Tilling and Planting

Tag: Sukkot

  • Jewish Holidays Revisited

    Jewish Holidays Revisited

    Intro

    In this last post about the seven Jewish Holidays (or feasts or festivals) found in the Bible that God instituted, I’m giving a brief summary of how the feasts point to Jesus – either His first coming, second coming, or both. These aren’t in the same order that I did the individual posts on, but they are in the order of when they occur on the calendar. So let’s dive in.

    Passover

    Passover reminded the Jews about the night the angel of death killed the firstborn of Egypt, but passed over all Israelite homes as long as they put the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts. This marked the end of slavery and the beginning of freedom for them.

    Jesus fulfilled this by becoming the unblemished, spotless Passover Lamb and shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. By receiving this forgiveness, we are freed from our sins and are no longer slaves to them.

    Unleavened Bread

    The Feast of Unleavened Bread – which happened right after Passover – reminded the Jews of their flight from Egypt. Further, throughout Scripture, leaven is used as a picture of sin. This is important.

    Jesus fulfilled this one because of His sinless life. And since leaven is a picture of sin, you could say Jesus lived an “unleavened life”. This goes hand in hand with Jesus being the unblemished, spotless Passover Lamb. Because only a perfect lamb could be sacrificed for the Passover.

    Day of Firstfruits

    The Day of Firstfruits served as a celebration of the barley harvest. And the Jews took this time to give thanks to God for His provision – appropriate. In addition, it reminded the Jews that the first fruits of everything belonged to God. Food and firstborn among animals and people.

    Jesus fulfilled this by becoming the wave offering (the priest presented a wave offering for this festival) that He presented to God and then His atonement was released to be received by us (just as the wave offering was released to be used). This one occurred on Resurrection Day.

    The first three holidays point to Jesus’ sacrifice, death, and resurrection. And it gets better from here.

    Pentecost

    Also called the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost celebrated the wheat harvest and the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. It came 50 days after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

    The fulfillment of this one came on the day of Pentecost itself when the disciples were all gathered in the upper room. Holy Spirit poured out upon them and they preached the gospel to untold thousands. And the result was a harvest of 3000 people. The connection isn’t quite as obvious here (other than the usage of the word “harvest”), but the New Testament refers to the Holy Spirit as a type of first fruit that God gives believers. And like the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks is a feast of giving of the first fruits – of wheat rather than barley. Furthermore, the Jews remembered the giving of the law during this time. The law symbolized and instituted the Old Covenant; the outpouring of Holy Spirit symbolized and fully established the New Covenant.

    With this one, we’ve reached the end of the Spring festivals and the end of the ones completely fulfilled by Jesus’ first coming.

    Feast of Trumpets

    Moving on to the Jewish holidays found in the fall, the Feast of Trumpets kicks off a ten day period of introspection and repentance. From the first trumpet blast sounded, the people began to look at their lives and confess their sins to God and others. They seek reconciliation and forgiveness.

    In terms of fulfillment, this one hasn’t been fulfilled yet. The Feast of Trumpets is the first holiday on the Jewish calendar that points to the Second Coming of Christ. How so? Well, so much around the Second Coming is associated with trumpet blasts. A trumpet blast precedes the rapture of the church, a trumpet will herald the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, angels will sound seven trumpets each for a different judgment on the inhabitants of the earth, etc. The festival urges people to seek forgiveness from God before it’s too late.

    Day of Atonement

    The confessing of sins from the Feast of Trumpets and the ten days following, culminates in the Day of Atonement – the most sacred and solemn day on the Jewish calendar. On this day, the high priest sacrificed a goat for a sin offering for the people and then on a second goat – the scapegoat – pronounced all the sins of the nation and laid them upon the goat. Someone then took the goat out to the wilderness and released it. It’s a little different now without the temple and the priesthood established. That’s why there’s a ten day period of confession. But the idea is the same. Sin must be atoned for and forgiven.

    One thing interesting about this feast comes from the fact that I see elements of both Jesus’ first and second comings. It’s pretty obvious from a reading of Hebrews that Jesus serves as our High Priest, but also served as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. However, it also points to a future redemption of the entire nation of Israel when Jesus returns. Similarly, the Day of Atonement reminds us of the seriousness of sin and the need for judgment of it. And the Second Coming includes judgment of the wicked and of sin itself.

    Feast of Tabernacles

    This final of the holidays on the Jewish calendar (as instituted by God) is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. The Jews take this time to live in tabernacles (think tents) and remember their ancestors’ journey through the wilderness after escaping Egypt. It’s a time to reflect on the provision and presence of God. After all, the official Tabernacle that the Lord directed Moses to make was the place of God’s presence among the Israelites.

    Like the Day of Atonement, this festival points to both the first and second comings. And to me, it looks fairly obvious how. For Jesus’ first coming, John in particular used the Greek word for tabernacle to describe Jesus dwelling with mankind – much how God dwelt with the Israelites in the wilderness. And like those tabernacles that Jews live in to commemorate this festival, His first coming was temporary. However, all these festivals see a greater fulfillment than what is on the surface. And for this one, it also points to Jesus’ second coming, but as a permanent dwelling with mankind. The Bible also mentions that all nations will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. All nations will celebrate God dwelling with mankind for all eternity. That’s powerful.

