From Wilderness to Wedding - Feast of Sukkot 2025

Adam and Eve fell, and with them the entire world. They were cast out of Eden into a fallen garden. Their children started murdering one another and even the animals started devouring one another. It seemed as if evil conquered the day as this new world emerged. A world that promises health, wealth, peace, security and happiness. Happiness. As long as you fall in line with the ways of the world. And falling in line, it feels easy to your fallen flesh. Eat, drink, sin, be merry, they say. And our journey with the world begins. Promising. The wealth that was promised perishes. Our health fades. Peace departs. And what was to fulfill us is found to only leave us more empty. And then you wake up enslaved in Egypt and you realize that Egypt is not the Garden of Eden that it promised to be, but a counterfeit, a fallen garden. This is what happened to Israel. Joseph interpreted the pharaoh's dreams and was promoted to second in command in Egypt. Pharaoh favored Joseph and his family. Israel gave them land and wealth. The journey with Egypt began promising for Israel. But it was not to last. The next pharaoh enslaved Israel for 400 years. Years, leaving her desolate. But God. God. Saul. Exodus 3:7. Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cries because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. God comes to rescue Israel from the fallen garden with its false promises and brings Israel to a place that we're going to be calling the in between place. It's a place where they're no longer in the bondage of Egypt, but yet also not in the blessing of of the Promised Land. The in between place is called the wilderness. The wilderness stage of journeying with God is what the feast of Sukkot calls us to remember. Look at this. Leviticus 23:42. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths. That your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Eg. I am the Lord your God. So if Sukkot is about remembering how they dwelled in booths in the wilderness stage of their journey, then why are we having a feast? Why is it called the Feast of Sukkot? Why is there celebration if it's about a wilderness? During Sukkot, two things are celebrated. The wilderness, which represents God rescuing Israel and being with Israel. Through this journey through a wilderness to the promised land. And Isuka, it celebrates the actual Promised Land, the wedding supper of the Lamb, the destination, the restoration that we have to the face to face of with the Messiah one day. And so you now see that Sukkot is a feast that is with us, but not yet it was with Israel, but not yet it was with them for the tabernacle. For that's what Sukkot means. The feast of Tabernacles was among the camp of Israel, the tabernacle that housed the presence of God. But Sukkot was also not yet. For Yeshua, who was the tabernacle of God's presence among us, was not yet with them. And then when the Messiah came to be with mankind in the flesh, it was also not yet. For the Holy Spirit was to still come to Tabernacle now, not only among us, but inside of us as his tabernacle. But then the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2. But then Sukkot was still not yet for the wedding supper. The tabernacling of God with us face to face is still to come. Revelation 22:3. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. And his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And so you see, the feast of Sukkot is how God is taking steps closer with each of these events, culminating to be face to face with us. But now let's talk about the wedding feast. In order for us to feast, we first need to fast, that is, to deny the flesh. The wilderness qualifies us for the wedding. And God not only requires this of us as his people, but he even required this from the bridegroom. Yeshua fasted in a wilderness. Satan came to tempt him. And Yeshua's fasting was culminating even in fasting his own life. Fasting means simply denying yourself, giving yourself up. And that's what Yeshua did so that he can one day feast with us. He even said this at the Passover last supper meal with his disciples. In Matthew 26:29. He says, I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Luke 5:35. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. Now I know when we say the word fasting, we immediately think about not eating food, and that is a form of fasting. But fasting is something that transcends that into our entire lives. There are things that God is going to call us to give up, surrender. And that's what we are talking about when we are speaking of fasting today in this world. Those who fasted the world for their bridegroom Yeshua will feast with him one day. And on the other hand, those who were feasting on this world and the things of this world, they will never find him. When Israel were in their wilderness, they made a big mistake and we should learn from them. We read that now. These things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Paul tells us to look to Israel and learn to not repeat their mistakes. So what did Israel do? Israel lost sight of the most important thing which they already had dwelling in their midst. God's presence. They thought that if they have a land, if they have manna, if they have water, if they have meat, then they'll be satisfied. And don't get me wrong, these things were provided by God. But even when they entered the promised land, they were still broken. They still departed from the Lord. There was still something that was missing. God promised them milk and honey indeed, and God wanted it for them. But Israel missed the fact that that God was the true promised land and they already had Him. If you find him, the rest is added unto you, whether food, water, manna from heaven, a land of promise. Therefore do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you instead. Israel, they grumbled. They grumbled about not having food. They grumbled about not having water. They grumbled about not having food again. And then they grumbled about the food that they received. If only they rather said, we don't have water right now, but God is enough. He will not leave us thirsty. We are hungry right now and yet God is enough. He will not leave us hungry. See, this is what Yeshua did. Yeshua was in the wilderness, and yet he didn't grumble. And God, he was God. And he sustained Yeshua for 40 days on the cross. Yeshua faced death, yet he didn't grumble. And God was God. And Yeshua was resurrected. See, the difference between Yeshua and Israel is that Yeshua tabernacled with the Father, whilst Israel, they didn't even recognize the tabernacle in their own midst. Yes, they knew it was there, but they didn't live as if it was there. If we lose sight of our tabernacle with God, we will replace him with something else. And that's why Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness and many died. And why Yeshua spent 40 days in the wilderness and was resurrected. The food that they fed on was different. Let's look at it further. Let's look at what Israel did regarding food. In Exodus 16:8, Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat, and in the full morning bread to the fool, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him, what are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. So we see, God gives manna from heaven to Israel miraculously, but because of their grumbling. And Yeshua, when he was in the wilderness, the tempter came and said to him, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. But Yeshua answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Yeshua denying the bread from Satan was to demonstrate that he is the very word of God. He himself is the very source of life. