Fall Festivals

I didn't write about the biblical holidays as they came around the way I had intended, but this being the end of the season of Sukkot, the last of the fall festivals, I thought I'd share what I've learned about it so far.

First off, I didn't push the issue of observance of the fall festivals this year with my family because I'm still learning all this for myself and how it fits into my own life. The Spring festivals were a little easier because much of the meaning to those is similar to that of Easter. It was just a matter of observing on a different day and getting rid of the bunnies and eggs...and ham.

There is so much more to know about this festival, but in a nutshell, Sukkot, also known as "Tabernacles," or "Booths," (which I will use interchangeably) is an eight-day festival, celebrated on 15th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (varies from late September to late October). It commemorates for the Jews the time when God dwelt among their ancestors in the wilderness and led them safely out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. To celebrate, observant Jewish families will build a Sukkah, which is a tent-like structure symbolizing the temporary dwellings in the wilderness, and they decorate the inside with greenery. For eight days, they gather inside their Sukkah for Torah reading, prayer, meals, and in some cases, even to sleep.

Ancient Hebrews also held a ceremony during Sukkot called a "water libation," wherein water was sacrificially poured out by the High Priest as a drink offering to the Lord.

Sukkot is a time to celebrate and be joyful in the Lord - to celebrate his protection and provision. The eighth and final day of the festival is to be the most joyful!

What does the Bible say about Tabernacles?

The most detailed descriptions of Tabernacles are found in the Old Testament. In Leviticus 23:33, the Bible says this (all quotes are from the NIV):

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.

Continuing in verse 39:

“‘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.’”

As you can see from this passage, the Lord says that we are to rejoice before Him - for seven days! Seven! And we are to do it each year, for generations to come.

Numbers 29:12-32 goes into detail about the sacrifices and offerings to be made for each day of the festival, and then verses 35-38 say this:

“‘On the eighth day, hold a closing special assembly and do no regular work. Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of one bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull, the ram and the lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

Deuteronomy 16:13-17, again tells us to celebrate Tabernacles and to be joyful!

Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your festival — you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
(emphasis mine).

So, you may be asking yourself, as I did...what's this got to do with me as a believer in Jesus? After all, these passages pretty much appear to apply to Israelites who lived in the wilderness and their descendants, the Jews. But I'm not Jewish. I'm a Gentile. How does all this apply to me? Consider this...

In Romans 11, Paul tells us that the Gentiles, by believing in Jesus as the Messiah, are grafted into the olive tree (His chosen people -Israel). We are, by virtue of that belief and faith in Jesus, heirs to the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the same as the Jews. So, in the spiritual sense, before we came to know Jesus as Messiah, we, too, lived in the wilderness. A spiritual wilderness. Without him, life was pretty pointless. No hope, no joy. Just existence. But when He came to live inside us - inside our earthly tents - we were finally able to experience the fullness of joy, and we received the hope of being heirs to the promises He made to our (adoptive) forefathers. Since the Bible says our bodies are the temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19) and He dwells inside of us, we don't have to pilgrimage to the temple, because He's right there within us. We don't have to pitch tents because our bodies are our tabernacles. So, we are, in a sense, walking, talking Booths.

Taking a deeper look into the New Testament, we find that Jesus did, in fact, observe this Festival (and the others, as well). And, in His infinite wisdom, He used the most joyful day of the festival to reveal a very important truth about himself.

Take a look at John chapter 7. Jesus goes to Judea for the Feast of Tabernacles. Verses 37 and 38 say this:

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.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Notice that he waited until the last day of the Festival of Tabernacles (the eighth day), which is supposed to be the most joyful day of the whole festival - the day of the special assembly - to reveal that His Spirit would be a river of living water to all who believe in Him! No one who believes in Him will ever thirst again!

In Matthew 3:11 and 12, John says this: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Throughout the Scriptures, water is symbolic of Holy Spirit. Is this what the water ceremonies, and originally, the drink offerings, of the ancient Hebrews symbolized?

And since Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire, is this what the burnt offerings symbolized - the chaff (sin or unbelievers) is consumed by fire? These are things I'm still learning, but at first glance, it makes sense to me.

It's beautiful how it all connects! It all points straight to Jesus! The Spring feasts have been fulfilled by Jesus already, and he will fulfill the Fall feasts, as well. Specifically, in regards to Tabernacles, when He returns, He will once again physically dwell with us - only at that time, everything will be perfect, just as God intended in the very beginning. If that isn't something to celebrate, I don't know what is!

I believe that as non-Jewish believers in Jesus, we have two very good reasons to observe this and all the biblical feasts:

(1) Because God commanded us to; and
(2) Because Jesus did.

Not to mention, because in doing so, we set ourselves apart from the world in a way that no other religious group can. His way.

So, why do we choose not to observe these times?

That's a topic for another day.


Blessings,

Erev Shabbat Experience

Since roughly October of 2012, I've been on a search for truth.

It started with an inexplicable draw to a Messianic Jewish congregation in my area. Since I was raised primarily in a Pentecostal church, interest in Messianic Judaism was something totally different and unexpected for me. We left our church a few years ago and had not found another "home church" to attend. We had visited a few, but never really found one that fit. My husband (raised Baptist) and I had not discussed it much before I told him one day that I felt like we needed to visit this new church. To my surprise, he agreed, and soon thereafter, we went to a Friday night service.

