Feast of Tabernacles and the Millennial Kingdom
Break 1 – Leviticus 23
You shall rejoice before the Lord your God. It shall be a statute forever in your generations.
Dwell in booths for seven days, because I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.
The Spring Festivals are all about What Jesus Did
- On Passover – He Died
- On First Fruits – He Rose
- On Weeks/Pentecost – He Sent the Holy Spirit
- Spring was the time of the grain harvest – His body (death for our sins)
The Fall Festivals are all about Us
- Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah – Our birth
- Atonement – Our judgement
- Tabernacles – Our life forever with Him
- Fall is the time of the fruit harvest –
It’s about the benefits of the blood of Christ (living for God)
Our sins are atoned, so it’s time to start our new life.
We spend a week celebrating life with Him during the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths
You construct a sukkah – a lean-to or hut (tent) where you eat your meals.
Sukkah – “Tabernacles” and “booths” are attempts to translate sukkot into English.
The singular form is sukkah – Essentially it’s anything you build to create shade for yourself.
During the harvest season of late summer, a laborer might rise early and work throughout the morning. Then as the midday sun bears down, he takes a break. Using leftover plant stalks, leaves, and branches, he constructs a simple shelter to provide him with shade.
It’s what Jonah built such a sukkah to sit in as he waited to see what would come of Nineveh. “Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.” (Jonah 4:5).
Jacob built sukkot for his cattle in his journeys, and actually named the place after them. “So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 17 Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.” (Genesis 33:17).
When the ancient Israelites emerged from Egypt, they left their houses behind.
At first, they would not even have had tents to pitch to protect themselves.
They gathered whatever brush they could find to keep the sun off their heads.
God himself sheltered them from the sun; His presence was the sukkah they needed!
Break 2 – Dwelling
Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths [Sukkot] to the LORD…On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days.
On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
You shall dwell in booths [sukkot] for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths [sukkot], that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths [sukkot] when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:34,39-43)
Agriculturally, Sukkot is Israel’s “Thanksgiving.” It is a joyous harvest festival to celebrate the completion of the agricultural year.
One aspect of the celebration takes place as they build their booths from branches in recognition of God’s protection over us.
The flimsy sukkahs testify that, like the Israelites in the wilderness, their safety and stability comes from His ongoing care.
Like David in Psalm 140:7 “Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle.” We declare that God is the One who is our sukkah (covering) in the day of battle.
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them” (Rev. 21:3; cf. vs. 22).
God commanded us to remember the shelters the Israelites lived in during the Exodus when God provided all of their food (manna).
So we are celebrating our complete dependence on God for our provision.
And it reminds us of the Tabernacle in the wilderness where God met with Moses (fire and cloud) and offered the people a chance to meet with Him – they refused.
Exodus 29:45 “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.”
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Dwelling is the word tabernacle which means:
God will spread His tabernacle over us, so that we may dwell in safety and security under its cover and protection.
In the simplest of terms, when Jesus rose from the grave, He had a glorified body, that could be touched and could eat, but it could also pass through walls and defy the basic laws of physics.
He stayed on earth in that body for 40 days and then ascended into heaven. Those 40 days are a picture of the Millennium, when Jesus will reign on the earth along with us.
Isaiah 2:2-3, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall go and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem”.
These 8 days of the Feast of Tabernacles, we lay down our concerns with how the world is falling apart, and we give thanks that God has it all in His hands.
Break 3 – No Need for Stuff
5779 is the year of Reaping and Birthing
Something New is coming that will change everything
Abraham was the poster child of change – He lived in Mesopotamia / Ur of the Chaldees – Massive cities and great wealth and knowledge
Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth – Japheth was the oldest and Ham was the youngest
Ham was the father of Canaan (he went south to modern day Israel and North Africa)
Canaan sinned horribly against Noah.
Gen 9
And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
[It’s lost in translation]
The phrase became uncovered implies Canaan uncovered Noah, in the way armies would disgrace a conquered slave. It implies something sexual and humiliating.
“Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.”
“Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber”, Eber is the origin of the Hebrew word for “Hebrew.”
The word Shem actually means “name,” which implies that Noah expected this son’s name to become great.
He was right—the modern words Semitic and Semite are derived from Shem’s name and he became the ancestor of the Semitic peoples.
Abraham, a descendant of Shem, is the first person in the Bible who is referred to as a “Hebrew”. Abraham left a greatly advanced civilization to live a life of a nomad in tents.
He entered the land of Canaan from the north and went all the way to Egypt and then back into Canaan.
He was massively wealthy, (separates herds from Lot). But he never built a city or a home
Isaac and Jacob followed that calling. None used their great wealth to build homes or cities.
