Holy Days:
Feast of Tabernacles

The church of God has long taught that God's holy days reveal His unfolding plan. The process of salvation, depicted primarily in the spring festivals, culminates in the Feast of Trumpets, picturing Christ returning to earth in judgment and power as King to crush Satan's end-time attempt to subjugate the world. His elect from all ages will be resurrected, or if alive, transformed into immortal spirit beings. At that time, Christ will open salvation to all who survive, first to Israel and then to the whole world. As Revelation 20 foretells, once Satan is imprisoned and his evil influence cut off, mankind will enjoy a thousand years under the rule of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Feast of Tabernacles pictures those thousand years, the Millennium, when the whole earth will rest. In Hebrews 4, the author discusses the Sabbath as a day of rest. He uses Israel's entering the Promised Land as a type of our entry into rest, which he declares is still future, so we must "be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of [Israel's] disobedience" (Hebrews 4:11). If the week typifies the length of God's plan—with a thousand years to each day—humanity is now living on "Friday," the sixth day, as almost 6,000 years have elapsed since Adam's creation. Christians should be diligently preparing for Christ's return and His coming Sabbath rest.

1. What will life be like under Christ's rule? Isaiah 11:5-16; 29:18; 35:1-10.

Comment: Man is proud of his powerful computer systems, AI, satellites, modern scientific advances, and medical discoveries. In spite of this, he constantly fights with nature and other men. Crime, drug abuse, sexual perversions, and all sorts of evils escalate. The sick, deaf, and blind go unhealed, and the needy find no relief. Man pollutes his air, water, and soil because he does not know how to manage a civilization. With all his technological progress, man cannot get along with his neighbor.

That the earth will be "full of the knowledge of the LORD" in the Millennium means far more than "everyone will attend the right church"! God's knowledge is vast and multi-faceted. He knows how to make a civilization work—even a high-tech one! In the Millennium, humanity will finally be at peace. Nations, neighbors, and even spouses will not fight. Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, dementia, blindness, and deafness will be eradicated. Eyeglasses and braces will be found only in museums. The deserts will produce bountiful harvests. The animal kingdom will peacefully co-exist with humanity. All this will be the result of an unprecedented explosion of knowledge in how to do things right!

2. What will be the Millennial jobs of those who are glorified at Christ's return? Revelation 5:10; 20:4, 6; Isaiah 30:20-21.

Comment: As King of kings, Christ will appoint His faithful followers as kings and priests over the earth. As glorified sons and daughters of God, they will have abilities that He has today. If a person considers an action that would hurt himself or someone else, the glorified children of God will teach them to choose a better course. At that time, people "shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain" (Isaiah 11:9).

3. Over whom will the saints rule? Isaiah 11:11-16; 66:14-21; Zechariah 14:9-19.

Comment: After Jesus Christ returns, the survivors of all the nations will be gathered, and He will appoint the resurrected saints to rule over them. If the nations initially rebel against His rule, He will cut off all rain until they submit and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This judgment indicates a return to the true gospel, "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

4. How will their observance of the Feast of Tabernacles show submission to God? Zechariah 14:16-19.

Comment: During the Millennium, people will be required to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles to worship the King, Jesus Christ. The Feast will remind them of where they are in God's plan and when they must secure their salvation. The Millennium is their "day of salvation." If they fail to keep it, they will reveal their refusal to accept Christ as sovereign and cooperate with Him in His purpose.

5. What occurs at the end of the Millennium? Revelation 20:7-10.

Comment: God will release Satan for a short time at the end of the thousand years. The people, familiar with Christ and His kings and priests, will have lived in unprecedented peace, happiness, and prosperity. They will have learned and lived God's way from birth. Surely, Satan could have no influence on them!

Almost instantly, however, he will raise an army of people "as the sand of the sea" out of "the four corners of the earth"! His arguments will persuade them that they should and can destroy Christ and His throne in Jerusalem. God, however, will annihilate them all in a blinding flash of fire from heaven and cast the Devil and all the demons into the Lake of Fire, never to be heard from again!

6. What can we learn from this final rebellion? I Peter 5:8-11; Revelation 12:7-12.

Comment: The rebellion at the conclusion of the Millennium is often overlooked in the joy of considering Christ's wonderful rule. Satan's influence is so powerful he can influence millions of people to follow him seemingly overnight. Having drawn away a third of the angels from God (Revelation 12:4; Isaiah 14:12-14) and overcome Adam and Eve, he has wielded almost total control over humanity. He knows the right buttons to push, so to speak.

His present power will be greatly magnified shortly when the Great Tribulation begins. He would deceive the very elect if it were possible (Matthew 24:24). It is no wonder Peter instructs us to be sober, to be vigilant, to resist Satan in faith that Christ might establish us in the end!