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of man. Yeshua is saying and proving in that wilderness that he does not need bread, for he is life himself. He is the Creator, he is the source of life, and he is the light of man. Yeshua said to them, truly I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And whoever feeds my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day in the wilderness. God gave Israel manna because of their grumbling. Yet I want to submit to you that he actually wanted Israel to feed on him on his presence, for when we feed on him, we live. But Yeshua recognized that they fed on manna instead of the present. See the manna God provided. Amen. He did, but he did it only because of their grumbling. Yeshua said that your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. But this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not Die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Yeshua calls the manna from heaven inferior to what he is, the one whom, when you eat of him, you will actually live forever. Israel thought manna will satisfy them. Israel thought water will satisfy them. Israel thought entering a promised land will satisfy them. And the Lord indeed gave these to them. But Yeshua says the truth that he will satisfy them. And in the story of Israel, in this wilderness, as expected, the manna actually doesn't satisfy them. There is still a hole, there is still something missing. Even though they've eaten this manna that's miraculously falling from the sky. And it's like cakes. We read in Numbers 11:4. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we have meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing. The cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now our strength is dried up and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. They despised the manna because they trusted upon the manna to actually satisfy their souls. Israel is in this place where they keep going deeper and deeper, seeking more and more. Like a man who is never satisfied by money and he always needs to make more money and spend more money and go to the next thing and to the next thing. Like a drug addict that starts small and ends up on hard drugs. When we are faced with a hole that is God sized, nothing but eating of God himself will satisfy. And this was Israel's issue and it led to them being struck down by the quail plague. But here's the big question. What if we've accepted Christ, yet we still don't feel satisfied? See, Israel accepted God. I mean, they had a tabernacle of God in their midst. They had all the priests, they had all the things in place to minister unto the Lord, but yet they were still not satisfied. And such is some of us. When we find ourselves craving the things of this world, we must stop and ask why? Why does my passing and past behaviors still tug at my heart? The Sukkot wilderness journey will be one of two things for you. Either a nightmare that you hope to escape, always looking for something more to satisfy, yet never being satisfied, or it will be a pruning that leads to a promised land. The wilderness becomes a nightmare when we find ourselves without bread, as Israel did Yet we try to incorporate Egypt into our new life with Christ in order to satisfy us. We hold the world on one hand and its delicacies and Christ on the other, eating the melons of Egypt with the bread of Christ. And when we say, and we feel like, well, this is out of necessity, like we don't have a choice, and that our flesh is going to be dying of hunger. Otherwise we excuse our sin to us. We excuse our behaviors that we repeat to ourselves. But I want to say something to you about this. Your flesh will survive. Your flesh will survive not eating pornography. Your flesh will survive not eating greed. Your flesh will survive fasting, your jealousies, your unforgiveness. Your flesh will survive not treating your family terribly as long as you refuse to fast your old life. These things will keep you from God, keep you from being satisfied in him and feasting on Him. You cannot feast on this world and feast on the Messiah at the same time. You will always remain hungry until you give it up to make him your meal. We will be tempted, but it will not become that which becomes our satisfaction. If we suffer a sin or an addiction like pornography, it is because we have burdens we have not given our Lord. When we struggle sin like an addiction to alcohol, the desire to forget the things we've gone through, we have to submit ourselves to the Lord and start desiring to remember by recognizing what we have to be grateful for. See, the one who seeks to only forget has forgotten that which the Lord has done for him. And when we unremember that, we are filled with gratitude. When we find ourselves full of jealousy towards others, always looking to what others are doing, craving and coveting what others have, we have an issue in our identity. We compare ourselves to others because we ourselves are not happy with ourselves. But you must find your identity in Christ. Be satisfied in him, his plans for you. Be grateful for what he has given you so that he can multiply and the little he has given you. But as long as you look to the cup of another, you will not have your cup be filled. Now, many of us are familiar with fasting as not eating food. Some of us have fasted recently on the Day of Atonement for a day. And you know at the end of that day you're hungry, your stomach is hurting, and you get to a point where you'll just eat anything. You're not picky anymore, anything at all to fill the void in your stomach. Pizza, hamburgers, 20 hot dogs, ice cream, all at the same time. Even that sounds good. But what about a plate of veggies? See, you can't help yourself for feeling the craving and the hunger, but you can decide how you will satisfy it. The same with your