When Will the Feast of Tabernacles Be Fulfilled?

Three Transforming Experiences - Part 18

Many have entered into the Outer Court experience of Salvation.

Fewer have entered into the Holy Place experiences of Sanctification and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Very few have qualified to enter into the Holy of Holies experience of Transfiguration.

Over the years, there have been forerunners in the Church who have pressed in and qualified to enter into the experience of the Holy of Holies and the Feast of Tabernacles. Those believers have been very few, and they stand out like shining lights in Church history.

But when will the entire Church be granted entrance into this experience?

In the fullness of time, Jesus died for all of us as the sacrificial Lamb of God, fulfilling the Feast of Passover and allowing the entire Church to enter into the Salvation experience. Fifty days later, the Holy Spirit descended upon 120 people gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, and the entire Church entered into the fullness of the Feast of Pentecost.

When will the fullness of time come when the Day of Atonement will be fulfilled? When will believers be evaluated as they were in Gideon’s time, and those very few who have prepared themselves and kept their garments without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27; James 1:27) enter into the Holy of Holies and finally experience the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles as their bodies are transfigured and filled with the manifested presence of Almighty God?

A key to pinpointing the time of the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles may lie in one detail that God specified for each of the three great feasts.

“Three times a year all your **males **shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) and at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and at the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. ”—Deuteronomy 16:16 (AMP)

“Thrice in the year shall all your **menchildren **appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.”—Exodus 34:23 (KJV)

“Three times in the year all your **males **shall appear before the Lord God.”—Exodus 23:17 (AMPC)

This Hebrew word for “males” or “menchildren” is only used 4 times in the Bible. It is not so much a term of gender as it is a term of maturity. Those who were to appear before the Lord in the times of the three great feasts were not immature children of the faith. They were not young adolescents still growing toward maturity. These were fully mature sons of God who were capable of conducting their father’s business in His name, carrying His authority.

These are the sons of God spoken of in Romans 8:19 that all of creation is groaning for in earnest anticipation.

“For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].” (AMPC)

“Now what I mean [when I talk about children and their guardians] is this: as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave even though he is the [future owner and] master of all [the estate]; but he is under [the authority of] guardians and household administrators or managers until the date set by his father [when he is of legal age].”—Galatians 4:1-2 (AMP)

The Mature Man of Passover

When the first great feast of Passover was fulfilled, there was only one man who met the qualifications of being a mature son of God who was able to conduct business on His Father’s behalf. That man was Jesus. As the command specified, He was to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses.”

The place that God chose for this man, Jesus, to appear before Him was Golgotha—the place of crucifixion.

“… and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.” Jesus did not appear empty-handed with nothing to offer. After a mighty struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus presented Himself before the Lord as the Lamb of God, ready to sacrifice His life so that all who believed might enter into Salvation.

The Mature “Men” of Pentecost

When the fullness of time came for the Feast of Pentecost to be fulfilled, 120 mature “men” presented themselves to God. For the fulfillment of this feast, the upper room in Jerusalem was “the place of God’s choosing.”

This should be an encouragement to all of us because these 120 disciples were men and women—not just men—who were of different chronological ages—some young, some older. In God’s eyes, they were all mature sons of God in the spirit who were fully able to be trusted with carrying out the business of their Father with His authority.

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”—Galatians 3:28 (NLT)

The Mature Man Child of Tabernacles

But will there be a group of mature “men” who will be presented to the Lord at the time of the fulfillment of the great Feast of Tabernacles? It makes sense that there will be since that was one of God’s requirements for each of the three great feasts.

“Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.”—Exodus 34:23 (KJV)

If that is true, does Scripture tells us of a time in the future when a group of mature believers will be presented to God at a place of His choosing?

Yes, Scripture describes this event in detail. This event occurs in Revelation chapter 12. In that chapter, there is a woman who is clothed with the sun (the glory of the Father), having the moon under her feet (the foundation of the New Covenant), and a crown of twelve stars on her head (Apostolic governing authority). This woman is the Church. For a more thorough explanation, please see my messages on Simple Keys to Understanding the Book of Revelation.

What is significant for us here is that out of this woman comes a “man child.”

