The Spirit of God dwells in us as His desire has always been to simply fellowship with His beloved people. The Lord said to Moses, Exodus 25 “Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive the offering for Me from everyone whose HEART PROMPTS them to GIVE. “Then have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them.” If we listen with ears to hear, we can follow the thread of God’s unequaled love for us. He masterfully weaved living words from Genesis to Revelation so that we find His everlasting promise of eternal life. Extraordinary!

God never asked anyone to build Him a house. 2 Samuel 7:7,9 “Wherever —- I have MOVED with ALL the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar? I have been with you wherever you have gone.” The Word of God states that God was always present with ALL of His people. Wherever they were He was. In Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the promised land. Our Savior asked for a tent, a body, to walk around in as God’s Son, among us.  Immanuel, God with us, calls His people outside to live in a booth, a tent, a hut with branches and leaves to eat and sleep in for 7 days. Leviticus 23 The Feast of Tabernacles is Sukkot which means temporary shelter. 

In obedience His people go out to camp in the city with roofs thick enough for shade and thin enough to see stars. Thousands of years later, God’s people obediently leave their comfortable homes, to shelter in a hut to humbly camp out with God. In Leviticus 23:40 God said to rejoice before the Lord for 7 days. To sleep in a shack for a week and be happy with His sufficiency. So that your generation may know that God had His people live in tents when He brought them out of slavery in Egypt.

Sukkot is a time to remember that God never left His people alone during wilderness years. God commands His people to enjoy His omnipresence.

David in 2 Samuel 7:1-6 looks out of His palace window and sees the Ark of God’s Covenant and tells Nathan this is not right; I will build God a house. Nathan gives a word from God. “Are you the one to build Me? I have not lived in a house since I brought the people out of Egypt, even unto this day, as I have been moving about in a tent.” God is telling king David that He has always been with His people in a tent. Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. The temple He had spoken of was His body.” John 2:19,21

David, a man after God’s heart, made many bad choices. Uriah refuses king David for a noble reason. The ark of God’s Covenant is in a temporary shelter (Sukkot) and my troops are in tents, I will not return home to comfort while God’s holy presence sits outside. God uses Uriah to convict the king of his motives. David ignored the conviction of God’s Spirit and he has Uriah killed so he could have his own way with Bathsheba. David pays a hugh price for his selfish disobedience. David also married Maacah as a political manuever. Maacah did not love God and her son Amnon rapes David’s daughter princess Tamar. David’s other son Absalom kills Amnon out of revenge. Absalom was influenced by the pagan values of his mother Maacah and out of proud rebellion and hate had his brother killed. 2 Samuel 13:28 Our Father wisely warns us to be careful who influences us. Proverbs 13:20 “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

Interesting fact. The Ark of the Covenant was brought into Solomon’s temple during the 7 day festival of Tabernacles. On the day of the Ark’s arrival, a cloud filled the house of the Lord and the priests could not stand. King Solomon says with pride, “I have surely built God a place for His dwelling forever.” The expensive temple that Solomon had built was completely destroyed. If God had asked for a stone temple to be built, the temple of Solomon would not be under rubble today.

2 Kings 8:27 King Solomon announces at the ribbon cutting of the temple that the whole earth cannot contain God’s presence, His glory. Peter sees Jesus face shining with Elijah and Moses standing by His side in Matthew 17. Luke 9:31 reveals that they were talking about the Exodus of Jesus on a mountain. Peter bursts  “If You wish I will build three Tabernacles.” Peter offered to build a Sukkot, a memorial for the first exodus from Egypt as the 2nd exodus of Jesus was being discussed. God interrupted Peter and said listen to Jesus.

People keep trying to put a roof over God; and God answers with a cloud. Matthew 8:20 “The foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” But God reminds us that we are His temple. In 2026 Sukkot begins on Friday September 25 and for 7 days the Jewish people move into handmade huts made of branches to rejoice three separate times in Scripture. Lev 23:40; Deut 16:14; and Deut 16:15. During the Feast of Tabernacles God reminds His people in Deut 16:11 “I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought My people out of Egypt. I have been moving about in a tent.”

In John 17 just hours before His arrest, with the basin still on the floor, Jesus lifts His eyes and talks to His Father about you and me. Jesus asks His Father for one last thing before the cross. “Father I desire that those You have given Me, that they can be with Me where I am.” Jesus reminds His Father of His love before the foundations of the world. Before there was dirt, the Father loved us. Ephesians 1:4. Jesus desires to be with us where He is, in eternity, forever.

Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is a significant festival.

1. Sukkot commemorates the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the desert and reflects on the protection and guidance God provided during that time. The sukkah (temporary hut or booth) symbolizes this divine shelter. Spiritually, it reminds believers of God’s ongoing protection and presence in their lives.

2. The temporary nature of the hut, the sukkah highlights the transient nature of life. It encourages reflection on the fragility of human existence and the importance of humility and gratitude for what one has.

3. Sukkot occurs at the end of the agricultural year, marking a time of harvest. It is a celebration of gratitude for the bounty that God provides. Spiritually, it teaches the value of recognizing and appreciating the blessings in one’s life and the importance of sharing those blessings with others.

4. Sukkot is often celebrated with family and friends, fostering unity and communal bonds. It is a time for gathering, sharing meals, and rejoicing together, highlighting the importance of community.

5. Sukkot is known as “the Season of Our Joy.” It encourages joyousness and festivity, cultivating a spirit of happiness and connection to God and one another.

6. During the joyful feast they wave the Four Species (Dalet Minim), which includes the etrog (a citron fruit), lulav (a palm frond), hadassim (myrtle branches), and aravot (willow branches). The practice symbolizes the unity of the Jewish people and appreciation of nature.

What are we willing to sacrifice to God? Comfort? What holds us back from trusting God? Has God been faithful to others? Do we consider His ways superior to our preferences? Do we face our trials with absolute faith in His plan, His Way? Mediate on the story of Isaac and his dying wish to bless his son Esau. Genesis 27:2-4 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”  Out of obedience, Abraham built an altar to sacrifice Isaac, but God stepped in with a substitute sacrifice. Out of God’s love for us, He gave us His Son as our Father’s greatest blessing.

Genesis 28:10-18 Jacob stole the blessing from Esau and left Beersheba. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and He said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God.”

Joel 2:28-32 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth,  blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” Everyone, includes you.

A welcome revelation! None of us are able to out sin the grace of God. The mystery of the leaven? It is Jesus, and it is His Spirit in us, that works over time to change our lump into being more like Him. There was a zero deposit of leaven or Holy Spirit in our tent, our spirit, before we accepted Christ as our Lord. At Pentecost the first fruit offering was made with leaven, Jesus. His fire rests on us and we trust His gentle hands.  He molds us into His likeness after  thousands of hours of our glad submission in God’s furnace.   To His great pleasure and glory, we sing Hosanna in the highest!