Sukkot is the Hebrew name for the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34-43). This is perhaps my favorite biblical festival of all … though all of them have different focuses so it’s hard to compare them! Sukkot often involves leaving your house, your comfort zone, and dwelling in a temporary shelter for seven days. It’s a bit of an adventure! In Israel, when the Temple was standing, all men (their families could come, too) were required to journey to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot there. Imagine meeting the Lord at the Temple! This was the culminating festival, the final ingathering of the harvest, and the peak of the year. It’s a foreshadowing of the time when all God’s people, His bride, will at last be reunited with Him. When we celebrate it today, it gives us a taste of dwelling in His Kingdom, making us thirst to be with our Husband.
How romantic is this? Jeremiah 2:2 - “Thus said Yahweh, ‘I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your bride hood, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.” And Hosea 2:14 and 19-20 - “Therefore, see, I am alluring her, and shall lead her into the wilderness, and shall speak to her heart …. And I shall take you as a bride unto Me forever, and take you as a bride unto Me in righteousness, and in justice, and kindness and compassion. And I shall take you as a bride unto Me in trustworthiness, and you shall know Yahweh.”
Our love story is with God. I see it as the basis of all the love stories that have been told throughout the millennia. That’s why we find so much satisfaction in the happily-ever-after ending, when the hero and heroine have at last been united - it reflects and reaffirms our longing for our Hero! Sukkot, too, reflects and reaffirms the coming reality.
Revelation 21:3 - “See, the Booth of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.”
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