They kept their eyes on their calling. They were wealthy but stayed Separate from the world of their day waiting to inherit the promises of God.
Except Joseph in Egypt is given the region of Goshen, and those generations grow accustomed to homes
God lets them become slaves to help inspire the Exodus, but that generation is never able to wander with thankful hearts
40 years later they were back to their right calling and entered the Promised Land
Canaan was a land filled with cities they didn’t have to build.
In this season of booths and tabernacles, we are the descendants, or grafted into the line of Abraham
We ask in faith a receive – We wait for a heavenly city
If we love the world, we are enemies of God – If we seek Him first, He gives us everything
Break 4 – Give with Joy
Sukkot is all about thanking God for all He provides. What’s the best way to be thankful – you give to someone in need.
The Feast of Tabernacles became known simply as “The Feast” and they called it the Season of Joy.
It’s Christmas and Thanksgiving combined
We look forward to when we will tabernacle or dwell with God in heaven and on the new earth
After all sin has been removed and the devil is cast into the lake of fire.
God has commanded us to rejoice (for a whole week). And to give charity.
- think about God and rejoice
- think about Others and give
Deuteronomy 16:14-15 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.
Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.
No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
God will never come into your presence empty handed
That is a promise – He will give you life, strength, grace, a future, a dream, a vision, a family, a hope, and He will give you all of Himself every single day 24/7
I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16
Break 5 – Treasure
I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. Isaiah 45:3
First things first, let’s look at the “treasure” and “riches” that God has hidden in the darkness of secret places.
God supplies provision, sufficiency, riches, wealth, etc, and each in their proper time and place, according to His will and the needs of His kingdom.
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:5-6
Notice that “you” are God’s idea of treasure.
“Treasure” is in a class of its own. It is highly prized, even priceless, and kept secure.
Likewise, “riches” imply an amount beyond what meets a need; it’s a quantity considered more than sufficient.
Luke 5 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he was astonished, and all that were with him, because of the catch of the fish which they had taken, and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Fear not, from now on you will catch men.”
So when they brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
Sukkot is a festival about rejoicing in the blessings that God has provided, but let’s be sure our focus is on the Lord of blessing – instead of the blessings!
Tithes – You start with 100% and there are 2 tithes
- 1st tithe: is specifically for the Levites (pastors/churches)
- 2nd tithe: is for you to enjoy and to use to be a blessing and honor God
Deuteronomy 14:22-27
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.
But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish.
Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
Break 6 – Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles
On the seventh day during Temple times willow branches were beaten against the pavement next to the Great Altar to symbolize the casting away of the nation’s sins.
At this time the people waved their lulavs (palm branches) while the Levites chanted the Hallel (Ps. 113-118). The name of this day – Hosanna – comes from the closing words of Psalm 118 which reads: “Save now, I beseech Thee, O Lord… Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord…”
Water
The seventh day became known as, “the Great Day.” The people developed special observances and traditions to mark this special day in Israel. The most spectacular of these was the water drawing ceremony.
There was a parade of worshipers and flutists led by the priest to the pool of Siloam. The priest has two golden pitchers. One is for wine. He fills the other with water from the pool. As the flutes continue to play, a choir of Israelites chants Psalm 118.
The whole procession heads back to the Temple through the Water Gate.
A trumpet sounds as the priest enters the Temple area.
He approaches the altar where two silver basins are waiting.
He pours wine into one of the basins as a drink offering to the Lord and water from the pool of Siloam into the other.
The ceremony was to thank God for His provision and to ask Him to provide rain for the crops in the coming year. Today, we take water for granted. We turn the tap and—water pours out!
In the Middle East during the first century, water was often scarce. The people were very much aware of their dependence on God for the rains that were so vital for the preservation of life.
The prophets saw rain as a symbol of salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean…” (Ezekiel 36:25).
John 7 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,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.
Pouring out water. It’s precious. To say come quickly Messiah. We trade everything for you. You are more precious.
The leaders grew angry saying, “A prophet does not come out of Galilee” (verse 52). Apparently, they forgot about Isaiah chapter 9:
There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; of those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:1-2).
Genesis 26:18-19 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham…Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of springing water there.
In Hebrew, the phrase springing water literally means “living waters”.
Woman at well with Jesus. Talking about the spring (living water).
Wells are efforts of man’s hard labor. Springs come to you as a gift of God.
She knew there was no spring around so he must be talking about prophecy.
They point to the rock they carried in the desert that brought water when you ask.
Rephidim & Meribah
Jesus prophesied and the lady recognized the promises of a future Moses.
