Sukkot - The Ingathering - Look Up As Our Redemption Is Near

2023.10.01.Sermon Notes_Feast of Tabernacles – Sukkot, the Ingathering

William Akehurst, HSWC

Scriptures: Luke 21:25-28, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, Acts 3:19-21, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Zechariah 14:1-21

SUKKOT - THE INGATHERING - LOOK UP AS OUR REDEMPTION IS NEAR

Sukkot – The Feast of Tabernacles

BIG IDEA: The FEASTS of the LORD all celebrate the seasons of JESUS. From Passover to First Fruits, to Pentecost, and then The Day of Repentance - Rosh Hashanah, the Days of Awe - Return and the Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur, to “the ingathering” of Sukkot. Each one represents our spiritual need and destiny to those in which they are fulfilled.

Sukkot, The Feast of Tabernacles, the Season of our Joy, and the Ingathering is a time of celebration of things past, and things to come. These temporary gathering places, called Sukkahs are constructed outdoors and open to the sky, give symbolic meaning to the words, “Look up, for your redemption draws near,” and “caught up together…to meet the LORD in the air.”

Luke 21:25-28 (NKJV)

25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NKJV)

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Note: Friday night 9/29 is the Harvest Moon. A Full moon that will brighten the evening as if daylight.

(See Zechariah 14:7)

Friday morning, I received a call from a Jewish friend in Florida, who asked me if I had built my Sukkah yet. He built his at Shul (synagogue) where those with Condos can complete this Jewish Ritual.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, families create an outdoor living space where they will eat their meals and rest, spending as much time as possible in this “booth” or open sky tent. As I look to the open sky, I am reminded to “Look up, for your redemption draws near.”

SUKKOT: The Feast of Tabernacles is also called ‘the season of our joy’ (a time of harvest) the ‘Feast of Ingathering’ (Exodus 23:16), the ‘Feast of THE LORD’ (Leviticus 23:39) or simply ‘the Feast’ (1 Kings 8:2). All these names add to its significance.

This feast is known as the season of our joy or the feast of ingathering. The “Joy” was from the abundance of the ingathering at the end of the harvest season: Sukkot or Tabernacles is the time when the produce or “Fruits” of the fields, orchards and vineyards are gathered in. The storehouse, the granaries, the threshing floors and presses are full to capacity. The time of labor has finally brought its reward. The farmer feels full of happiness, thus ‘the season of joy’.

This Feast really anticipates the time of GOD’s harvest. The time when the “remnant” of Israel is reconciled and gathered to Him – the harvest of souls – therefore, ‘the Feast of THE LORD’.

After having come through these Fall Feasts, I can understand why so many who are still seeking the first coming of the Messiah are expecting the MESSIAH to come during or shortly after these Fall Feasts.

Rosh Hashanah begins the Day of Repentance with 2 high priests looking up into the sky for the first instance of the sliver of the new moon to shine. Once the two witness that instance, the Trumpet Sounds to usher in the evening of Rosh Hashanah. The days that follow are called the Days of Awe and are a week-long time of repentance, or as stated by the Hebrew word Teshuva, to Return back to the LORD GOD. This all culminates on the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, when the sacrifices were made in the Temple. Following Yom Kippur, at the Full Moon, the final celebration begins, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of the Ingathering, and with it, the “season of our joy” brings it all together.

As Believers in JESUS, we can understand, that we come to GOD realizing the Awesomeness of who HE is, and that we lack and fall short of HIS Glory and need salvation, or atonement for our sins.