Everyone was extremely nice to us. From the moment we were greeted at the door with a warm smile and an enthusiastic "Shabbat Shalom" (Peaceful Sabbath), we felt totally welcome. We found that "Shabbat Shalom" was the greeting of choice, and it was quite awkward for us to repeat it back to the many people who offered it to us - especially since, at the time, we weren't sure what it meant. Nonetheless, there was a warmth and sincerity in that place that I'd never felt at any other church I'd been to. I was impressed. We both were.

After we found a seat, a very nice lady came over to speak to us and she asked what brought us there. My husband and I looked at each other, and he told her that he had been thinking about visiting for a while and that I just happened to call him up one day and suggest we go. Her response: "So...God brought you here." I started to cry because, in our 12 years of marriage, we had never been "on the same page" regarding which church we should attend. Ever. I had no idea he had been thinking about it prior to my mentioning it to him. I felt as though we were exactly where God wanted us to be at that particular time. What a great feeling that was!

The service was different, to say the least. It began with what I call a Jewish-style meet and greet. Their small worship band played a joyful "Shabbat Shalom" ditty and everyone came out of the pews, dancing through the aisles, shaking hands, and greeting each other. It was like they truly were one big, happy family.

This was followed by the liturgy and the reading from the Torah (first five books of the Bible), the Haftarah (Prophets) and Brit Hadasha (New Testament)as the congregation stood, listening respectfully and reverently. It struck me how much honor was given to the Word, as it should be. Everyone stood at its reading, and I found throughout the whole service, a lot of it was read and then explained in context of what is written, as well as given in the practical means of life-application. This is contrasted to what I'm used to, which is typically a sermon written around a few key verses to drive home a particular topic - usually slanted toward a particular denominational doctrine.

Then it was time for praise music, singing and dancing, shofar blowing, and flag waving. I had participated in many a praise and worship service, but none like this. It was like the entire congregation broke out into a big party! On the floor in front,on either side of the stage, was a group of people dancing in large circles...adults and children, alike. (Later, I learned this dance is called the Hora) A petite woman dressed in white flowing clothing danced all over the sanctuary, skillfully waving two big, colorful flags above her head. Smaller flags were passed out to those who wanted them. People were clapping and smiling and obviously feeling free to just enjoy the presence of God however they felt led. Everyone was filled with the joy of the Lord. It was so refreshing!

Things calmed a bit after the praise song was over. The children were dismissed to their classes, and worship began. The music was more somber, and the altars were opened for those who wanted to pray. Twenty people or more went to the altars to pray, some wearing prayer shalls over their heads, which was a totally foreign concept to me. They would pray for a while and then one-by-one, quietly trickle back to the pews as they finished.

After a few worship songs, the sermon began. The teaching was straight from the Bible...lots of Scripture...and it was all about Jesus (or, as they call him "Yeshua," which is his actual, Hebrew name). The service was a little long - almost two hours from beginning to end - but for me, that wasn't an issue. For my 16-year-old, fidgety son, it was a different story. Two hours was a little too long for his taste. But they didn't get into a big hurry, which is something I loved about it.

After that visit, my interest in the Messianic faith peaked. I began what would become a six-month study of the Torah - from Genesis to Deuteronomy - every single verse. The more I read and learned of the Torah, the closer I felt to God. I began to look at the Scriptures in a totally new way. The New Testament even made more sense to me after learning what the Old Testament said. Things I'd been taught growing up - things about the Sabbath and holidays and food, for instance - started to look very different through this new lens called the Torah. I could see from the Scriptures how certain things I always believed to be true could have been taken out of context. I'll go so far as to say that I believe in my spirit that some things were, in fact, taken out of context to align with certain doctrines...but I'll leave it at that for now.

I began to question all these new things I was learning, weighing it against things I was taught my whole life, and ultimately, some confusion set in. I felt like God sent my husband and I to this new place of worship for a reason, and He led me to the Torah for a reason. He put the unquenchable desire in me to seek the Truth. At the same time, though, everyone I know and love doesn't seem to know anything about any of this stuff, nor do they seem to care to hear it. Some are open to listen and discuss, others, not so much. I found out how very defensive some Christians can be when you start messing with their holidays. I love Christmas as much as the next person, believe me. But more than my love for Christmas, I love God and I want to know how He feels about Christmas. I want to know the Truth, no matter what.

In any event, new beliefs were developing in my heart from my reading of the Word and these beliefs caused me to wonder what all this meant for me. If I'm not a Pentecostal or a Baptist or a Jew, by virtue of their doctrines, then what was I? Am I a wanna-be Jew as some would suggest?

I struggled with these questions for a while before I realized that I don't need an earthly label to identify me as a child of God. No, I'm not Jewish and I'm not trying to be Jewish. I'm a believer in the Most High God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who has placed in me a love for the Jewish people - His people - and He is teaching me what to believe about Him and His people through His Word. I believe He gave us His Word - all of His Word - for a purpose, and not just to give us a history lesson. I believe the whole Bible is true and relevant to us today.

I'm digging deeper and I will share what I find here. That's the purpose for this blog.

Finally, I know.

Blessings,