Moses struck rock “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”
As a prophet he condemned the Jews to rebel against the Rock. His anger prophesied of their response to the Rock.
Numbers 20:8-12 The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
Speaking to the Rock. It’s time for prayer. To release the Jews from their captivity.
Psalm 84:4-7 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion.
Break 7 – Light
At the end of the first day of the Feast, according to the Mishnah, gigantic candelabras stood within the court of the women in the Temple.
Each of the four golden candelabras is said to have been about 75 feet tall!
Each candelabra had four branches, and at the top of every branch there was a large bowl. Four young men bearing 10 gallon pitchers of oil would climb ladders to fill the four golden bowls on each candelabra. And then the oil in those bowls was ignited.
The Temple was on a hill above the rest of the city, so the glow was a sight for the entire city to see. The light was to remind the people of how God’s Shekinah glory had once filled His Temple. But in the person of Jesus, God’s glory was once again present in that Temple. And He used that celebration to announce that very fact. He was teaching in the court of women just after the Feast, perhaps standing right next to those magnificent candelabras when He declared to all who were gathered there,
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).
Many refused to have their own darkness exposed by that light.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
If God was first, then no “thing” and no “one” else existed then, not even darkness.
“That which was from the beginning…” 1 John 1:1.
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5.
Scripturally speaking, darkness isn’t the absence of light.
(It’s actually scientifically impossible to create perfect darkness because all objects radiate heat in the form of infrared light and gamma rays and extremely high frequency light can penetrate even dense materials.)
Darkness was probably the very first creation of God, before the universe itself.
I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity;
I, the LORD, do all these things. Isaiah 45:7
Darkness was a creation, and every creation has a purpose. God is always closer than our skin. It doesn’t matter how dark or scary the situation gets,
Or how many times we have messed up, or how big the mess we made is. We are creations in process.
We can know that the Spirit of God is hovering near us, and He has a vision for just what He’s making us into.
And He uses darkness, or hides things from us, as part of the process of revealing Himself to us.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:3-5
“God divided the light from the darkness.” To say it another way, Jesus triumphs over darkness.
Everything God is doing in our lives is to accomplish one purpose, dividing the light from the darkness.
Ephesians 5 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
The light spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x rays, gamma rays, and other electromagnetic radiation.
God is raising up many kinds of people with many kinds of gifts just like the many kinds of light. He is going to fill up some with a lot of power, others with revelation, others with skills, others for war.
Break 8 – Count The Cost
What is the point of these Fall Feasts: Repentance for Rosh Hashanah and the 10 Days of Awe and for Yom Kippur…Why – The Tribulation is during the 10 Days, and the Rapture?
But then everything changes; It’s Celebration for the Feast of Tabernacles?
Those who take the mark of the Beast will be destroyed. But there will still be sinners are the earth who did not take the mark, but that do not have their names written in the Book of Life and so are not transformed to reign with Jesus in the Millennium. They are not glorified. They don’t shine. They are alive, so to speak, but just alive.
Darkness & Oil
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” Isaiah 60:1-2
One day when the trumpet sounds, the darkness will descend, and it will be our time to shine. Why the yearly trumpet blast – so we will continue to ask ourselves: “Are we filled with oil?”
Matthew 25 warns us: “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”
But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ [repent]
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Oil causes the lamps to light up;
It’s the presence of the Holy Spirit illuminating the Word of God.
Count the cost. Jesus said by from me. Sometimes He said come to me and I will give you. In Revelation in the letters to the churches he said buy from me. The 10 wise virgins He said needed to buy oil from Him not from people, but from Him.
They should’ve counted the cost they didn’t; they were cast into outer darkness. Between the Feast of First Fruits and Pentecost, they were commanded to count the days – 50 days till Pentecost. Jesus stayed on the earth for 40 days before He ascended and then said wait for Pentecost to receive, which came 10 days later. That’s a shadow; counting – that’s the focus.
You don’t have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to be saved. But He wants you to be filled; He wants you to be full of Him so you can shine your light which requires oil.
He said darkness is going to come on the face of the earth, so He knows you will use up your oil. So He says buy from me – come to me get full – be filled.
Revelation Chapter 4
“To Laodicea: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
They didn’t count the cost. You have to buy from Jesus, not from man. There will be many full pews the day after the rapture because they spent their time only trying to buy from man instead of Jesus.
This is all about spending time in His presence to be filled with Him so, like Moses, we glow when we return into the world.
The Lord expects light from and His people. The light of God in our lives comes from the Holy Spirit, which causes ministry to happen in the lives of believers. Burning oil produces light. If we are spiritual “virgins”, because we are betrothed to Jesus, we ought to bear His light in this dark world.
