Kehilat HaCarmel, October 16, 2019
As we are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, I was thinking of a well-known verse that relates to this holiday "On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old" (Amos 9:11).
In the Jewish tradition, this promise means that when Redemption (Messiah) will come, the Kingdom of David will be restored to Israel. We can see that the fulfillment of this promise has already begun in an event that happened in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago. In the Book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to seek counsel from the elders regarding the question, "Is the salvation of the Gentiles related to the keeping of the Torah?" Peter then told of God's workings among the Gentiles, and Paul and Barnabas shared their additional experiences with the council.
Then James, one of the original twelve, now a prominent leader among the apostles, responded, "Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
‘After this I will return
And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins,
And I will set it up;
So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
Says the Lord who does all these things’” (Acts 15:14-17).
At this Feast of Tabernacles, we remember that God expanded the family in the Succah (Tabernacle) of God to include Jews and Gentiles, one new man together in Messiah Yeshua.
~~ Dani Sayag, Lead Pastor