“You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days…” Deuteronomy 16:13
The Feast of Booths reminded God’s people that when they came out of Egypt, they lived in tents or booths in the desert for forty years. You’re living in a wonderful house in the Promised Land, so live in a booth for one week a year to remind you that this earth is not your home: “You shall dwell in booths for seven days” (Lev. 23:42).
One day this tent, which is your body, will be destroyed, but that won’t be the end of you. Paul says, “If the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1).
John Bunyan spent twelve years in prison for preaching the gospel. When he was finally released, Bunyan had much to teach about how to endure difficulties. This is what he wrote in 1685: “Sometimes I look upon myself and say, ‘Where am I now?’ I give myself this answer: ‘I am in an evil world, a great way from heaven.’ But then I turn the tables, and say, ‘But where shall I be shortly? I shall see myself with Jesus.’”
Where am I now? Where will I be soon? I am in the booth, but soon I will be in the city. I live in this fallen world, but soon I will be with Jesus.
The Feast of Booths reminds us that this world is not our home. It points to the second coming of Jesus, and the great inheritance that will be ours on that day. Christ will bring you home, and when he does, “you will be altogether joyful” (Dt. 16:15). That’s worth celebrating!
Are you treating this world as if it’s your permanent home or your temporary home?
