The Feast of Tabernacles - Sukkot*

      The Feast of Tabernacles, also called Sukkot meaning "Booth, tabernacle," is the third fall feast of the LORD. It follows the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Feast of Tabernacles is described in Leviticus 23: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak 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. On the first day shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be a 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. These are the feasts of the LORD which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations...Also 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...and ye shall take the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and the willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days...It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month...Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." (V. 30-44, excerpt).

     The Feast of Tabernacles above is connected with the harvest. The Feast is to be a statute forever, not as a feast of Israel, but as the Feast of the LORD.

     The LORD spoke of the tabernacle as His dwelling place among His people: "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell amongst them: I am the LORD their God." (Ex. 29:43-46). 

     The sanctified and glorified dwelling place of the LORD and the priests who minister within it make up the tabernacle. The LORD had separated out Israel from the other nations to be a holy royal priesthood to Him: "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." (Ex. 19:5-6). 

     The obedience to the voice of God is vital, not stumbling at His Word into disobedience (see 1 Pet. 2:7-8). We will stand before God in judgment. As written in Exodus above, the Apostle Peter also spoke of the believers in Christ as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ...ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (see also Titus 2:11-15); that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (v. 5, 9-10).

     We have been called into His light, and darkness does not have authority over you anymore. We all sin, but the Word says that if we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

     Peter mentions above that we have received this priesthood by Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John links Jesus to tabernacles. John revealed that Jesus is the Word of God who was God and was with God in the beginning. He is the Word of God spoken that created all things that exist. He is the life and light in all man that cannot be overcome by the darkness. (Jn. 1:1-5). Then John wrote: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (skenoo - to fix one's tabernacle in place, tabernacle, tent, to reside as God did in the tabernacle, the human body as the tabernacle of the Spirit) among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (Jn. 1:14, see also Isa. 61:1-3).

     Jesus "tabernacled" with us by the will of God, full of grace, mercy and truth. He gave us the same glory as He had with the Father in the beginning (see Jn. 17:22).

     This same royal priesthood mentioned in Exodus 19 and by Peter above is also revealed in Revelation: "...Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (Rev. 1:5-6). We as kings and priests are redeemed by Christ from every nation, tribe, language and people (Rev. 5:9-10). These same priests and kings, whom we are in Christ, will reign on earth with Christ. There is no racism nor ethnic clashes within this royal priesthood of God.

      John saw the one-thousand-year reign of Christ and those who reigned with Him: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Rev. 20:1-6).

     This is the Millennial Reign that begins after the Feast of Tabernacles. The believers of the first resurrection will reign with Christ. During that Millennial Reign of Christ, all nations will be required to come to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Those nations that do not come for the Feast will be punished. The holiness of God will fill Jerusalem and Judah. Even the common items will become holy because of it. They shall be called HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. (Zech. 14:16-21). Those who refuse to come and be part of the holiness will become part of a curse.

     It is a sad development when the people of God refuse the knowledge of God, including His appointed feasts. The prophet Hosea wrote the word of the LORD to His priests and to His people: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame...And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings." (Hos. 4:4-7, 9). 

     Their glory, both priests and people, was changed into shame because they rejected the LORD's knowledge. The prophet then wrote the LORD's call to His people: "Come and let us return (turn back to, repent) unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." (Hos. 6:1-3).

     The LORD promises to revive on the second day and raise us up on the third day if we will repent and come back to Him. This resurrection is tied to "the third day." Scripture tells us that one day is as a thousand years. This is now then "the second day," or two thousand years, after the resurrection of Christ, the time when revival and the latter rain or outpouring of God is available to His people, and we are heading into "the third day" of raising up or resurrection, if we will follow His knowledge.

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 9/13/26 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on the Facebook page of Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at the Kenneth Stevenson channel. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, which is evidence of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook. Also the book NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling, written by Dr. Stevenson, is available on Amazon.