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your Festival - you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete."
"Celebrate the Festival to the LORD your God" - the Festival God connects with land, people, harvest - and his kingdom.
Whether or not you farm, your God intends that the work of your hands - the work HE has given you to do in the place HE has put you - yields a kingdom harvest. Whether or not you've realized it, he has entrusted you with a threshing floor, a winepress and a field.
Warning: If you try to figure out how to produce spiritual ingathering, you'll substitute religious tasks for your kingdom assignment - and you'll lose the farm. But if you'll let God teach you, Spirit-to-spirit, HE will bring harvest through you, and you will cooperate with him, often without even knowing what you're doing. Plowing, planting and tending the crops may become laborious, tedious, and discouraging. But the promised harvest will come. Your joy will be complete.
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| Celebrating Succoth |
God has written "Feast of Tabernacles" across a certain week of his annual engagement calendar. He has set the dates aside as a time for you appear before him. Face to face with him, you can:
- recall the way he has led you,
- thank him for harvests already given,
- yield yourself fully to him anew,
- enter his rest,
- revel in his joy,
- adore HIM and enjoy HIM, before going back into the field.
The rest of this article explores the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles. To see what God says about Succoth and astounding ways he has kept this appointment with his people, keep reading!
But please don't settle for reading about someone else's God-encounters. Determine to keep this appointment with the Lord yourself.
To jump-start your encounter: Each day of the Feast, return to the section indicated below. Ask the LORD to meet you and speak to you. Follow the suggestions under "Celebrate the Feast." Wherever joy erupts, pursue it. Let the Spirit and the Word guide you into true celebration with the Lord your God.
Day 1 (Oct. 3, 2009). According to Leviticus 23, the weeklong Feast of Tabernacles has a two-fold purpose: celebrate harvest, and remember the wilderness.
"So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees - from palms, willows, and other leafy trees - and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God" (Lev. 23:39-43).
Celebrate the Feast: Read Leviticus 23:1-4,33-44. What do you notice in these verses? What in them quickens your spirit? Acknowledge the bounty God has provided for you - and celebrate! Remember a wilderness time when the Lord provided "temporary shelters" for you - and celebrate!
Day 2 (Oct. 4, 2009). Numbers 29:12-38 lists the sacrifices to be made at the Feast of Tabernacles. Interestingly, God required far more sacrifices at this Feast than at his other appointed times. Most prominent and most numerous were burnt offerings. Indeed, the first day of the feast alone, God instructed, "That day you must present a special whole burnt offering by fire, very pleasing to the LORD. It will consist of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all with no physical defects" (Num. 29:13 NLT).
For all the other animal sacrifices - the sin offering, guilt offering and peace offering - only the entrails of the animal were burned. The meat was made available either to the priests or to the people as food. The burnt offering was wholly consumed. It typified total surrender to the Lord.
Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, we now express our total surrender by becoming living sacrifices - not offering burnt ones. The Amplified New Testament calls for such surrender this way: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship" (Rom. 12:1 AMP).
Celebrate the Feast: Investigate Numbers 28-29. Contrast the sacrifices of the Feast of Tabernacles (29:12-38) with the sacrifices offered at God's other appointed times. Read Romans 12:1-2. In view of all God's mercies, decisively dedicate your body as a living sacrifice.
Day 3 (Oct. 5, 2009). Solomon spent seven years building the Temple. Then, when all Israel gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles, Solomon had the ark of the covenant brought into the Temple. With the ark came the manifest presence of God.
"The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. . . . When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple" (1 Kings 8:6,10-11).
Celebrate the Feast: Read 1 Kings 8. Ask the LORD to keep his appointment with you in a way you know he is present. Invite his glory to fill the place where you are. Declare that his glory will fill the earth. Wait for him. As you begin to encounter him, respond to him. Let him lead you: in blessing him (see vv. 15-21), in intercession (see vv. 22-53), and in blessing his people (see vv. 55-61). Go on your way joyful and glad in heart.
Day 4 (Oct. 6, 2009). For centuries, the Israelites sinned against the Lord and refused to repent. As a result, they went into exile. Seventy years after Judah's captivity began, Cyrus king of Persia issued this decree:
"The LORD, the God of heaven, has . . . appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you - may their God be with them, and let them go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem" (Ezra 1:2-4).
More than 42,000 returned to Judah.
"When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled with one accord in Jerusalem. Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it . . . . Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices. Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day" (Ezra 3:1-4).
Celebrate the Feast: Read Ezra 3. What is the Lord commissioning you to build? How will you overcome your fear and make a beginning? Sing, praise and give thanks to the Lord. Shout aloud to him.
Day 5 (Oct. 7, 2009). Zerubbabel and the people began to rebuild the Temple, but severe opposition halted the work. Fourteen years later, the new Temple still sat, partially completed. Then two prophets rose up, Haggai and Zechariah, urging the people to finish the work. On the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles, this word from the LORD came to Haggai:
"'Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,' declares the LORD. 'Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the LORD, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear. . . . The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty" (Hag. 2:3-5, 9).
