For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:4
Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) began with the blood moon Sunday evening. I was finishing constructing my sukkah as the moon was eclipsing. I’m still too nervous about constructing it outside, so it’s in my living room. I must confess that it does not meet sukkah standards.
The Lord said to set up and spend time in a tent/booth/sukkah each fall to remember the Israelites living in tents during their wilderness wanderings. My home is comfortable and secure. By not setting up my sukkah outside, I don’t get the full impact. Autumn is here and I would rather be sitting inside. The ancient Israelites had no such relief. They had to put up with the heat and the cold every day for forty long years in the wilderness, waiting to enter the land of promise where they could settle down in permanent homes. It makes me think of all the refugees fleeing Syria, sleeping outside and struggling to find a better place to live.
Both Paul and Peter in the New Testament use the symbolism of our bodies as tents (2 Corinthians 5:1ff, 2 Peter 1:12-15). This life is temporary. But God has an permanent, eternal body for those who believe.
