This is the second part of a study on how we go into the Creator’s presence by way of the Messiah and how the Creator’s presence goes into us and through us into the world around us by way of the Messiah.

Teachings of Sukkot and Shemeni Atzeret (Tabernacles and the Eighth Day) and of Yeshua’s ministry on Earth are that God desires His dwelling place to be with us — better, within us — not foreign to us. A heart transformed welcomes the Kingdom of God and the fact God can see everything in us. The Holy One provides us a way out of temptation to forsake Him when we cry for help from Heaven’s tag team of comforters, Yeshua the Son of Man and the Spirit.

In Leviticus, a significant topic is the qorban,or offering. It strictly means “that which approaches.” What approaches is not you. We wouldn’t just stroll into the Most Holy Place and have a lunch with the LORD. What does go in is a very special qorban, but only the blood of that qorban, not the qorban itself.

In Hebrews 10, we have a picture of what it means to go “through the veil,” as in the veil of the Tabernacle/Temple that separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It is made clear in Leviticus 16 that it was the blood of a special goat qorban that entered beyond the veil. In Hebrews 10, we are told that the blood of Christ went through the veil once and for all and made it possible for us to walk with Him into the presence.

Today is Shemeni Atzeret, Hebrew for “the gathering of the Eighth [Day].” Sukkot, the Festival of Tabernacles or Booths, lasts for seven days, but an eighth day is tagged on. What is it?

“Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. ‘On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. ‘For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.” (Leviticus 23:33–36 NASB)

In times past, we have discussed the meaning of the number eight. The Hebrew word for eightis שמנה shemoneh (H8083), thought to come from the verbשמן shaman(H8080), which means to shine, as if to be made waxy or oily. A related word is שֶׁמֶן shemen (H8081), or oil. What is reaching its fulness — or anointed into fulness — that needs to be memorialized on this day? It is a time to acknowledge how God’s blessings overflow in us for our sake.

“Of [the assembly of believers in Yeshua as the Messiah] I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” (Colossians 1:25–28 NASB)

What do we see in Leviticus that teaches us how we become complete? There is a direction we should be go — toward the presence of the Holy One of Israel. But whether it’s due to inattention (sin), an incitement (transgression) or malice (iniquity), we do not stay on the right path. God has to direct us back.

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan,