“You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days … And you shall rejoice, you and your son and daughter … because the Lord your God will bless you with increase in all the work of your hands, so that you shall be altogether joyful.”
- Deuteronomy 16:13,14,15
JERUSALEM (FR) – Why do Christians from all over the world come to Jerusalem to celebrate with the Jewish people during the Feast of Tabernacles? There are three Feasts in the Old Testament during which the Jewish people were commanded to come up to Jerusalem:
- The Feast of Passover
- The Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost)
- The Feast of Tabernacles
These feasts were the most important events of the year in Old Testament times. Today, we are seeing a resurgence of interest in the feasts from Jews the world over, as they come to Jerusalem each year to celebrate. But these feasts have a deep spiritual meaning to the Christian as well. In each one of these feasts, Christians can see one of the ministries of Jesus Christ in the earth. The feasts are a type or a symbol of the ministry of Jesus on earth. Christ’s ministry on earth while He was a man was a fulfillment of many Old Testament promises.
- On the feast of Passover, Jesus Christ gave Himself as the Passover Lamb. When He was crucified in Jerusalem, Jesus fulfilled the role of the sacrificial lamb, whose blood was shed to cover the sins of the Jewish people. In the New Testament, Jesus is called “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world.”
- On the feast of Pentecost (or Weeks – Shavout), Jesus Christ gave the promised Holy Spirit to His disciples who were waiting in an upper room in Jerusalem. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came the blessing of the “firstfruits” – a grain offering given 50 days after Passover. Pentecost was a fulfillment of the “former rain” (the Holy Spirit) which brought the first fruits of the Holy Spirit.
- On the feast of Tabernacles, the third feast of the Jewish calendar, there is no definite New Testament fulfillment. Many Christians who celebrate in Jerusalem each year at the Feast of Tabernacles are looking for the fulfillment of the “latter rain” which will bring the harvest – a great end time gathering of souls into the Father’s barn.
The latter rain was promised too, in the New Testament: “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the former and the latter rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
We must be careful about making any wild speculations about the coming of the Lord based on the coming fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles. However, it is evident from the Scriptures that Jerusalem is to be the focal point of the fulfillment of the “latter rain.” What will the Lord give on the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem?
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The spiritual fulfillment of the feast of tabernacles is a real experience much like speaking in tongues is the spiritual fulfillment of Pentacost. I do not know why people are not teaching this.
To those who have an ear to hear. Right now the church of Jesus Christ is, to a large measure, going their own way according to their own program. Though people say they follow God’s word they only follow their interpretation of the scriptures. The spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles is oneness with God. It is when the Body of Christ says, “If you have seen us you have seen the Father.” and “We and our Father are one.”
How can we call ourselves Christ like when we do not do the works of Christ? Jesus listened to His Father and did, without question, whatever He said. This is the essence of the Spiritual Feast of Tabernacles and frankly not many ministers are preparing their people for this coming move of His Spirit.
The main manifestation of the fulfillment of this feast is love. As we become one with God we become love. Not love as the world knows it but love and Gods wishes to show it.
You may think to yourself that you will welcome such love but the manifestation of this love will be what stumbles your natural mind. Only if you commit to trust God rather than man will you be able to enter into this feast.
Tabernacles: An Introduction
It is written,
“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
1 Corinthians 10:11
In this passage Paul spoke to the church at Corinth about things that had happened to the literal nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Paul says that passing through the Red Sea, though a historical event, was also meant to be an example, or object lesson, to the Corinthians. This principle holds true for the whole of the Old Testament. The scriptures are full of stories and rituals that give us insight and instruction for our journey with God even in this present church age.
