Feast of Booths: what it means for us Christians today

Good day friends,

On Sunday, I was opportune to partake in a Joy festival along with other members of Covenant Christian Center and others. It was hosted by Pastor Poju Oyemade and Minister Nathaniel Bassey. Pastor Wole Adesanya (Leader of Covenant Connect) and the Covenant Christian Center Choir opened the festival of thanks giving. It was a time of congregational praise as preached by the Senior Pastor. One of the scriptures he used in preaching was:

Psalm 52: 9  God, I will always thank you for the things that you have done. As I stand before godly people, I will proclaim that you are good (OR, the many good things you have done for us).

Psalm 89: 1 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

There are many things we can give thanks to God for, as the popular song goes, 'a thousand tongues would not be enough' to praise God. Amongst the many reasons to praise, I am awed the most by one singular reason: That I and every other saint in the world have been given the free gift of Salvation.

Listening to Minister Nathaniel Bassey's testimony, I was encouraged to hear and later on meditate on how that due to him not only being in Christ, but also by God's mercy him being able to obey God's (difficult) instructions helped in saving His wife's life. Glory to God!

Now, our Salvation in Christ can be likened to the Israelites salvation from Egypt. And for their deliverance, God instituted the old covenant and many festivals amongst others, as statutes to keep the children of Israel in remembrance of all His mighty works. One of such festivals is the festival of booths:

Leviticus 23: 42  Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43  That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

This feast had to do with the children of Israel dwelling in booths so that the 'generations' may know that the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt and they dwelt in booths.

The goal of these festivals was to ensure that people do not forget the mighty works of God and thus become unthankful. It is easy to forget as one generation moves to another generation, if there is no exchange of knowledge between the old generation and the new generation. This idea can also be likened to that of mentorship, where the older generation in a profession passes knowledge to the coming generation in order to ensure continuity and growth of that profession.

Nehemiah also and the children of Israel celebrated this festival when they came out of their captivity.

Nehemiah 8: 14 And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: note
15  And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
16  So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
17  And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.

Nehemiah was very careful to practice everything the law of Moses dictated. Leading a country that had just come out of a long captivity due to the errors of a past generation in not doing the same (keeping the law) most have fuelled his zeal. 

Searching through biblical history books we see that it is a lack of continuance of practice from one generation to the next that led to the break down of compliance with the law. In some cases, the new generation forgot about God, while in other instances the new generation remembered God and His mighty works. Leadership was pivotal in all circumstances.

Thank God that by his mercy, we are not a generation that forgets him or his goodness, rather we are of those that:

Psa 30:4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness

Now, I haven't read anywhere in the new covenant or in the times and acts of the Apostles where the festival of booths was celebrated. That is, where people would use leaves to make booths and seat under it as the Israelites did. However, just like other old covenant statutes, they are useful to we of the new covenant when we understand the intention/motive of God behind enacting the statute.

Psalm 19: 8  The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart.

Hence, the idea behind the celebration of booths was to in my opinion, ensure that the people took out time as a congregation and remembered how the Lord had redeemed them and thus cause them to be thankful or full of gladness. We also of the new covenant can and do follow this pattern of taking out time, as a congregation, to thank God for our redemption through Christ Jesus being the lamb of God, who gave His life according to God's will for the sin of the world.

It is also as the Apostle Paul taught us to rejoice always:

Phillipians 4: 4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

I, by God's grace showed how we can always be rejoicing in all circumstances in an article titled: The Rejoicing Heart. In the article we were able to discuss how huge a sacrifice it was for God and Christ to pay for our salvation and how knowledge of this truth should cause us, His saints, to always be thankful.

The link is below:
https://ladismusing.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-rejoicing-heart.html

The aim of this article therefore, is to put us in remembrance following the example of Apostle Peter:

12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Thanks for reading.

Please be aware also that there would be another Joy meeting this coming Sunday, 4th of November, 2018. Stay tuned for more information as you plan to attend.

God bless us all and grant us His grace and peace in abundant measure in Christ Jesus, Amen.