The Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day 2020

Hello friends, I'm Chadwick, and this is Faithful Performance — a ministry dedicated to the testimony of the biblical prophets and how they perfectly correlate with the current events of today. Thank you for joining us.

In this episode, we're going to discover the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a seven-day feast that begins this year at sundown on October 2nd and concludes at sundown on October 9th. It also has an eighth day that we'll get into as well. So it is a seven-day feast with an eighth day. The Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Ingathering, the Feast of Booths, and the Feast of Tents. We'll explore the meaning of these different names as we continue.

This all begins with God's calendar. If you've been keeping up with our ministry and our recent videos on the fall feast days, it always comes back to understanding God's calendar. We'll do a quick review and bring it up to date — from the month of Elul, through Trumpets, through Yom Kippur, and now to the Feast of Tabernacles, which is the last feast mentioned in Leviticus 23.

In Genesis 1:14, God stated that His calendar is based on two great witnesses: the sun and the moon. He has a calendar that He goes by, and it is based upon the sun and the moon — and, where applicable, the stars — to understand time. That calendar is the Hebrew-Jewish calendar. We today go by the Gregorian calendar, which is based upon the sun alone. The prerequisites of His calendar are those two great witnesses in the sky.

God has two calendars. The first begins counting time from Adam in Genesis 1 — we call this the Civil Calendar. It starts on Rosh Hashanah, or the Feast of Trumpets, which falls in the September area, on Tishri 1. This civil calendar counts from the beginning of time and connects to the biblical prophets to help us understand where we are at the end of the age. The second calendar God mentions in the Holy Bible is the Exodus Calendar. In Exodus 12, He declared that Nisan 1 was the beginning of the spiritual, or biblical, calendar — the one that counted the feast days, set the Sabbaths, the new moons, and so forth.

It is important to understand both calendars. One counts time from Adam to show us where we are on God's prophetic timeline, and the other — the spiritual calendar — begins at Nisan 1, which falls in the April area. So when we read the scriptures, the seventh month refers to where we are right now, in the season of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This seventh month coincides with the Civil New Year — this year 5782, or in our calendar, 2021. Having a basic understanding of these calendars is essential as we move forward into the feast days and the biblical prophets.

In Genesis 1:14, the calendar is said to be used for "signs and seasons." The Hebrew word for seasons is *moed*, which means a divine appointment, a fixed time. God has appointed times at which Yeshua — Jesus, His Son — would intersect with the world, both on His calendar and through His feast days.

This brings us to Leviticus 23, the feast days of the Lord. Most people understand them simply as feasts, but when you read the passage and understand the Hebrew words, you get a much clearer picture of what they are. Leviticus 23:1–2 says: "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, 'Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.'" The word translated "feasts" is again *moed* — the same word used in Genesis 1:14. These are divine appointments, fixed times, appointed by the Father at which His Son would intersect with the world — at His first coming and also at His second coming. The calendar and Leviticus 23 connect together perfectly.

This is very important for both Jew and Gentile to understand. For Gentiles, we must know that we are grafted in. Ephesians 2 tells us that once you are saved through Yeshua, you are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. That takes you back to Exodus 12, where Moses spoke to the congregation of Israel — the commonwealth — and the text goes on to say that there is one Torah, one set of instructions, for both Jew and Gentile, for citizen and stranger alike. As Paul says, you were once strangers from the covenants, but now you are part of the commonwealth of Israel. We need to be worshipping according to what He commanded Israel, and not according to the Gentile ways we have inherited.

Galatians 3:25–29 says that if you are a seed of Christ, you are a seed of Abraham and an heir according to the promise. And what is the promise? The Abrahamic Covenant. Our theology must be correct on this point: I understand that we are Israel. I was born a Gentile, but we are grafted in to the commonwealth of Israel. There is no longer Jew and Gentile — we are one in the commonwealth of the God of Israel, and we are to worship in one spirit and in truth. That truth is the Holy Bible, not man-made tradition. Romans 11 is another key passage: we are grafted in to the tree of the Israel of God.

When we look at the feast days in Leviticus 23, they all work together. *Moed* is a divine appointment; the calendar and the feast days correlate perfectly. It is important for us to understand, proclaim, and celebrate these feasts, because one day the Messiah is going to fulfill these fall feast days just as He fulfilled the first four spring feast days.

Looking at Leviticus 23, we see that He was crucified on Passover. When you read the Gospel account and count the days, it aligns perfectly with Leviticus 23 and Exodus 12. He fulfilled these prophetic foreshadows to the exact day, hour, and detail of the ceremony. The Gospel writers say "on Passover" and "on Unleavened Bread," reverting the reader back to the feast days. He is the Jewish Messiah. Matthew 5 tells us He came to fulfill everything in the Torah and the Prophets — every jot, every tittle. He will fulfill both the first coming events and the second coming events on God's calendar and on God's feast days, in connection with the everlasting covenants.

He was crucified on Passover. He was buried during Unleavened Bread. He rose from the dead on First Fruits — Resurrection Sunday. Then, fifty days later, He poured out His Holy Spirit upon mankind in Acts 2, on Shavuot, or Pentecost. He fulfilled those to the exact day, hour, and detail of the ceremony. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change; there is no shadow of turning with Him. He will fulfill these three fall feast days to the exact day, hour, and detail of the ceremony as well.

We should be understanding these things — the prophetic foreshadows, the symbolism — because the next events on the prophetic calendar are the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Tabernacles. The symbolism of the three fall feast days is: repentance on Trumpets, national redemption of Israel on Yom Kippur, and then five days later — rejoicing.

If you have been following our videos, we have walked through this season together: the month of Elul, which is a 29-day period of repentance, culminates in the Feast of Trumpets. Then we have ten more days — the Days of Awe — which culminate in Yom Kippur. And then five days later we rejoice for a week, as we will get into from the commandments. It is repentance, then redemption, then rejoicing. We remember our individual salvation for Passover, but Yom Kippur is when the nation of Israel, as we discussed in the previous video, will be nationally redeemed — Revelation 19. And then we all celebrate what could be called the honeymoon. We will get into the symbolism of the Feast of Tabernacles as a honeymoon as we continue. These are the next events He is going to fulfill, after which we will be living in the Millennial Kingdom with the Messiah and the saints.

Now let's go through the commandment given in Leviticus 23:33–44: "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.'"

This feast began at sundown on October 2nd and runs to sundown October 9th, followed by the eighth day — Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah — which we will get into at the end of the video.

Notice that within the commandment itself, He specifies the dates on the Hebrew calendar — the sun and moon calendar. He says the seventh month, the fifteenth day: that is Tishri 15 through Tishri 22. He is telling us to get on His calendar. And He calls it a statute forever — and forever means forever. This will be observed in the Millennial Kingdom as well; we will get into the warning given to the nations later regarding the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles is critical to understand. We must remember that He wants to dwell with us — that is at the heart of it. The word "tabernacle" means to dwell. He has always wanted to dwell with us, just as He did in the beginning with Adam and Eve. The feast also reminds us that our bodies are temporary dwelling places. This body is mortal; we will step into immortality when we receive our glorified bodies. Part of the symbolism of the Feast of Tabernacles is the booth — the temporary dwelling. Just as Messiah said, "I go to prepare a dwelling place for you," He wants to dwell with us. He always has. As we read in Second Corinthians...