The Feast of Tabernacles: The Kingdom
Feast of Tabernacles Series: Part 26
While the Feast of Tabernacles points back to Israel’s desert wanderings, we’ve noticed a couple of ways it also points forward.
In the episode about the temporary booths, we learned that, though our lives on this earth are limited, God wants us saved, one by one, for eternity. When we considered the harvest season in which the feast occurs, we discovered God wants to include people from all the nations of the earth when He celebrates His final’s ingathering of souls.
There’s yet another way the Feast of Tabernacles draws our eyes to the future. What will this diverse group of people be doing at the end of the age? Zechariah prophesies they’ll be attending one very important Feast of Tabernacles. But why?
“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.” (Zechariah 14:16 NKJV).
To Worship the King
They’ll be called together to “worship the King.” Not their own king—the ruler of their nation or tribe—but a very particular leader called “the Lord of hosts.”
Other scriptures mark Him as a legitimate heir of King David who will take up His crown and reign forever. “Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. . . . Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever” (Isaiah 9:6–7 NKJV).
The people of Israel had long understood the connection between the Feast of Tabernacles and the entrance of this Son of David to His kingdom. As soon as the people Jesus met began recognizing Him as the promised Son of David, He had to revert to teaching in parables “because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately” (Luke 19:11). Even the apostles thought He was about to mount His throne and take up His crown when they saw Him again after His resurrection. “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:9).
False messiahs had often taken advantage of this long-held belief. They tried again and again to force the prophecy into fulfillment before its time. The Jewish leaders were well-practiced in discounting such claims. No wonder they got riled up when the apostles refused to stop calling Jesus the Messiah after His death.
Gamaliel, one of Israel’s greatest teachers, was hard put to calm his fellow leaders. He recommended waiting to see what kind of staying power the apostles’ message proved to have. All this fuss might just peter out on its own. It had, he reminded them, happened before. (Acts 5:36–39 KNJV).
Waving the Lulav and Aethrogs
It was because of the feast’s connection to welcoming royalty that one particular ritual developed over time. Celebrants tie together some of the willow, myrtle, fruit, and palm branches used for building booths, creating handheld bundles called lulavs and aethrogs. Facing each of the four compass points one by one, they shake these leafy pompoms, honoring and welcoming the King to His kingdom.
Parading and shouting ever louder, their Hosannas quote one of the traditional Psalms of the Feast of Tabernacles. “Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord” (Psalm 118:25–26 NKJV).
In Jesus’ day, there was a tradition saying Messiah wouldn’t come until the dead were raised.1 People were still talking about Lazarus returning to life when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey (John 11:1–45). You can understand the Pharisees’ consternation when the palm-flourishing crowd called Him the Son of David and shouted the Hosannas of the Feast of Tabernacles (Mathew 21:9).
The nervous leaders worried “the whole world” was going after Him (John 12:19). They could not have people from every nation, tribe, and tongue hailing Him as King—especially, in the city of Jerusalem. That was too close to fulfilling prophecy. It didn’t matter this was all taking place during Passover. The Tabernacles-like reaction of the crowd could not be ignored.
The Feast Today and Tomorrow
Prophecy is often fulfilled in part before it appears in full (1 Corinthians 15:46).
The born-again experience, for example, is like a mini-Feast of Tabernacles. We accept Jesus as rightful King in our hearts and our spiritual knees bend in worship. We welcome the Son of David who came from God to save us. Whether we repeat the exact words of Psalm 118 or not, our souls have declared a great Hosanna as we crown Jesus Lord of the kingdom of our hearts (Luke 17:21).
All these are but types, shadows, practice for the Feast of Tabernacles Zechariah saw. When the King of kings returns, Jerusalem will be filled waste deep with the leaves shaken from rattling lulavs. People from every nation break out in Hosannas loud enough to break the world’s decibel meters. Truly, this will be a festival of great joy.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. . . . He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:9–10).