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The Holidays and Jesus
October 6, 2025 · 30 min
Explore the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles and God's provision in the wilderness.
Series Special Episodes Audio October 6, 2025 · 30 min · Special Episodes Audio
Explore the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles and God's provision in the wilderness. ...more Show the full description Show less Explore the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles and God's provision in the wilderness.
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Embark on a transformative journey through the Bible and the Land of Israel with Dr. Susan Michael, President of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
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Jesus and the Feast of Tabernacles 0:00 Welcome to the Israel Answers series, connecting Israel, the Bible, and you. Join Susan Michael as she explores timely issues and current events from a scriptural perspective to equip the0:12 Christian world with a balanced and biblical response. Be sure to subscribe for future episodes, which will ignite your faith and bring the Bible to life in your everyday world. Now, let's join Susan with0:24 your Israel Answers.0:27 We read about Jesus going to Jerusalem for 3 different holidays. The first 1 is for the Feast of Tabernacles. And on thethe Feast of Tabernacles0:39 is an 8 day gathering of the Jewish people every year. It's always in the fall, and it is the time where they commemorate and0:51 remember God's provision for the Israelites when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years and how that He tabernacled with them. And during this week, they live in temporary dwellingslittle1:03 booths outside their homes where they can see the sky through the palm trees and be reminded of God's provision and His covering for them. But over the years, it also became known as1:15 an agricultural holiday. And so it really became a celebration also of the harvest. And along with that is a thanksgiving to God for His provisions1:27 now that they're in the land. And of course, with that is always a prayer for rain for the coming year and for the coming crops. So this is the annual Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the1:39 Feast of Booths. And it's very interesting that on the very last day of the feast, there was a water libation ceremony carried on throughout the1:51 feast, but it kind of had a crescendo towards the end of the feast week where the high priest would go down to the pool of Siloam, which is down the hill from the temple, and they would take2:02 a golden water pitcher, and they would take watersliving watersout of the Pool of Siloam, which is fed by the Gihon Springs. And they would take these living waters all the2:14 way back up the hill to the temple, and they would pour it out over the altar. And they would do it as a signifying God2:26 providing rain for the crops but also pouring out of His Holy Spirit upon the people. And it seems like it could have been at that very moment2:38 because Jesus spoke up while they're at the Feast of Tabernacles. And we read about it in John 7 30 seven-thirty 8, and He says this: Let anyone who is2:50 thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from them. By this, he meant3:02 the Spirit. So in this context of the outpouring of the water on the altar as a symbol of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,3:14 Jesus says, All who are thirsty come to me, the source of living waters. On the last great day of the feast, Jesus also,3:26 it seems that He made another proclamation. Now keep in mind, during these 3 great feasts of Israel, they would have tens of thousands, maybe even3:38 hundreds of thousands, of Jewish pilgrims come up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is just full and overrunning with people. They're camped out all around the city because there's not enough room in3:50 the city, in the houses and the rooms there for the people. And so on the great temple mount are all of these magnificent menorahs that are lit, and they shine4:01 throughthey light up the whole city of Jerusalem during these festivities. And so Jesus then proclaims in the midst of this, I am the4:13 light of the world. So, now moving on then in John 8, it continues. It seems like it's a continuation. Jesus is still in4:25 Jerusalem. The Feast of Tabernacles might be over or coming to an end, but he ends up in this debate and this confrontation. So he has declared to the4:37 people that he is the light of the world. And then he ends up in a very heated conversation with the rabbis. And he tells them, you4:49 know, like if you believed me, then you would know the truth, and the truth would set you free. And the response is, But we're the