3rdCompass.org: Sukkot/Tabernacles 2023 Day 1 - What do harvest festivals have to do with Christ?

3rd Compass -> Group News and Articles -> Sukkot/Tabernacles 2023 Day 1 - What do harvest festivals have to do with Christ?

Sukkot/Tabernacles 2023 Day 1 - What do harvest festivals have to do with Christ?

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Minister Ty Alexander
(Ty)

10/1/2023

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Why should you attend as a Christian or Jew?
Instead of asking that, you should wonder,

Why do ALL the major Jewish holidays link to the life and ministry of Christ?

You will learn:

What do Old Testament harvest festivals have to do with Christ?

What's so important about Sukkot?

Transcript

10/1/2023

Good day, wherever you are, in the name of the Lord. I’m Ty Alexander Huynh, Elder Minister and Teacher of Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus) and Elder Priest of Yahovah ( יהוה ) El Elyon, God Most High. Welcome to the service for the first day of Sukkot [“soo-koth”]/Tabernacles. You are free to ask questions with the YouTube chat features, but please wait until after the service. I will wait to respond at that time.

Some of you may wonder why I do Christian services for holidays that most consider to be only for Judaism, but I want to remind you that the church has largely forgotten the Hebrew heritage she was adopted into with Christ. This was a product of The Beast that I talked about at the beginning of the High Holidays.

You should also know that the disciples of Christ observed Jewish holidays and sabbaths in the New Testament. So remember, there is no longer Jew or Gentile under Christ; we are meant to be baptized into one body, made to drink of one Spirit as One People of God (1 Corinthians 12:13); “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man, nor male or female; for we are all one in Mashiach Yeshua. And if you belong to Him, then you are Abraham’s/Avraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise,” (Galatians 3:28-29) just as the Jews remain heirs of promise.

And another good reason to acknowledge and come back to our ancient Hebrew roots is that God linked ALL the major Jewish holidays to the life and ministry of Christ. God did not do that for His own pleasure, so consider why that is, especially the Jewish brethren among you who are afraid to leave Judaism, and those traditional Christians here, who have shunned all things Jewish.

Furthermore, Sukkot is one of three holidays that are more important to God. He mandated national attendance for them.

“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread [Pesach/Passover]; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Aviv, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. Also, you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the land, [which is Shavuot/Pentecost]; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field, [which is Sukkot/Tabernacles]. Three times a year, all of you shall appear before the Lord Yahovah, the God of Israel” (Exodus/Shemot 23:14-17, 34:23-24; Deuteronomy/Devarim 16:16-17; 2 Chronicles/Divrei Hayamim II 8:13).

And after Mashiach Yeshua returns, God makes it clear that His ancient holidays will be celebrated, especially Sukkot, because it will be enforced for all peoples. God said, “It will come about that any who are left of the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahovah of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot/Tabernacles. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahovah of hosts, there will be no rain on them… it will be the punishment of all the peoples that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot/Tabernacles” (Zechariah/Zecharya 14:16-19).

So as a People of God, we need to acknowledge what God wants of us. Celebrating ancient Hebrew holidays may seem strange to many Christians, but God has guided me to observe them and scripture backs up what I teach. This isn’t strange or corrupted teaching, so may you put things in proper perspective and remember that it is the ancient, natural olive roots that support the ingrafted branches of the Christian brethren and not the other way around (Romans 11:17-24). Remember and honor our Hebrew roots. This is also why I put God’s original Hebrew names back in quotes of scripture (see The Actual Names of God and Christ for more; http://3rdCompass.org/g?GODS-NAMES). Your knowledge of God and His kingdom will not be complete if you do not know the names God gave and used for Himself in the original words of scripture.

However, do not get trapped again in the slavery of strict observance of law. Apostle Paul said holidays, sabbaths, etc. are only shadows of what is to come. Many in the church think he meant we should shun Old Testament holidays, but he was not condemning them. If you see his complete statement, he only stated we cannot be judged for observing or not observing them – “No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a mere shadow of what is to come” (Colossians 2:16).

