Messiah in Sukkot Chapter 16
- The Creator is not limited by space, matter or time
- The Eternal High Priest of the procession
- The Hallelujah
- The Feast of Sukkot and Messiah
The Creator is not limited by space, matter or time:
Remember the Almighty One is omnipresent. He can dwell (tabernacle, tent) in all His fullness in one place and in every other place at the same time. The Father of Eternity (Avi’ad) initially tented in the first Adam. However, the first Adam opened his ears to the false teaching of Satan, who is a False Teacher, whose teaching is the false-torah of death. The Creator, thereafter sent the Messiah (the New Adam) that He might reignite the light of His Life back into redeemed humanity (Adonai’s Temple).
The Eternal High Priest of the procession:
The Messiah is the sinless Lamb of Adonai who led the procession of the Holy One (i.e. Chag) away from a state of sin and separation back into a state of righteousness and intimacy with the Righteous Father. The Father who dwells in heaven has taken His Spirit that resides in the Messiah our Redeemer (our “Kinsman Redeemer,” HaGo’el) and “poured” His Holy Spirit out upon and in all who put their faith in His Beloved Son. The Father of Mercies has done this so that all the world might once again be filled with access to His Life and Light!
The Hallelujah:
Immediately after the pouring of water, in Temple times, the Hallel was sung antiphonally with the accompaniment of the flute (a wind instrument; think of the Breath of Life).
Give Praise #1. As the Levites sang the first line of each Psalm, the people responded by repeating the first line. Each of the other lines the people responded to with “Hallelujah” (Praise Adonai!).
Give Praise #2. In Psalm 118, the people not only repeated the first line, “O give thanks to Adonai,” but also these: “O then, work now salvation, Adonai;” “O Adonai, send now prosperity;” and at the close of the Psalm, “O give thanks to Adonai.”
As the assembled repeated these lines, they shook towards the altar the Lulav which they held in their hands (as symbols of their reason for praising Adonai and as reminders to Adonai of His promises. At this critical moment the offering was made of the special sacrifices that had been prepared for each day, including the drink-offerings and the reading of the Psalm that had been designated for each day (there was always wind instrumental accompaniment to the Psalms and at the end of reading the three sections of each Psalm the priests blew a threefold blast, while the people bowed down in worship. These services closed with a procession “around” the Altar (representing encircling the whole earth; i.e. universal redemption) by the priests, who repeatedly petitioned, “Work salvation now, O Adonai! O Adonai, send now prosperity.”
Last Great Day of the Feast #1. At the closing of the special sacrifices, on the last Great Day of the Feast, the Priests made the circuit around the altar, not once but seven times.
Last Great Day of the Feast #2. In making the circuit around the altar seven times the priests were engaging in prophetic role play. Symbolically the priests were encircling the entire Gentile World in prayer and faith (i.e. Judaism is supposed to be an intercessory-missionary outreach of Adonai (through Israel) to all of the Gentile nations and peoples of the world!).
Last Great Day of the Feast #3. This manner of worship reminds us that Sukkot is an International Festival. The Jewish faith is a missionary faith (the faith of fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Aaron, Moses, David). We are not isolationists. The Temple courts reserved a special court for the Gentiles as an evangelistic outreach to them. Israel is called to be a nation of kings and priests (servant leaders) to the whole world.
Last Great Day of the Feast #4. This is why the Savior of the World (Moshia HaOlam) sent His Jewish emissaries (shlichim) out into the world to make disciples of all of the nations. This outreach to all of the nations is very much a central part of the evangelistic nature of the Festival of Sukkot.
Last Great Day of the Feast #5. Adonai has promised that through the people of Israel (His children) He would tear down the walls of the world that divide Jew and Gentile. He will one day make of us all one nation and one people, who are united as one faith. It is the responsibility of the Jewish people to become an effective nation of Servant Leader-Evangelists and in so doing establish permanent Messianic rule upon the entire earth (cf. in the Brit Chadashah, Hitgallut, the Unveiling, Revelation 7:1-8). The last day of the Feast of Booths celebrates this belief. Therefore, the last day has been called the “Great Hosannah!” (literally, the Great ‘Save Now!’)
Last Great Day of the Feast #6. When the people departed from the Temple each day, they made certain they paid homage to the Holy One with words of thanks for His redemptive work that was symbolized through the ritual that had occurred at the Altar. On the Last Great Day of the Feast, however, the people shook off the leaves on the willow-branches around the altar and beat their palm-branches to pieces.
Last Great Day of the Feast #7. On that same afternoon the “temporary shelters” (booths) were taken down and the Feast of Sukkot was ended, then it was time to move into the permanent shelters.
The Feast of Sukkot and Messiah:
וַיְהִי בַּיּוֹם הָאַחֲרוֹן הַגָּדוֹל בֶּחַג וַיַּעֲמֹד יֵשׁוּעַ וַיִּקְרָא לֵאמֹר אִישׁ כִּי יִצְמָא יָבֹא־נָא אֵלַי וְיִשְׁתֶּה׃ הַמַּאֲמִין בִּי כִּדְבַר הַכָּתוּב מִבִּטְנוֹ יִנְהֲרוּ נַהֲרֵי מַיִם חַיִּים׃ וְזֹאת אָמַר עַל־הָרוּחַ אֲשֶׁר יִקָּחֻהוּ הַמַּאֲמִינִים בּוֹ כִּי לֹא־נִתַּן רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ בְּטֶרֶם נִתְפָּאֵר יֵשׁוּעַ׃
On the last day, great day of the festival, the Salvation of Adonai (יֵשׁוּעַ-Yeshua the Messiah) stood and called out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. One who believes in Me, as the Word is written,’From his ‘belly (innermost being) will flow rivers of living water.’” He said this about the Ruach (Spirit), that those who believe in Him would receive, because the Ruach HaKodesh was not given before Yeshua was glorified. [i.e. died, was resurrected, appeared to many, and triumphantly ascended up into the highest heaven, to be seated at the right hand of the Father.]
וְרַבִּים מֵהֲמוֹן הָעָם כְּשָׁמְעָם אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אָמְרוּ אָכֵן זֶה הוּא הַנָּבִיא׃ וְיֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ זֶה הוּא הַמָּשִׁיחַ וַאֲחֵרִים אָמְרוּ הֲמִן־הַגָּלִיל יָבֹא הַמָּשִׁיחַ׃ הֲלֹא הַכָּתוּב אֹמֵר כִּי מִזֶּרַע דָּוִד וּמִכְּפַר בֵּית־לֶחֶם מְקוֹם דָּוִד יֵצֵא הַמָּשִׁיחַ׃
When many from the crowd of people heard this word, they said, “Surely He is the Prophet” (the Moshe to come). Some of them said, “He is the Messiah!” Others said, “Will the Messiah come from the Galil? Does not the Scripture say that the Messiah will emerge from the offspring of David and the village of Beit-Lechem, the place of David?”