descendants of Abraham. We're not5:00 slaves to anybody. And then so Jesus replies and says, If you were really Abraham's sons, you would do as Abraham did. And5:12 sort of saying, He believed in me. He would believe me because He knows the Father, and you don't. So then they say, What do you mean? We're not illegitimate5:24 sons. And at this point, you have to take a pause. There may have been a real jab here at Jesus Himself as an illegitimate son, the son of Mary who didn't have5:36 a father. So they say, We're not illegitimate. And then He says to them, Why is he don't understand what I'm telling you? Because you belong to your father,5:48 the devil. So now it's like you're not sons of Abraham. You're sons of the devil. He's the liar and the father of lies. And I'm telling you the truth. And if you6:00 knew the father, if you were a son of Abraham, you would know that, and you would believe me, and you would follow me. And he says, Whoever belongs to God hears God. The reason you don't hear me is that6:12 you do not belong to God, and whoever obeys my word will never see death. And at that, they didn't say he was illegitimate. They said, You are demon possessed. So6:24 this is how heated this argument becomes. And then Jesus reasserts His eternity. He said, you know, Whoever obeys6:35 my word will not see death. And they just get all up in arms about. So then He goes on, and he says, Your father Abraham, he rejoiced at the6:47 thought of seeing my day, and he was glad in it. And then he says, Before Abraham was even born, I am. Wow!6:59 That was a declaration of Jesus' eternal existence before Abraham and His ability to give eternal life to those who follow Him. And so7:11 at this, they perceive this to be total blasphemy. To say that I AM was declaring His divinity, and so they took up stones to stone7:23 Him. Now, we enter into a part of the story that's really quite phenomenal. So what does Jesus do? So he says to them, As long as it's day,7:35 we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no 1 can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.7:48 And then he comes across this blind man, And so he spits into the mud. He creates mud. He puts it on the guy's eyes, and he tells him, Go wash in8:00 the pool of Siloam. Now, this is very interesting. The guy's blind. You're going to make him walk all the way from probably the temple down the hill through all the crowds, the8:12 marketplace to go to this busy pool of Siloam and wash his eyes. Why would Jesus do that? I think the Bible doesn't tell us this. I think it was8:23 so that the crowds would see him walking through the city with mud on his eyes. They're like, What are you doing? Well, this man put mud on my eyes and told me to go wash. And they may8:35 have even started following him, but it was, I think, it was for the crowds to see this. The man goes down, he stumbles down to the pool of Siloam, he washes, and he is healed.8:48 And the message is thisthat after dealing with the blind Pharisees and those that argued with him, Jesus said, I am the light of the world.8:59 And then He healed a blind man. Now, the Pharisees go, and they question the man's parents. They don't want to get involved because they know they'll get kicked out of the9:11 synagogue. In other words, they will be excommunicated from the people of Israel. And sure enough, after the pharisees questioned the man who had been healed, he was excommunicated.9:23 He was kicked out of the synagogue. Now isn't that amazing? Here's been this tremendous miracle. All these people have seen this miracle. They've seen this man for years blind.9:36 And instead of rejoicing over it and letting the man have his moment, they excommunicate him. They punish him because he was healed. So Jesus tells9:48 them, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind. So Jesus has10:00 brought this whole discourse to a climax that I've come to judge the world, and I'm going to help the blind to see. But those who see, the Pharisees,10:12 the leaders that are arguing with Him, will become blind. So once again, it's the principle we talked about last week that if you have ears to hear, if you really want to know,10:24 the Holy Spirit will open your ears, will open your heart, will open your eyes. But if you do not want to see, then you're going to be blinded to the truth.10:35 It's spiritually discerned here. And so this is such an amazing interaction of Jesus here with the people. Then it goes onwe're now into John 10. All of this is10:47 a whole series of stories here in John And Jesus tells them, I am the good shepherd. Well, first He tells them, I'm the gate to the sheep10:59 pen. I'm the way you get into the sheep pen. And then the sheep in the pen, if they are my sheep, they know my voice, and they'll follow me. They'll follow me out of the