Leviticus 23:33-4433And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 34Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. 35On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. 39Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 44And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. (Leviticus 23:33‑44)
THE NEXT feast, the feast of atonement, tells of the bitter sorrow of Israel when their eyes are opened to the fact that their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, has already come to them and they have not received Him, but had murdered Him. Then they will receive Him and they will ask, “What are these wounds in Thine hands?” Then shall He answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends!” Zech. 13:66And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. (Zechariah 13:6). Great will be their anguish in soul, but it is not their sorrow that covers their guilt; they will understand that the precious blood of the Lamb of God, the very One whom they slew themselves, covers all their wickedness, and the crowning sin of rejecting and murdering their own Messiah. “They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son.... In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,... and the land shall mourn, every family apart,...” The repentant remnant of Israel will be brought to own what they have done, but their sorrow will be turned into joy. It is the path to blessing, for in the next feast they are called to rejoice.
The feast of tabernacles comes next, on the fifteenth day of the month and like the feast of unleavened bread it lasted for seven days. What characterizes this feast is rejoicing. “And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God.” v. 40. They were to take boughs of trees and branches of palm trees and make booths, or tents, and they dwelt in these tents during those seven days.
The feast of tabernacles is a type then of the millennium when Israel will enter into and enjoy the rest of God on earth. All the promises of grace, glory and blessing made to Abraham and Israel will be completely fulfilled.
God will have His people to remember His wonderful and patient ways with them as He brought them through that waste howling wilderness. How sweet for Israel then to trace His patient ways of grace and how sweet for us, His people, now to look back and dwell upon His faithful love, and His wonderful grace that has brought us hitherto. In that coming day, when we are all gathered in our heavenly home, the wilderness behind us forever, we shall praise Him for all that is past. As one dear departed servant of Christ used to tell us, the last Book of the Psalms is the backward look of Israel and it is all praise. So it will be with us, the Church, when at home and at rest in the glory.
Taken up in resurrection
Desert ways rehearsed above,
Tell the power of God’s salvation
And His never failing love.
The feast of tabernacles then tells of a wonderful scene of joy and blessing, not only for Israel, but for the nations, the Gentiles, and indeed all creation, for all will be brought under Messiah’s gracious and beneficent reign.
After the feast of tabernacles had run its allotted seven days we read of an eighth day — something not found in any other of the feasts. It marked a new beginning, and there is no end mentioned. The eighth day speaks of eternity and new creation. God will then bring in an entirely new and final scene of blessing the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
ML-09/24/1972