For instance, there are three main feasts Israel observed in the Old Testament. The most famous one is the feast of Passover, which was celebrated for the first time just before the children of Israel left Egypt. It was called Passover because the angel of death passed over the homes of the Israelites and did not kill their first born because they had put the blood of a lamb upon their doorposts. In our present church age this feast of Passover has a spiritual fulfillment in our lives when we receive salvation, and are passed over not receiving the judgment of hell because of the blood that Christ shed for us. Furthermore, there is a definite spiritual experience at salvation, which many of those who become saved feel when they give their hearts and lives to the Lord Jesus. Many feel the physical weight of sin lift off their souls and feel the acceptance and love of their heavenly Father. The salvation experience in the church age is the spiritual fulfillment of the literal feast of Passover in the Old Testament.
Next we have the feast of Pentecost that the Israelites also celebrated each year according to the commandment of God. Pentecost is normally fifty days after the second day of the feast of Passover. Pentecost is also connected to the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient days, the grain harvest lasted for seven weeks and was a season of celebration. In our church age the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. So, just as the spiritual fulfillment of Passover is salvation and is accompanied by a definite spiritual experience so too the spiritual fulfillment of Pentecost is accompanied by the definite spiritual experience of speaking in other tongues. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues is the spiritual fulfillment of the literal feast of Pentecost in the Old Testament. We yield our most unruly member of our body to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to speak through us.
There is a third and final feast called the feast of Tabernacles which the Israelites celebrated each year around mid October. This feast is also known as the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Ingathering. During this holiday, Jews would eat their meals, entertain guests, relax, and rest in a Sukkoth, or temporary tent (tabernacle.) This type of tabernacle is like the huts that the Israelites stayed in during their forty years of wandering in the desert after the leaving Egypt. Here is a truth:
“Though there have been isolated manifestations down through history, there has been no widespread spiritual fulfillment or accompanying spiritual experience related to the Feast of Tabernacles, it is yet to come.”
It is my belief that the experience which will accompany this feast is the experience of “Oneness with God”. Whereas, when we were filled with the Holy Spirit our tongues became one with God when we enter into the Tabernacles experience we will yield the rest our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls to God.
Here is another important truth:
“As individuals become one with His Holy Spirit we will experience Emanuel or God with us, once again. Christ will walk the Earth again in the form of the fully revealed (manifested) sons of God.”
In the book of John we read:
“I and my Father are one.”
John 10:30
And Christ also states:
“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”
“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father”
John 14:7,9
Just as Jesus was one with the Father, so shall we, as the body of Christ, become one with our Father. Furthermore, there is an accompanying spiritual experience that all those who partake of the spiritual fulfillment of this feast will enter into as individuals and also as the corporate body of Christ.
I believe that this experience of oneness with God will be characterized by Divine love. God will reveal Himself in us and through us, not through Eros love (earthly sexual love) but through His divine and holy Agape love ( self sacrificial love.) The scriptures state,
“God is love…”
John 4:8
And does it not say, or rather prophesize, in these scriptures that we shall love one another?
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
John 13:34, 35
and in the book of John we are admonished to love each other,
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
“These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
John 15:12,17
The question is, “How will this love be shown and to whom?” This is the point of departure where we venture into uncharted territory. If the spiritual fulfillment of Tabernacles has not yet come the only thing we can say for certain is that it will be something beyond our present understanding.
Ask yourself what do these following scriptures really mean and why are we exhorted to do so and to whom?
“Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.”
Romans 16:16
“All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.”
1 Corinthians 16:20
“Greet one another with an holy kiss.”
2 Corinthians 13:12
“Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.”
1 Thessalonians 5:26
I believe that God is about to bring a revival of such proportion and scope that it will dwarf all previous revivals and spiritual awakenings. Moreover, this revival will be characterized by the manifestation (or revealing) of the sons of God. These are saints that have matured into the fullness and stature of Jesus Christ and become united with His body and joined with His head. This is the Man-child spoken of in the book of Revelation,
“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
Revelation chapter 12:4,5
This “called out” group of saints will move by the Holy Spirit as one confirming the words of Jesus,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father…”John 14:12
In that day they shall know we are Christians by our love for one another. This love will be stronger than the bonds of any natural love found here on earth. Jesus said in Luke,
“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26
Christ states that discipleship takes precedence over every other natural bond here on Earth. I believe the divine love that will be revealed in us through the experience of Tabernacles will cause this scripture to become literally true in our lives.