sheep pen11:11 because they know my voice. But if you don't understand me, if you don't know my voice, then you're not of my sheep. But then he goes on here, and in verse sixteenI wanted to bring11:23 this out because he's talking about you and me. And Jesus says this, you know, I'm the good shepherd. My sheep know my voice. And then he says, I have other sheep that are not11:35 of this sheep pen, and I must bring them also. So Jesus is, first of all, getting His voice out to the Jewish people. Who11:47 hears His voice? Who receives it into their heart? Who sees and has their eyes opened by the Spirit? They're His sheep. They know His voice. They know He's revealing the11:58 Father to them, and so they will follow Him. But then He says, I've got other sheep outside of this sheep pen, and that's where you and I come in.12:10 We're out in the nations. We're gentiles, and He's going to come after us. And if we'll recognize His voice, if we will have our eyes, our spiritual12:22 eyes open like the blind man, then we will hear His voice and follow Him and become part of His sheepfold. Our second holiday this week thatJesus and the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah) 12:34 we're reading about is Hanukkah. And Jesus comes back to Jerusalem for the festival of dedication. We read about it in John12:46 10. So Hanukkah is the celebration of what had just happened about 150 years earlier when the Maccabean Revolt defeated the Greek12:57 Seleucid forces led by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. And they had seized control of the temple, and they rededicated it to the God of Israel. Now I want to put this13:09 in context. Abraham is almost 2000 years before Jesus. David, the kingdom of David, is a13:21 thousand years before the time of Jesus. And, the wandering in the wilderness would have been like 1400 years earlier than Jesus.13:33 So we're talking about the celebration of the passover was of a holiday that was like 1400 years earlier. The celebration of the feast of tabernacles was about the wilderness13:45 wanderings, which was about 1400 years earlier. But the feast of Hanukkah had only happened 150 years before. So it was a very fresh holiday, and13:57 it was a celebration of a revolt against the pagan Greek forces who had set up an idol in the temple. And they had cleansed the14:09 temple, rededicated it to the God of Israel, and it actually had launched a 100 year reign of Jewish sovereignty in the land. So this is a14:21 great celebration. So what does this mean? This means that the Jewish people in Jerusalem celebrating the feast of dedication, which today we call it Hanukkah, that they14:33 are looking for the 1 who will lead their revolt against the godless pagan Roman Empire that is oppressing them, brutalizing them, and14:44 taxing them. You get it? So Jesus shows up in Jerusalem, and what do they ask Him? Are you the 1? Are you the anointed 1, the14:56 Messiah, the Christ? They want to know because if He is, it's time now. Let's revolt. And Jesus says, I've already told you, and I've been demonstrating it15:08 all along with all these miracles. And then He says, I and the Father are 1. And this was taken as blasphemy by the leaders. And15:20 so they took up stones and tried to stone Jesus. So it didn't go so well, but Jesus wasn't wanting to lead a revolt against Rome. You get it? But He was revealing15:31 who He was for those who had ears to hear and those who had eyes to see. So Jesus has to leave Jerusalem and leave the area entirely. So Jesus is15:43 ministering now outside of the area in a region called Perea, and He gets word that His friend Lazarus has died in Bethany. And so He15:55 goes to Bethany, and we all know the story. We've heard it so many times in our life that Jesus goes to the grave, and He weeps over Lazarus, and then He calls him out of16:07 his grave. And Lazarus comes out wrapped in the grave clothes, and he's been raised from the dead. Well, there's 2 things that I want to mention16:19 here. 1 is that later in life after Jesus' ascension to heaven and the scattering of the apostles, legend has itor16:31 traditionthat Lazarus had to flee Judea like they all did, and he ended up in Cyprus. And he lived there for like another 30 years. And so when you go to Cyprus,16:43 there is a church there built over what they believe to be the tomb of Lazarus. And, Lazarus, I think it says something like, the only person to die a16:55 second time or Lazarus' second tomb is there in Cyprus. But it's a pretty strong tradition because they believe that17:06 the location of the tomb was lost after the Arab Muslim invasion in the seventh century AD. And then 2 centuries later, it was17:18 uncovered. They found a tomb, and on it, it said, Lazarus, 4 days dead, friend of Christ. And so the remains that were in that tomb were