Celebrate the Feast: Read Ezra 4:24-5:2; Haggai 2:1-9 (if possible, in Amplified). What is the Spirit of God saying to you through Haggai's prophecy? How does he want you to respond - write down what you hear? Do a prophetic act? Take a step of obedience? Take courage - and act. You will know in your spirit when you are doing what he is prompting.
Day 6 (Oct. 8, 2009). More than 90 years after the first exiles returned to Judah, Nehemiah led a company of exiles to return. They rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem in 52 days. Then, on the first day of the seventh month, all the people gathered in Jerusalem. For two days, Ezra the priest read to them from the book of the Law. As he read, they realized how far they had strayed from God's ways. For one thing, they had not celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles God's way:
"They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: 'Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make temporary shelters' - as it is written. So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great" (Neh. 8:14-17).
Celebrate the Feast: Read Nehemiah 8. The Spirit of God reveals the Word of God. As you read the Word, ask the Spirit, "What do I need to understand about the ways of God?" More specifically, ask: "How do you want me to celebrate this Feast today?" Whatever he says, do it - even if he sends you out to collect branches and build a shelter.
Day 7 (Oct. 9, 2009). Six months before his crucifixion, Jesus went to Jerusalem in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles and began to teach. By that time, the religious leaders headquartered in Jerusalem hated Jesus and planned to kill him. Yet "no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come" (John 7:30).
"On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within them.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive" (John 7:37-39).
Celebrate the Feast: Read John 7. Notice how each of the following responded to Jesus: his brothers, the Jews (Pharisees and chief priests), the crowd (people), the officers (temple guards), Nicodemus. Who do you see in these verses that you know? Where do you see yourself? What is your response today to Jesus' cry in verses 37-38?
Day 8 (Oct. 10, 2009). The Feast of Tabernacles ends after seven days - yet the God-appointment spills over into an eighth day: "On each of the seven festival days, you must present offerings to the LORD by fire. On the eighth day, you must gather again for a sacred assembly and present another offering to the LORD by fire. This will be a solemn closing assembly, and no regular work may be done that day" (Lev. 23:36 NLT).
The prophet Zechariah announced a time when this God-appointment will spill over into other nations - and peoples we'd least expect to do so will join the celebration: "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" (Zech. 14:16).
Celebrate the closing assembly: Be still before God. Read Zechariah 14. Don't try to figure out everything Zechariah prophesied. But receive the word of the Lord. Reflect on the previous seven days. How have you experienced God? What has filled you with joy? What is he saying to you about the days ahead? Declare aloud: "The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name" (Zech. 14:9). Worship him now. |
| The LORD's promise |
Here's your Succoth appointment: "For seven days celebrate the Festival to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose." Here's the accompanying promise: "For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete" (Deut. 16:15).
Joy flowed when Solomon dedicated the Temple and God's glory filled the house. Joy flowed when Zerubbabel and the returned exiles celebrated their first Feast back in the land. Joy flowed when Haggai and Zechariah prophesied - and the people rose up to complete work they had left unfinished for so long. Joy flowed when Ezra read to the people from the Law and they understood and embraced God's ways. Joy flows whenever people answer Jesus' cry, "Come to me!" - and living water bubbles up within them.
The LORD says of this appointed time: "This festival will be a time of great joy for all" (Deut. 16:15 NLT). Joy will flow when you celebrate your God at Succoth.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, Today's New International Version™ TNIV ®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society ®. All rights reserved worldwide. Also quoted: New American Standard Updated (NASU), New Living Testament (NLT), The Amplified Bible (AMP), and THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © (MSG) 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
Appointed feasts. OT:4150. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission. |
| You get your life back . . . |
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IMPORTANT NOTICE!
November 2-4, 2009
Aqueduct Conference Center
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
For the past five years, God has taught me much about disentangling myself from worthless religious stuff and embracing the precious freedom, joy, identity and intimacy of life in Christ. Early this year, I began to envision retreats where small groups of people would seek the Lord together, giving Him permission to jump-start this life-giving process, or take it to the next level. At these retreats, I would share some of what I've learned. So would others. Together, we'd come to Jesus - and let him teach us a little more fully, a little more deeply, the "unforced rhythms of grace."
Elizabeth Wallace at Aqueduct Conference Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, very graciously offered Aqueduct as the place to launch this experiment. Most of my ministry has taken place far from North Carolina. Yet after praying and seeking feedback from others, I believed God was leading me to set the date and move forward.
As of today - Sept. 21 - 10 more attendees are needed in order to have the minimum number Aqueduct requires. I need to let Elizabeth know by October 1 whether we're going forward with the Nov. 2-4 dates. I leave for Israel on October 1 - so I must make the decision before then.
I'm very willing to postpone this Getaway with God, if that's the Lord's will. But I don't want to cancel, only to find out that a number of you intend to attend, but just haven't let me know. If you plan to attend the Getaway with God, I need to hear from you immediately - September 29 at the latest.
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