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      The feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles is only a few months away. Are you preparing for the most wonderful feast ever? Have you planned out your finances properly? You know, if you only put away $20 a week that will add up to more than $1,000 saved in a single year.

      Do you have a plan of action for Sukkot or simply plan on winging it and trying to have the most fun? How about making a goal to help and serve the maximum number of brethren this year? How about planning on taking a widow to lunch, or watching the children of a couple to give them an afternoon off together? What about planning to give little Scripture cards to people that have feast quotes? There are numerous ways that you can make this the best feast ever, but it has to start with the premise of trying to give more than receiving (Acts 20:35).

      You can also help the leadership with the many responsibilities that there are at Sukkot, and try to have a most joyful and positive attitude even if things don’t always go the way you would have wanted it to. Sukkot is a great opportunity to draw closer to Yahweh and receive His blessing over our life.

      However, in our modern day and age here in the Roman year 2018, the true purpose of the Feast of Sukkot seems to have been greatly lost among feast keepers of our time. Many people look at the feast as simply a big vacation to go and have a great time overindulging in food and drink and entertainment.

Others will self-righteously think that only if one lives in a tent and roughs it at feast time are they being spiritually minded. And yet most people miss the greatest and most important aspect of Yahweh’s Holy Days each and every year.

Deut 16:16-17 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose (Jerusalem): In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before YAHWEH empty, but each with his gift of his hand, according to the blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim, which He has given you.

Lev 23:34 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be a Feast of Booths, seven days to YAHWEH.

Lev 23:35 On the first day shall be a holy gathering; you shall do no laborious work.

Lev 23:36 Seven days you shall bring a fire offering to YAHWEH; on the eighth day you shall have a holy gathering; and you shall bring the fire offering to YAHWEH; it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work of service.

First of all, it is important to set the premise that the Holy days were meant to be kept in Jerusalem, in the very Promised Land of Israel. As the first instructions in Leviticus 23 about how to keep the Holy Days, it is starting with the following phrase:

Lev 23:10 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, When you come in to the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have brought in the Omer, of the beginning of your harvest, to the priest,…

The Holy Days were given as Israel was leaving their slavery in Egypt, and except for the first Passover, none of the Holy Days were even kept in the wilderness, as the entire Holy Day cycle was established around the agricultural system in the very land of Israel.

So, when we are looking at the purpose of Yahweh’s feast days today, where most are keeping them in Diaspora, we must realize that this was never the intention of the feast days. Yahweh promised Israel that He would be their Elohim, and they would be His people, and He personally would rule over them in His set apart city of Jerusalem.

The Israelites were given instruction from the Torah on every aspect of their lives, including how to live, grow food, treat each other, and how to worship Elohim correctly. If Israel, as a nation, was obedient then Yahweh would bless them with rain in due season. Remember, the growing season in Israel is from November-December until about March-April. There is no rain at all from around April to about October, so if Israel was disobedient they would not have any crops and fruits and no food.

The feast of Sukkot is also called in Scripture the Feast of Ingathering as it was the time that Israel would gather in all their harvest fruits and bring the wheat, dates, barley, grapes, olives, figs, and pomegranates. Wheat is what bread is made out of and was the staple food for life. Olive oil was for healing and also food, and represents the Holy Spirit, and wine is for gladness, and shows Yahweh’s blessing on His chosen people.

And if they were obedient and had rain in due season, the early and the latter rain, then they would be bringing the fullness of their harvest, and tithes, and firstfruits, and offerings, up to Yahweh at Jerusalem where He dwells and would receive the blessing of obedience from obeying His Torah.

This is the world and surroundings that precipitated the system of Israel coming up to Jerusalem to appear before Yahweh three times in the year at the annual Holy Days of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. And today, we need to get back to the original intent of the Holy Days of obedience and appearing before Yahweh in Jerusalem to receive an otherwise lost blessing. In the end time Yahweh is still reigning in Mount Zion, in Jerusalem.

Joel 2:32 For it shall be, all who shall call on the name of YAHWEH shall be saved. For salvation shall be in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, as YAHWEH has said, and among the survivors whom YAHWEH shall call.

And Yahweh is once again blessing His people to be able to come up to Jerusalem at feast time and appear before Him for the blessing of trying our best to be obedient to Him. No longer is it a command to come up to Jerusalem, as it is actually a punishment of Diaspora that makes it impossible for most people to attend the feast there.

But, it should grieve the true believer not to be able to appear before Yahweh in Jerusalem at feast time as Yahweh had intended it to be.

Psa 137:1 There by the rivers of Babylon we sat down; also we wept when we remembered Zion.

Psa 137:2 We hung our lyres on the willows in its midst.

Psa 137:3 For there our captors asked us the words of a song; yea, our plunderers asked joy, saying, Sing to us a song of Zion.

Psa 137:4 How shall we sing the song of YAHWEH on a foreign soil?

Psa 137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget;

Psa 137:6 let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem above the head of my joy.

It should also be the desire of every true believer to want to be in Jerusalem at feast time with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, knowing that it also represents Yahshua’s return and His sovereign rule from Jerusalem at feast time.

Zec 14:9 And YAHWEH shall be King over all the earth. In that day YAHWEH shall be united (echad), and His name united (echad).

Zec 14:11 And they shall live in it. And there shall not again be a shutting in, but Jerusalem shall dwell safely.

Zec 14:16 And it shall be, everyone who is left from all the nations which came up against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, YAHWEH of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of The Sukkot.

Zec 14:17 And it shall be, whoever will not go up from the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, YAHWEH of Hosts, there shall even be no rain on them.

Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up, nor come in, then the rain shall not be on them, but the plague with which YAHWEH shall strike the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of the Sukkot.

Zec 14:19 This shall be Egypt’s offense, and the offense of all nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Sukkot.

As I mentioned, it is no longer a commandment to come up to Jerusalem at feast time, but a punishment of Diaspora. In all the heartache of Judah going into the Babylonian captivity, there was no greater sorrow than the fact that they would no longer be able to appear before Yahweh in Jerusalem at feast time. It was crushing to them, as remember, during the days of the temple Yahweh literally dwelt in His sanctuary over the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

There was a comfort and joy beyond measure to come up to Jerusalem, to the only place on earth that Yahweh physically dwelt and to appear in His set apart Holy city. Now, in these last days, as a prelude to Yahshua’s soon coming reign, Yahweh has once again opened the door according to prophecy for His Holy flock to appear before Him in Jerusalem at feast time with joy and thanksgiving.

Eze 36:38 Like a holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so the wasted cities shall be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am YAHWEH.

Psa 122:3 Jerusalem is built like a city that is joined to itself, together.

Psa 122:4 There the tribes go up, the tribes of Yah; to the testimony of Israel; to give thanks to the name of YAHWEH.

Psa 122:5 For the thrones of judgment were established there, the thrones of the house of David.

I know this joy of spending Sukkot in Jerusalem is not for everyone now, as our Diaspora still has not ended, but it is for a select few that Yahweh personally picks each year to fulfill His restoration prophecy about the feast days being kept in Jerusalem once again. Life is a test and Yahweh wants to see our desire for His Kingdom now, before He will allow us to be part of the Messiah’s 1,000 year Millennial reign.

So, let us pray, THIS YEAR IN JERUSALEM! I will guarantee you that you will never read the Bible the same again!