Step 3 – The Restoration of the

Feast of Tabernacles

from the book YHWH Is Calling

Dear Christian congregations, alongside the man-made tradition of Christmas, restore the biblical way of celebrating the Lord’s coming among us (Immanuel) and the blessed life in His presence. The Feast of Tabernacles is one of the Lord’s feasts that God established as an eternal ordinance in His Word for all those grafted into His noble olive tree. It is a feast of joy and light, in which water already played a significant role during the Old Covenant, symbolizing Jesus’ future role as the source of living water that sustains life. In practice, the entire seven-day feast is a celebration of praise to Jesus. In fact, nowhere in the Bible is there a command to celebrate the birth of Jesus as a special moment, but by studying the Word, one can understand that God established the Feast of Tabernacles as an eternal time of joyful celebration related to the Lord’s presence. The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated annually as a foreshadowing of the wedding feast related to the Lord’s return (the Wedding of the Lamb) and the subsequent Millennial Kingdom, where the Savior will reign as King over the nations from Jerusalem, together with His saints.

Of course, just as with Passover, in addition to the significance related to Jesus and God’s global plan of salvation, the feast also serves as a memorial. In the same way that Passover commemorates how the blood of the Lamb, applied to the doorposts, protected the ancient Israelites during their exodus from Egypt, the Feast of Tabernacles remembers how the Israelites, freed from Egypt, dwelt in booths in God’s presence and guidance during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

The biblical cycle is also evident in the Feast of Tabernacles. The liberation of Jacob’s descendants from Egypt and their journey to the Promised Land was the first cycle in salvation history, with the experiences of the people of Israel serving as a foreshadowing of how things would unfold in God’s plan for all humanity. In our time, Egypt has come to represent nations living in an anti-Christian state of apostasy. The people of Israel to be liberated and led home now represent all followers of Jesus worldwide, many of whom, as Jesus Himself foretold, we see being persecuted and oppressed in our time (compare especially the life-threatening persecution of Christians in the Middle East with the more 'civilized' means of persecution and silencing of those who evangelize according to the Holy Word in Western countries, without the taking of life).

Was Jesus then born during the Feast of Tabernacles?

There are interpretations suggesting that Jesus was born during the first of the fall festivals, the Feast of Trumpets. I have also looked into this option a bit, considering the cyclical perspective, to see if there is a connection between the bright star that the wise men followed at the time of Jesus’ birth and the celestial sign referred to in Revelation (associated with birth), which appeared in the stars on the Sabbath following the Feast of Trumpets in 2017. Personally, I have long considered the Day of Atonement or the Feast of Tabernacles as more logical options, given the eschatological significance of the fall festivals. However, regardless of which of the biblical festivals in the month of Tishri it was, that month, based on historical records and the Word, is the most likely time of Jesus’ birth. In contrast, the date of Christmas, which stems from pagan traditions, is entirely unsuitable when considering the overall picture presented in the Holy Scriptures.

In fact, I haven’t even sought an answer from the Lord in prayer regarding the question of Jesus’ birth, because it holds no significance to the overall message of the biblical fall festivals. While the spring festivals focus on reminding us of the significance of Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross and its fulfillment as part of God’s plan of salvation during His first time on earth, the fall festivals (the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles) serve as a reminder, generation after generation, of His return to earth. This points to the wedding of the Lamb (the Feast of Tabernacles) for His bride, the congregation, and the fulfillment of His Kingship on earth (leading to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom).

As with the biblical spring festivals, all the fall festivals are closely interconnected. As mentioned earlier, the Feast of Trumpets, which precedes the Feast of Tabernacles, holds special significance in stopping people to reflect on the state of their faith, repent, and prepare themselves (as the Bride of the Lord) for the Lord’s coming.

