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| The festival of Sukkot (pronounced “Su-coat”,
meaning Tabernacles, or Booths) is an 8-day harvest festival, and the culmination of all the feasts on God's redemptive calendar
(Ex. 23:16, Lev. 23:34-43, Deut. 16:13-15). Seven days of joyous celebration are followed by a solemn assembly on the 8th day. Because of its place in the biblical calendar, by the time of Solomon this festival had become the most important feast, called “the Feast” in 1 Kings 8:2, 65. |
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| The Water Pouring Ceremony There are many festive celebrations in the contemporary Sukkot service, but when the Temple stood there were unusual ceremonies that today are no longer conducted. One was the ‘water pouring ceremony’, where each day a priest proceeded from the Temple down to the pool of Siloam carrying a golden pitcher. He was followed by ‘lulav-waving’ pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot according to Deuteronomy 16:16. (A lulav is a combination of palm, myrtle, willow branches, and an ‘etrog’, which is like a large lemon). The priest would fill the golden pitcher with water from the pool and return to the Temple, followed by crowds chanting, “we will gather water from the wells of salvation” and “Hoshiaynu” (Hosanna-“save us now”, from Is. 12:3, and Ps. 118: 22-24). The priest would then circle the altar in the Temple once pouring out the water, praying for the water of life, even the Spirit of God, to be poured out upon the people. He would do this each of the first six days of the feast, but on the 7th day Hoshanna Rabbah, (The Great Hosanna), the last day of the celebrations, the priest would circle the altar seven times. |
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With each circuit the crowds would grow louder and louder in their cry for the provision and salvation of God (Sukkah 34a, 54b, 48b, 51a; Rosh Hashana 16a). One reason for this ceremony might be seen in the need for God to provide water for the next growing season. But the issue is much more profound. Regarding this harvest festival, Zechariah provides vital information on how the first century worshipper would look at Sukkot: | ||
I'm not sure of all that we'll be doing when we receive the answer to the prayer “Thy kingdom come”, but I know one thing that everyone will be doing: celebrating Sukkot! When the King reigns in His millennial kingdom upon His glorious throne in Jerusalem, we will all be celebrating the Feast of Booths! Therefore to the first century Jewish worshiper, Sukkot became identified with the King and the Kingdom. Along with this idea came one of the most longed for aspects of the Kingdom as found in the Hebrew Prophets:
This is the very truth that the New Covenant declares has happened in Messiah (see Acts 2:17,18,33, 10:45, Romans 5:5).
Perhaps you can picture it: the priest has finished his 7th circuit around the Temple altar, as he is pouring out the water, praying for God's provision, thousands of people are crying for the salvation of God. Suddenly Yeshua proclaims loudly above the din of the people, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…!” Are you feeling spiritually dry? Come to Yeshua the Messiah, and be satisfied by His grace and love. Maybe you came to Him many years ago, but today you feel dried out. In the text the word “come” is in the present tense, thus we are to come to Him, and to keep coming to Him. The circumstances we go through, whether they be relationship, health or financial problems, are more than enough to dry us out spiritually and leave us feeling like a desert. We are to come to Him, trusting and relying upon Him for the grace that He alone can provide, sufficient for all our ‘wilderness experiences’. Did you notice that Messiah promised that those that come to Him that “out of his innermost being will flow rivers (literally, “torrents”) of living waters.” Where I live we just had a good rain, but we've been in drought so long that after the rain stopped there weren't any puddles. Why? There wasn't enough rain to saturate the ground, much less produce any excess or overflow. The text promises that there will not only be enough of Messiah's all sufficient grace for your life, but that there will be an overflow, indeed torrents of living water, to you and through you into the lives of those around you! In fact, you're probably in those tough situations now just so the Lord can use you to ‘water a few dry lawns’ in your community, family school or work place. We are all going through our share of afflictions, but believers in Yeshua are to ‘come to Him’, finding sufficient grace for our lives, and overflow into the lives around us as we share Him with others. You may believe in Yeshua, but does the King reign in your heart? Are you coming to Him?
Just how does this ‘overflow’ work? As in John 7:39, “But this He spoke of
the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Initially, this speaks of Yeshua's ascension to the right hand of the
Father, and the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost (Acts 2). But in our personal lives, when Yeshua is glorified,
the Spirit is given! Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) does not produce fruit without our working on the root, through faith and dependence upon the Lord and His word. When we acknowledge Him in all our ways He will make our paths straight
(Prov. 3:6). In your situations and sufferings, look to Yeshua as you run the race that is set before you; trusting in Him, and He will bring it to pass! Sukkot reminds us that when the King reigns on the throne, God’s provision is there for His people. When Yeshua is glorified, the Spirit is
poured out! Y |
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