Passover - speaks of redemption.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread - speaks of victory over death.

The Feast of Firstfruits - speaks of resurrection.

The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) - speaks of the birth of the church.

The Feast of Trumpets - speaks of the second coming of Jesus.

The Day of Atonement - speaks of the rapture of the church, and judgment of the wicked.

The Feast of Tabernacles - speaks of the coming of the Kingdom.

In the next two studies on the Feasts of the Lord, we will look at the individual significance of each of the seven Feasts.

Acknowledgments: "The Feasts of the Lord", Kevin Howard/Marvin Rosenthal

Copyright Cheryl McGrath and Great South Land Ministries, 2000.

This study may be copied without alteration or omission.

Great South Land Ministries, Australia

http://www.greatsouthland.org

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To continue our study on the Feasts of Israel, in this session, we will look at the individual Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Weeks, which all took place in the spring of the year.

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PASSOVER

"On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover." (Leviticus 23:5)

Passover is actually the oldest continuously observed religious feast still in existence, having been celebrated for around 3,500 years. Biblically, it was celebrated in the wilderness (Num. 9:1-14), in the promised land (Josh 5:10-12), in the days of King Hezekiah (2 Chr. 30:15) and King Josiah ( 2 Kings 23:21-23), after the return from Babylonian captivity (Ezra 6:19-20) and was still being celebrated in the days of Jesus (John 11:55).

Passover was established by God Himself as a memorial and everlasting ordinance celebrating the night He passed through the land in judgment of the gods of Egypt.

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night...and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord." (Exodus 12:12) For a clearer understanding of the first Passover, Exodus 11 and 12 should be read.

God ordained that Passover should be observed on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month Nisan (March-April) which is the first month of the Hebrew year (Ex: 12:12, Num. 9:5, 28:16). This is the day God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt (Ex. 12:6). It is also the day Jesus became our Passover Lamb once and for all.

"For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." 1 Cor. 5:7(b)

That which we as Christians refer to as Communion, or the Lord' Supper, is in actual fact, the New Testament Passover. The first communion in the New Testament was conducted by Jesus Himself early on the day of Passover and is commonly called the last supper (Mt. 26:19-26). As noted in our first session, the Jewish day began at sundown and ended at sundown the next day. Therefore Jesus and the disciples would have eaten the passover supper around 6 p.m. which would be evening to us, but was actually the beginning of the next day, or Passover, to them. This means that Jesus celebrated the Passover meal and was crucified on the same Biblical day.

The Passover meal, which had been up until that time known as the Lord's Passover, became the Lord' s Supper. This feast was originally declared by God to be celebrated forever (Exodus 12:14). Jesus told us to continue to celebrate His supper as a memorial to Him, and that it will be celebrated again after His return. Luke 22:15-20.

God required three symbolic foods to be eaten at Passover. The sacrifice was to be an umblemished lamb, symbolising innocence. It was to be roasted with fire, portraying the judgment that would befall it instead of God's people, and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The bitter herbs symbolised the suffering of the lamb, and the unleavened bread symbolised the purity of the sacrifice (leaven often symbolises sin in the scriptures).

Passover was celebrated only once a year and on that day, three lambs were sacrificed at the temple rather than the customary two. On most days of the year, there was a morning and evening sacrifice, but at Passover, the High Priest was required to also sacrifice a third lamb, the Passover lamb. The sacrifice of this once a year Passover Lamb took place in the temple at the ninth hour of the Jewish day (3 p.m.)

With this in mind let's look at Mark 15:33, 34 & 37:

"Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is translated "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" ...And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last."

It is not generally realised that at the exact same time that the Passover Lamb was being slain in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Lamb of God hung on a cross outside the city as God's once and for all sacrifice for the sin of man.

Further, just as God had decreed that not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken (Exodus 12:46), not a bone of the Messiah'a body was broken (John 19:31-33).

Another significant point we need to understand about Passover is that Jesus not only became our sacrificial Lamb, but our Great High Priest. It was the High Priest who once a year presented the blood of the slain lamb in the Holy of Holies as atonement for the sins of the people. Jesus presented His own precious Blood to the Father on our behalf.