taken17:30 to Constantinople, which was the headquarters of the Eastern church at the time. And so I don't know where they are today, but it's a strong tradition about Lazarus that he17:42 did die again later on there in Cyprus. The second thing I want to point out is what the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead did, that it actually17:54 resultedthe Sanhedrin decided now that they needed to kill Jesus because why? The crowds. The word was spreading rapidly that Jesus, this Jesus from18:06 Nazareth, had raised this man Lazarus from the dead. And so it's becoming a real movement, a real flurry of interest in this Jesus.18:18 And the Sanhedrin realizes they have a problem on their hands. And we have to understand the context of that problem living under Roman oppression. And the18:30 role of the Sanhedrin was to be a kind of self government for the Jewish people but a body that reported to Rome. The high priest was head of the18:42 Sanhedrin. He reported to Rome. Rome actually appointed the high priest. And this is why the Essene movement didn't want to have anything to do with the priests of the temple because because it was18:54 a political appointment now. It was no longer a position of holiness, and it had been corrupted politically. So the Sanhedrin was trying19:06 to keep down any kind of revolt or rebellion against Rome. And so they said it's time to get rid of this man. And the high priest actually said,19:18 So what if 1 man dies on behalf of the nation? Meaning, if they don't kill the 1 man, Rome will wipe them all out. It will lead to disaster. And19:30 of course, they ended up killing the 1 man. Then later on, Rome came in anyway and wiped out the nation. But that's what was going on here. The second thing that's very19:41 interesting is not only did they plot to kill Jesus, they plotted to kill Lazarus because so many Jews were now believing about this miracle. So once again, Jesus has to19:53 get out of the area. He goes to the area called Ephraim. Now, but the third holiday is approaching, and it's Passover.The Raising of Lazarus and Its Consequences 20:06 Jesus begins to make his way to Jerusalem. Now everybody is looking for Jesus in Jerusalem because the pilgrims are beginning to enter the city. I think there were over20:18 100000 pilgrims that would come into the city during the holidays, and they're looking around. Where is He? Is He here? Is He coming? And there is an arrest warrant out that20:30 anyone that should see this Jesus to let them know because they are going to arrest Him. And Jesus knows this, but Jesus comes to Bethany anyway to his good friends20:42 of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. And he has a dinner there. And then the next day begins the triumphant entry into Jerusalem,20:54 where Jesus rides on a lowly colt and enters the city. And the people are taking up palm branches, and they're quoting that famous psalm. Psalm21:05 eighteen:one, and it says, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And the people said, Blessed is the king21:18 of Israel. This is in John 12 13. So they are proclaiming Jesus as King, and there are thousands of people out welcoming Him to the city. Now we're21:29 gonna read more about this Passover week next week. What I want to do is stop here in our story and make a few observations before we close. Number 1,21:41 Jesus was an observant Jew who went to Jerusalem for the holidays. Now it was forgivable if you didn't make it to every single 1, but we have21:53 here enough stories to see he made the effort to go there to many of them. Secondly, while there in Jerusalem, he was in close proximity22:05 to the Sanhedrin, to the chief priest, to the elders, and the leading rabbis. Of course, out in the country, there's rabbis everywhere. There are local rabbis. But here, you're22:17 talking about the leadership, the national leadership, and the religious leadership. So he's rubbing elbows with them. There's a lot of interaction, and that's why there's so many confrontations22:29 during this place. The chief priests, the elders, the rabbis, they're questioning Jesus' authority. So Jesus responded with what? Out of Psalm22:41 118. And this is a really clever little response. He says, Have you ever read in the scriptures? No. Get the sarcasm here. These are experts of the law.22:53 These are the chief priests, the elders. They not only read the Scriptures, they memorize the Scriptures. So to say, Have you read in the Scriptures where it says, The stone the builders23:05 rejected has become the cornerstone. I want to bring this out to you because some people read this section of Scripture, and they interpret23:17 it that Jesus is condemning the Jewish faith. He's condemning the Jewish people, the Jewish nation. He's saying the Jewish people have rejected me. And I