Archbishop Michael-John
2nd October 2009, 01:28 PM
Chag Sameach – Happy Holiday!
The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth)
The Kingdom Banquet
Tonight begins the week long Biblical Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth)
Tonight we begin to mark the Kingdom Banquet and our Harvest Festival.
This is a Biblical holiday in which we give thanks to YaHWeH and is the last of the seven annual biblical Feasts. This autumn festival begins on the 15th day of Tishrei (this year at sunset on Friday 2nd October). The first and eighth days are High Sabbaths, and this year they also fall on the weekly Sabbaths.
The Bible defines how the eighth day of this festival is to be observed as a Feast of Conclusion (Shemini Atzeret). In the diaspora, the day following Shemini Atzeret is known as Simchat Torah. In Israel both days are celebrated on Shemini Atzeret. Sukkoth is first a harvest thanksgiving festival, known as the Hag ha-Asif (Festival of Ingathering), Leviticus 23:41 “And 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.” Sukkoth is also celebrated in commemoration of the period when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and dwelt in booths (Tabernacles or Sukkahs). Because of the joyous nature of the festival, Sukkoth is also called Zeman Simchatenu (Season of Rejoicing). The essential practices of this festival are living in a Sukkah (booth), and waving the Lulav (branches) and Etrog (piece of fruit like a lemon), thereby symbolizing the agricultural nature of the holiday (Leviticus 24).
Leviticus 23:34-36 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.’”
Deuteronomy 23:41 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.”
Yeshua the Messiah celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles
Yeshua goes to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem John 7:3 “While He was in Galilee teaching the crowds his brothers said to him, ‘You should leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.’”
John 7:14 “Not until halfway through the Feast did Yeshua go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having studied?’”
The Harvest Festival: The harvest is brought in! - The feast of joy!
Tabernacles speaks of the day when the Son of God will tabernacle (dwell) among men, wipe away every tear, and bring in the “golden age” which men have dreamed of since time immemorial.
Water Libation
In the times of the temple, a priest went to the pool of Siloam to fill a golden pitcher with water. He then came back to the temple accompanied by a joyous procession of trumpet sounds and worshipers, and poured out the water near the altar. At the same time, he recited Isaiah 12:3 ff.: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation …”
Today, prayer for rain in the Mussaf - prayer corresponds to the biblical water libation.
Readings
Traditional readings for the Feast Tabernacles include the following verses:
On each day, Psalm 113 - 118 are being recited during the Hallel (Praise); Exodus 12:31-51, Deuteronomy 14:22-26, 33:1 - 34:12, Leviticus 23:33-38, 39-43, Numbers 29:12-16, II Chronicles 8:13, Ezra 3:4, Zechariah 14:16-19, Nehemiah 8:13-18, John 7:2, 7:10-26 and Acts 18:21.
Readings on the first day:-
Exodus 12:31-51, Numbers 29:12-16, Zechariah 14, Nehemiah 8:13-18, John 7:2.
Zechariah writes about the last battle for Jerusalem, and that afterwards all nations will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Jews live in a Sukkah (or tabernacle) to commemorate the time when Israel lived in tents during their 40 years in the desert. In these days, also God lived in a tent right between the people: the Tabernacle.
After a Jewish tradition, the Messiah will come on Sukkoth (others say on Passover).
The eighth day: Final feast - Simchat Torah (the Rejoicing of the Law) / the weekly Torah readings are finished and start again with Genesis 1:1.
Readings on the eighth day:-
Deuteronomy 33:1 - 34:12
Origin
• Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. (Deuteronomy 16:13)
• Say to the Israelites: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. (Leviticus 23:34)
• The 7th feast in the 7th month takes 7 days.
• 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 rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. (Leviticus 23:39)
Fulfilment
• Yeshua returns : The harvest is brought in! - Great joy and thankfulness.
• 7 days takes a Jewish wedding feast: Wedding feast of the lamb!
