We, God’s people, are going to the Feast of Tabernacles this year with many significant events happening in the world around us. While events in the Middle East have dominated the news, important developments are going on behind the scenes in Europe as well. Most of us realize that these days we are preparing to celebrate will finally be fulfilled in the not-too-distant future. Down through the centuries, thousands of God’s servants have anticipated this coming time of hope and glory, but we are now living in the generation of people that will actually experience this transition from today’s evil world to tomorrow’s glorious world.
How is what we are preparing to do, in the days immediately ahead, relevant to this coming new world? As we prepare to leave for the Feast of Tabernacles, do we truly grasp that we are on the threshold of tomorrow’s world? If we really grasp this important concept, it will shape the entire way in which we go about celebrating this festival season.
Why Go to the Feast?
In Deuteronomy 14:22, Moses instructed the ancient Israelites that they were to truly tithe all of their increase every year. In this context, however, he is discussing a different tithe than the tithe intended for the Levitical priesthood (Numbers 18:21–24). This verse refers to a second tithe, one that the Israelites were commanded to “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 firstlings of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). In this verse we encounter the first reason that God commanded His people to come to the Feast. That reason is simply that we may learn how to fear—to deeply reverence—the Eternal Creator God more deeply and fully.
The secondreason for going to the Feast is spelled out in verse 26: “And you shall spend that money [your second tithe] for whatever your heart desires… you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.” The heads of households in ancient Israel were commanded to appear before the Eternal with their families and to rejoice there before Him. Learning to deeply reverence and stand in awe of God is viewed as a prelude to rejoicing with the whole family in God’s presence.
Underlying the Israelites’ attendance at the Feast was the concept that they were literally going to appear before their Creator. They were going to be eating “before the Lord your God” (v. 23)—that is, in His very presence! The festivals were times to be with God, and to fellowship with Him in a very special way.
If we have the realization that we are coming into God’s very presence in a special way at this time of year, it will set a tone for all of our festival activities. We come before Him to learn His ways more deeply—to develop an even more deep and profound awe of the great God. We also come so that we may rejoice together as a family in His presence. Understanding these principles ourselves, we should desire to instill them into our children. If we all grasp that we are coming into the presence of God in a very special way at the festivals, this will have a tremendous effect on every part of our celebration and approach.
Even many in the world understand this concept, though they apply it wrongly. You may recall an event widely broadcast on television a few years ago. Pope John Paul II had come to the United States on a special visit, and was to hold an outdoor service in Washington, DC. A few individuals had been pre-selected for presentation to him prior to his address. Among them was a family consisting of a father and mother and many children ranging from early teens down to toddler age. It was interesting to watch the children as they moved onto the stage and went with their parents to meet the Pope. They were all “scrubbed and shiny” as the saying goes, and were attired in their “Sunday best.” Clearly, their parents had impressed upon them the specialness of the occasion, and they were on their best behavior. They were deeply conscious of coming into the presence of one they viewed as holy, one they viewed—however wrongly—as the very Vicar of Christ on earth. Their sense of awe and wonder at the occasion was clearly evident. The object of their awe and wonder was wrong, but we can find a lesson here. If the world and professing Christianity can often readily place its awe and reverence in things against God, how much more ought true Christians be ready to approach the true God with awe and reverence?
If we truly understand the concept that we come to the Feast to appear before God and to feast in His presence, this will instill within each of us a sense of awe. We, in turn, need to convey that sense to our children. This is why it is important for families to sit together at the Feast, and to discuss the sermons and sermonettes at appropriate times during the day. It is vital that parents help their children absorb maximum benefit from the services and come to understand more about God and His ways during the Feast. We are coming to worship the Creator, the Lord of Hosts, together as a family unit.
Understanding the real why of going to the Feast will ensure that we strive to be at every service on time. It will mean that we seek to get sufficient rest so that we can be alert and attentive during the services. Additionally, it will mean that our eating and drinking and our fun activities are carried out with the realization that we are rejoicing in the presence of our God. If such an understanding is present, then there will never be any excessive drinking or questionable activities—because who would ever do such things in the presence of God?
Celebrating the Feast in this way is preparation for being able to share it with all humanity in a few short years. We are, after all, standing on the threshold of a brand new world—a world in which we will have the opportunity to directly assist Jesus Christ in serving humanity and preparing individuals for an inheritance in God’s family. Have you thought about what it will be like to go through the transition and see a brand new world—built upon a very different value system—ushered in? The Apostle John explained to his readers that this present world— based upon the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—was destined to pass from the scene. Those who love this system and its values will pass away with it, while those who truly serve their Creator will abide forever (1 John 2:15–17).
The Inauguration of Tomorrow ’s World
The world in which we live is filled with pain and suffering. The Apostle Paul in Romans 8 compared the world and its current sufferings to a woman in labor pains. He said that the entire creation was “in labor,” yearning for the manifestation of the sons of God (v. 22).
The fall festivals, all of which come in the seventh month of God’s sacred calendar, focus on the fulfillment of the hope that God has given to mankind. They anticipate the time when God’s people will actually put on immortality and enter into glory. Most professing Christians do not understand the great purpose that God is working out for all of mankind. Most think that right now is the only day of salvation, and must therefore conclude that the vast majority of all of mankind is lost forever. God is not in some desperate contest with the devil trying to determine whether the world will be saved or lost. Rather, God is in control and has declared the conclusion and outcome of His great plan from the very beginning.
A few years from now, the most awesome series of events in the history of mankind will be ushered in by the blast of angelic trumpets. We celebrate that time of God’s coming intervention every year on the Feast of Trumpets.
