The highlight of each year for members of the United Church of God
is the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. Among the sacred feasts God revealed
to ancient Israel, this festival, which falls in autumn in the northern
hemisphere, lasts seven days and is immediately followed by a separate
but related festival on the eighth day (Leviticus 23:34,36,39). This
eight-day period remains an occasion for God's servants to come together
for spiritual instruction and renewal.
Meeting in regional locations around the world, families gather to picture
the "world to come" (see Hebrews 2:5-7), which will begin immediately
after the return of Christ to earth. The theme of the Feast of Tabernacles
is Jesus' millennial reign.
Members of the Church gather annually to keep this commanded festival
as a foretaste of the time spoken of by the prophet Isaiah: "Now it
shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come
and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall
walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem.
"He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:2-4). This eternal vision becomes a tangible
reality in the minds of our members during this annual autumn event.
