JUBILATION!
OCTOBER 2016
Ask your Jewish friends about their
recently observed holy days: Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day
of Atonement), Sukkot* (Feast of Tabernacles).
Ask them how they honored these three feasts in the seventh month on
their religious calendar. Show them that
you are interested in them. And, aren’t
we?
As I write, my Jewish friends are celebrating the joyous
holiday of Sukkot, which is the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:33-43). The festivities began this year, 2016, at
sundown on Oct. 16th and will continue until sundown on Oct. 23rd. Sukkot occurs five days following Yom
Kippur. Sukkot is the final ingathering
of the harvest. What a joyous gala…and
one that is hugely significant, Biblically speaking! The eternal message: once again, God Who
dwells with us, has provided! Do your
Jewish friends know this truth?
I love to talk about Sukkot with Jewish people. Of course I do…it’s Biblical! God instructed the children of Israel to
observe this holy day! After discovering
how they commemorate this feast from the Lord, I share with them, “The Feast of
Tabernacles, Sukkot, celebrates GOD dwelling with us! Tabernacle means to dwell with. God is a
personal God Who desires to DWELL with us.”
Sukkot memorializes God’s provision for the Jewish people while they
wandered in the wilderness. God provided
shelter and sustenance during the forty years prior to reaching the Promised
Land. This tribute to Almighty God is a
jubilation of thanksgiving!
How many sukkahs did you see during Sukkot? If you’ve visited Israel during this feast,
the landscape is dotted with sukkahs – booths.
In the Bronx, my Jewish friends residing in apartment buildings
constructed sukkahs on fire escapes or on balconies. God commanded His people to build temporary shelters
and live in them for seven days. In
Moses’ day, they ate in the shelters, they slept in them. Many follow God’s directives today. Ask your Jewish friends how they decorated
their booths. “Did you invite guests to
join you in the sukkah?”- you might inquire.
The Feast of Tabernacles is Biblically connected to the nations/the
Gentiles. It is! I’m not going to expound at this time. I will, however, convey that the relationship
between Israel and the nations throughout Scripture is noteworthy! And, that relationship is truly focused upon
within the Feast of Tabernacles. Should
you wish to engage in studying the relationship between Israel and the nations,
check out Gen. 10 (where the nations are noted; count them); Gen. 12:3; Gen.
18:18; Deut. 32:7-9; Zech. 8:23; Rom. 11:15, Rev. 7:1-10…. And, please know that the Feast of
Tabernacles is also labeled in Scripture as the Feast of Ingathering (Ex.
23:16)!
Because the booths are temporary, they are not sturdy. “Sukkah”
means woven. Have you ever lived in a
woven home? Ponder for a moment, perhaps
two moments. We’re inhabiting such a
dwelling! We are here on this earth
temporarily! Our outer man is
deteriorating! Praise God that those of
us who are believers in the Messiah, Jesus, are being renewed day by day in our
inner man.
Please be sure to highlight the significance of
“tabernacles/to dwell with” in your conversations with Jewish folks. All seven feasts of the Lord that God gave to
the children of Israel point to the Messiah Jesus. In Exodus 25, God expressed His desire to
dwell with His people. Jesus, in His
first coming, offered Himself to His people.
He came to dwell with them. Thus,
we read …the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) The Jewish religious leadership rejected
Jesus as the Messiah (Matt. 12).
Israel, as a nation, has not yet come to faith in Jesus. Does that thwart God’s will? NEVER!!!
The Feast of Tabernacles looks forward to the time when Israel
will be restored (Zech. 12:10ff), and when God will dwell on this earth with
man. Aren’t we so looking forward to
that day? The Bible tells us that Jesus
will be reigning from Jerusalem, sitting on the throne of David (Acts 2:29) as
King for 1,000 years! God will deliver
to Israel the Kingdom that He promised to them.
The remnant, Jewish believers in Jesus, will inherit that Kingdom. And, praise God, believing Gentiles will
inhabit that physical, literal kingdom on earth!
The feasts of the Lord speak to a prophetic calendar. God, Who is above time and space, meets man
who lives in time and space. Through the
feasts, God gave the children of Israel the gift of His presence and the joy of
worshipping Him while anticipating the fulfillment of His plan of redemption
for the world! Studying the feasts gives
us the big picture of Scripture and adds such a richness to the truth that is
ours! Glory to God!
*Jewish people with Eastern European lineage call this holy
day “Sukkos.”
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