Harvest Festival Gatherings

God has always had appointed times and seasons. Pentecost (Feast of weeks - Shavuot) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths - Sukkot) were 2 ancient holy “convocations” that God appointed for all His people. The Hebrew word for convocation is “miqrae” which can be described as something called out, a public meeting. But these two gatherings are not just any public meetings, they are “holy” set apart for Gods special use.

The feasts were public callings for anyone to come and worship the Lord and they are significant in Gods redemptive plan both under the old covenant and the new covenant, as the calling of God is without revocation, as they are pictures of the work of God in Jesus.

Pentecost, or Shavuot, is believed by many Jewish scholars to be the day when God gave the law on Mount Sinai. God through the giving of the law is unapproachable, yet His law is irrevocable as it is His holy standard. But God gave a prophetic indication that this significant date would forever be fulfilled with the coming of the Holy Spirit as the prophet Jeremiah told of the time when God would write His law on their minds and they would be God’s people and He would be their God.

The fulfillment of this occurs in Acts when God pours out His Spirit on His people, and the church is born, 50 days after Jesus fulfills the first appointed festival, the feast of Passover, as the lamb slain for the sins of Gods people.

It is significant to note, when the church is born that there are tongues of fire and people hear the word of God in “their native tongue”. This is the empowering Jesus told His disciples to wait for to be His witnesses. The ability to be witnesses to others “in their native tongue”.

This gathering of the called out ones called the church is a reversal of the tower of Babel, where God confuses all the peoples languages because of their being united in their rebellion. He now gathers and empowers His people to speak with “one voice to glorify God” as the “one new man” united in Christ.

The feast of Tabernacles celebrates Gods dwelling, “tabernacles” with His people in their time away from their heavenly home until they get there. Zechariah the prophet tells of a time when every nation from around the world will come during the feast of Tabernacles to Jerusalem, where the Messiah reigns, and those that do not will not receive the blessing of rain for future harvest, they will be barren, outside of receiving Gods blessings.

The public nature of the call of God to be a unified witness stands as the appointed time. Holy convocations are a call to a unity that witnesses God is at work in the midst of His people. A sign that Gods people are holy, set apart, for His purposes that calls others to Him regardless of their native tongue, their heart language, they see God as Lord over all, and not some regional god of a particular nation. Apart from this unified witness, Gods glory is stymied as the world doesnt see revealed the holy God, Triune, Father, Son and Spirit, in His Church.