So there actually is nothing in the New Testament stating we should forget or reject the Jewish holidays we inherited as a People of God. We are only not obligated to observe them anymore under a strict yoke of slavery. And again, I remind that Christ and His disciples observed Old Testament holidays and the weekly Sabbath. Yeshua’s Last Supper was for the first feast of Pesach/Passover (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7-8), His disciples rested for the weekly Sabbath after they buried Him (Luke 23:56), and after Christ ascended to heaven, they gathered on Shavuot, which is known in the church as Pentecost (Acts 2:1). So acknowledge that God’s Old Testament holidays and sabbaths are still important.

But keep that in perspective with the ways of haMashiach (The Messiah/Christ). Paul said these things are a shadow of what is to come, but “what is to come” refers to a new age or time when observing traditions would be replaced with something else.

For now, and in the next age after the Messiah returns, observing holidays are still important. God wants His people everywhere to see that, especially the Jews, who He is now giving a final call towards renewal in Christ. This is why God has ALL the major Jewish holidays linked to Christ as follows:

Pesach/Passover – goes with the sacrifice and death of Christ
First Fruits and Shavuot/Pentecost or Feast of Weeks or First Fruits – go with the resurrection and ascension of Christ after His resurrection, and the completion of promises to the church
Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashana – goes with the coming of Christ
Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement – goes with Christ’s atonement for all sins
Sukkot/Tabernacles and Shemini Atzeret – go with God’s continual love for His people despite their sins and final renewal and even resurrection into eternal life with Christ
Hanukkah – goes with God’s real re-dedication of the temples of our bodies when we are saved in Christ

For more details about these links, you may go to the Holidays page at 3rdCompass.org (http://3rdcompass.org/g?HOLIDAYS).

Today, we start the festival week of Sukkot or what is translated as the Feast of Tabernacles, Booths, Tents, or Ingathering. It is an eight-day remembrance, with seven days of feasting mandated in the Old Testament (Leviticus/Vayikra 23:33-43; Numbers/ Bamidbar 29:12-38; Deuteronomy/Devarim 16:13-15; Exodus/Shemot 23:16, 34:22). However, I plan for eight feast days, because the eighth day has a holy gathering and special meaning (Numbers/Bamidbar 29:35).

Today, we honor Sukkoth’s first holy gathering, after which the first feast of the holiday week should be celebrated. The first and last days are meant to be sabbath days of rest as well, so may you not conduct your regular work today nor on the eighth or last day of Sukkot.

Sukkot is traditionally a harvest festival that celebrates the “ingathering” of crops at the end of the growing season. This ingathering is why Sukkot is sometimes called the Feast of Ingathering. Sukkot is also related to another harvest festival that happens at the beginning of the growing season, called Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks or First Fruits. The church is more familiar with the timing of Shavuot because it is the holiday of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first came in power to the church after the resurrection and ascension of Mashiach Yeshua.

Shavuot or Pentecost is meant to celebrate the first fruits of the growing season when the very first growth of crops were offered to the Lord and celebrated. This is why Shavuot is also called the Feast of First Fruits. Sukkot or Tabernacles, though, celebrates the final harvest at the end of the season.

Another Biblical tradition of importance for Sukkot is that on the first day, today, we are supposed to pick choice branches and fruit from attractive trees, like poplars, willows, olives, myrtle, and palms, to celebrate with the Lord during the festival week (Leviticus/Vayikra 23:40; Nehemiah/Nechemya 8:15). These gathered branches were traditionally used to make sukkahs or temporary canopies (Leviticus/Vayikra 23:42-43; Nehemiah/Nechemya 8:14-17) to live under during Sukkot or at least eat the festival meals there. God told His people to do this so that we would remember how He made the people of Israel live in temporary shelters when He brought them out of Egypt (Leviticus/Vayikra 23:43).

Under the light yoke of Christ, though, I do not concern myself with building or using a sukkah for Sukkot, and I have seen guidance from the Lord showing that it is not the most important focus for this holiday. But certainly we need to remember the days when God’s people lived nomadic lives in the desert with tents or tabernacles, so remember that hardship when you eat your festival meals.

