The Return of the King – Sukkot – Oct. 11

Moses, a man who walked with God, continually and fervently desired more of God. God called Moses to bring His people Israel out of the land of Egypt and into the Promised Land. In this week’s Torah Portion Moses asked God to let him know who would go with him to lead the people into the Promised Land. In reply to this request God told him that His presence would go with him and that He would give him rest (Ex. 33:12-13).

Moses was only a man that God used.  Ultimately it would be God Himself, through the Messiah, who will guide His people and give rest to Moses and all of humankind.

Moses was a man who knew God and God knew him. Moses talked with God face-to-face, however, Moses still desired to know God in a deeper way. Moses had a hunger for God that was never fully satisfied on this earth. He desired to know God more fully and to find favor with God. Moses longed to see the glory of God and asked God to reveal Himself to him in all of His fullness. God agreed to Moses’ request as much as was divinely possible (Ex. 33:12-23). It would be later through Yeshua the Messiah that God would reveal Himself in all of His glory (John 1:14).

Moses followed God’s instructions and came up on Mt. Sinai with two tablets of stone (Moses had broken the first two). God descended on Mt. Sinai in a cloud and the name of the LORD (“Jehovah” or “Yahweh”) was proclaimed. The LORD passed by in front of Moses and proclaimed His very essence; the God of compassion, loving-kindness and truth, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, yet punishes the guilty for their iniquity. At this Moses bowed down and worshipped God (Ex. 34:1-8).

God is holy, He is merciful, and He is just. He is a God of forgiveness and a God of vengeance. God cannot be one without the other.

God tells Moses that He will make a covenant with His people. God promises to perform miracles in the midst of His people, which have never been heard of before. God warns Moses to instruct the Israelites to walk in His ways and follow His commandments. God promises to destroy the inhabitants of the Land and drive them out, however, the Israelites must not compromise in any way with the inhabitants in the Land.   God told them that they must not make any covenant with them. For God is a jealous God and He demands to be the only One (Ex. 34:10-17)!

In the last part of this week’s Torah Portion, God reminds the children of Israel to keep His feasts (Ex. 34:18-24). He focuses on the three most important feasts: Passover, Weeks (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles). It is for these three feasts that God required all Israelite males to appear before Him every year.

What is the significance of these three feasts? Why did God not require the people to appear before Him at Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar? Why these three feasts in particular?

I believe God was giving His people, and all of us today, a timetable to understand His appointed times in a particular context. It was at Passover that the Messiah was offered as a redemptive sacrifice for all of mankind. Three days later He was raised from the dead on the day of first fruits. It was on the Feast of Weeks that the Holy Spirit was poured out on all of the believers nearly 2000 years ago and continues to be poured out even until today for all those who believe in Yeshua as the Messiah. According to the Scriptures, the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) is connected to the end of days and the reign of the Messiah (Zechariah 14:16-18).

So we see that in each of these three appointed times of God there is a specific spiritual implication for all of humankind:

1. The final redemption from sin through the blood of the Lamb (Passover)

2. The new life and filling of the Holy Spirit (The Feast of Weeks)

3. The return and reign of the Messiah (The Feast of Sukkot)

God wants us to know Him and to understand His plans and His timetable.

The correlating Scripture from the prophets this week is found in Ezekiel 38 & 39. God has told us by His prophet that He will bring the people of Gog against Israel in the last days and then He will fight against them to destroy them for His name’s sake, to magnify Himself so that the nations will know Him; that He is the LORD (Ezek. 38:18-23).

God promises to bring judgment to the nations of the world that come against Israel and He promises to destroy them. God promises that His name alone will be magnified and He will make Himself known in Israel (Ezek. 39:1-6).

“And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.” (Ezek. 39:7)

God is a God of loving-kindness and He is also a God of justice and vengeance. He will make all things right in the end when He comes to reign on this earth. Can this be anyone else than the Messiah, Yeshua?

“And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” (Zechariah 14:9)

Shabbat Shalom!

Torah Reading: Exodus 33:12 – Exodus 34:26
Haftarah Reading: Ezekiel 38:18 – Ezekiel 39:16
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