It will be as if we are all bound together by invisible cords of self sacrificial love stronger than any emotional attachment found in this world. This love will override all earthly bonds and protocols rearranging and realigning all that we know until the body of Christ is brought together in Him, but in a from almost unrecognizable to our present Christian understanding. Traditions will melt away, dogma will fail, doctrines of men will burn as chaff, and a pure and holy bride of Christ will emerge from the midst of what is now called Christianity.
We see in church history that the restoration of the doctrine of salvation by faith broke forth a number of times before it actually took root under Martin Luther during the reformation. However, before Martin Luther’s success this same truth was violently opposed and ruthlessly suppressed by the Catholic Church, the dominant church of that day. So too will the present “powers that be” in the church violently oppose and attempt to suppress this move of the Holy Spirit. They will revile it and speak all manner of evil against it, preferring the acceptance of this present world to the pure and holy thing that God will bring forth in His people. Pastors and Teachers will decry it as un-biblical and dangerous. False apostles and prophets will put immense pressure on anyone they see start to embrace this new demonstration of the Spirit. Finally, just as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes did, the leaders of the religious system will seek to enlist the secular authorities to put down this new move of God’s spirit. Woe unto to them that seek to destroy God’s children and woe unto them that blaspheme the Holy Spirit within them.
What is about to happen is akin to childbirth and will be accompanied by physical and emotional pain, and tearing, but in the end it will bring forth joy unspeakable. Presently, most of Gods people do not submit to, or follow the Holy Spirit to the depth and level He desires. They have made choices in their lives that, by and large, have stymied and frustrated the will of God. God has not been allowed to be a part of their most vital life choices and so their lives are not built upon His will, but upon the vanity of self-choice. As the Holy Spirit touches each individual, that which is not of God will be done away with as they come into alignment with the path and the destiny God ordained and marked out for them before the beginning of this creation.
In the New Testament we are no longer under the law of sin and death but we are now bound under a greater law, the law of the Spirit of life. The law of the Spirit of life requires that everything which has been put above and before God either come into alignment with Him or be done away with. Above all, this move of God will prove once and for all that our Father is sovereign and none can stay His hand.
Many will find that accepting God as He is too radical and will shrink back in fear. Many will stumble at the cost of following God when they cannot understand with their natural minds why He is moving in this way or that. True is the saying that the fearful and unbelieving shall not inherit the kingdom of God, not because the path is unavailable to them but because they refuse to take it. We read in Revelation,
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8
Distinction between body, soul, and spirit is a false doctrine that many use to isolate and separate what they consider to be “spiritual” from what they consider to be “carnal”. Those who think in such ways are often critical of the freedom the Holy Spirit gives. In reality, this distinction is an artificial construct that obscures the fact that we, like God, are one. When our spirit is affected it affects both our soul and our physical bodies because nothing happens to one part of us that does not affect the whole. Those who experience this heavenly love will find that it affects spirit, soul, and body too. Thus, the revealing of divine love in Christ’s body will, at times, look a lot like natural love except that its origin will be the Spirit of God and not our fleshly nature.
Sin not only separated us from God, but has also fractured and separated our very psyche. Here is a truth:
“The spiritual experience of Tabernacles will re-integrate each individual’s body, soul, and spirit in to one complete person causing them to act with consistency throughout their whole being.”
We need to understand that our flesh is not ungodly but rather part of the very nature of whom we are, and that as God says in the book of Titus,
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled…”
Titus 1:15
Love, even heavenly love, demands expression and cannot be contained in the old wine skin of what we have been taught is appropriate. I submit to you that people of the first century church greeted each other with a holy kiss simply because the love of God within them naturally lead to such expressions of affection.