Revelation 8 and 9 contain most of the information about the first six of these trumpets, with additional information about the seventh trumpet contained in chapters 10 and 11. Revelation 8:1–2 shows that the seven trumpets collectively constitute the seventh seal, the time period called the Day of the Lord or the time of God’s wrath. They represent His end-time punishments on rebellious nations who continue to ignore the warnings of God’s true servants.
It is the sounding of the seventh trumpet, mentioned in Revelation 11:15, that ushers in the final aspect of God’s intervention. This will signal the return of Jesus Christ, God’s final judgment and conquest of the nations and the resurrection of the saints to immortality. It will also signal the pouring out of the bowls containing the seven last plagues upon rebellious humanity (Revelation 16). These last seven plagues occur after the seventh trumpet has been blown and prior to the binding and removal of Satan described in Revelation 20:1–3.
The next Holy Day celebrated by God’s people is the Day of Atonement, which anticipates the time that Satan is put away and no longer allowed to walk the earth, tempting and deceiving human beings. Have you ever wondered why God chose to make this particular festival a fast day? Have you ever noticed that God anciently decreed that the year of the Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement, not nine days earlier on the first day of the month, the Feast of Trumpets? Why?
In Revelation 12, God uses the metaphor of a great dragon to describe Satan. In the Old Testament, the term Leviathan is used for the dragon. Job 41 describes this dragon-like Leviathan and concludes in verse 34 by asserting that “he is king over all the children of pride.” Pride, of course, was Lucifer’s original sin. Ezekiel 28:17 informs us that his heart became lifted up, while Isaiah 14:13–14 makes plain that he sought to ascend into heaven, exalt his own throne and be like the Most High.
Fasting is described in Scripture as a means by which we humble our souls (Psalm 35:13). In fasting on Atonement, we are demonstrating that we value humility over pride and are rejecting that great dragon who reigns over all of the children of pride. Once Satan—the enslaver of mankind through sin—is put away, then liberty can be proclaimed throughout the land. This is what the law of the Jubilee, as given in Leviticus 25, foreshadowed—it was the time when the dispossessed could return to their inheritance and when slaves were released. It anticipated the days of the Messiah, who would proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord by offering deliverance and liberty. These events are linked together in the prophecies of Isaiah 27. We learn in verse 1 that God will punish Leviathan the twisted serpent. Verse 13 describes the subsequent blast of the Jubilee trumpet announcing freedom to the Israelite captives and their return to their inheritance in the Holy Land. This sets the stage for the entire Millennium, symbolized by the Feast of Tabernacles.
A Feast of Fat Things
This future time when the Eternal will make “a feast of fat things” to all of the nations (cf. Isaiah 25) is characterized by the festive nature of the Feast of Tabernacles. There will be a 1,000-year time of peace and prosperity, when all of mankind learns and follows the ways of God. The curses that were the result of sin will be removed. All will finally have rest from sorrow, from fear and from hard bondage (Isaiah 14:3). The whole earth will be at rest, and will “break forth into singing” (v. 7). Fear, sorrow and hard bondage were all first mentioned in Genesis 3, and represented the aftermath of man’s sin. Once Satan is removed, and the government of the Messiah reigns over all of the earth, there will be true rest and peace.
The Feast of Tabernacles was intended to be both a time of festivity and of spiritual renewal. The Israelites dwelt in temporary dwellings and decorated them in a festive manner with available vegetation (Leviticus 23:40–42). They ate and drank and celebrated in the presence of God, giving thanks to Him for His bounty. They were to assemble every day to hear God’s word read and expounded (cf. Nehemiah 8:18). As we do this in our modern setting, we focus our attention on the coming world of which we desire so deeply to be a part. We should come away from the Feast with our appetites whetted, and our minds more educated, about the wonderful world that is to come. We should be gaining more understanding about the whole way of life that in just a few short years we will be helping others to learn.
When the Feast is understood in this context, it is far more than a vacation. It is a time for giving and sharing with others (cf. Nehemiah 8:10), as well as a time for celebrating and learning. There is a new world coming, based upon values far different from those of the world in which we now live. As God’s people, we are to be preparing for that new world, and anticipating it eagerly.
Coming at the conclusion of the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles is the Holy Day that is least understood by both Jews and professing Christians alike. In the Old Testament it is called simply the “eighth day” or the day of solemn assembly. We commonly use the term Last Great Day, based upon the description given in John 7:37.
What will happen to the billions of people who have lived and died without ever having really known the truth of God? Are they doomed to eternal damnation, even though they never even had a chance for salvation? The answer to this often-pondered but much-misunderstood question is revealed in the meaning of this final Holy Day of God’s great plan.
It is in the aftermath of a thousand years of Christ’s government on this earth that “the rest of the dead”— those individuals both obscure and famous who have lived throughout mankind’s history—will be once more restored to life. The books of the Bible, the criteria by which all must be judged, will be opened to their understanding and the Book of Life will be opened so that they will have a chance to now have their names inscribed there. Only after every human being has had a chance to accept or reject God’s salvation will the final judgment of God take place to destroy the unrepentant wicked. It is in the aftermath of that time that the New Heavens and the New Earth will come into being, representing the “end of the beginning” and the very threshold of eternity!
With a deeper realization of the meaning of these festivals, our celebration of them should be enhanced. When we think about why God wants us to come before Him—so we can learn to fear Him more fully and to rejoice in His presence—this should determine our approach in celebrating these festivals. We are preparing to participate in a government that will finally solve the problems of this hurting and strife-torn world. Festival time is preparation time for Tomorrow’s World, and for whatever time stretches out between now and then. We are in preparation to be those who will be entrusted with the government of the coming age. Do we truly grasp that reality?
As we stand on the threshold of tomorrow’s world observing God’s fall festivals, we are celebrating the soon-coming time that represents the fulfillment of mankind’s age-old dreams and hopes. We are truly approaching the days of hope and glory!