The Feast of Tabernacles Pictures Several Things

The Feast of Tabernacles Pictures Several Things.

It pictures the fact that we are strangers here on earth, that our stay is only temporary.
We only dwell here in the tabernacle of flesh for a time. If we are saved, our hope is in a heavenly abode with God the Father.

From the time of Moses till the present day, and on into the future messianic age, mankind has built a temporary dwelling place for God i.e. the tabernacle, the temple, and this temple, (our body). Even in the millennium, the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept because even then it will not yet have been fulfilled, because the dwelling place of God will not yet be established for his people.

The Feast of Tabernacles represents the millennium, the Sabbath rest of 1000 years, or to put it another way, The Day of the Lord when all who trust in him will have rest. It is the seventh day in God’s 7000 year plan. It is a time of great joy, for our Lord (Yeshua) has come to dwell with us.

The eighth day represents when Yeshua, who has been given all judgment and authority by the father, will at this time turn the whole thing back over to the Father and himself bend the knee to him, as will we his bride.

The eighth day also pictures when God will no longer have a tabernacle built by human hands, but will bring his abode to earth. We will no longer live in temporary structures anymore but in the very abode of God, and will have glorified bodies that will never see corruption i.e. permanent bodies.

Because you are away from home a week, by the end of the feast you find yourself longing for home. You are going home on the eighth to your real home. Our real home is with God the Father which is why the tabernacles are generally dismantled on the 7th day.

It is a time of rejoicing because the harvest is in.

It is the only feast day that we are commanded to CELEBRATE ALL SEVEN DAYS. The feast of unleavened bread mentions the first day and the last day as convocations, and it mentions eating unleavened bread for seven days, but there is no command to celebrate every day. The command is clear in both Leviticus 23 and Deut. 16: we are to celebrate every day.

You can not fully appreciate these days unless you break from your routine of work and school and normal life, go live in temporary shelters, and truly rejoice. Remember the harvest is in. It’s a time of plenty. It’s a time of feasting and making merry, of having unbridled joy in the fruits of your labor. There is no way you can do that if you are simply going about business as usual, with a sukkot party in the evening, to substitute really living in a temporary place and longing to go home by the end.

I believe it also pictures the honeymoon period of the bride to her husband and master Yeshua. How many brides stay home from their honeymoons because they are too busy to be bothered? These days are divinely appointed by your Lord and Master Yeshua. If your boss told you that on a certain day you were to be at a meeting at a certain time, would you find an excuse to not be there? Does Yeshua deserve any less than the consideration you would show a human boss?

I also believe this is the time that Yeshua was born. For those who really wish to “observe” his birthday, this is the time to do it.

Dan Stevens