• On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him”. (John 7:37-38)
• “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2, see also Ezekiel 47:1-12)
The significance of the number 8
The number eight symbolises a new beginning. The eighth day of the week is the day after Sabbath. Now the work starts anew. On this day of the week, Yeshua did rise from the dead. With him, God did create something new:
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
The number of the name Yeshua (Greek ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) is 888.
Tradition and Prophecy
According to (Jewish) tradition, the Messiah shall come for the seventh millennium (according Jewish calendar), and establish the “Sabbath”, the Kingdom of peace, which will last for a thousand years. (Revelation 20). Afterwards, on the eighth day, there will follow something new:
“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17, see also Revelation 21)
New Testament References for observing the Biblical Hebrew Feasts:
Some examples of observances of the Biblical Feasts by the early Church fathers, the Apostles and by Yeshua himself:
• “And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.” (The Savior’s parents were in the act of keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in Luke 2:42)
• “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Yahshua went up to Jerusalem.” (Yeshua went to Jerusalem probably to keep Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, John 5:1)
• “You know that after two days is [the feast of] the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be impaled.” (Yeshua was to become the Passover sacrifice in Matthew 26:2)
• “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yeshua, saying unto him, where will you that we prepare for you to eat the passover?” (Yeshua always was planning to keep the Passover, Matthew 26:17)
• “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Now about the midst of the feast Yeshua went up into the temple, and taught.” (Here’s proof that Yeshua kept this autumn Feast, John 7:2, 10, 14)
• “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.” (Here’s proof that the biblical feasts are not just Jewish feasts, but for all. Non-Jews also observed Passover in John 12:20)
• “But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if YaHWeH will. And he sailed from Ephesus.” (Paul in Acts 18:21 was speaking after the Saviour’s resurrection about his intentions to observe the Feast.)
• “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (Paul is telling us to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread with a new emphasis in 1 Corinthians 5:8)
• “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Our Saviour’s statement promises that He would observe Passover in the Kingdom with the faithful, Matthew 26:29)
NB The Feast days are not Jewish in an ethnic sense or Christian in a religious sense but they are divine in a Biblical sense and therefore eternal and universal.
YaHWeH be with you!
The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth)
The Kingdom Banquet
Tonight begins the week long Biblical Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth)
Tonight we begin to mark the Kingdom Banquet and our Harvest Festival.
This is a Biblical holiday in which we give thanks to YaHWeH and is the last of the seven annual biblical Feasts. This autumn festival begins on the 15th day of Tishrei (this year at sunset on Friday 2nd October). The first and eighth days are High Sabbaths, and this year they also fall on the weekly Sabbaths.
The Bible defines how the eighth day of this festival is to be observed as a Feast of Conclusion (Shemini Atzeret). In the diaspora, the day following Shemini Atzeret is known as Simchat Torah. In Israel both days are celebrated on Shemini Atzeret. Sukkoth is first a harvest thanksgiving festival, known as the Hag ha-Asif (Festival of Ingathering), Leviticus 23:41 “And 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.” Sukkoth is also celebrated in commemoration of the period when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and dwelt in booths (Tabernacles or Sukkahs). Because of the joyous nature of the festival, Sukkoth is also called Zeman Simchatenu (Season of Rejoicing). The essential practices of this festival are living in a Sukkah (booth), and waving the Lulav (branches) and Etrog (piece of fruit like a lemon), thereby symbolizing the agricultural nature of the holiday (Leviticus 24).
Leviticus 23:34-36 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.’”
Deuteronomy 23:41 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.”
Yeshua the Messiah celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles
Yeshua goes to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem John 7:3 “While He was in Galilee teaching the crowds his brothers said to him, ‘You should leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.’”
John 7:14 “Not until halfway through the Feast did Yeshua go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having studied?’”
The Harvest Festival: The harvest is brought in! - The feast of joy!
Tabernacles speaks of the day when the Son of God will tabernacle (dwell) among men, wipe away every tear, and bring in the “golden age” which men have dreamed of since time immemorial.
