Sukkot 2026

Hi Friends,

Today’s article is looking forward to this year’s Sukkot celebration (Feast of Tabernacles/Booths), which begins at sundown on Friday, Sept 25th. Sukkot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals throughout the year. The others are Passover (Pesach) and Feast of Weeks (Shavuot).

Earlier this year I wrote and article about Shavuot. Link Below.
Shavuot 2026: Ruth, Proverbs 31, & The Ingathering of the Nations

Whether you are preparing for Shavuot, or simply looking to learn more about this festival, I hope you enjoy today’s article.

A Remembrance of Wilderness & Exile — A Celebration of Pilgrimage and Hope

Abraham lived as a sojourner, even in the promised land. Later, when the Hebrews were delivered from slavery in Egypt, they wandered through the desert living in temporary dwellings. They were sojourners en route to the land God provided.

Sukkot became, and remains, an annual celebration commemorating their wilderness pilgrimage. It serves as a reminder of what it means to walk by faith, as a season of joy for the autumn harvest, and rejoicing in God’s presence, protection, and leadership.

Abraham believed in a promise, one that included a territory with defined borders, containing an eternal city designed and built by God.
(Genesis 12:1-7; 13:14-17; 15:8-21; 17:8; Hebrews 11:10)

The Beginnings of Sukkot

Under the leadership of Moses, the Hebrews sojourned through the wilderness for 40 years, dwelling in tents like their father Abraham. The days of bondage had ended. The Hebrews received a covenant from God at Sinai. Yet, the pilgrimage went on.

Under the leadership of Joshua, the Hebrews would enter the land and begin to lay claim to their inheritance. During this time, they would commemorate the wandering and pilgrimage by celebrating Sukkot at the appointed time according to the Law from Sinai.

During Sukkot, the Hebrews dwelt in tents. The temporary dwellings serve as a reminder, not only of the miraculous works of God during the Exodus, but also that His work is not finished. The pilgrimage goes on. There is still so much to be fulfilled.

After generations of holding claim to the land, God would anoint David as king over Israel. Their tumultuous claim over the land would be reinforced and expanded under the leadership of this man who would finally lay claim to Jerusalem. But this Jerusalem was not built by God. It was built by pagans.

The Land & God’s Presence

The land itself was and is God’s design and God’s choice. This would be the place where God would dwell. Israel had finally laid claim to God’s elect city. Knowing this, even David desired to build a permanent dwelling for God, not in the form of a tent or temporary tabernacle.

David would not accomplish this in his own lifetime, but would leave the work to his son, Solomon. The time of tents and pilgrimage continued even after David purchased the land where a temple would one day reside.

Solomon built the temple. In man’s eyes, it was a permanent dwelling. A place where God’s presence could rest. But it was God who recognized that anything built by man was temporary. He did not rebuke them for worshipping Him in a temporary abode built through human ingenuity, rather He dwelt with them. His presence filled the temple with glory.

Judgment & Exile

As generations passed, the kingdom divided, and the people fell further into sin. The prophets warned of a coming calamity. Destruction, captivity, and the desolation of the holy city. Despite multiple warnings, the people were not swayed to repent. Finally, the disaster struck by the hand of God through a pagan ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, who took the Hebrews into captivity and brought them to Babylon.

The land, Abraham’s inheritance, was laid to waste while the royals, priesthood, and many inhabitants were led to Babylon. Those who remained in the holy city were destitute. Mothers boiled their own children as food. Jerusalem had fallen and the land given over to Israel’s enemies.

The Hebrews dwelt in Babylon for 70 years, a generational foretaste of the “seventy sevens” which the wise man Daniel prophesied would follow their return to the land. In the midst of the captivity, a remnant of Israel remained faithful to the promise. They preserved both the lineage of the priesthood and the lineage of the Davidic heir.

Return & Glorious Hope

When the seventy years had been completed and Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, a descendant of David, named Zerubbabel, was appointed as governor of Judah. He led the captives back into the land. Among them was a descendant of the high priest, a man named Joshua.

For a second time, there was a man named Joshua leading the people. This Joshua was not leading a military campaign, but a priestly one alongside Zerubbabel, the Davidic governor. In recognition of their ongoing pilgrimage into the land of their inheritance, the Hebrews (now better known as Jews) celebrated Sukkot during the first year of their return.

By the word of the prophetic witness from Haggai and Zechariah, the Jews were commanded to rebuild the temple and strive for the restoration of Jerusalem. Another era of separation from the covenantal lands had ended and they once again dwelt in their homeland. Even so, the work had only begun.