want us to23:28 put this in context because a few verses later, it says that they knewthe leaders, the chief priests, the rabbis, the elders knew He was talking about them.23:41 This was not against the nation as a whole, the people as a whole. This was against the leadership that was rejecting Him and was looking for a way to arrest Him.23:52 Why? Because they were afraid of the crowds. And this leads me to my third point. While Jesus is in Jerusalem for these holidays, it24:04 became dangerous for Him because there were so many Jews who did believe in him. And, you know, we often hear the generalization that the Jewish24:16 people rejected Jesus. Well, that's not really accurate. There were more Jewish people that accepted Jesus and believed Him and followed Him than there were24:28 that outright rejected Him and had Him crucified. It was the top leadership that rejected Him, and they had selfish motives. They had political motives. They, you know,24:40 they were self preservationwhatever their motives were. It was a combination of things. And they had to put this down. They had to make sure the people did not proclaim24:52 somebody as king and that Rome would come in and stomp on all of them. So you have all these thousands of people hailing Jesus as king as He enters theJesus' Triumphal Entry and His Heart for Jerusalem 25:03 city. And then when Jesus entered Jerusalem, Matthew twenty-one 10 said the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is this?' In John 12 19, the25:15 Pharisees said, Look how the whole world has gone after Him. Mark 11 18, the chief priests and teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill Him. For25:27 they feared Him, because the whole crowd was amazed at His teaching. And Luke 19 48, They could not find any way to25:39 do it because all the people hung on His words. So I want us to get the right context here. Many thousands25:51 of Jewish people did believe Jesus and were proclaiming Him as King, but that was the problem. And that's why the few, the leaders, felt that they needed26:03 to step in. And the fourth point that I want to end with today is about Jesus' heart for His people. And we read that in26:15 2 different sections that we're reading this week. So I want to read to you Luke 19 40 one-forty 4. As he26:26 approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you26:38 peace, but now it's hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every26:49 side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave 1 stone on another because you did not recognize27:01 the time of God's coming to you. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He said, If only you had recognized what27:13 would bring you peace, but instead you're blinded. Your eyes are blinded. And then He begins to predict the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple that will come. But this is27:25 Jesus' heart for His people. He wept over them. And we also read in Luke He said, Jerusalem,27:37 Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her27:49 chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I will tell you, you will not see me again28:01 until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' What is Jesus saying here? He's saying the people had28:13 already proclaimed, Blessed are you who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. So he's not speaking against the whole nation as a28:24 whole. He is speaking here to the leaders of Jerusalem, and he's saying, If only you had recognized as much as I wanted to gather you under my wings,28:36 but you were not willing. And look, your house has left you desolate. Is he talking about the house? What house? Well, the temple is going to be desolate,28:49 But he's telling them, I tell you, you speaking to a Jewish Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem, you will not see me again until29:00 you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' He is saying prophetically here, I'm not coming back until you welcome me as29:12 king, and you say, 'Baruch haba beshem Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Come, King of Israel.'29:24 1 day this is going to happen, and this is when Jesus returns to Jerusalem.Closing Reflections and Call to Action 29:32 We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael. Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, pray dot29:44 com, Salem 1 Place, Salem Life Audio. Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA. All rights reserved.In this video 0:00 Jesus and the Feast of Tabernacles12:30 Jesus and the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah)19:55 The Raising of Lazarus and Its Consequences25:00 Jesus' Triumphal Entry and His Heart for Jerusalem29:30 Closing Reflections and Call to Action
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