Still, He has told us that some virgins will not have the wisdom to do it, so it is a warning to us; a warning not to quench the Spirit, but to be filled with Him and be the light of the world.
Break 9 – Revelation 20:1-15
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he would not deceive the nations any more, until the thousand years were fulfilled. And after that he must be released for a little while.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection. On such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God; and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Break 10 – Souls
The Feast of Tabernacles is the culmination of all the biblical holy days and represents the final stage of His plan of salvation. After the great war of the end times and the second coming of Jesus, those who survive of all the nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14).
That celebration takes place in the millennial kingdom. There will be a Feast of Tabernacles in the Millennium. The Feast itself is a foreshadow of that kingdom.
We are told to gather fruits of the harvest [souls] to wave them as a thanksgiving before the Lord (Leviticus 23:40, Nehemiah 8:15). There is particular mention of palm branches.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding a donkey (Zechariah (9:9), the disciples greeted Him by waving palm branches (John 12:13). That entry was a shadow of His second coming. He came in on a donkey, instead of a white horse (Revelation 19:11).
That was a triumphal entry, because He was coming for souls by laying down His life; it was technically a humble entry. There will be another entry. Jesus will enter in triumph, as a king on a white horse, on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Not only will a few Jewish disciples wave palm branches, but the righteous remnant of every nation.
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” Revelation 7:9.
Just as there is an agricultural harvest at the time of Sukkot (the end of the biblical holy days), so will there be a great harvest of souls at the end of the age (Matthew 13:39, Revelation 14:14).
The Scriptures actually speak of the Feast of Tabernacles as being seven days, but it also speaks of an eighth day on which a holy convocation is to be held, with sacrifices made and no traditional work done on that day. See Leviticus 23:34-36
The 7th day is the last great day of the feast. At the end of the 7th day they leave the booths and go home and then come to the temple on the 8th day – like heaven or eternity
The Eighth Day symbolized, the final judgment of the dead into either eternal life or the lake of fire and the millennium.
It was on the 8th day that they brought the woman caught in adultery –
We are supposed to rule in the Millennial kingdom and sit as judges in the Great White Throne Judgment
The Pharisees wanted to judge but only pretended to be righteous but walked away when told (who is without sin…He didn’t mean innocent of all sin but that specific sin) they must be innocent of the offense of adultery to throw the first stone
Jewish law said only a witness of a capital offense could throw the first stone. Once they left – there was no one to accuse her – no legal witness.
We must be careful of bearing second hand offenses of others – they are hurt but we are angry and offended – let the stones fall
Meanwhile the guilty lady walked away on the 8th day – told to sin no more – our actions determine what we do on the 8th day
Break 11 – The Transfiguration was a picture of this
Luke 9 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
Peter, James and John were in a vision “transported” into the future to see Christ in His glory in His Kingdom! It’s interesting to note that Peter associated that time with tents or tabernacles.
Gladness – Jesus will be enthroned at this feast in eternity
Gladness – agalliasis [a gall lee ah sis]
It means exultation, extreme joy, gladness
But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions” [Psalm 45:7] (Hebrews 1:8–9).
At feasts, people were anointed with the “oil of gladness”.
Hebrews 1:9 alludes to this inaugural ceremony of anointing, and uses it as an emblem of the divine power and majesty to which the Son of God has been exalted.
Then Zadok the priest took a horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the horn, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound. 1 Kings 1:39-40
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. Luke 1:14
For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Luke 1:44
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, Acts 2:46
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, Jude 1:24
This festival is also called the Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 23:16), focusing on its role as a celebration of the large autumn harvest in the Holy Land that foreshadows a large spiritual harvest.
Satan is bound, the saints and martyrs are raised in the first resurrection to rule with Jesus, everyone else waits for the second resurrection.
“Then it will be that all the nations who have come against Jerusalem and survived will go up each year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zech. 14:16, MEV).
God’s Word reveals that the nations will one day gather to fight against Jerusalem (Zech. 12:1-14; Joel 3:1-2; Ezek. 38:4). It also tells us without a shadow of a doubt who will win this battle, for the LORD Himself will fight for His people (Zech. 14:3)!
Following the battle, the survivors from these attacking nations will once again go up to Jerusalem—not to make war, but to worship the LORD of Hosts, demonstrating their submission to the King of kings. As prophesied in Isaiah 2:2-3, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall go and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (MEV).
All the nations will have a new orientation around God’s Will and His Word as they worship Him annually in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles. Their annual schedule will then be aligned with the LORD’s biblical calendar, as His priorities will be seen in their new confession to worship (Zech. 14:16).