The Feast of Trumpets begins a ten-day period of repentance and atonement, during which a person essentially decides whether they want to prepare for the Lord’s return and strive to be among those who are saved. The trumpets announce the approach of the Lord’s return and remind humanity of what that means. When the Lord returns to earth to gather His own and bring final judgment upon the ungodly (most likely on the Day of Atonement), there will be a separation: the Lord’s own, prepared as the Bride, will be redeemed for the wedding feast, while the ungodly will face their judgment.

Considering that in the original language of the Holy Word, these days of repentance are more accurately referred to as days of awe and days of testing, it is important to recognize the connection between the fall festivals and the events of Revelation. The sounding of the trumpets, the opening of the seals, and the pouring out of the bowls of wrath on the anti-Christian nations and their ungodly people in Revelation are not merely spiritual metaphors. The Feast of Trumpets reminds us of the era we live in, where the saints continue to work to spread the gospel and grow in faith (sanctification) in increasingly challenging environments, at the same time as anti-Christian lawlessness and ungodliness continue to escalate. Personally, I also believe that the period between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement represents the era described in Revelation, during which humanity will experience the birth pains, with wars, famines, and natural disasters, leading up to the Lord’s return.

One reason the Almighty established these festivals, which reflect the end-time events, as eternal feasts is so that believers would have the opportunity to prepare and face the culmination of humanity’s salvation history without fear and with endurance. The reward for perseverance is being among those, on the Day of the Lord, who through repentance and atonement, by the Lord’s redemptive work, have washed their sin-stained garments white and had their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

In practice, the task I received from the Lord to write these messages belongs to the period on earth initiated by the Feast of Trumpets. Christian congregations should truly begin teaching the significance of the fall festivals so that everyone who comes to seek the Lord in the congregations has the same opportunity to prepare for the Lord’s approaching return.

As with the Sabbath, there is no need to immediately abolish old traditions and practices. Let no one judge the congregants who continue to celebrate Christmas in honor of Jesus’ birth. Likewise, let no one judge those congregants whom the Lord has already called through His Spirit to change, as part of the restoration that belongs to this era. Remember, the Lord’s Holy Spirit is responsible for writing the Almighty’s holy will on each person’s heart according to His timing. However, the Spirit cannot do His work in congregations where the Lord’s call is not answered, and where believers are not even given the opportunity to hear the Lord’s call and return to the original practices set in the Word, as exemplified by Jesus.

Unlike with Passover, the event in God’s plan of salvation for all humanity that the Feast of Tabernacles points to has not yet been fulfilled. Even Jesus Himself gave a small hint of this when He responded to His brothers in faith who were on their way to the Feast of Tabernacles:

“Then Jesus said to them,

‘My time has not yet come,

but your time is always ready.

The world cannot hate you,

but it hates Me because I testify of it

that its works are evil. You go up to this feast.

I am not yet going up to this feast,

for My time has not yet fully come.’”

John 7:6-8 (NKJV)

It has been right, even in past centuries, for Christian congregations to sing about the anticipation of the Lord’s wedding feast. However, the misstep has been allowing someone who had no understanding of the significance of the feasts established by the Lord to remove the feast that God ordained as an eternal ordinance—a feast that serves as a reminder of the Lord’s return, the anticipated wedding feast, and the joy to be experienced in the Lord’s Kingdom—from those who follow Jesus.

Through this message, the Lord is calling Christian congregations—where the teachings of the ancient Emperor Constantine still have more or less influence—to give their members the opportunity to be among those who, before the approaching day of the Lord’s return, will have the chance to prepare in the way that the Almighty has established in His holy Word.

It is also important to note that, to prevent people from trying to guess specific days and years, the Lord has allowed some variations in the Hebrew calendars, which are based on lunar cycles, in determining the annual feast times. More important than exact dates is understanding the significance of the annual feasts established by the Lord as part of His global plan of salvation. Understanding the overall significance of the fall festivals is essential (small interpretative differences are not relevant) to grasp the meaning of this new era for each individual believer.

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Scriptures taken from the New King James Version:

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