FEAST OF TABERNACLES OKLAHOMA

What is the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot?

In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Ezra, 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, and John we see what is called the Feast of Booths. The Feast of Booths is commonly known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot. It is a week-long festival in the fall that commemorates the Hebrews journey in the wilderness and the coming of Jesus (God with us) to dwell with us.

The Feast of Tabernacles is considered a pilgrimage feast (one of three) where all Hebrew men were required to appear before the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem. It is a time where they would dwell in temporary shelters which reminded them of the temporary dwelling in the wilderness before God led them to the land He has promised for them.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is celebrated five days after a Feast called Yom Kippur. After the Day of Atonement God then dwells with His people. This was a foreshadow of the Mosiac covenant to the New Covenant when God himself would take on human form and dwell with His people. This is also a foreshadow of the coming Kingdom in which Jesus tells us He went to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is both agricultural and historical. Agriculturally, it is a time of harvest and joy. It signifies the completion of the of Israel’s agricultural year which is also a foreshadow of the coming Kingdom. It is similar to the western cultures Thanksgiving, and some have speculated that the pilgrims were celebrating Sukkot when they did the original Thanksgiving in the United States. Historically, it reminds believers that their ancestors where slaves in Egypt and that God alone delivered them, cleansed them, and made them His own. This is still relevant for Christians today as we all find ourselves enslaved or in bondage to some sin or system. It is a foreshadow to remember God has delivered and God will do it again.

In the book of John we see Jesus understand the customs of the Feasts and in John chapter 7 and 8 he utilizes they audiences understanding of these traditional customs of the Feast of Tabernacles to once again reveal all of the regulation of the Bible was to lead them to the revelation of who He was. He is the fulfillment prophecy that there will be a second (GREATER EXODUS). That through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus He will deliver us from sin and death.