    And that’s the last of the Jewish holidays in this list. To sum up: the first four festivals in the Spring all point to the establishment of the New Covenant through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and sending of Holy Spirit. The last three in the fall primarily point to the second coming of Christ and His reign and rule over all and the destruction of sin once and for all (with some additional elements pointing back to His sacrifice and first coming).

    Wrapping Up

    And there you have it. All seven Jewish Holidays that God Almighty established. It’s incredible seeing how much they point to Jesus and all the foreshadowing that exists.

    Even though this has come to a close, I’m not quite done with Jewish Holidays. There are two more that are very well known that I think a lot of people forget were not established by God. Despite that, you see God’s fingerprints all over the circumstances surrounding the establishment of these holidays. Join me next time as I explore the first of these two: Purim.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • The Tabernacle Lifestyle

    The Tabernacle Lifestyle

    Intro

    I teased it at the end of my last post and here it is! Today I talk about what the Feast of Tabernacles is (and what a tabernacle even is) and how to see Jesus in it. Like Passover, it’s a little more obvious than some. But I’m getting ahead of myself. But first I need to define what a tabernacle is. After that, I can explain the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot in Hebrew) and then show you all how it points to Jesus.

    What is a Tabernacle?

    First off, it must be known that, outside of the Bible and Jewish/Christian significance, there isn’t any simple definition that a culture would use the word “tabernacle” for. In Hebrew, the word means “Residence” or “Dwelling place”. It was the word used in the Old Testament to refer to the place where God dwelt among them; simply called The Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting. And it’s in that other name that we can get a simple enough image for our purposes: a tent. Are you all good with that simple definition? Cool. Let’s move on.

    Why is there a Feast for Tabernacles?

    First of all, it’s not a feast for tabernacles. The Jews don’t celebrate the tabernacle as a concept. And it’s also not a feast to remember The Tabernacle that God directed the Israelites to make as His dwelling place. So, then, what is it? The feast begins on the 15th day of the seventh month (Tishri) on the Jewish calendar. This first day is a special day in which no work is to be done – much like the weekly Sabbath day. Then the feast would continue for the next seven days and during those days, all Jews live in a tent-like (or tabernacle-like) structure. The Old Testament instructs the Jews to build these tabernacles out of various branches and leaves – signifying these dwellings are only temporary.

    Here’s the full description found in Leviticus 23.

    The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work.

    (“‘These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing food offerings to the Lord—the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord’s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord.)

    “‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”

    Leviticus 23:33-43 (NIV)

    Where it says “Live in temporary shelters”, is the Hebrew word “tabernacle”. Hence the name. I won’t discuss it here, but this passage only hints at the sacrifices made. Numbers 29 gives the full breakdown and it is an interesting read.

    Each of the feasts I’ve discussed so far is a commemoration of some sort. This one remembers the time in the wilderness when the Israelites lived in tents and relied on God for His provision. The provision aspect of this is largely remembered in the sacrifices made during this time as well as the timing of it occurring at the end of the harvest season.

    Where is Jesus in this Feast?

    So now the question is, how does Jesus fit into this feast? John gives us the first hint in his gospel when he says that the Word “made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). See that word “dwelling”? The word used here is the Greek equivalent of “tabernacle”. So John is saying that Christ “tabernacled” among us. So the first way that Jesus relates through this festival is the simple fact that just as God was with the Israelites in the wilderness, so Jesus came and lived among men.

    First or Second Coming

    In addition, some scholars believe (and I agree) that Jesus’ birth may have occurred near or during the Feast of Tabernacles. After all, one of Jesus’ names is Immanuel – God with us. And as I went over in one of my posts on Jesus’ birth, He most likely was born in September-October, which is when this festival occurs on the Gregorian calendar. The big theme here is God dwelling with man.

    Of course when talking about Jesus coming and dwelling with man, there arises with this festival the question about whether it points to His first or second coming. I already mentioned the first, so let’s look at the second. Some scholars think that rather than Jesus’ first coming, this festival was designed to point to Jesus’ second coming. And while the argument certainly can be made because Jesus will return to live (dwell) with mankind, I disagree for the primary reason that the Jews living in a tabernacle is temporary. They’re not meant to remember their ancestors living in tents in the wilderness as permanent. And Jesus’ first coming was only temporary, but His second coming will go from 1000 years straight into eternity – a permanent arrangement.

    Provision

    Another key aspect is provision. So how does Jesus fulfill that? Jesus repeatedly refers to turning to God for provision. In addition, Jesus refers to Himself as the source of many things. Things such as “living water”, salvation, the Truth, the Life, etc. He provides us with all these and more.

    The Water of Life

    A point on the living water. One ritual that developed over the years that occurs during the Feast of Tabernacles is a ceremony of a pouring out of water on the last day. This ceremony was based on several passages on life-giving water. Life-giving water you say? Look at what Jesus says in 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.”

    John 7:37-38 (NIV)

    And this is just one of the many places Jesus uses water imagery. By the way, did you notice verse 37 references the last day of a festival? What festival was this? If you guessed the Feast of Tabernacles, you’re right. John 7 records several things Jesus did during this festival. It’s pretty powerful. He clearly was trying to show how the festival points to Him.

    Wrapping Up

    The takeaway from this post is that God is with you. Always. And you can rely on Him to provide for you. Always. And I’m not trying to preach that at you, I need this reminder as well. But I’m learning to trust Him. And I hope you are as well. See you next time when I tackle the festival all about the trumpets.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!