Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) – Holiday Name and Meaning:
Sukkot is the Hebrew name of the holiday Feast of Tabernacles. To tabernacle with someone is to dwell with them. God tabernacled with the Israelites as they wandered in the desert for 40 years after the Exodus from Egypt and before entering the Promised Land. During this time, the Israelites lived in small huts or booths (sukkah – singular; sukkot – plural), easily movable as they followed God’s Presence (Shekinah) that manifested as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21).
The holiday of Sukkot is known by various names: the Feast, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Our Rejoicing, Season of Our Rejoicing, Season of Our Joy, and Ha Hag (the Holiday). Sukkot is also sometimes referred to as the Feast of Ingathering, marking the final harvest (Exodus 23:16), and also by the Hebrew name Shemhatenu.
Messiah in the Feast of Tabernacles:
We are told in John’s Gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us” (John 1:14). God’s presence came in the incarnate Messiah who was present with His people. He was Immanuel, Hebrew for “God with us.” The word “dwelt” here in the Greek means “tabernacled.” When He became flesh, Yeshua inhabited the temporary shelter of an earthly body, knowing He soon would be required to leave it. Why did He do this? So that we might find a home in Him – not a temporary shelter in the wilderness, but an eternal home in God’s Kingdom that abides forever.
During prayer time for this holiday, people cry out “please save” or “save now” as part of the prayer liturgy. For believers in Messiah this prayer has already been answered: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ [Yeshua HaMashiach], and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). The cry for salvation at Tabernacles is heard and answered through Yeshua the Messiah, for He came to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
There are many ways that this festival points to Yeshua. God gave the Israelites manna and water in the wilderness. Yeshua is the spiritual bread and water for all who believe in Him. Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst (John 6:35). May all Israel never thirst. May they tabernacle with Yeshua forever.
Yeshua said in John 15:4-
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
As the Jewish people dwell in the Sukkahs the Bible commands us to enter into joy. In order to enter into the Eternal Tabernacle one must abide in Yeshua’s joy, and only then will he enter into the true Tabernacle.
Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles Outreach
We of Messiah of Israel Ministries went up to Jerusalem to proclaim the true joy of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. There were many people who came to Jerusalem to celebrate and enter into the beautiful Sukkot. It was wonderful to see so many people rejoicing.
As believers were praying, Zev began sharing the true meaning of Sukkot in the Kotel (Western Wall) and inside the Sukkot.