By Neil Earle
“No matter how many promises God has made they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Jesus came to fulfill the Law, to bring it to its maximum effect (Matthew 5:17-18). He was Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8), greater than the Temple (verse 26). These claims got him in trouble with people who had their minds made up about how and where God was working. “Christ our Passover” fulfilled the spring feast by dying on the cross. What about the Fall Festival of Tabernacles (FOT) or Succoth (Booths)? Here is the briefest overview:
| Leviticus 22:42-43 – FOT instituted to depict Israel wandering in the Wilderness. “Booths” and hazardous journeying. | Isaiah 4:4-6 – Jesus our tabernacle shelters on our Journey. We are “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and He tabernacles in us (John 14:23-24 and John 1:14). |
| Deuteronomy 16:13-15 – A change – FOT now an Agricultural Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 34:22). | 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 says we are the Temple or Tabernacle of the Living God – can there be a greater fulfillment? |
| Deuteronomy 31:10-12 – Every seventh year the Law was read. | Jesus fulfills the Law inside his people by giving us His righteousness (Philippians 3:9 and Romans 3:21-23 – apart from Law). |
| Amos 9:11 – An interpretative key – prophecies for Israel now transferred to Christ, says Acts 15:16-19, thus… | Luke 10:2 – The Ingathering of people is Christ’s major harvest going on right now and climaxes at His return, not in the Millennium (Matthew 13:39). |
| …Zechariah 14:8 – Living waters from Jerusalem. | John 7:37-42 – Jesus offered this at FOT in Jerusalem – many convinced, not all (see Zechariah 14:2). |
| Zechariah 14:9 – One Lord, one King. | Ephesians 4:5-6 – Who is the King the Magi were seeking? |
| Zechariah 14:16 – Gentile remnants worship in physical Jerusalem. | Mark 7:26 and John 12:20 show Gentiles converts seeking Jesus and later coming to Jerusalem (Acts 2:11 and 8:27). |
Hebrews 12:22-24 points to an even larger “ingathering” fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem also happening right now. Says Tony Warren: “These feasts can only be kept as everlasting ordinances if they are kept in Christ.”