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Merry Christmas??


This year, according to the lunar (moon) calendar, there is a full moon on October 1, 2020. So, what’s the big deal? Well, God operates on a lunar calendar! The Jewish people follow this same moon cycle. Here’s my point: following this full moon, the Jewish people will be celebrating Sukkot or “The Festival of Booths” or the "Festival of Tabernacles."

Sukkot is a weeklong Jewish holiday that begins this Friday after sundown. Sukkot celebrates the gathering of the harvest and commemorates the miraculous protection God provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. Sukkot is the only festival associated with an explicit commandment to rejoice.

God commanded them to celebrate this festival and gave the instructions to Moses on how it is to be observed. In Leviticus 23:33-34 and 42-43, it says, “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…Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”

There is another blessing that God gave to us that I feel is closely related to this command to celebrate Sukkot. And it deals with our holiday of Christmas. I firmly believe that this time-frame surrounding Sukkot is the actual time period that Jesus was born. I can’t help, but go back to John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God literally came to earth “in the flesh” and dwelled here at a very specific time in human history and not just any random time. God is not haphazard, nor does He do things on a whim. God is strategic and has historically worked His plans simultaneously to go along with the Jewish festivals.

For example, when Jesus was crucified and sacrificed for us, the sequence of events leading to the cross followed each step of the celebration of the Jewish festival of Passover. When Jesus died on the cross, it “just so happened” that this was the very hour that the Priests would begin sacrificing the lambs in the Temple on behalf of the Jewish people. Coincidence? Absolutely not!! Symbolism at its finest. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! He became the true sacrificial lamb of Passover.

I don’t think Sukkot is any different. I think God’s appearing in Jesus to “dwell amongst us” would come during the festival of “dwelling” which is Sukkot. So, knowing God parallels many Jewish festival events, how can we not “miss” that passage of John 1:14 that he “became flesh” and “made his dwelling” amongst us? That “dwelling time” cannot be any other festival other than Sukkot.

The word “dwell” means He “tabernacled” or “resided.” Typically, God would dwell within a plume of clouds or a pillar of fire in the Old Testament. Now, in the New Testament, He reveals himself, physically, in the form of Jesus the Son. When did this “revelation” happen? When Jesus was born and entered this human world. This is why I believe Jesus was born during the festival of Sukkot instead of the traditional December 25th that we normally recognize as His birth.

No wonder the town was so crowded and there was “no room in the Inn” for Mary and Joseph. Yes, there was a Census going on, but the Jews were also caught up in the festivities of Sukkot. Little did they know that their long-awaited Messiah was coming to dwell with them.

So, to me, I am comfortable saying “Merry Christmas” this time of year…during the Jewish celebration of Sukkot that we can exclaim, “Jesus is born” and now “dwells with us in the flesh.” This is why the ultimate celebration of Sukkot is knowing that God came to earth and revealed himself in Jesus to be our Savior. Our Messiah. Our Christ.

It was His plan, all along, for Jesus to experience life as “one of us” and to know “what it is like” to be human in order to save us. It is still God’s desire to have a personal, loving and intimate relationship with you. It is still God’s desire to save and redeem you.

His ultimate desire is that, as He continues to reveal Himself, you would recognize His presence and respond to His call by accepting His grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. And once you understand this, you will accept His Son, Jesus Christ as Savior. Will you recognize God and allow Him to dwell within you this Sukkot? I hope you will! And, by the way….once again….Merry Christmas!

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