The type of love that will manifest in this new move of God is the first love that was revealed in the Garden of Eden between Adam and Eve. This first love was the type of love originally meant to be experienced by the whole human race. Yet, because of sin, we became ashamed of the pure expression of heavenly love God had given us. Through the spiritual experience of Tabernacles the “First Love” of Eden will be restored to the body of Christ. The Tabernacle experience is the type of love spoken about in I Corinthians,
“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
Corinthians 13:7
The restoration of this first love will be the central characteristic of the spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the coming revival.
The manifestations of this first love will be all-encompassing and widespread. Since the fig leaves were sown together in the garden mankind lost God’s perspective on the expression of godly love. Pure and holy love will restore our sense of what is right and appropriate in the sight of God. Nevertheless, it will be a wrenching experience as we pass from what we now consider holy to what God considers holy. The lines drawn to protect us from our human frailties are artificial man made constructs born of a collective fearful mindset that does not understand what the first love and godly expression is all about. In this move of God’s Spirit the barriers and boundaries that have been set up to keep people in line and protect them from themselves will vanish and be replaced by the only line that really matters: the line drawn by the Holy Spirit.
Lastly, Christians commonly profess that we live at the end of the age and that Christ’s return is eminent. What many leaders do not recognize is that, in its present condition, the church is not ready to meet her bridegroom. The move of Tabernacles and the love that it will bring is meant to prepare the bride to meet her lover. Yes, lover is the correct term because after the marriage supper of the Lamb naturally comes the consummation of the marriage. Just as Esther was prepared and adorned to meet her king in hopes of becoming his queen so are we being prepared by the Holy Spirit to meet our King also. Let us not forget that many are called but few are chosen and while we may be called to come into the presence of the king we must do our part to make ourselves ready.
Our salvation is a progressive work that starts well before we even accept Christ as our Lord and savior. However, from the time that we choose to call Jesus Lord we become actively involved in making heaven our home. Paul says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because the fact is that our actions are eternally important and play a decisive role in whether or not we enter into paradise. Christ is drawing us, will we run after Him? Will we seek His face with everything that is within us? Will we yield to the Holy Spirit and become true disciples? Will we put Him above everything else? This is the call of the Bride; “to come.”
Love of the Spirit
Love of the Spirit, or the spiritual bonding of the Body of Christ through God’s divine love, is the New Testament fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles much like tongues is the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost. Like Pentecost in the church age there is also a biblical basis for the feast of Tabernacles in the New Testament church.
The basis of Spiritual love is the revealing (or manifestation) of God’s love in and through us. As it is written,
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
1 John 4:7,8
Spiritual love, is in reality, the pure love that existed in the Garden of Eden before the fall of Adam, and it is this same love that God wishes to restore to His people. If we will be made into God’s image and likeness our most prominent attribute will be His most prominent attribute: love.
The unity of the Body of Christ will come not from men agreeing on doctrine, but rather from the shared spiritual experience of Tabernacles which is divine love. Natural members of a physical body must listen to the instructions of the head in order to work together in agreement. Likewise, as we become one with God and submit fully to His headship the Body of Christ will naturally come into agreement with one another and work in unity through His Spirit.
It is written in the book of 1 Samuel,
“And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”
1 Samuel 18:1
This is an example of a supernatural love that God gave to Jonathan in order that David might be protected from his father Saul. Saul, being natural minded, could not understand Jonathan’s devotion to David and said,
“Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.”
1 Samuel 30, 31
To Saul’s natural understanding, Jonathan’s actions made no sense because he could not understand the self-sacrificial love that his son felt for David. Saul could not understand this type of love because it was not of this Earth.
Finally, we see this type of love perfectly described in 1 Corinthians,
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
To summarize, Spiritual love is simply the nature of God revealed in and through His saints to this present creation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and now God is in the sons of God finishing the work Jesus began. It is any wonder that spiritual fulfillment of Tabernacles is characterized by intense and heavenly love?