Has God ever dropped something in your heart that He wants you to get, I mean REALLY get? As I was wrapping up the last few post for the He Is collection, He put the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) in my heart so strongly, that it literally chased me. I was seeing references to it everywhere, sermons preached that I was not looking for, in an episode of season 2 of The Chosen, and even had dreams about it. The instant I sat down and started reading and cross-referencing scripture, the chasing just, well, stopped. Unless I’ve looked for it, I haven’t seen any more of what appeared to be random posts, sermons, or dreams. That’s when I knew that God really was chasing me on this topic, and then the one being chased became the one chasing, and over the last few days something that I never took the time to understand has started becoming crystal clear.
I want to make a statement at this point, and it is one that is urgent in my heart. If you could feel the cry within my spirit concerning what I am about to say, you would feel how critical it is. It is something I am guilty of as I did it during my walk 20ish years ago. Do not discount anything from the five books of Moses, thinking it irrelevant or not for us since we live under the grace of Yeshua!!! I stress the word “anything”. We don’t like to read the law. It’s boring, it’s tedious, it doesn’t relate to us modernized Americans…..or does it. I promise you, it does. This new blog collection, The Tabernacle Collection, is not just going to focus on the actual Feast of Sukkot, it is going to be painted with a much broader brush and written in smaller bites. The Hebrew feasts and holy days are something that we are not often taught about. We are not taught their significance or how they relate to us and more importantly Yeshua. If you attend a church who has taught or teaches on them, I am so thankful for that. It is something that I am learning only now, and it is something that God Himself is showing me by directing me to Messianic Rabbis, Pastors, articles, and the Word itself.
When I was cross-referencing scriptures on the Feast of Sukkot, I was taken to the eight chapter of Nehemiah. [13] On the second day, the heads of fathers’ clans of all the people assembled with the Cohanim and L’vi’im before ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to study the words of the Torah. [14] They found written in the Torah that Adonai had ordered through Moshe that the people of Isra’el were to live in sukkot during the feast of the seventh month; [15] and that they were to announce and pass the word in all their cities and in Yerushalayim, “Go out to the mountains, and collect branches of olives, wild olives, myrtles, palms, and other leafy trees to make sukkot, as prescribed.” [16] So the people went out, brought them and made sukkot for themselves, each on the roof of his house, also in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the open space by the Water Gate and in the open space by the Efrayim Gate. [17] The entire community of those who had returned from the exile made sukkot and lived in the sukkot, for the people of Isra’el had not done this since the days of Yeshua* the son of Nun. So there was very great joy. [18] Also they read every day, from the first day until the last day, in the scroll of the Torah of God. They kept the feast for seven days; then on the eight day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule. Nehemiah 8:13-18
*Y’hoshua, son of Nun, is referenced in this chapter. Instead of his name being written as Y’hoshua, it is written as Yeshua. This shows the development of the Hebrew language and that the names Yeshua and Y’hoshua are synonymous. ~ The Complete Jewish Study Bible
I read this passage of scripture and paused. The I read it again, and I paused again. There was something stirring in my spirit concerning these verses, so I decided to just be still as Adonai commands, and know He is God. Yeshua, Joshua jumped out at me prompting me to write a revisitation post for “Salvation’s Choice”, yet while doing so, I let these verses soak into my spirit. Verse 17 says the people of Isra’el had not celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles (in sukkot or booths) since the time of Joshua. The festival was celebrated during the time of King Solomon, but in researching more about that, it did not appear that they lived in the booths for the week as commanded in the Torah. You may be saying, “What’s the significance?” It’s very personal for me, because I did the same thing. When I left the church in the early 2000’s and walked away from God, I went into my own version of exile, just as the Children of Israel were in Exile, and when I came back to the Lord, really 100% sold out for the Lord, I rebuilt the altar of God within my heart, Yeshua stood with me on the walls and helped me rebuild them, and He has been my own personal Ezra, reading to me from the Word and He showed me that I had not tabernacled with Him in a very long time. The things of God lay lost, and dust covered for so many years in my life, but now, as it says in verse 17, there is great joy in my heart. Joy that the things of God are restored and rebuilt within me, and that He has breathed new life into me. He is so faithful, even when I wasn’t.
This brings us to the word study portion of this post, and the word tabernacle, as well as a few words that tie to it. Are you ready? Because it’s glorious! And I don’t say that to simply build this up to make it exciting. I mean in in a literal sense of the glory of Adonai!