Still, I honor the Lord’s command to gather foliage on this day by collecting choice branches and foliage locally and making one or more centerpieces or bouquets for the feast table. This way we don’t have to make or use sukkahs, but we can still rejoice before the Lord with local foliage as stated in Leviticus/Vayikra 23:40. So after service, you may want to go out and find some choice branches, fruit, and other attractive foliage to make your own centerpieces.

I also remember God made His people wander the desert for 40 years living in tabernacles, because they rebelled and didn’t want to take over the Promised Land (Numbers/Bamidbar 13:1-14:35) – Yahovah spoke to Moses/Moshe saying, “Send out for yourself men, leaders from each tribe of Israel, so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the people of Israel.” Moses sent them to spy out the land, to see what it was like, and whether the people who lived in it are strong or weak, and few or many.

When they returned from spying out the land after forty days, they reported to Moses and Aaron/Aharon and all the congregation of Israel and said, ‘We went into the land, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey. But the people who live there are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large, and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there, men of great size. We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us. We became small, like grasshoppers, in our own sight, and so we were small in their sight.’

Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘It’d be better that we die in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is Yahovah bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’ Then they wanted to appoint a leader and return to Egypt.

Only two of the scouts sent to spy the land, Joshua/Yoshua/Yehoshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb/Kalev, the son of Jephunneh/Yephunneh, did not rebel and urged the people to not fear. But all the congregation wanted to stone them.

Then the glory of Yahovah appeared in the tent of meeting to all of Israel, and God wanted to smite and dispossess them for their rebellion, saying, “How long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?”

But Moses prayed and begged the Lord to pardon the people and He relented, saying, “I have pardoned them according to your word, but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of Yahovah. Surely all the men who saw My glory and signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet they put Me to the test and have not listened to My voice, they shall by no means see the land, which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.”

And so the Lord determined to send the people back into the wilderness and desert for forty years, a year for each day spent spying the land.
(Numbers/Bamidbar 13:1-14:35)

Because of this rebellion and hardship, during the first seven meals of Sukkot, I eat unleavened bread, “the bread of affliction” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 16:3). During the last service I shared a recipe for making flat bread (http://www.3rdCompass.org/g?RECIPE-FLATBREAD), but you can use and buy any flat bread.

Making and eating unleavened bread helps you experience the life of ancient Hebrews and think about why the people were made to live in tents and wander the wilderness for decades.

But also, I recall the Lord’s mercy and grace despite the people’s rebellion. After forty years, He told them, “You shall remember all the way which Yahovah, your God, has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahovah. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years. Thus, you are to know in your heart that Yahovah, your God, was chastising you, just as a man disciplines his child” (Deuteronomy/Devarim 8:2-5).

So despite being made to live in the wilderness, going hungry, and without ample supply, the people still had hope and a good future to look forward to, because the Lord’s promises are always sure. And like our guilt in many sins, the Lord remains faithful and still promises us a future, especially in the afterlife, with the promise of salvation in Mashiach Yeshua.

This is how Sukkot aligns with the life and ministry of Christ. It connects with how God is still gracious and merciful despite our sins. Like the Israelites, just outside the lands of promise, we have rebelled at times to do as God wishes, and sometimes have long suffered for it. Even if we did not participate in willful rebellion, like Joshua, Caleb, Moses, and Aaron, we sometimes have to endure God’s judgments because of others and the judgments upon our nations, communities, organizations, and families, just like those who did not rebel also had to live forty more years in the wilderness.

But still, in our hardships, the Lord is faithful to guide and keep us towards that Promised Land, with His rod and staff to comfort us, and His unfailing promises to hold us secure for the day of renewal and resurrection, which like in the first seven days of Sukkot, when we remember living in tents and the people’s sufferings, we should have God’s promises of renewal on mind when we reach the last, eighth day of the festival.

Remember this great hope in Yahovah El Elyon, God Most High, and Mashiach Yeshua, because the seven days of feasting under temporary shelters is meant to remember afflictions and sin, yet God is gracious to those who try to do His will and be righteous, and to those who endure trials and sufferings with the hope of the Lord’s renewal in mind, just as He protected and cared for the ancient Jews during those extra 40 years in the desert.

