The emotions surrounding the moment a 17-year-old girl saw her real father for the very first time, presented in a television program, brought tears to my eyes.

At age 11 she had come home from school one day to find her mother with a photo album. Her mother said, "You'll find pictures of a man in there you don't know. He's your real father."

Out of her confusion and myriad questions came an intense desire to meet the father she had never known.

In her adolescent way, the girl searched for him for six years without success. Someone who knew about her longing to see her dad chose to personally intervene, and through a private investigator eventually found her father.

Not knowing whether it was the right thing to do, the benefactor arranged to meet the girl without telling her why. There the person asked her, "Do you really want to see your father?"

"Oh yes, more than anything!"

"Well, he's in the room next door waiting to see you."

After six years of disappointments, she broke down in tears of disbelief as her real father walked into the room with a large bouquet of flowers. He explained that after the marriage had broken up, he had not wanted to confuse her by having her grow up with two fathers.

Do you know your Father?

Surprising as it may sound, we, too, have a Father whom we have never seen—not a physical, flesh-and-blood father, but our Heavenly Father.

The emotions of a young girl seeing her real father for the first time can be similar to our experience as believers. We are born into a physical life without prior knowledge of our Heavenly Father. When called by God we perceive the Kingdom of God in limited ways, but we still do not know or see the Father as He actually is.

However, God does provide a way for us to experience now what it will be like when the whole world finally comes to know our Heavenly Father.

Foretaste of the future

This leads us to the picture of that incredible future painted by God's Feast of Tabernacles. This foretaste of the future is the motivation behind thousands of Christians who save their money through the year to leave their homes to observe this festival of God in temporary dwellings (see Leviticus 23:1-2, 34-41).

This festival is not just a holiday. In fact it is quite apart from a vacation. It is a specific, predetermined observance commanded by God. And yes, attendees do enjoy many of the benefits of a vacation. But the focus of this commanded assembly is daily church services—and for very good reasons.

During these services, Christians focus on the most wondrous knowledge anyone could have—insights into God's plan for humanity, eternal life and the Kingdom of God.

Scripture shows that at Christ's return and the beginning of His millennial reign, changed believers will see the glorified Jesus Christ for the very first time. This event will be the prelude to a still future time when all human beings will meet their Heavenly Father for the very first time (Revelation 21:3). What a momentous event! And this understanding is derived from this sacred observance God gave us, the Feast of Tabernacles.

In God's plan for mankind as outlined through His Holy Days, the world will be forever changed by the return of Jesus Christ, symbolized by the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24). It is followed by the Day of Atonement (verse 27), which depicts Satan being banished so he can no longer deceive mankind.

Following these two Holy Days is the Feast of Tabernacles (verses 34-41), picturing the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and the resurrected saints over the earth after His second coming (Revelation 20:4). During this time all people will have access to God through His Spirit, receiving a "new heart" and "new spirit" within them (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Under the guidance of the Spirit of God, people will enthusiastically want to obey God from their hearts. They will place the interests of others before themselves. That's why believers today, led by that same Spirit, place such a high priority on attending this festival of God. They know that they will in turn receive inspiring spiritual knowledge of God's plan for mankind and His gift of eternal life.

The significance of tabernacles

God's command to ancient Israel to stay in temporary dwellings during this time (Leviticus 23:42) symbolizes in part the temporary, transitory nature of life. The apostle Paul explained that as this temporary body—"this tent"—physically ages, we yearn even more for our permanent, eternal spirit body from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1-2).

Hebrews 11 describes the faithful servants of God as "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (verse 13). The Feast of Tabernacles is an annual reminder of our temporary state and how believers "seek a homeland" with God (verse 14).

This transitory nature of human life and the wonderful future beyond are reinforced when we travel to festival sites and dwell temporarily in locally available lodging. Believers gain enormous encouragement from what this festival portrays for the future. Understanding what God has in store for us—eternal life—gives great hope and purpose for enduring life now. These are some of the wonderful spiritual lessons from keeping God's festivals.

Knowing God for the first time

Scripture shows that believers are destined to be permanently bound in a close, loving, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God's Word describes "the marriage of the Lamb"—Jesus Christ—to His Church at His return (Revelation 19:6-9). This close relationship will continue through all eternity.

And throughout the world, people will at last have access to the spiritual knowledge they have never known. Under Jesus Christ's righteous rule, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9, emphasis added throughout).

Speaking of that time, God tells us: "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).

Those who attend the Feast of Tabernacles are pioneering this future world by observing God's festivals now. In the magnificent world to come, entire nations will join in celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16). When these pioneers are changed to immortal spirit in the Kingdom of God, they will assist Christ in a global reeducation program (Revelation 5:10; 20:6).

Believers who observe this festival are every year busily preparing to help bring that ideal to pass. Jesus said our prayers are to be directed to our Heavenly Father, whom we have never seen (John 5:37). Yet the time is coming when we "shall see His face, and His name will be on [our] foreheads" (Revelation 22:4).

The Feast of Tabernacles gives us a foretaste of a new life, world, environment and destiny. And it offers us a fascinating anticipation of a close personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. These are some of the pictures painted by a festival filled with wonderful meaning, understanding and great hope for all believers. GN