Sushi in My Sukkah

Celebrating the season with sushi in my sukkah.

The peace was palpable, as I sat alone in my sukkah, prepared for a late lunch with sushi, Bible, and study material.  With Sukkot/Tabernacles drawing near, it was my plan to review the meanings and traditions of this most meaningful Biblical holy day, but the scene was kind of comical to me, since we usually associate Sukkot (sue-COAT) with "Jewish," and sushi with "Japanese."  You might agree that this might look a little incongruent, but when I started to think more deeply about it, I saw a prophetic promise in this picture that excited me.....I saw a glimpse of God's glorious kingdom as it someday will be! 

My future harvest home.....with Messiah!

On one level, Sukkot is God's Biblically mandated Thanksgiving Day, a time to celebrate the goodness of God in the bounty of the Fall harvest.  For this reason it is also referred to as the Festival of Ingathering.  

On a prophetic level this harvest festival alludes to the day when Messiah will return to ingather His exiled nation from the four corners of the earth and tabernacle among them.  This long-anticipated promise of redemption is held particularly close to the heart on this holy day for God's chosen people, Israel.

Through the prophet Moses, God made an everlasting covenant of restoration with Israel before they ever crossed over into the Promised Land.  God vowed to Israel that though their hearts would wander far from Him, and though they would lust after foreign gods, and though God would carry out His prescribed curses for disobedience upon them, He as their Redeemer, would one day regather them back to Himself and circumcise their hearts so that they would love and serve Him with all their being. - Deuteronomy 30:6. 

Wandering Jew.....the centerpiece.

Such is the reason I have at the center of my sukkah, a potted plant known as a Wandering Jew!  This plant, well-known for its ability to propagate and spread, is virtually impossible to eradicate from an area where it has been planted.....unless every piece of it is removed from the area, which is near-to-impossible. Sounds much like the history and even the current times of the Jewish people, doesn't it?  God has and will always, preserve a remnant of His chosen nation, even when evil rulers, regimes and surprisingly even the church, made it their mission to exterminate the Jewish people and the traditions they have carried with them wherever they have wandered.

My centerpiece also reminds me of one particular Jew, the Chosen One, despised and rejected, cut-off and sought out to be annhiliated. But.....like the remnant of Israel that God preserves, and like the Wandering Jew plant that refuses to be extinguished, so too the light of Messiah continues to spread in and through those who take root in Him.

This Wandering Jew centerpiece is a reminder to me that Messiah will indeed regather the exiles of Israel back from the four corners of the earth to the Holy Land, the land of promise, just as He covenanted to do.  He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. - Isaiah 11:12.

A place of peace and communion.

When Messiah Yeshua returns to gather His covenant people, Israel, from their long exile, He will make Jerusalem the capital of the whole earth.  He will restore His people to their Promised Land.  The land of Israel and it's people will thrive and prosper and spread out as never before.  Messiah Yeshua, Son of God, who came as a babe during Sukkot over two thousand years ago to tabernacle among us as the prophesied suffering-servant, will tabernacle on this earth once again, ruling and reigning as Messiah, Son of David, King of Kings, and all nations will come to embrace Him as LORD of Lords.  

The sushi, the tortilla soup, the pizza and a few other foods that I ate under my sukkah during the week of Sukkot, prophetically pictured to me the nations that will one day come to Jerusalem for the feast of Sukkot seeking to pay homage to King Messiah. - Zechariah 14:16.  What a glorious day of shalom that will be.....for all who humble themselves under the covering of God's grace.  May we now take hold of the righteousness of Messiah Yeshua..... our Salvation! - Zechariah 8:22-23.

Adonai will create over the whole site of Mount Tziyon and over those who assemble there a smoking cloud by day and a shining, flaming fire by night;  for the Glory will be over everything like a hupah.  A sukkah will give shade by day from the heat;  it will also provide refuge and cover from storm and rain. - Isaiah 4:4-5.