In the month of Tishri, the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, the Fall Feasts are celebrated. On the 1st day of the month is the Day of Trumpets (Lev. 23:23). This is also when the Jewish New Year known as Rosh Hashanah is celebrated. On this day begins the blowing of trumpets, or ram horns known as Shofar, announcing to all the coming Day of Atonement. On the 10th day of the month is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:26). This is the day when the blood of the perfect sacrifice was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant for the covering of the sins of the people. This action provided a way for Israel to once again be reunited with God. On the 15th day is the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) for a period of seven days (Lev. 23:33). This is an autumn harvest celebration which involves constructing a temporary dwelling outside, a “booth”, and eating and sleeping in it for seven days. It commemorates the forty years of wandering in the wilderness for the Children of Israel, and God dwelling with them in the Tabernacle during this time. During the Israelite's forty years of wandering in the wilderness, God instructed them to build a Tabernacle and institute the sacrificial system. The shedding of blood through animal sacrifices was the means by which the sins of the people were covered. This allowed God to dwell with them, with His Shekinah Glory filling the Holy of Holies.
“On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. ‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. ‘You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ‘You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’” So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the LORD.” Lev. 23:39-44
The Spring Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits are prophetic, detailing the Messiah's death and resurrection. The Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) is also prophetic. It details the church age, lasting for 2000 years, beginning at Pentecost with the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church and ending at the rapture of the Church when the Holy Spirit is removed from the world (I Cor. 15:52, I Thess. 4:16). I also believe that both of these events occur on the actual day of the Feast of Weeks.
The Fall Feasts are also prophetic, detailing the Tribulation period, return of the Lord, and the Millennial reign of the Messiah from Jerusalem. We are living in the time of silence between the Feast of Weeks and the last group of Feasts to be fulfilled which is the Fall Feasts, beginning with the Day of Trumpets. The Feast of Booths is a type that will be fulfilled during the Tribulation, the time of "Jacob's trouble" for the Jews. Just as the Feast of Booths is observed for seven days, this equates to the seven years of the tribulation occurring. During this time, just as when God dwelt in the Tabernacle with the Children of Israel during their wandering time in the wilderness, He will once again dwell with them. Just as God used the wilderness period to teach Israel to rely on Him, once again during the Tribulation, God will use this time of trouble to teach Jewish believers to trust only in Him.
“As I live,” declares the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord God. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am the Lord.” Ez. 20:33-38
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you. I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath on you.’”
Ez. 22:17-22
The account of Jesus taking the Disciples with Him up on the Mount of Transfiguration is prophetic of the time of the Tribulation. Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah there, and Peter asks if he should erect booths for each of them. This indicates it most likely was during the Feast of Booths. During the tribulation, God will send two witnesses who will act as God’s prophets until killed by the antichrist. It is my belief that these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. I also believe that this appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration and Peter’s statement about booths being constructed is confirmation of the Feast of Booths being symbolic of the seven year tribulation period.
“...Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Mt. 1-4
It is important to realize also that Jesus was most likely actually born during the Feast of Booths celebration. John in his gospel gives a hint at this. "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt (sukkot) among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn. 1:14). John also records Jesus' statement during the Feast of Booths about living water. "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38). It was a tradition during the Feast of Booths for the priests to carry a pitcher of water each day from the pool of Siloam up to the Temple courtyard and pour it over the altar. Jesus was most likely proclaiming this to all those gathered for the ceremony as it was occurring.
During the Millennial Kingdom of Christ's reign on earth from Jerusalem, all the inhabitants of the world will observe the Feast of Booths as a commemoration of what God did during the Tribulation period for Israel. It is written that all persons will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
"Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths." Zechariah 14:16
There is an additional eighth day added on to the end of the Feast of Booths which is consecrated as a Holy Convocation (Sabbath) Day. That day symbolizes the Millennial kingdom one-thousand year reign of Jesus Messiah here on Earth, a period of rest. This eighth day Sabbath end to Feast of Booths will be discussed in the next article titled: Feasts of the Lord as prophecy: Eighth Day Sabbath (Booths).