Water Libation
In the times of the temple, a priest went to the pool of Siloam to fill a golden pitcher with water. He then came back to the temple accompanied by a joyous procession of trumpet sounds and worshipers, and poured out the water near the altar. At the same time, he recited Isaiah 12:3 ff.: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation …”
Today, prayer for rain in the Mussaf - prayer corresponds to the biblical water libation.
Readings
Traditional readings for the Feast Tabernacles include the following verses:
On each day, Psalm 113 - 118 are being recited during the Hallel (Praise); Exodus 12:31-51, Deuteronomy 14:22-26, 33:1 - 34:12, Leviticus 23:33-38, 39-43, Numbers 29:12-16, II Chronicles 8:13, Ezra 3:4, Zechariah 14:16-19, Nehemiah 8:13-18, John 7:2, 7:10-26 and Acts 18:21.
Readings on the first day:-
Exodus 12:31-51, Numbers 29:12-16, Zechariah 14, Nehemiah 8:13-18, John 7:2.
Zechariah writes about the last battle for Jerusalem, and that afterwards all nations will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Jews live in a Sukkah (or tabernacle) to commemorate the time when Israel lived in tents during their 40 years in the desert. In these days, also God lived in a tent right between the people: the Tabernacle.
After a Jewish tradition, the Messiah will come on Sukkoth (others say on Passover).
The eighth day: Final feast - Simchat Torah (the Rejoicing of the Law) / the weekly Torah readings are finished and start again with Genesis 1:1.
Readings on the eighth day:-
Deuteronomy 33:1 - 34:12
Origin
• Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. (Deuteronomy 16:13)
• Say to the Israelites: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. (Leviticus 23:34)
• The 7th feast in the 7th month takes 7 days.
• 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 rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. (Leviticus 23:39)
Fulfilment
• Yeshua returns : The harvest is brought in! - Great joy and thankfulness.
• 7 days takes a Jewish wedding feast: Wedding feast of the lamb!
• On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him”. (John 7:37-38)
• “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2, see also Ezekiel 47:1-12)
The significance of the number 8
The number eight symbolises a new beginning. The eighth day of the week is the day after Sabbath. Now the work starts anew. On this day of the week, Yeshua did rise from the dead. With him, God did create something new:
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
The number of the name Yeshua (Greek ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) is 888.
Tradition and Prophecy
According to (Jewish) tradition, the Messiah shall come for the seventh millennium (according Jewish calendar), and establish the “Sabbath”, the Kingdom of peace, which will last for a thousand years. (Revelation 20). Afterwards, on the eighth day, there will follow something new:
“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17, see also Revelation 21)
New Testament References for observing the Biblical Hebrew Feasts:
Some examples of observances of the Biblical Feasts by the early Church fathers, the Apostles and by Yeshua himself:
• “And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.” (The Savior’s parents were in the act of keeping Passover and Unleavened Bread in Luke 2:42)
• “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Yahshua went up to Jerusalem.” (Yeshua went to Jerusalem probably to keep Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, John 5:1)
• “You know that after two days is [the feast of] the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be impaled.” (Yeshua was to become the Passover sacrifice in Matthew 26:2)
• “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Yeshua, saying unto him, where will you that we prepare for you to eat the passover?” (Yeshua always was planning to keep the Passover, Matthew 26:17)
• “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Now about the midst of the feast Yeshua went up into the temple, and taught.” (Here’s proof that Yeshua kept this autumn Feast, John 7:2, 10, 14)
• “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast.” (Here’s proof that the biblical feasts are not just Jewish feasts, but for all. Non-Jews also observed Passover in John 12:20)
• “But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that comes in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if YaHWeH will. And he sailed from Ephesus.” (Paul in Acts 18:21 was speaking after the Saviour’s resurrection about his intentions to observe the Feast.)
• “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (Paul is telling us to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread with a new emphasis in 1 Corinthians 5:8)
• “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Our Saviour’s statement promises that He would observe Passover in the Kingdom with the faithful, Matthew 26:29)
NB The Feast days are not Jewish in an ethnic sense or Christian in a religious sense but they are divine in a Biblical sense and therefore eternal and universal.
YaHWeH be with you!