This is the start of what we now call the “Second Temple Period”, a tumultuous era of empire changes. The words of the prophet Daniel proved more true with each passing generation. The Jewish people effectively lived as sojourners in their own land and the lands of the empires surrounding them. Generations turned into centuries, until the time of God’s visitation had come.

The Greater “Joshua“

Finally, a new Joshua was born. Joshua is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name Yeshua. This “Joshua”, that is, Jesus of Nazareth, was more than a deliverer and even more than a high priest. He is the son of David and the Son of God. The long awaited Messiah of Israel, and the heir to the throne.

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
– Matthew 16:15-17 NIV

During the peak of the Roman Empire’s might, this Jewish man from Nazareth stood in Jerusalem during Sukkot and proclaimed hope to His people. 

In Jesus’ time, during the seven days of Sukkot, the priests would go from the temple to the Pool of Siloam and pour out water at the altar each morning — a ritual called nisuch ha-mayim, tied to prayers for rain and to the hope of the Spirit poured out in the last days (Isaiah 12:3; Joel 2:28).

On Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh and greatest day of the feast, when this water-pouring reached its climax, Jesus declared,

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
– John 7:37b-38 NIV

These words echo the prophetic visions of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and other prophets, in which life-giving waters flow from God’s presence and bring restoration. By speaking these words to the crowd of Jews in the temple grounds, they would most likely have the words of the prophet Zechariah in their minds.

“On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem… The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and His name the only name.”
– Selections from Zechariah 14:8-9 NIV

Jesus’ statement during Sukkot to the Jews at the temple in Jerusalem was a significant promise. By declaring Himself to be the living waters, He was revealing not only that faith in Him would result in an abiding presence of the Spirit that would flow out from the believer (which is an incredible promise in and of itself!)- He was revealing that He is King and LORD. John’s added revelation of the Spirit foreshadows the apostle’s theology regarding the Holy Spirit in later chapters of his gospel, but it does not negate nor replace the prior prophetic witness of Zechariah in context to John 7.

Living waters will flow from Jerusalem because Jesus will be seated there in glory and dominion with those destined to rule and reign with Him.

YHWH Echad, The God of Israel

“Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”
– Selection from Zechariah 14:5 NIV

It says on that day there will be one LORD. In Hebrew, this is YHWH echad, meaning “The LORD is One”. This is a direct reference to the Shema, the central declaration of faith in Judaism that proclaims the absolute oneness of God. It is no small statement. In claiming to be the living waters prophesied by Zechariah and the other prophets, Jesus is declaring Himself to be the God of Israel. Just as God led Israel through the desert and was in their midst during the Exodus, Jesus is with the Jews at this very Sukkot. He had come to lead them through their present pilgrimage.

We need to be careful to not over-spiritualize these promises. These are real, tangible hopes held by the Jews as they sought for the Messiah. We often mock Israel saying, “They were looking for a military deliverer, someone who would free them from Rome.” But the hope of Israel’s prophets really did include deliverance from hostile nations, the restoration of Jerusalem, the reign of Israel’s King, and the blessings this would bring to the nations. If Jesus were to break His promises to Israel, He would be an unworthy Savior for the rest of us.

The Hope of Glory

A day is coming when Israel’s pilgrimage will end. A day when they will dwell safely in the land and be free from their enemies. A day when the heavenly city, the one whose builder and maker is God, will descend out of heaven and be joined to the covenant land of the Jews.

On that day, the King will provide an avenue of mercy for the nations that once attacked and afflicted Israel. Year after year, they will be invited to Israel to worship Him and celebrate Sukkot, the Festival of Tabernacles.

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.”
– Zechariah 14:16 NIV

As someone who is not Jewish, I choose to celebrate Sukkot now not because I have to, but because it helps me keep my eyes fixed on the promise. One day, all things will be made new. The dead in Christ shall rise. Israel shall be saved. The heavens and the earth will be delivered and made new.

Remembrance & Expectation

Sukkot reminds us that those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage will be blessed. When Israel is saved, this means hope and life not only for the Jew, but also for the nations. We often say, “The earth is not our home” because we anticipate heaven. But friends, heaven is not the goal. The particular location in the heavens where we humans will dwell will be physically on the earth during the restoration of all things.

Sukkot reminds me of Jesus’ return, when even the dirt we stand upon will be renewed and redeemed. All creation will find its home and its rest with the restoration of Zion, that is Jerusalem.

“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You.

Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.“
– Psalm 84:3-7 NIV

Blessings and peace to you through our great and glorious Messiah, Jesus the Righteous One.

-J.S. Marek