"Not with the blood of bulls and goats and calves but with His own Blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Heb. 9:12

"Seeing then that we have great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." Heb. 4:14

On the night before His death, Jesus presented both bread and wine to His disciples to symbolise His sacrifice for them. The bread and wine were symbolic of His broken body, but also symbolic of His priesthood. In effect, Jesus was setting aside many of the religious trappings which had become associated with the celebration of Passover and instructing His followers to in future celebrate with bread and wine. The lamb would no longer be required, because He Himself was "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29). The use of the bread and wine was prophetically foretold way back in Genesis 14:18:

" And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God."

"The forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." Heb. 6:20

(Right now would be a good time to stop reading, and take a few minutes to worship the Lamb of God, would you agree?)

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"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread." (Lev. 23:6)

This Feast began on the 15th day of Nissan, the day immediately after Passover, and lasted for seven days. Unlike the other Feasts which were all instituted in Levicitus 23, both Passover and Unleavened Bread were established just prior to the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12:14-20).

It was at the Feast of Unleavened Bread at the age of twelve that Jesus astounded the Jewish scribes and teachers with His knowledge of the scriptures. (Luke 2:42-49).

During this Feast, special sacrifices of animals and grain were offered daily in the Temple. (Numbers 28:17-25). The use of leaven was strictly prohibited by God during this time, in fact it was not even to be found in the home.

"Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the firsst day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel." (Ex. 12:15).

Leaven (yeast or baking powder) is used to produce fermentation in bread dough and is known in Hebrew as "hametz", meaning "sour". Scripturally, leaven often symbolically speaks of sin, probably because of its ability to rapidly permeate through the dough, contaminating, souring and fermenting it (this is actually the first stage of decay). As leaven was seen as impure anything containing leaven was deemed impure and unfit. Only unleavened bread was used in the Temple.

So we see that prophetically, while Passover symbolises the substitutionary death of Jesus, the Feast of Unleavened Bread speaks of His pure and sinless sacrifice, and His victory over the corruption of the grave. Isaiah tells us:

"And they made (appointed) His grave with the wicked, but (was instead) with the rich (one) at His death, because He had done no violence (wickedness), nor was any deceit in His mouth." (Isaiah 53:9, Amplified).

Though Jesus was executed as a criminal, the Father did not allow His Body to be cast outside the city on the garbage heap, which was the normal burial for criminals. Instead, God saw to it that His Son's Body was honoured through burial in a rich man's tomb (Mt. 27:57-60), because He was innocent and pure. Further, His body did not return to dust, as King David prophesied in Psalm 16:10:

"For You will not leave my soul in the grave. Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."

Jesus was not under the curse to return to dust, as was sinful man.

"Dust you are and to dust you shall return" Gen. 3:19

Jesus Himself is our unleavened bread in that He was a pure sinless (without leaven) sacrifice. Passover has been completed, but we are still required to be living in the Feast of Unleavened Bread where purity and separation from sin (sanctification) are required of us. Paul spoke of this in his letter to the Corinthians:

"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5:7-8)

In the sight of God, we are now unleavened, (set apart and pure) and are called to lives of holiness.

FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS.

"When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it." (Leviticus 23:10,11)

Firstfruits was a one day feast which fell on the sixteenth day of Nissan, that is two days after Passover, and the day after the commencement of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast marked the beginning of the spring barley harvest in ancient Israel, and the people were forbidden to partake of the harvest until after the firstfruits were offered to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:14). On this day the people were to bring their offerings of an umblemished male lamb, a drink offering of wine and a grain offering of barley flour mixed with olive oil to the Temple, where the Priest was to present it as a wave offering to the Lord.

Prophetically, Firstfruits signifies Jesus' resurrection, as it was on the Feast of Firstfruits that He rose from the grave, becoming the firstfruits of the final harvest of all mankind.

"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. 25:20)

."...Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth." (Rev.1:5).

"Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord." (Lev. 23:16)

This one day Feast was known as The Feast of Weeks because seven weeks were counted from the Feast of Firstfruits until the day of this Feast. It occurred exactly fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits (Lev. 23:10,11). Most of us know this Feast by the New Testament name of Pentecost, which is a Greek word meaning "fiftieth". The Feast of Weeks was also known to the Jews as The Feast of Harvest, because it was celebrated at the beginning of the summer. Whereas the Feast of Firstfruits marked the commencement of the spring barley harvest, the Feast of Weeks, or Harvest, signified the time of the summer wheat harvest. It was celebrated in the Jewish month of Sivan (late May/early June).

Of the seven feasts God appointed to Israel, three were designated as "solemn". The Feast of Weeks was the second one of these solemn feasts, the others being Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles. These solemn feasts were a time when all Jewish men were required to present themselves before the Lord at the Temple in Jerusalem (Exodus 34:23) (The others were the Feast of Weeks and Feast of Tabernacles).

As with the Feast of Firstfruits, the wheat harvest could not be partaken of by the people until after the offering of the first of the harvest had been made to the Lord. The temple services for the Feast of Weeks were similar to those that were observed for Firstfruits, except that the offering consisted of two long, flat, leavened loaves of wheat bread.

"You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord." (Lev. 23:17)

As the Lord had forbidden leaven on the altar, (Lev. 2:11) the loaves were not burned, instead they were waved before the Lord, along with two lambs as a peace offering.

The Feast of Weeks was prophetically fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out for the first time on the newly born church.

"When the day of Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks) was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4)

On the morning of the Feast of Weeks, God fulfilled the promise of Isaiah 59:20-21 through the pouring out of His Spirit:

" As for Me, says the Lord, this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you..."

Today, the promise continues, as spoken by the Apostle Peter:

"For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39).

The fact that this Feast was also identified as the Feast of Harvest speaks to us of the harvest of souls that God desires to be reaped from the earth. The outpouring of the Spirit at the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, signifies anointing for the harvest. Jesus said "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto Me...unto the uttermost part of the earth." He knew that His people would need the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit in order to reap this mighty harvest of souls from the earth.

In the third and final section of this study, we shall look at the significance of the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles.

Copyright Cheryl McGrath

Great South Land Ministries, Australia

http://www.greatsouthland.org

southland@greatsouthland.org

This study may be reproduced freely without alteration and with copyright intact.

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This is our third and final session in which we have been looking at the Feasts given by God to Israel and their significance for the Christian church.

In this study, we will take a close look at the Feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles. These three feasts took place in the autumn, or seventh month of the Biblical year, in the month of Tishri. On the Gregorian calendar this usually falls in September/October.

Whereas the first four Feasts we have studied have already been prophetically fulfilled in the life of Jesus and the church, these last three Feasts are still awaiting their prophetic fulfilment. This means that in prophetic time, we are currently living between the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of Trumpets.

"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord." (Leviticus 23:24-25)

On the Hebrew calendar this Feast was a one day holiday celebrated on the first day of Tishri, the seventh Hebrew month (usually mid-September to early October). The purpose of the Feast of Trumpets was to gain the people's attention, so that they would hear and understand and be prepared for what was about to come. In effect, the Feast of Trumpets is a wake-up call for the people of God. Traditionally, to the Jewish people, this Feast came to be known as Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning "Head of the Year", because its timing coincided with the beginning of Israel's civil year.

On this day, a special sacrifice was to be made consisting of a young bull, a ram, seven lambs, and a kid goat, along with a grain offering. This special yearly sacrifice was to be made on the Feast of Trumpets in addition to the regular daily temple sacrifices (Numbers 28:1-8; 28:11-15; 29:2-6,). The book of Ezra records that it was during the Feast of Trumpets that the Temple altar was rebuilt and sacrifices reinstituted by those returning from Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:1-6). Nehemiah records that a revival took place in Israel that same day as God's law was read to the people (Neh. 7:73 - 8:12).

