Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Linger Under the Canopy






As the Feast of Tabernacles comes to a close, the Lord asks us to linger one more day--the eighth day of assembly or Shemini Atzeret. This indicates His great desire for intimacy and communion with those He loves. When I shared about how I decorated our library during Sukkot, I said that when I had finished draping the white sheer panels, it looked like a wedding canopy. There's a reason I did that.

Like the cloud by day that led God's people, the cloud also represented a chuppah or wedding canopy:

And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies ], a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory [shall be] a defence [2646]. - Isaiah 4:5 KJV

The word 'defence', according to the Strong's Concordance note No. 2646, is the Hebrew word chuppah meaning 'canopy; chamber; divine protection'.

In a Jewish wedding, the couple is married under the chuppah signifying their new home together. The chuppah can be made from a piece of cloth or other material attached to four poles, or a prayer shawl (tallit) held over the couple by four family members or friends.

I believe it will be during Tabernacles that the Bride of Christ will marry the Bridegroom, Yahshua.

The word chuppah originally appears in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Joel 2:16; Psalms 19:5)...In biblical times, a couple consummated their marriage in a room. In Talmudic times, the room where the marriage was consummated was called the chuppah.(Excerpt from:
wikipedia.org)

Let us linger under the canopy of intimacy...He is the Beloved!














2 comments:

Kim said...

What a beautiful picture of the devoted love and intimacy we have with God because of Jesus Christ.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, this gives me a great idea on how to decorate for my wedding day! ;-) I love the symbolic meaning!! Love ya mom! <3 ~ Rach