Dear Doves,
This is the time of year when I think of the prophetic possibilities for the Fall Feasts. Tabernacles (Sukkot) is my favorite and there must be something significant connected to it because all of the nations of the world will be expected to celebrate it in the future, according to Zechariah 14:16-19.
As you may know, Leviticus 23:39-40 requires the people to dwell in temporary structures or booths called sukkah for 7 days. “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 23:23-43.
Now, some scholars believe that Jesus was born in the Fall, during the Fall Feasts. I would like to propose that Tabernacles as a good birthdate for the following reasons:
Jesus in a Cattle Stall
We all know the Christmas story, Mary and Joseph were forced to stay in a stable when there was no room available for them to stay in.
Important background information: back in the Old Testament, Jacob built booths for his cattle. Genesis 33:17. “And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.” Notice that the name of the town is a variant of the word sukkah – because it was named after the cattle stalls that Jacob built. So, cattle stalls are actually tabernacles ….
Now if Jesus was born on the Feast of Tabernacles, His family would have dwelt in a literal tabernacle (an animal stall) on the Feast of Tabernacles. And there’s a good chance that they were there for the full 7 days of the Feast since they may have waited until the time that Jesus was to be circumcised. Wouldn’t it be something if the Feast of Tabernacles also pointed to the birth of Christ and that Jews have been unwittingly recreating the setting for it for thousands of years? God surely has a sense of humor. Just remember this Feast the next time you see depictions of a Jewish family living in an animal stall on your neighbors’ lawns next Christmas season. Ironically, it is more a picture of the Feast of Tabernacles than anything else, and perhaps a clue to the birthdate of Christ.
Christ/God tabernacles with man
John 1:14 states: “And the Word was made 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.” Significantly, the word “dwelt” in this passage means to fix one’s tabernacle. So, Christ’s dwelling in a body of flesh could be a fulfillment (or a partial fulfillment) of the Feast. Someday God will tabernacle with us for eternity. Revelation 21:3: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Which will probably be the final fulfillment of the Feast.
Possible Transfiguration Connection
If you recall, at the time Jesus was transfigured, he took Peter, James and John up a high mountain. There they meet Moses and Elijah. Jesus is transfigured before them while they are enveloped by a cloud and hear the voice of God.
Does the shape of this look familiar to you? It should. Someday we who are still alive (like the disciples) will meet Jesus high up in the clouds where we will meet the dead (like Moses) while our bodies are changed or transfigured into immortal bodies. Also, the voice of God, which has been known to sound like a trumpet, will sound. See Exodus 19:16 and 19; Exodus 20:18.
Exodus 19:16: “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”
Exodus 19:19: “And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.”
Exodus 20:18-19: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
Now, notice what Peter says after the Transfiguration:
Mark 9:5: “And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.”
Why did Peter ask if they should build tabernacles? It is an odd thing to say unless it happened to be around the time of Tabernacles. Why else would booths be on Peter’s mind? But the word is here in Scripture and I think on purpose. Now, I don’t know if the timing of the Rapture will be around the Feast of Tabernacles, but this passage may suggest a connection.
Jonah in a tabernacle
We remember Jonah because Jesus said he would be a sign to the Jews.
Matthew 12:38-41“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
If the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, who repented at the preaching of Jesus? I would argue it is the predominantly Gentile Church. Note that after Jonah preached his message of impending judgment he made himself a shelter.
Jonah 4:5: “So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.”
God spared Nineveh from judgment while Jonah was sitting in a sukkah. I do not know if this will be a pattern for us or another sign of Jonah. But perhaps another group of people will escape judgment at a time when people are sitting in tabernacles.
Festival of Bodies
Did you know that our bodies are tabernacles? Both Peter and Paul refer to their bodies as tents or tabernacles.
2 Peter 1:13-15: “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.”
We all long for the time when God will provide us with immortal bodies in place of the earthly bodies, or tabernacles, we are dwelling in: 2 Corinthians 5:1-8: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
So, if bodies are tabernacles, then the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles could include a time of resurrection where we receive new bodies. Since Jesus may have received a body of flesh on the Feast of Tabernacles; we may will receive heavenly bodies on a future Feast of Tabernacles. It will be a Festival of Bodies and another birth day. (We got a body on our first birth day; we may get another body on our second birth day.)
The Great Multitude
The passage about the great multitude in Revelation 7:9-17 looks like a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.
According to Leviticus 23:40, the people are to take tree branches and celebrate before the Lord: “And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.”
Revelation 7:9: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands …. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” [You guessed it, the word “dwell” used here means to tabernacle.]
Not sure what my point was in writing this post, except to share my excitement for the Feast of Tabernacles. We are going to dwell with God someday. Can you imagine it? What always gets me is that God wants to dwell with us. Even now the Holy Spirit is dwelling in believers. (Perhaps another fulfillment of the Feast.) We are going to fellowship with God face to face. How wonderful is that?
We have so much to look forward to. I can’t wait to see how Bible prophecy will be fufilled. I also can’t wait to meet you all at the Five Doves table at the Wedding Feast (and don’t get me started on how a Jewish wedding chuppah is a type of tabernacle). Maranatha.
– Lisa Taylor