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The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) – Celebrating the Completed Work – Lev 23:33-43


The Feast of Tabernacles is a time of great rejoicing; it is a commemoration of our time in the wilderness and our anticipation of the Messianic era to come. During Sukkot, we celebrate the abundant harvest and rejoice in the work that God has done in our lives. The cycle is now complete, and sanctification gives way to sheer, unfettered joy. We are commanded to rejoice at the Feast of Tabernacles. Together, we celebrate and enjoy the abundance of God’s provision. We enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as we look forward to that coming reality.

We camp out in a booth (sukkah, or temporary dwelling) to celebrate the fact that God dwelt with man both in the desert and in the person of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), and we anticipate God’s final dwelling with us here on earth in Jerusalem .

THE GREAT DAY (THE FINAL 8TH DAY ATTACHED TO SUKKOT) - A New Heaven and A New Earth - Lev 23:36

READ ALL OF John 7:1-7:39 for the entire context of this section of Scripture in which Jesus (Yeshua) was observing Sukkot and proclaims Himself the living water on the last Great Day of Sukkot.

John 7:2 "Now the Feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) was near"... vs. 14 "But when it was now the midst of the Feast Jesus went up into the Temple and began to teach"...vs.37 "Now on the last day, The GREAT DAY of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believers in Me, as the Scriptures (i.e. the Torah/Prophets/and Writings) said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"

Now an interesting ritual was taking place when Jesus said these words. During the Temple period the priests on this last Great Day of Sukkot would perform an elaborate water drawing ritual. A long procession would follow the priests up from the water at the pool of Siloam.  Worshipers would line the streets holding palm fronds taken from their Sukkot dwellings (temporary dwellings) and the procession would continue all the way up to the Temple complex.  Once the priests reached the Temple, a hush would fall over the crowd and the priest would pour out the water according to the ritual.  I can just picture the scene.  The crowd is massive, but quiet, and just as the priest begins to pour out the water, our Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus) shouts out the words from John 7:2 above. Can you picture the scene?  Those in attendance understood the connection Yeshua was making as proclaiming Himself their Messiah! Shortly thereafter we see him in the Temple again around the time of Hanukkah in which he further proclaims himself on that Festival of Lights, that He is "the light of the world." See John 8:12.

Tabernacles (Sukkot):