The Lord said to Moses,

“Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month

the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.

. . .and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord.

It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work’.”

Leviticus 23:33-34, 36b NIV

The Eighth Day. What is it?  Does it have significance for me?

Step back in time with me, about 3,000 years. Let’s travel up to Jerusalem to celebrate the seven-day festival, known as the Feast of Tabernacles.  Here, hide my watch in your pocket. It might raise questions as we walk this well-traveled road. The aroma of ripe fruit wafts on the breeze. A nearby vineyard contains a few remaining clusters of grapes. The vines sag under their weight. It’s autumn, the time of the fruit harvest, the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

We’ll join the Children of Israel and sleep in booths, or temporary shelters. At night we can gaze at the stars through the palm leaves and olive branches on the make-shift roof. Jewish tradition speaks of a “water pouring ceremony” in the temple services. When that seven-day feast comes to a close, we arrive at “the Eighth Day.” It is a sacred closing ceremony.  On that day, no regular work is done.

The Feast of Tabernacles commemorated the forty—year journey of the Children of Israel, from Egypt to the Promised Land. It was the 7th of the seven feasts of the Lord as mentioned in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28 and 29. The Feast of Tabernacles was a sacred gathering, a joyful celebration. There were daily offerings and sacrifices.

How does this feast concern me? I don’t live in the time of the Old Testament. 

Two verses from the New Testament book of Colossians offer some insight.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,

or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17

While the Children of Israel were commanded to celebrate these seven feasts, they were called the Feasts of the Lord, they are the “Lord’s appointed times.”  Each feast foreshadowed a future event that is linked to the comings of the Lord.  At His first coming or advent, his death was on the Passover Spring Feast (which was the first of the seven feasts).  Then he was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the second feast), and He rose on the Feast of First Fruits (the third feast).  During the summer season, the Holy Spirit came at the Feast of Pentecost (the fourth feast). 

The Seven Feasts or Festivals of the Lord

(The appointed times)

Passover - Leviticus 23:5 - Christ died on Passover

Feast of Unleavened Bread - Leviticus 23:6-8 - Christ was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Feast of First Fruits - Leviticus 23:9-14 - Christ rose from the dead on The Feast of First Fruits.

Pentecost - Leviticus 23:15-21 - The Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost

Feast of Trumpets - Leviticus 23:23-25 - (future fulfillment) foreshadows Christ coming for His Church

Day of Atonement - Leviticus 23:26-32 - (future fulfillment) foreshadows the tribulation

Feast of Tabernacles - Leviticus 23:33-43 - (future fulfillment) - foreshadows The Millennial Reign of Christ

The last three feasts, the fall feasts, have yet to see fulfillment. They are the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Remember the former things, those of long ago;

I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me.

I make known the end from the beginning,

from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say, ‘My purpose will stand,

and I will do all that I please.’

Isaiah 46:9-10

The seventh and last feast, the Feast of Tabernacles foreshadows a future time, the 1,000 year Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus upon the earth. From the Jewish perspective, the whole Feast of Tabernacles was about joy. At the end of the seven day feast, after this season of joy and fellowship, when the seventh day was about to close, it was as if the Lord said, “Stay with me for one more day.”

…the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.

. . . and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly…

In his book, The Seven Festivals of the Messiah, Rabbi Edward Chumney explains that the rabbis interpreted the verse to mean that God asked all who made the pilgrimage for the feast, to remain with Him one additional day.  The Eighth Day is the day after seven. The number seven is the perfect number in the Bible.  It speaks of completion.  There were seven creation days, a week has seven days.  So the Eighth Day is the “day after time.”¹

Jonathan Cahn states in The Book of Mysteries, “the eighth day is the last of God’s appointed days, the mystery day. And when creation ends, we will enter the eighth day, the day beyond days, when the finite yields to the infinite, the age beyond ages . . . eternity.”²

Take my watch from your pocket. Let’s fast forward over 1,000 years in the future, to the end of the millennial age. As foreshadowed by the ancient Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, we can imagine the Voice, “Stay with me for one more day,” and for us, that is the day that never ends.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says,

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the human heart;

yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

Do you still have my watch?  You may discard it now; it is no longer relevant.  There are no more schedules to keep. Our work days are concluded. It is the sacred gathering of the Eighth Day. Here we are in the New Heaven and the New Earth. Over there, see the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. There is no more curse; no more night. The gates of the city of New Jerusalem never shut. There is no need for the light of a lamp or the light of the sun. The glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp. 

Stay here…just one more day. It is the Eighth Day, the day after time, the day that never ends.

By Beth LaBuff  ©2017

***

All Scripture quotations from the New International Version

Leviticus 23; Numbers 28 – 29; Nehemiah 8:14-17; Mark 14:1; Mark 15:42-44; John 19:31; Acts 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23; Revelation 21 – 22

¹Edward Chumney, The Seven Festivals of the Messiah, 1994

²Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, 2016

This purpose of this article is for religious inspiration and is not intended to cover every aspect of the Feast of Tabernacles or the Eighth Day.

Copyright Beth LaBuff 2017

Before Beth LaBuff and her husband, Tilman, moved to the high desert of Arizona, she lived most of her life surrounded by the cornfields of Adair County, Iowa. 

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