This time of trial and affliction especially goes with our times now, at the end of the age, when so much more tribulation hits all people of the world and all believing communities, great trial and tribulation that will come to finality in that final “seven” prophesied by Daniel and affirmed again by the living, resurrected Christ through the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 13:3-10).

So as you eat with the Lord during Sukkot on these first seven days, recall why the people endured 40 years in the desert, and know why all communities are enduring the harsh judgments of God now, for His prophecies are always true, which, if you were with me for the Yom Teruah service, you saw how Daniel’s sevens were confirmed and helped to show that Yeshua Mashiach – the Messiah, was most likely born during the High Holidays in 1 BC.

Yet in these first days of Sukkot and the distresses of our times, keep the great hope we have in God’s infallible promises, especially under the New Covenant in Mashiach Yeshua, for God’s promise of eternal salvation in heaven is also true and sure. And as I spoke last time for Yom Kippur, His temporal atonement and help in this life is also granted more so, to those who would leave sin and change for the better, to those who God considers His own, to His sons and daughters whether born of the natural olive branch or adopted into His kingdom through Mashiach Yeshua. We are all heirs of promise by God’s eternal covenants provided through Abraham/Avraham and the line of King David from whom came our promised Mashiach/Messiah, Yeshua.

It was by Yeshua Mashiach that God fulfilled what was said through Jeremiah/Yirmiyahu, “Yahovah has created something new on the earth: A woman will encompass a man … And just as I have watched over My people to uproot, tear down, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant them… The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah/Yehuda, not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” (Jeremiah 31:22, 31:28-32/Yirmiyahu 31:21, 31:27-31).

Yahovah El Elyon, God Most High, has done what He promised – the new thing and new covenant came through Mashiach Yeshua over two thousand years ago. He brought the eternal covenant to the house of Israel and to Judah, but most of His people rejected it and Him.

The New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant in which He made with the forefathers, but with it He created a new thing, for truly a woman encompasses a man, as the Bride of Mashiach Yeshua, the church founded by the Lord Yahovah, our God, through Mashiach Yeshua, encompasses all who believe and acknowledge Christ’s salvation and lordship.

It is no accident the number eight represents renewal and resurrection and that the last day of Sukkot, the eighth and Last Great Day, called Shemini Atzeret in Hebrew, meaning the Eighth Assembly Day for Sukkot (Numbers/Bamidbar 29:35), also coincides with the work of Mashiach Yeshua to bring God’s prophesied “new thing” and “New Covenant.” He was also resurrected on the “eighth” day of the week, which is also the first day, Sunday.

This was God’s show of the first fruits of the resurrection that is promised to all who believe and maintain public loyalty to Mashiach Yeshua. Christ was the visible first fruits, His resurrection witnessed by His disciples on the day of offering for first fruits only a few days after He died during Pesach/Passover. This is the ritual of which Shavuot or Pentecost later celebrates. But for Sukkot, the renewal is meant for us.

So let us hold to the hope of Christ’s renewal and be grateful for it, despite our sins as a people and individually. Stand now and worship our God, like will be done after His return when He mandates the peoples of the world to honor Him on Sukkot every year (Zechariah/Zecharya 14:16-19).

[The Lord Knows of Psalm 4]

[Song of the Messiah]

[Famous One]

Praise Yahovah El Elyon, God Most High, for all His great works!

I don’t know if you noticed, but one of the songs we just sang is a special one from scripture – Shir haMashiach, the Song of the Messiah. The version we sang is mostly a direct translation of God’s words from Isaiah/Yeshayahu.

It’s special because there are ten Biblical songs or “shirot” in Jewish tradition that are noted with importance, such as Ha’azinu, the Song of Moses/Moshe in his final address to the people (Deuteronomy/Devarim 32:1-52), Shirat Chana, the Song of Hannah (1 Samuel/Shmuel I 2:1-10), and Shir haShirim, Solomon’s Song of Songs. All but one song is acknowledged by Judaism to have been sung and fulfilled. That one song is the Song of the Messiah, so if you sang it with us, then you were part of fulfilling prophecy for this song, saying, “On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah” (Isaiah/Yeshayahu 26:1).

