Sukkot

from http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Sukkot/sukkot.html

The festival of Sukkot has a prophetic dimension awaiting fulfillment. As the Day of Ingathering of the harvest, Sukkot prefigures the gathering together of the Jewish people in the days of the Messiah's reign on earth (Isaiah 27:12-13; Jeremiah 23:7-8). Indeed all of the nations of the earth that survived the Great Tribulation will come together to worship the LORD in Jerusalem during the Feast of Sukkot (Zechariah 14:16-17). Sukkot also foreshadows the LORD's sheltering Presence over Israel in the millennial kingdom. No longer will Israel be subject to the oppression of the goyim, but God Himself will place His sanctuary in her midst (Ezekiel 37:26-28). Yeshua the Mashiach did indeed come to "sukkah" (or "tabernacle") with us (see John 1:14) in order to purge our sins from us and to redeem us to Himself. Yes, by the eye of faith we see the revelation of the True Shechinah of the LORD God Almighty in the Person of Yeshua our beloved Mashiach. Nevertheless, we still eagerly await His return to establish His Kingdom and set up His everlasting Sukkah with us -- so that that we may know, love, and abide with the Him forever!  Maran ata, LORD Yeshua!   ___________________________________ http://www.lttn.org/R5_Article4_Sukkot.htm What is the Source of this Great Joy at Sukkot? We can find no better illustration for this than the unique festival of Sukkot. For the booths in which Israel live during these days symbolize her rock-steady, unshakable faith in the One G-d of Israel. Just in the fall, as the days are getting shorter and colder, most people are coming indoors. It is no longer pleasurable to sit outside as it was in the summer. But this is just when “every citizen in Israel” moves from the comforts and security of home, and takes up residence in temporary dwellings, thanking G-d for the harvest in this season and recalling His constant, enveloping presence. This knowledge is true joy! Unconcerned with sunshine or warm weather, these temporary dwellings do not appear to be “secure” in the physical sense…they may shake a little in the wind; their roofs are but thatches, open to the stars. But yet Israel sits within, unmoved and unaffected by what may be mistakenly perceived as a hostile world—for like the booth, this world is temporary, and we are but temporary dwellers within her. But just as we are surrounded by the walls of this hut, so we are surrounded by the constant, protective presence of G-d Himself. The winds may shake and the elements may confront us, but the shadow of the sukkah is the shadow of the Divine Presence. The Sacrifice of Seventy Bulls During Sukkot in the time of the Holy Temple, a unique sacrifice was offered on the altar—with a unique intention. In chapter 29 of the book of Numbers, the Bible outlines the sacrifices which are to be offered over the span of the holiday. Counting the number of bulls which are offered over the seven day period, we find that the total number was seventy. And in chapter 10 of the book of Genesis, there are seventy nations mentioned. These are the primordial nations, sometimes referred to as the “seventy languages,” which represent all humanity. The Talmud (BT Sukkah 55:B) teaches that the seventy bulls that were offered in the Holy Temple served as an atonement for the seventy nations of the world. Truly, as the rabbis observed, “if the nations of the world had only known how much they needed the Temple, they would have surrounded it with armed fortresses to protect it” (Bamidbar Rabbah 1, 3). Here we can already sense that inherent within the very nature of the holiday, an inexorable bond—as expressed through its sacrificial requirements—links it to the earth’s peoples. Sukkot was mandated by the Creator Himself to be a holiday for all the world. ________________________ http://www.messianic-torah-truth-seeker.org/Torah/Sukkoth/sukkot5761.html "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isa 12:3)