spiritual appetite. Your flesh is not picky about filling that God sized hole in your heart. Your flesh will eat anything and try anything, especially junk food. You can't help yourself for feeling the hunger and the craving, but you can decide how you will satisfy it, either with the bread of life or the bread of death. I want to remind you of Judas. When Judas was with Yeshua at the Last Supper, Yeshua answered, it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you're going to do, do it quickly. The disciples of Christ were at the Passover feasting on Christ, the one whom they loved, while fasting from wickedness and their old lives. While Judas, he was feasting with Christ, but not on Christ. Rather he was feasting on wickedness. He had wickedness and evil plans in his heart even while sitting in the presence of the Messiah. And God because of this, gave Judas over to Satan. When we feast on wickedness in the presence of God, when the Tabernacle of God is in our midst, and we do so long enough, a demon can lawfully enter as we will be given over to Satan. See Israel, they had the Tabernacle of God in their midst, and when their wickedness persisted long enough, they fed on the bread of death and death swallowed them up. The earth even opened up to swallow people. But when we feast on the Messiah, recognizing that we are now the Tabernacle of the Lord, the Tabernacle of the Lord is among us. Feasting on him brings bread of life to our temples and means that we become a vessel of our Lord where life springs forth. And as for the temptations that will inevitably come our way, 1 Corinthians 10:13 no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. God has provided us all a way of escape and it was made available and pronounced and declared during the eighth day of the feast of Sukkot, when Yeshua stood up on the last day of the feast and said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me. And drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given because Yeshua had not yet been glorified. Drinking of him is what fills us and our cups, the struggles and the temptations that we all face and will face is part of the Sukkot journey. It is part of the wilderness test. And even the disciples think about this. After that Passover meal, Yeshua was crucified. And it caught them so off guard, they were left desolate. I mean, think about it from their perspective. Their in this wilderness now, where they know God and they think, I did everything right. But right now, I'm facing things that should never have happened. Yeshua should never have been able to die. He should have set up his kingdom. He set up us up as his disciples. And now what do we have left but to mourn and run like sheep who have no shepherd? And maybe that's you. Maybe you are saying, it can't get better, it won't get better. Someone I love is sick with an incurable disease. Maybe you're saying I'm behind with my retirement. I'm about to retire and I don't know how I'll be surviving. Maybe you think my children are spiritually dying and I don't know if they can be resurrected. Maybe you'll say, my marriage has an incurable disease. My finances have an incurable disease. My body has an incurable disease. A wilderness is a place full of giants that shout, you can't pass us. It's impossible. Your situation is incurable. And we stand before your promised land. And so you can respond, yes, pd God is God, but there are giants in the land. And this is a faith in God issue. The question is, is your problem your God now? Or is the Creator of heaven and Earth your God? Seek first the kingdom and the rest will be added to you. Trust God and you will be satisfied and freedom will come to your home. It may not be in your timing. You may have to dwell in that wilderness for a time, as even Yeshua did. But eventually he came back in power and freedom. Adam and Eve chose evil and it affected their whole world. Everything they touched and had influence over was corrupted. But God sent his son to bring salvation to humanity. And our salvation affects our whole world. It changes us. And by consequence, because we become the tabernacle of the living God, everything that we touch and have influence over comes to Life, the garden around us becomes resurrected. Your friends, your families and your circumstances, as long as you respond to them all with the life of God that is inside of you instead of in doubts. Unbelief. And pronouncing the curse instead of the blessing that God has come to give us all by dying on the tree. Romans 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Revelation 22:3. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. Heaven is a place where there won't be a need for sun, for he gives light. There won't be a need for tears, for for he gives comfort. There won't be fear, for death is swallowed up. Even the animals won't be eating one another anymore, for all will be fed by Him. Everything and everyone will be satisfied, and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And so we, as the people of God, will keep Sukkot in the wilderness. We will keep Sukkot in the new heaven and earth. We will rejoice today in him in the wilderness, even in the midst of our suffering. We will rejoice tomorrow with him, in the new heavens and earth, when we have no more suffering, no matter your circumstances. Rejoice before him, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Father, I thank you for dying for us and opening the door of salvation to us. Thank you Lord, that you promised that we will be restored to Eden, Father, in this Sukkot wilderness, right now, as we tabernacle and tent still. I thank you Lord, that you strengthen us, that you give us a gift of faith against our enemies, our circumstances. I thank you Lord, that you give us hope. And Lord, I pray, Father, that let us have a wilderness that is 40 days, not 40 years. Let us feed on the Messiah and not always be looking for something else to feed on, even demanding of you to give us something else. Grumbling to you to give us something else to satisfy us. Well, what we need is right in front of us. You are sufficient. You are enough. You tabernacling inside of us. You are more than we could have ever asked for or imagined. Help us to see you for who you are. Help us to feed on you and drink of you this Sukkot, so that out of our bellies, living waters will also flow. In the name of Yeshua, I pray. Amen. Thank you for joining me this Sukkot. May the Father bless and keep your house. I want to say a special thank you to our partners who've made this teaching and all of these feast day teachings and productions possible. If you would like to bring a Sukkot offering and become a part of all that's happening here at Rise on Fire, you can go to riseonfar.com for more information. Shalom Sa.