How is that possible? That day are our days now, which began when the COVID pandemic began because the chapters just before the Song of the Messiah talk about things that began fulfilling during the pandemic - The joy of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers stops... Every house is shut up so that no one may enter… Terror and pit and snare confront you, you who are living on the earth (Isaiah/Yeshayahu 24:8-17).

These parts of Isaiah prophecy about our days now at the end of the age until the return of the Messiah, when He reveals to all the peoples that His promise of resurrection into eternal life with Him is true, for He will destroy the covering that is over all peoples… He will swallow up death forever (Isaiah/Yeshayahu 25:7-8) by coming on the clouds with His resurrected believers (Daniel 7:13; Matthew 24:30, 26:64; 1 Thessalonians 4:17) for all the world to see.

And because the Song of the Messiah is sung in the land of Judah (Isaiah/Yeshayahu 26:1), and Judah not only refers to the Holy Land, but also to the church, for Mashiach Yeshua is from the tribe of Judah through the line of King David (Matthew 1:1-17), and the church is also the spiritual New Jerusalem. So not only did we fulfill Isaiah 26:1, but we are the pre-fulfilment of the Song of the Messiah being sung when the Lord returns.

So report to the brethren in Judaism – all ten shirot are sung and fulfilled, for the Song of the Messiah, the song they’ve been waiting to be fulfilled is coming to final completion in our days now.

Yahovah El Elyon, God Most High, did increase the nation and glorify Himself (Isaiah 26:15) through the works of the church spread throughout the globe.

Much prophecy from the former prophets of old have been fulfilling in recent years. I’ve spoken about them much and Isaiah chapters 24-28, where the Song of the Messiah is in the middle of, speaks of much destruction and judgment on the earth. It will continue to fulfill, so remember the lessons of times past when people did not listen to the voice of God.

Remember, as you celebrate your Sukkot meals with unleavened bread and collected foliage, the days of living in tents and scarcity. Remember, it was the Lord’s chastising (Deuteronomy/Devarim 8:5). And remember that we do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy/Devarim 8:3), so that you would listen to His true voice. May you recognize it, so that you would gain all the benefits and renewal of Yahovah El Elyon, God Most High.

And most of all remain secure in our hope with God’s eternal promises through Mashiach Yeshua that all will come to completion with help and protection for those who will leave what is false and remain true to God through Mashiach Yeshua. Holy and true are the words of the Lord, and praise Him for using us to bring them to fruition.

Tell all our brethren in Judaism who continue to wait for their Mashiach, He already came, just as we sang in the Song of the Messiah, and He waits still for His first daughter Israel to acknowledge Him. How long will you waver, Daughter Israel?

That brings our service to an end. The last service for the High Holidays will be on Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot, next Saturday, October 7th. I will speak more about how that relates to Christ as well.

I will send reminders through the email list and social media, so if you haven’t joined, please do so at the homepage on 3rdCompass.org or join the Facebook or WordPress page(s). Links are at the bottom of 3rd Compass site pages. You may subscribe to the YouTube channel as well, but I only post new videos there, so if you don’t join the email list, Facebook page, or WordPress blog, then you won’t get notice of updates, which happens much more often than video postings.

Thank you all for taking part today. Before you sign off or ask questions, I’d like to ask you to support our work for God’s kingdom and help the needy with a donation. You may scan the QR code on the screen or go to 3rdCompass.org/donate.

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Your help will be much appreciated with gratitude and blessings in the name of Mashiach Yeshua. Amen.

If you have questions about anything, please feel free ask now with the YouTube chat features. If you’d like to talk to me directly for anything, you may contact me on the 3rd Compass site (http://3rdCompass.org/g?ABOUT).

Thank you again and the Lord bless you, your loved ones, and your Sukkot meals. His Spirit and grace be on you all as you celebrate them, in the name of Mashiach Yeshua. Amen.

3rd Compass -> Group News and Articles -> Sukkot/Tabernacles 2023 Day 1 - What do harvest festivals have to do with Christ?