The Bible records that two types of trumpets were used by the Hebrews. In

Numbers 10:1-2 God commanded the Israelites to manufacture two silver trumpets of "hammered work" to be sounded by the priests (Numbers 10:10). The Hebrew word for this specific silver trumpet is "hatzotzerah". The other trumpet used by the Israelites, known as the "shophar" (ram's horn) was specifically named in the scriptures as the trumpet to be blown on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) (Lev. 25:9).

The trumpets to be blown for the Feast of Trumpets are not specificied in scripture, and there are differences of opinion about the correct type of trumpets to be used. Historically it has been the shophar which has primarily been used at this Feast.

That the Feast of Trumpets is prophetically tied into the Second Coming of Jesus is usually undisputed. However, there is contention concerning exactly which event is prophetically represented by the Feast of Trumpets, some saying it depicts the rapture of the church, while others believe it speaks of the second coming of Jesus and judgment. As there is neither time or space to explore those issues in this study, you will have to decide for yourself the exact significance of the Feast of Trumpets according to your own interpretation of the timing of last days events.

"Behold I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. " (1 Cor. 15:51-52)

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." (1 Th. 4:16)

As already stated, the Feast of Trumpets was a "wake up" call to prepare the people for the Day of Atonement which followed soon afterward. Traditionally, the ten day period beginning with the Feast of Trumpets became known to the Jews as "The Days of Awe", leading up to the very solemn Day of Atonement. These ten days became a period of self-examination and repentance during which celebrations and festivities (such as weddings) were forbidden. The Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement are therefore closely linked together as a season of repentance, forgiveness and purification.

"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you, you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.....For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people." (Lev. 23:28, 29)

The Day of Atonement, (or Yom Kippur) was the holiest day in the Hebrew year, and was observed on the tenth day of Tishri, between the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles.

There are three separate passages in scripture which record instructions for the observance of this holiest of days. Instructions were given for the High Priest in Leviticus 16, for the people in Leviticus 23:26-32, and for the sacrifices in Numbers 29:7-11. The Day of Atonement was the most solemn day of the year for the Israelites, having been designated by the Lord as a day in which "you shall afflict your souls". It was a day completely devoted to repentance and fasting, and a day in which all work was forbidden by the Lord.

It was on this day that "atonement" (covering) was made for all the sins of the previous year. The atonement consisted of a blood sacrifice. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." (Lev. 17:11)

On this day alone, of all the days in the year, the High Priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple to stand before the presence of God's glory. On this day the High Priest was required to wear specific garments woven from white linen (Lev. 16:4). These garments were prepared for the Day of Atonement and never worn again. The High Priest would sprinkle the blood of a bull and a goat upon the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies firstly for his own sins, and then for the sin of the people.

On this day also the High Priest would lay his hands on the head of a live goat, confessing the sins of Israel and symbolically placing them on the head of the goat. The goat would then be led away to die in the wilderness, carrying the sins of the people for another year. (Leviticus 16).

As the High Priest carried out his duties, the people would wait, anxious, fearful and humbled as the weight of their entire annual sin was being atoned for and removed from them.

The Day of Atonement, then, was a day of humble repentance and sorrow for sin. Under the Old Covenant the activities of this day had to be repeated annually, because at best, the sins of the people were only atoned for, that is covered, temporarily.

In Jeremiah 31:31-34, however, God promised a New Covenant:

"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah....I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people... For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

The Old Covenant was not sufficient to provide a permanent solution to the problem of sin, but only a covering. Under the New Covenant there is no atonement or any need for one. Because the question of sin was settled forever at Calvary when Jesus paid the full price for sin, both past and future,what we have received under the New Covenant is not atonement, but complete and eternal sanctification.

