Even before the ink was dry on the incorporation papers of the Living Church of God, members were asking, “Where will the Feast sites be for 1999?” Indeed, attending the Feast of Tabernacles is the highlight of the year for God’s people. If we are growing in grace and knowledge, the reality of the Kingdom of God becomes ever clearer to us as we gather together each fall to celebrate our part in God’s plan and to look forward to the establishment of God’s government here on earth.
But why does God give such emphasis to this year-end milestone on the Holy Day calendar? How should we be preparing for this important time, and how should we observe it when it arrives?
We read in Leviticus: “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: `The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it’” (Leviticus 23:34–35).
We then notice that although only the first and last days are “holy time”, God says we should be at the Feast for all eight days: “For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it” (Leviticus 23:36).
For how long should we keep the Feast? “You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month” (Leviticus 23:41). Yes, God commands us to keep the feast for seven days each year, year after year, generation after generation— forever!
“‘You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites 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’” (Leviticus 23:42–43). Notice that we are to leave our homes and live in temporary accommodations for the entire Feast. This reminds us that we are merely sojourners here on Earth.
But why does God so emphasize the importance of our keeping the Feast of Tabernacles? What lessons are we to learn from it, and how should we prepare ourselves to celebrate it? “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:22–23). Yes, Godhas commanded our attendance at the fall Feast so we may learn to fear the LORD our God always.
Notice that part of God’s instruction to us is to prepare a tithe of our annual increase to pay our expenses traveling to and staying at the place where God places His Name: “But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household” (Deuteronomy 14:24–26).
God did not say that we do not have to attend if the site is too far away. In the Millenium, people will come to Jerusalem for the Feast from every nation; they will not be able to complain that the site is too far distant. Yes, except for severe health reasons, all God’s people should attend, and He expects us to set aside a tithe for our expenses. In past years, some have excused themselves to return to work during the Feast, or have left early to get back to school. A few have attended only the morning service on the Last Great Day, so they could get an early start rushing back into the world. Yet the Last Great Day is holy to God and should be entirely and reverently observed until sunset.
Properly saving our second tithe is one of the ways we show our Father that we do fear to violate His statutes and that we desire to fully honor Him at His fall festivals.
Arrangements for 1999
This year the Festival Office has had to start all over again arranging sites. All our previous records and files were unavailable to us. It is a lot of work even in normal times, and in our exceptional circumstances some major changes are being made to accommodate the shorter-than-normal deadlines we now face. We only have enough people and ministers to run ten North American sites; four in Canada, five in the United States, and one in Mexico.
A number of international sites will also be available; information about these will be published in the near future.
Details about housing arrangements should be available before Pentecost, and will be announced in local congregations and through the Church web site. Please be aware that we must handle housing arrangements differently than in the past. We will only be able to publicize sites that offer us their meeting halls free, or for a reduced cost in exchange for our filling a block of rooms. To meet the needs of members who have special housing needs or transportation requirements, each area pastor will appoint someone in each congregation to act as Festival Coordinator to provide assistance. Additionally, the Church web site will provide links to Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Bureau, and other such information for the Feast locations. Since no commission arrangements or contracts with hotels, motels or realtors will be made, the Church will lose an important source of income that previously helped pay some Feast expenses. It thus becomes more important than ever that members wend in their tithe of the tithe and excess second tithe donations, which can help cover these and other expenses in addition to helping needy brethren attend the Feast, as soon as is possible. Please however, do NOT make your housing arrangements until we have been able to announce the preferred hotels, since our ability to obtain free use of meeting halls may still depend on having enough brethren staying in the meeting hotel.
It is our privilege and our responsibility to fulfill God’s admonition that all should: “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). God is preparing a great future and a place for each of us in His family. He has called us to learn how to rule and teach this world in the ways of peace and happiness. The Feast of Tabernacles is the best place to Train for the awesome events to occur in the days and years just ahead.
The Feast gives us a foretaste of the Kingdom of God.
Even after the Kingdom is here, the Feast of Tabernacles will still be observed and all the nations will be required to attend. As we read in Zechariah: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16-19).
Once the nations learn what God will teach them at the great fall festival, they will come to love and enjoy the Feast of Tabernacles as much as His people do today.
See you at the Feast!