Sukkot | You Have an Appointment with God… Will You Accept?
As we come to our final Fall Feast, there is much to take in and consider. We experienced revelation, correction, and direction during Rosh Hashanah.
During Yom Kippur, the Holy Spirit guided you into renewed repentance. You understood that there are things in your past and in your bloodline—habits, patterns, behaviors—that aren’t in alignment with God’s assignment for you this coming year. These thoughts and habits that held you back last year are washed away and buried.
Now you are preparing for Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles.
- Will you meet with the Lord at a moed?
- Will you pick up the cup that He is offering you?
- Will you persevere as you abide in His presence?
The Future and the Fall Feasts
The first Sukkot was in remembrance of God’s provision and protection after the Israelites left Egypt. The booths built by the Jewish people were 3-sided, having an opening on top that was covered with leaves and sticks.
“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.”—Leviticus 23:42-43
The opening on the side left those who were inside vulnerable to the elements, and through the roof, you could see the stars, moon, and sky.
Today, we can make booths and look through the tops to the heavens and declare, “You, O Lord, are my protection and provision for every word I have received during your appointed times of the Fall Feasts.”
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”—James 1:17
Renewing Your Covenant
Sukkot is an appointed time to meet with the Lord in powerful ways and abide in His presence. In fact, Zechariah says that it shall come to pass that year after year, we will meet with Him in His city to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
If you have thought that the Fall Feasts don’t pertain to Believers today nor in the future, Zechariah’s words say something different…
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.
“If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”—Zechariah 14:16-18
To have a fear of the Lord means that you honor and revere Him, His power, and His authority. The next step of faith is to seek and dwell in His presence.
How?
God Is Calling You to His Table to Renew Your Marriage Covenant
If the Church is the Bride of Christ, and the bridegroom is Christ Himself, then we must look at our relationship with Him and the renewal of our spirit through the marriage covenant.
In Jewish culture, a newly wedded couple stands under a covering, or canopy, called a chuppah. It’s symbolic of abiding together and building a new home. The chuppah is a kind of booth or tabernacle.
When you enter a covenant relationship with the Lord, He asks you to meet Him there, under the chuppah. He has a seat prepared for you at His table. In Zechariah, the Lord asks us to meet with Him for a powerful divine exchange to renew our covenant.
As you see in verse 18, the Lord tells us what happens when we don’t enter into His presence… “They shall have no rain and receive a plague.”
Now, this is not to provoke earthly fear but rather reverence and understanding for the authority and sovereignty of the Lord. When we meet Him where He says we are blessed, when we don’t, we place ourselves outside of His protective refuge.
The Acceptance of the Covenant
Continuing our journey through the Jewish roots of our faith, we see even deeper revelation regarding the marriage covenant.
In Jewish culture, when a young man wants to marry a young woman, he creates a written contract that contains everything he can and will bring to the marriage. He presents this contract to her father. The father examines both the contract and the young man.
Then the father makes a choice. If he deems the contract sufficient, the father presents a kiddush cup to the bride. The bride’s father cannot decide for her. It is up to her to accept what is already acceptable to her father.
If she drinks from the cup, it’s a sign of acceptance. If she does not, she rejects the contract and the groom.
You see, this brings depth to communion and Jesus’ instruction to “drink from this cup.”
“Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.’”—Mark 14:23-24
He is inviting you to take the cup now. The Lord will not force you to meet with Him during this moed; it is up to you. You have an invitation to sit at His table, to take part in all He wants to give you, and to move into your year of promotion.
Will you accept the invitation?
There are seven days of Sukkot. The Lord is asking you to meet Him under His chuppah for seven days and join Him in a renewed covenant because what He wants to impart to you is acceptable to the Father.
Let these words of your Savior and Bridegroom sink in…
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”—John 10:10
Don’t let the enemy steal the blessing of this divine appointment from you. Persevere until what the Lord has spoken to you during this appointed time comes to pass. There is an abundance on the other side!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”—Matthew 7:7-8