The Future of Jesus 7: The Feast of Booze

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It is not really the feast of booze; it is the feast of booths. It was a week-long feast when people made booths or tents to live in around the sanctuary. It was Old Testament Bible camp.

But it is easy to get confused not only when you say it out loud but when you read about it:

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

“Whatever your appetite craves” is worth a bit of contemplation, but this is all beside the point.  So I will now get to it.  The feast of booths is the last of three feasts.  Here they are in Deuteronomy 16:

“Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

9 “You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. 11 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

13 “You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. 15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

What does this have to do with the future of Jesus?  We should expect the Feast of Booths to relate to the future of Jesus because Passover and Pentecost are about the past of Jesus.  Jesus was crucified during the Week of Unleavend Bread and was dead during Passover.  Then he gave the Spirit on Pentecost.  Notice the relationship: first no leaven is allowed and then leavened bread is offered to God as a sign of new life (Leviticus 23.16, 17).

So we have moved from Passover in the death and resurrection of Jesus, through Pentecost in which the Spirit is given to the Church.

What are we moving toward?

The Feast of Booths also happens to be the time when seventy bulls are sacrificed leading to the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 29). Seventy bulls stand for seventy nations. The week commemorated God’s plan to gather in the whole world to his feast.

Jesus loves you and your Christian family but he did not die and rise again to have you in his private party. He died and rose again not only for you but also for the whole world.  He wants everyone to come to his table and he will eventually ensure that the whole world is present at his feast.

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3 thoughts on “The Future of Jesus 7: The Feast of Booze

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