"For the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope" (Heb 7:19)

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore when He came into the world He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body you have prepared for Me, in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure, Then I said: 'Behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do your will O God.' ...He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb: 10:4-10)

Prophetically, the Day of Atonement speaks of repentance. Some believe it also speaks specifically of the repentance of Israel and the nation's recognition of Jesus Christ as Messiah, while still others say this Feast symbolises the Day of the Lord, judgment, and the rapture of the church. Again, your understanding of the exact significance of this Feast day will depend on your interpretation of scripture in relation to last days events.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying "The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord." (Lev. 23:34)

This final Feast was observed with great joy and merriment. It fell on the fifteenth day of Tishri, five days after the solemn Day of Atonement, and lasted for seven days. This feast was also a solemn, or pilgrim feast, when all the Jewish men were required to appear before the Lord in the Temple. The Feast of Tabernacles is also known in scripture as the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16; 34:22) as it was celebrated after the harvesting and ingathering of all the crops for the year. It is the last, longest and happiest of all the Feasts.

The purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles was to commemorate God's past goodness and provision in the wilderness and His present goodness and provision through the completion of the harvest. During this seven day Feast, the people were to dwell in booths, or huts, and rejoice before the Lord with the branches of various trees.

"And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; ...you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days...You shall dwell in booths...that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. " (Leviticus 23:39-43)

In Biblical days, Jewish pilgrims streamed into Jerusalem from every village and from many nations. Upon arrival, they would construct thousands of leafy booths throughout the streets and in the surrounding fields and hills. It was a time of joy, celebration and excitement for the entire nation.

There were many daily sacrifices at the temple during the Feast (Num. 29:12-39). The people were to do no work, and when the Feast fell in a sabbatical (seventh) year the Law was to be read publicly (Dt. 31:10-13).

It was during the Feast of Tabernacles in ancient Israel that Solomon dedicated the newly built Temple to the Lord, and the shekinah glory descended to light the fire on the alter and fill the Holy of Holies (2 Chr. 5:3,

2 Chr.7:1-10; 1 Kings 8).

Four kinds of trees made up the booths which the people erected to live in during the seven days of the Feast. Each of these trees has prophetic significance for God's people. "Beautiful trees, palms, leafy trees and willows." The Hebrew word for "beautiful in the original text is "hadar" which is better translated "glorious". There will be glory in the House of the Lord. Palms, which were used in victory marches, speak of the victory of the Messiah, (Matthew 21:8), the leafy trees speak of covering, shade and protection of the Lord, (Psalm 91) and the willow is that which is planted by streams of living waters, symbolising the supernatural life in the Holy Spirit. (Psalm 1:3)

As this Feast fell at the change of seasons in Israel, prayer for rain to produce a bountiful harvest was always included in the ceremonies. Traditionally, each morning of the Feast a priest would offer a water libation (a sacrificial pouring out of water) to the Lord as a visual sign of the peoples' prayer for rain. The water, in a golden pitcher, was carried by a priest from the pool of Siloam, and taken into the temple through the Water Gate. Three blasts of the silver trumpets would be sounded and the priests repeated Isaiah 12:3: "Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation:"

We read in John 7:37-38, however, that in one particular year, the tradition was interrupted by the voice of Jesus:

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying "If any man thirst let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

It is doubtful that anyone had ever interrupted this religious ceremony in such an outrageous manner, so it is not surprising that reading on, we find that Jesus public outcry caused division amongst the people and offence amongst the religious leaders.

"Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said "Truly this is the Prophet". Others said "This is the Christ". But some said "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?" Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?' So there was a division among the people because of Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them "Why have you not brought Him?" The officers answered "No man ever spoke like this Man!" Then the Pharisees answered them "Are you also deceived?" Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." (John 7:40-49)

Prophetically, the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering, speaks to us of the coming of Messiah's Kingdom when the harvest of souls has been completed and God will gather His people to Himself. Not only will God's people be gathered together, Jew and Gentile alike, but God Himself shall tabernacle among them.

"My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall by My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore (Eze. 37:27-28)

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God." (Rev. 21:3)

The church of Jesus Christ is the "true tabernacle, which the Lord erected, and not man" (Heb. 8:2) and Jesus is our water of life (John 4:13-14). There will therefore be much for us to celebrate when the Feast of Tabernacles is finally prophetically fulfilled.

"And in that day His Feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. ...And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."
Zech 14:4, 16.

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