Happy Holidays!

No, it’s not time for Thanksgiving or Christmas……although they are happy holidays.  But there is another happy holiday not listed on our calendars!   In today’s busy world we work by the clock on the wall and the calendars on our desk (or whatever device we have).  But to the Ancients, time was denoted by the seasons, festivals, feasts, and Holy Days. These special days were linked to the agricultural life style, phases of the moon, stars or sun.

One of God’s earliest gifts to Israel was a Biblical calendar to celebrate His gifts and to remind Israel of the major moments of His redemption.  Israel’s whole year was shaped by these redemptive events so that every major holiday was related to God’s providence over His people. 

Jesus attended all the prescribed feasts given by God to Moses.  He was an observant Jew…….He was also sinless. Therefore, He faithfully kept every commandment God gave to His people. God gave these Biblical Feasts to teach the people about His character and His provision for them.  Since we as Gentiles have been grafted Into Israel (Romans 11:17) we too can share in that rich heritage and how these wonderful feasts apply to our Lord.

There are six Feasts listed in the 23th chapter of Leviticus.  There are both the spring feasts and the fall feasts.  Since this is October….we can focus on the last of the fall Feasts.  This is called the Feast of the Tabernacles.  It is the last festival of the High Holy Days on the Jewish calendar and the only really joyous, happy celebration of all the feasts.  During this feast the people were commanded to make little “booths” or Sukkot of branches and live in them for seven days, as a reminder of how God saved the Israelites during their desert wanderings.   Observant Jews, Messianic Jews and Gentiles do this in honor of this feast.  It’s a happy time for adults and children and everyone in the family enjoys the fun of building these little shelters. 

During the days of Jesus, there was a lighting celebration which was held in the evening of the first day of the Sukkot Feast.  The Temple was gloriously illuminated by four gigantic menorahs (the seven branched candlesticks).  Since the Temple sat on a hill, this glorious glow bathed the entire city of Jerusalem, reminding the people of how God’s glorious light once filled the Tabernacle in the desert.  It was a time of much rejoicing.  The priests and the people danced and sang and played their instruments around the Temple area.  It was a reminder of the time that God himself was in their midst and how His presence was the “light” of their lives.

On the seventh day of the Sukkot, the people celebrated a water drawing ceremony.  This ceremony was to commemorate the great gift of God’s provisions for His people. It too was a time of great merriment.  The High Priest led the people to the Pool of Siloam to draw water into a golden pitcher and then all the people paraded back into the Temple.  The worshippers watched as the priest approached the altar where two silver basins were set on a special altar.  The priest had two pitchers….one held wine and other held water from the pool.  The priest then thanked Adonai for His blessings.  He then poured the wine into one basin and the water into the other.  There was much rejoicing, dancing and singing and worshipping the Lord for His gift of life giving water and grapes for the harvest.  The wells were full and there would be water for all, even in this dry desert.

The Gospels record that Jesus not only celebrated these festivities but also took the traditional elements of the celebration and applied them to His own life and mission.  In the Gospel of John (7 and 8), He took the traditional symbols of the light and water, to explain who He is and what He offers.

Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come unto Me, and drink.  As the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water “(John 7:37-38).  What He offered to all people was the life giving water of His spirit.  It is that spiritual water that sustains us. 

Light was the other symbol that Jesus used to point to himself as the fulfillment of Scripture.  Through Isaiah, God had promised that a great light would shine. “cThe people walking in darkness have seen a great light: of those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isa. 9:1-2)

 Jesus used the lighting celebration to announce that in Him, God’s glory was once again present.  He declared:”I am the light of the world: whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12)

 We pray that the “living water” of our Lord and Messiah Jesus will quench the real thirst of the world and fill all people with the very Spirit that God offers through His Son. …..and that His Light will brighten the darkest hours of the heart and so that all may know His great love and compassion.