Go Up to the Feast

by Jim Franks

The Feast of Tabernacles is the single most anticipated event of the year in the Church of God, but it is only one of the festivals that God has commanded us to keep. In God’s plan of salvation, it is difficult (actually impossible) to label one festival as more important than another.

What if there was no Passover? How can anyone be saved without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? What about the Days of Unleavened Bread? If we fail to remove sin from our lives, we have no hope of being in the family of God. Pentecost is the founding of the Church, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the sealing of the firstfruits all rolled into one.

The Feast of Trumpets pictures the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints. The Day of Atonement pictures the putting away of Satan and the reconciliation of man with God.

The sixth festival is the Feast of Tabernacles, which pictures the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth with His saints and those who survived the horrible events that take place just before and during the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Millennium is followed by a period of judgment. This is the eighth day, or, as we have traditionally referred to it, the Last Great Day. It is the final day of judgment for all mankind. It is only after this is complete that we have the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan—the Kingdom of God, His family and His government for all eternity.

It should be clear that every one of God’s festivals serves a unique and necessary purpose in the process that we refer to as the plan of salvation. This is why we are commanded to observe all seven of the festivals. Interestingly, the term often used in Scripture is to “go up to the Feast.”

In Exodus 34:24 God instructed Israel that they were to “go up” to the festivals and while they were away He promised that no man would covet their land. They were to “go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.” The festivals were extremely important, and the Israelites were told to leave behind their farms, but not to worry—God would protect them.

We are told in Zechariah 14:16 that during the Millennium all nations “shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” Once again, the term is to “go up to keep the Feast.”

Christ told His brothers in John 7:8 that they should “go up to this Feast,” but that He was not yet “going up to this Feast.” We know that Christ did go up to the Feast, even at threat of losing His life. He went up in secret and then appeared publicly at the halfway point.

What does this term “go up to the Feast” have to do with anything? The term actually has both a physical and a spiritual aspect to it. Physically, in order to go to Jerusalem for the Feast, you have to “go up.” The elevation of Jerusalem is considerably higher than any of the surrounding countryside. Jerusalem is 2,550 feet above sea level and just 20 miles south is the Dead Sea, which is 1,380 feet below sea level. Traveling into the city of old Jerusalem requires that you physically “go up.”

But there is more to it than just the physical concept of going up. It is also a fact that God selected one Mount Moriah for the location of the temple. Today it is known as the “Temple mount.” Going up to the temple was a religious experience. Going up to the Feast is also a religious experience. Notice Zechariah 14:16 again. The nations are instructed to “go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Each year we must make our physical plans to “go up” to the Feast. For all of us, it is a journey; and for some of us, it is a long journey. It requires that we pay attention to the physical details necessary to travel to the Feast site of our choice. In making our physical plans for the Feast, we must be sure we do not forget the reason we make this journey in the first place. It isn’t to sightsee or visit an interesting part of the world; it is to worship the King, the Lord of hosts. The Feast must always be, first and foremost, a spiritual activity.

I want to wish all of you a wonderful, spiritual Feast of Tabernacles. Don’t forget the reason we “go up” to the Feast year after year!