The giant tent that Adonai had Moses build in the wilderness after the great exodus from Egypt was called the Tabernacle. You guessed it; Moses was the first “Big Tent Revival” preacher! This was not an ordinary tent. There are three chapters in Exodus, 25-27 covering the Tabernacle and all the items that were to be associated with it. The tabernacle was meticulously and specifically designed, just as we each are meticulously and specifically designed. The word tabernacle that refers to the Tent of Meeting in Exodus, as well as the other scripture references that we will talk about in this post, in Hebrew is mishkan. It was the tent used as a central place of worship before the temple. It is a dwelling place and a habitat. In Exodus 40:34 and 38 says that after the temple was erected and everything was set up [34] Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Adonai filled the tabernacle. [38] For the cloud of Adonai was above the tabernacle during the day, and fire was in [the cloud] at night, so that all the house of Isra’el could see it throughout all their travels.
GOD WANTS TO TABERNACLE WITH US!!!
The root of the word mishkan is sakan, which means “to dwell, to abide, live among, make a home, settle in and set up a dwelling”. HOLY MOLY! I’M THE TABERNACLE! I mean, I knew I was the temple of the Holy Spirit, but this opens that up to an entirely new train of thought! Leviticus 26:11-12 says, I will put my tabernacle among you, and I will not reject you, [12] but I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people. He then repeated this in Ezekiel 37:27 saying, My home will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Adonai wants to tabernacle with us, to dwell with us, to live among us, to walk with us to be our God and us His people. He went to great lengths to give directions to Moses to create an incredible and beautiful tent of meeting or dwelling, that with the death and resurrection of Yeshua, RECREATED IN US!
Can you guess what happens when you tabernacle with Him? When His presence comes to visit you and walk with you? Another word derived from that root word sakan appears. Sh’khinah, His divine presence or more literally, Yahwah has taken up His abode! The tangible, sh’kinah glory of God becomes an extremely real thing in your life. 1 Kings:10-11 reads, When the Cohanim came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of Adonai, [11] so that, because of the cloud, the Cohanim could not stand up to perform their service; for the glory of Adonai filled the house of Adonai. The Complete Jewish Study Bible says “From the beginning, the Tabernacle (Mishkan) is seen by Isra’el as the place of both profound revelation and might, yet at the same time as the abode of intimacy between Adonai and his covenant people. The imagery of the Tabernacle filled the hearts of God’s people and throughout scripture it is stated that they longed for the Tabernacle (also called “Courts of the Lord”) wherein, as a dwelling place for both priest and Levite; they might be found in his presence and can worship him and be honored to serve him.” A place of both profound revelation and might, yet at the same time as the abode of intimacy between Adonai and his covenant people. We are that abode! He wants to dwell and tabernacle with us, each of us. It is an intimate thing, to tabernacle with the Most High. Oh, if we let Him truly, honestly dwell with us, what can, and will He show us? If you have never felt that tangible presence of God, seek to tabernacle with Him. It is the most precious thing you can experience as it is a refiner’s fire that burns away your impurities, it is the feeling of His arms wrapping around you, it is beautiful and wondrous and He wants to share that with us. Flawed, messed up beings that we are, He wants to tabernacle with us.
Mishkan has a numeric value of 410. I wish you could see the smile on my face right now as I get ready so share the other words and phrases with this value. Are you ready?
Rising, mounting up of smoke, loftiness, vaunting, ornament, splendor
All the people experienced the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the Shofar, and the mountain smoking. Exodus 20:18
An intimate or friend
And the passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled which says, “Avraham had faith in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.” He was even called God’s friend. James 2:23
To cleanse
If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing. 1 John 1:9
To carry or bear
He himself bore our sins in his body on the stake, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness – by his wounds you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
Clouds
Next, the angel of God, who was going ahead of the camp of Isr’el, moved away and went behind them; and the column of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them. Exodus 14:19 Remember, that the cloud stood at the tabernacle as well as I shared earlier from Exodus 40: 34 and 38.
Oh, how He wants to dwell with us, to tabernacle with us. Oh, how He loves us and wants to walk with us and commune with us and share great things with us. He wants to be in communion with us. He has such greatness for us, He has sh’kinah for us! It starts for us with the tabernacle, just as it did with Moses, and once the tabernacle is set up, He wants to invite us to His festival. All we have to do is accept His invitation.
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