“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” —Revelation 12:5 (KJV)

This “man child” is the group of mature men and women of God who are called to meet the requirement to be presented to the Lord at the time of the great feast of Tabernacles. This “man child” group comes from within the Church, but unlike other believers, they have pressed on to maturity and have qualified themselves to be presented to God as mature “sons of God” who are able to conduct the Father’s business on His behalf, carrying His authority.

We know that this “man child” is a group, rather than a single individual because every other reference to this “man child” is in the plural case.

It is the birth and catching up of this “man child” group of believers that causes Satan and all of those with him to finally lose all access to the heavens and to be bound to the Earth as this group of believers reclaims all of the authority that Adam turned over to Satan when he sinned in the Garden of Eden.

*“*And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”—Revelation 12:7-11 (KJV)

The word “they” in Revelation 12:11 refers to this “man child” group of believers who is caught up to the throne of God.

We can find out more about this group of believers by taking note of how they are described. As we cross-reference their characteristics with other Scriptures in which the same characteristics are mentioned, we can discover more about who this “man child” group is.

When the “man child” group is first mentioned, Revelation 12:5 tells us that they are to “rule all nations with a rod of iron.” This phrase comes directly from Jesus’ description of the Overcomer in Revelation 2:26-27:

“And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, **to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; **They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father” (NKJV)

Jesus dictated seven letters to seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Each letter was a message to an entire church, but within each message was a special message “to him who overcomes.” These Overcomers are within each church, but unlike the rest of the believers, these Overcomers press in to apprehend all that God has for them. On the Day of Atonement, these Overcomers will be judged worthy to enter into the fullness of the Feast of Tabernacles experience, and just like a child being delivered from within its mother, these Overcomers will emerge as the Man Child company to be presented to the Lord Himself in His throne room.

After this Man Child group is caught up to be presented before the throne of God, we see them again in Revelation chapter 7, standing before the throne of God.

I know what you’re thinking. “Wait a minute! If the Man Child group was not caught up until chapter 12, how can they already be standing in front of God’s throne in chapter 7?”

That’s a very good question! The answer is that the book of Revelation is not one long chronological narrative. The book is divided in half.

Basically, the first half of the book gives an overview of the main events. Then, in chapters 12-22, God fills in the details for us, focusing on the particular roles of the main characters in this drama. All of the details that are described in the last half of the book could be taken back and inserted into specific points of the overview given in the first half of the book. For a more detailed explanation, you can take a look at my article, The Book of Revelation is Divided in Half.

So, after the Man Child company of Overcomers is caught up to the throne of God, we see them again in chapter 7:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands”—Revelation 7:9 (NKJV)

In this moment, John saw the fulfillment of all three of God’s requirements for the last great Feast of Tabernacles:

“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) and at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and at the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.”— Deuteronomy 16:16 (AMP)

In order to fulfill God’s requirements, these mature “males” in the spirit had to:

Appear before the Lord
In the place which He chooses,
And they must not be empty-handed.

We see in Revelation 7:9 that this Man Child group will (1) appear before the Lord (2) in the place which God chooses, which in this case is in front of God’s throne, and (3) they are not empty-handed. When they appear before God’s throne, they have palm branches in their hands. What is the significance of the palm branches?

The palm branches are a sign to us that this truly is the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles because God had instructed Israel to use palm branches to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles:

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord… . And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.”—Leviticus 23:34-41 (NKJV)

Palm branches were also specified when the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles was reinstated under the guidance of Ezra.

“And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”—Nehemiah 8:14-15 (NKJV)

So this group of believers stands before the throne of God in fulfillment of the great Feast of Tabernacles, but how do we know that this group is really the Overcomers that Jesus singled out in His messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3?

One of the twenty-four elders who was seated around the throne of God (See Revelation 4:4.) clarifies that for us.

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’

And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’

So he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.’”—Revelation 7:13-15 (NKJV)

By their descriptions here, we can know that these are the same Overcomers that Jesus spoke of in His letter to the church in Sardis. This group is “arrayed in white robes,” just as Jesus described the Overcomers in His letter to Sardis.

“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”—Revelation 3:4-5 (NKJV)

The elder also tells John that these believers “serve Him day and night in His temple.” That is also what Jesus said of the Overcomers in His letter to the church in Philadelphia:

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God”—Revelation 3:12

We can also be certain that this is the Man Child group of Revelation 12:5 because the elder tells John that, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation.”

The Man Child company of Overcomers is the only group of believers that will come out of the Great Tribulation when they are caught up to the throne of God before the Antichrist is revealed in the next chapter of Revelation. We are clearly told in Revelation 12:14 that the Sun-Clothed Woman (the main body of the Church) will *not *be raptured out of the Tribulation but will instead be guided into the wilderness where she will be protected and nourished there for the length of the Great Tribulation period.

Fulfilled in Secret

But there is one more requirement for the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Tabernacles is fulfilled in secret. The Holy of Holies is spoken of in Scripture as God’s “secret place” (Psalm 27:5). In the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, those who are judged worthy to participate will enter into God’s secret place to experience transfiguration.

When it was time for Jesus to experience the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in His own life, He only took those closest to Him up into the mount of transfiguration. He did not share this experience with the rest of the disciples.

And again, when Jesus appeared in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, He appeared secretly.

“But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, … after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, ‘Where is he?’”— John 7:2-11 (NIV)

How will the Feast of Tabernacles be fulfilled in secret?

It is encouraging to see that the Man Child company of Overcomers who qualify to experience the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles is a very large group of believers. It will not just be a handful of super saints who are supremely gifted. So there is hope for all of us not-so-gifted, not-so-super saints to qualify!

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands”—Revelation 7:9 (NKJV)

But how can this Man Child company—this “great multitude which no one could number”—possibly be caught up to God’s throne, all at the same time, in secret?

The answer to this question may lie in what happens immediately before these Overcomers are caught up to God’s throne. We see this Man Child company standing before the throne of God in Revelation chapter 7, but in Revelation chapter 6, the last thing that happens is that the sixth seal is opened which triggers a cataclysmic event that is unparalleled in world history. A great earthquake rocks the entire Earth with such violence that every island and every mountain are moved out of their places. Can you imagine the devastation this will cause? Infrastructures of cities across the globe will be demolished. This may be a time of unprecedented chaos around the world.

Under cover of this event, it may be very easy for God to summon all of the Overcomers to His throne room without the rest of the Church even realizing what has happened. There may be so many people missing at that time because of the earthquake, that people may assume that the Overcomers have been victims of the catastrophe.

What is the Purpose?

But the main purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles is not to provide an escape for the Man Child. The main purpose is to equip them for ministry.

We are told that the Sun-Clothed Woman (the Church) will be nourished and cared for on Earth during the 3½ years of the Great Tribulation Period.

*“*But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”—Revelation 12:14 (NKJV)

Since the Church will need so much care during the Tribulation period, who is going to be given the responsibility of providing this care and nourishment for these Holy Place believers—the foolish virgins of Matthew 25—who did not qualify to participate in the Feast of Tabernacles experience? We are told a few verses earlier that there will be a group who will be tasked with the responsibility of nourishing and caring for this woman during the 3½ years of the Great Tribulation period.

*“*She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, **that they should feed her there **one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”—Revelation 12:5-6 (NKJV)

The “they” in that passage is understood to be the Man Child company of Overcomers because there is no one else mentioned in the details of this narrative except the Dragon, and the Dragon (Satan) is certainly not going to nourish the Church!

The Man Child company of Overcomers is not caught up to God’s throne to stay there. They are there to be transfigured, equipped, and commissioned. Then they are sent back to nourish and minister to the needs of the rest of the Church during the 3½ years of the Great Tribulation period.

The Church age began with the 3½ years of Jesus’ ministry, and it will close with 3½ years of the ministry of His Bride. The 3½ years of the Bride’s ministry during the Great Tribulation will be the greatest, most powerful, most miraculous ministry in the history of the world! This will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in John 14:12:

*“*Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (NIV)

The main question now is, will you qualify to be included in this Man Child company of Overcomers and to stand before God in His throne room?

Jesus is speaking to you directly about this in Luke 21:36. After describing the events of the Great Tribulation period to His disciples, He gives this exhortation:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (NKJV)