Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)
Chag HaAsif
(or Final Ingathering or Final Harvest)
Are you prepared for God's appointed times?
Are you even aware what these appointed times of the Lord (Yeshua’s Calendar) to which Genesis 1:14 refers? And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for appointed times (H4150) (seasons) and for days and years; (JUB) The Biblical calendar is based on the lunar cycle. The moon reflects the sun which sets both the daily and yearly cycles. It has no light of itself just as we have no light of ourselves and only reflect the Son of God where the 'o' in Son is complete!
What are these appointed times that God (Elohim) has given to mankind through the Jewish people? Yeshua has fulfilled the first four annual Appointed Times of God given in Leviticus 23:4-22. He is the Paschal Lamb who was slain for the sins of the World on Passover as the sinless offering as represented by the Feast of Matzah, Unleavened Bread. He was raised on the day after the Sabbath as our First Fruits and seven weeks later He sent the Holy Spirit on Shavuot Pentecost to compete the first four feasts! What about the last three festivals given in Leviticus 23:23-44 called the Fall Feasts?
Fall or Autumn Feasts
In the last Newsletter we wrote on Yom Teruah which starts the final Appointed Times that are still to be fulfilled in Yeshua. When Messiah comes for his bride we see a connection between the ancient Jewish wedding feast. The bridegroom has the shofar blown and shouts that he is on his way to collect his bride who knows she has to be ready and waiting as she did not know when her bridegroom was coming for her. At Yom Teruah / Rosh Hashanah The Day of Shouting or Blowing of Shofar is connected to when the Lord comes back both as Bridegroom and King of kings. At the final SHOUT/Shofar the Lambs Book of Life is closed after the 10 Days of Awe culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement which is the last opportunity to repent and turn to the LORD. Five days later on the full moon begins Sukkot, the most important Feast of Tabernacles / In-gathering when the fruits of the land were gathered and brought joyfully before the LORD for seven days of celebrations. Much can be said about the significance of the Feasts and especially how Yeshua will fulfill it as the Bridegroom at the Wedding Feast of The Lamb of God. Facts of Sukkot/Feast of Booths:
- reminder of the 40 years in the Wilderness totally dependent of God.
- 7 day feast plus 8th Day (Shmeini Atzeret) or SimchaTorah "Rejoicing in the Torah" –end/start of Torah readings (Parashah)
- 1st and 8th days Sabbaths
- Origin of Harvest Festival and Thanksgiving in USA
- Drastic change from Day of Atonement to Feast of Trumpets, from Repentance to Rejoicing
- 7th feast in 7th month, celebrated for 7 days – completes all feasts , culmination
- 70 bulls sacrificed Num 29 :12 -34 Total of 70 bulls sacrificed over 7 days 13+12+ 11+ 10+ 9+ 8+7=70 for sin offering representing the 70 nations of the world given in Genesis 10.
What is the significance of Sukkot?
Highly significant as it is the culmination of all the Feasts of the Lord. Zechariah 14:1- 5 (also Isaiah 63:3 Rev 19:15) speaks of a Time of God's judgement and the wine pres
s, Armagendon
(Zech 14:6-20) preceding Sukkot. At which ALL the nations (
Zech 14:6-20) who had come against Israel will have to attend or come under serious curse!
On 1st day recite – “
Blessed are You, King of the Universe, who has given us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.
Blessed are You, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your commandments and commanded us concerning the taking of the palm branch.’
Waving the Lulav & Etrog on Sukkot plays an important par feastival. These items are waved in all directions after recite
blessing over the Four Kinds:
Citron (Etrog) is like a lemon while the lulav is made from a palm branch with 3 myrtle twigs and 2 willow branches wrapped together. The palm branch represents a man's “backbone”, the myrtle the eyes of man and the willow the lips of man. The etrog then represents the heart of man which all together praise God Ps 35:10 Another interpretation is that the four 1st letter of each item in hebrew points to the name of God Yud Hay Vav Hay.
