Today is the last day of Tabernacles, and it’s a Sabbath. One of the things that is clear about observing God’s holidays – we are so out of sync with the rest of the world. We wake to a day of resting, while we listen to the traffic going to work like any other day. We spend time with the Lord while others buy and sell, marry and give in marriage completely oblivious to His will and ways. From a certain perspective we are different, weird, offensive, and intolerant. Though Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Nations (because of the 70 bulls that used to be offered for the nations at this time) the nations ignore it. Just like they ignore the Feast that is partly for their sakes, ignored the bulls, and just like they ignore the greatest sacrifice, the only begotten son of God, Jesus the Christ. It’s no wonder being in sync with God causes us to be out of sync with the world.
Tabernacles 2012 day 2
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, ESV)
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. (Revelation 21:3, ESV)
Second day of Tabernacles. So much meaning filling and overflowing a simple celebration. Praise God the Father and our Messiah Jesus the Anointed for giving us such wonderful and intimate ways to connect!
Tabernacles 2012
Coming up on Monday – the Feast of Tabernacles. Eight days of parties and camping. We will be pitching a tent in our back yard Sunday afternoon and sleeping in it all week long. We’ll have fires in our fire pit, roast wienies (all beef of course) and marshmallows (s’more, please), singing and blowing the shofar for joy.
This feast causes us to remember what God did for Israel in bringing them out of slavery, rejoice in our freedom in Christ, and look forward to a time when He shall reign and the earth will have peace. Do we have a great God or what? Party, party party, all the time party. This is what He gives us when we stay within the loving boundaries of His wonderful, living Word.
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. (Zechariah 14:16–19, ESV)