The Guests Are Here, and They Look Hungry

Guest post by Richard Gray. This is part of an ongoing series on the fall holy days.

The Feast of Tabernacles corresponds to the sixth and final day of the physical creation. This festival pictures a joyful time of feasting on God’s word that will have been made possible by the work that was done during the millennium. All of the preparations for this, the largest banquet in the history of the universe will have been completed during the millennium.

The banquet hall (the earth) has been refurbished. No more crime ridden, drug infested, filthy cities run by corrupt lying politicians. No more filthy entertainment, good-bye Hollywood. No more Murder Inc. (a.k.a. as Planned Parenthood). All of the filth and trash that the way of life that this world has to offer—gone forever!

The 48 Levitical cities, established during the millennium, will be centers of teaching the truth. That means this world’s corrupt, lying education system will be gone. These cities will provide righteous judgment for the people, No more corrupt judges.

There will be no more churches! The church is a corrupt hierarchical system that originated in Babylon, and was brought into “Christianity” by the Catholic Church. Today’s churches of God copied that same system, instead of the congregational system in the Bible. Their hirelings will no longer teach the people for “…they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, they are shepherds that can-not understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his [territory]” (Isa. 56:11).

The correct family structure will be brought back. There will only be two genders. What a concept! The husband (male) will be the head of the family, and the provider. The wives (female) will be homemakers.

 The Bridegroom is providing the food, and the bride and the innumerable multitude are ready to help serve it. This is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The dissidents, who did not want to help serve, have been fired. “…[A]nd fire came down from heaven, and devoured them” (Rev. 20:9). And now we are waiting for the dinner guests to arrive at the appointed time.

 “...The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles [5521, sukkot, hut, temporary dwelling] for seven days to the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein” (Leviticus 23:34, 35). The 15^th day of the seventh month is the set time that the guests are to arrive. On that day the second resurrection will occur.

“And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev. 20:11, 12).

Those in the second resurrection were never, during their lifetimes, given an opportunity at salvation. For the first time they will be taught the truth. They will be resurrected into the Kingdom of God on the earth. They shall hear no evil, they will learn to speak no evil, and they will see no evil. They will still have their human nature to overcome, but they will be given God’s Holy Spirit. “Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel….And I shall put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live…” (Ezek. 37:12,14).

 This is the third and final period of salvation, and it will be the largest number of people gathered together for a holy convocation ever. However, the churches of God now just give them a small cameo appearance on the eighth day, following Sukkot.

The books that they are going to be judged out of are God’s law, which was to be read at Sukkot.

“And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests, the sons of Levi, which bare the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it” (Deut. 31:9-13).

The Feast of Tabernacles is about feeding the flock the Word of God! “And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also, day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he [Ezra] read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days…” (Neh. 8:17, 18).

The number seven means complete and sanctified. “And on the seventh day God ended [3615, to be complete, finished, accomplished] His work which he had made…And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified [6942, set apart, made holy, consecrated] it…” (Genesis 2:2, 3).

Sukkot, beginning with the sixth annual holy day, pictures the sanctification (7) of man (6). “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). God’s Word is the food that is going to be served at the marriage supper, for “….man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live” (Deut. 8:3).

The second resurrection is like a new birth. Therefore, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). From milk they will progress to solid food. “But strong [4731, solid, firm] meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use [1838, habit] have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).

The booths were temporary dwellings made by weaving branches of various trees together. By the end of seven days most of the leaves would have dried up and fallen off. The booths would have been looking pretty shabby by the end of the festival. The booths represent our mortal bodies that are subject to decay, but through the process of spiritual growth, “…though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 cor. 4:16).

Everything that is physical is subject to decay, and is therefore temporary. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (v. 18; 5:1).

Sukkot pictures a one hundred year period. “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isa. 65:19:20).

The seventh day of Sukkot will be the final judgment. On that day the goats on Jesus left hand, “…shall go away into everlasting punishment,” but the sheep on His right hand “…into life eternal” (Matt. 25:46).

After the final judgment “…the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

God finished the physical creation on the sixth day of the week. The seventh day of Sukkot will be the end of all of the physical creation, and that day will be on the sixth day of the week.  

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conduct and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” (2 Peter 3:11-14).

A lesson to be learned from Sukkot is that we are only here for a very short time. Therefore, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col.. 3:1, 2). All of God’s festivals are about feasting on His Word, and “…being doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:25).

Sukkot teaches us that all of the things of this world are temporary, and it is all going to be destroyed, therefore we need to seek God and His ways.

That seems to be just the opposite of what the churches of God teach about Sukkot. Like a drunken sailor you are to spend thousands of dollars on food, booze, sightseeing, and entertainment of all sorts. The exchanging of gifts adds a nice touch. In other words, Sukkot is all about indulging as much as possible in all of the things of the world that you can cram into eight plus days. Kind of like having an X-mas vacation in the fall isn’t it?  The eight days of X-mas, from the 25^th of December through New Year’s Day, are a counterfeit of Sukkot.

No wonder God says, “Bring no more vain [7723, worthless, empty] oblations [4503, a gift, tribute, offering]; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them” (Isaiah 1:13, 14).

All of God’s feasts are about coming out of the world, and being separate from it—not diving headfirst into it. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abides forever” (1 Jn. 2:15-17).

What happens next?