Water Libation ceromony
Besides the waving of the lulav and etrog ceremony another highly significant ceremony took place on each of the seven days of Sukkot. The Rejoicing in the House of the Water Pouring (Simchat Beit HaShoevah) flowed from the Biblical commandment for Sukkot, "And you shall be glad on your holiday, and you shall be only joyful" (Deut. 16:14). Indeed, the pilgrims who arrived in Jerusalem at the Temple's courtyard came to rejoice. The focus of this rejoicing was the ceremony surrounding the commandment to pour water on the altar - the water libation which took fifteen and a half hours each day to complete! During this event, which mainly took place in the Women's Court, the levites played on many musical instruments while two divisions of priests brought back willow branches while the other led by the High Priest collected water from the Pool of Siloam.
The high priest took his vessel and poured its contents on one of the corners of the altar where the horns came together. Wine was also poured. The water and the wine were poured out over the altar as the priests who had the willow started laying the willow branches against the altar, forming a sukkah. This was the covering of God.
Hereby, we have a picture of Yeshua as He was dying on the tree. He was on the altar (tree) when His heart was pierced (John 19:34). The water and wine poured out by the high priest and his assistant represented the water and blood that flowed out of Yeshua's body on the cross. Yeshua said that He was the living water being poured out during this ceremony (John 7:37-38). Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Yeshua was not yet glorified.
All of these events took place with the light coming from
The Light of the World
Four golden candelabras were there, each with four golden bowls, and against them rested four ladders: four youths of priestly descent each held a pitcher of oil, capable of holding one hundred and twenty litres from which they filled each bowl. The old, worn robes and girdles of the priests served as wicks for these lamps. There was not a court in Jerusalem that was not lit up by the light of 'the house of water-pouring.' 'I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life' (Joh_8:12. & John 9:5
Wedding Feast of the Lamb
God commanded the people to be joyful over Sukkot. The Sukkah represents the Wedding Feast with the Groom and Bride under the Chuppah or prayer shawl. It is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb who was slain in Revelation 19:1 - 9 which begins the Millennial reign of Yeshua here on earth, the seventh day God rested (Genesis 2:1-3).
Eighth Day - Shmeini Atzeret
Simchat Torah - Rejoicing in the Torah
The Eight Day is separate but linked to 7 days of Sukkot with a lower level of sacrifices. What does it point to? The number 8 refers to new beginnings just as the eighth day of the week begins a new week and we celebrated the Resurrrection of Messiah on Sundays. Also celebrated on this eighth day and extended into the next day outside Israel is Simcha Torah. It signals the end of the annual reading of the Torah with the end of Deuteronomy and the start of the readings with Bereshit (Genesis). The Eighth Day is a Sabbath (Lev 23:39), a solemn assembly with only one bull, one ram, seven lambs and one goat sacrificed on it. This day could point to the New Beginnings given in Rev 21:1-7, the New Jerusalem!!!
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Rev 21:1 - 3)
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talk on the rainbow, covenant and marriage. They both stood under the 
. An innocent baby yet knows from the start how to feed and get his parents attention. He needs his parents to see to all his needs at this time. Do we look to our Father in Heaven for all our needs; our food for growth and the correct amount as well as reading the bible and spending time with our Father in Heaven. Our cleansing by the blood of the Lamb and then being washed by the Holy Spirit. Are we drawing closer to Yeshua so that we
can learn from him. Do we except our Fathers discipline when he brings us back in line. Do we asked the Father to clothe us in righteousness. As I held Joshua it was a wonderful picture of how the Lord holds us in his arms and protects us. As we move through this New Year 5775 will you allow Yeshua and our Father in Heaven to hold you in His arms and protect and feed you and then allow the Holy Spirit to nurture you. Penny flew to Cape Town with Joshua and his parents to show him to his great grandmother who is just short of ninety. Four generations are shown in the photograph!
