In Nehemiah and in Ezra we find the feast of tabernacles as an anticipation of the national resurrection to come. This same feast was also sketched out, as it were, with the branches and palms when Jesus entered Jerusalem when the crowds acknowledged Him as the Son of David and as King of Israel (Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8; John 12:12). In Luke 19, we find neither palms nor branches; no doubt the disciples bless the king who is come in the name of the Lord, but they say, “Peace in heaven,” and not, “On earth peace” (Luke 2:14), and in Luke we see Jesus weep over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The true feast of tabernacles, the final feast, will not be celebrated until a time yet future, according to Zechariah 14:16, but at that time this feast will be preceded by the great day of atonement (Zech. 12:10-14), which we do not find in Ezra or in Nehemiah or in the Gospels.
In a sense, we, who are Christians, can celebrate the feast of tabernacles as being the anticipated joy of glory, a “very great gladness” (Neh. 8:17), or, as the Apostle Peter says, “Joy unspeakable and filled with [the] glory” (1 Peter 1:8 JND).
H. L. Rossier