What does Tribe teach about rest?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on rest is rooted in the Old Testament feast of Sukkot and finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Brian Hunter has led the congregation through Sukkot across multiple years, arguing that the feast was never simply a Jewish ritual to be left behind, but a rhythm God designed to do something specific in people. The feast is meant to remind, to rehearse, and to lift our eyes toward what is coming. The disruption of normal life that Sukkot creates is not incidental. Brian has said that disruption is exactly where something divine can slip in, because ordinary comfort tends to crowd out awareness of God. As he put it plainly, "When we're comfortable, our awareness of our need for God lowers dramatically."
The teaching does not stop at the feast itself. In the Advent series that followed, Brian connected Sukkot to the arrival of Jesus, showing from Matthew 11 that Jesus is the fulfillment of what the feast pointed toward, the promised source of rest and provision. The liberator Israel was waiting for did not come as a warrior champion. He came as a baby, which is about as far from that picture as anyone expected. Brian's point is that true rest does not come through the circumstances changing but through the one who showed up in them.
The heart of where this teaching lands is in desire. Sukkot is designed to make people hungry again, to strip away the fullness that makes us forget we need God at all. The aspiration Brian kept returning to is the confession of Psalm 73, quoted in the room: "Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth." That longing, Brian says, is what rest in God actually looks like.
Taught from Deuteronomy 16:13-15 · Matthew 11:28-30 · Psalm 73:25-26 · Leviticus 23:33-44 · Revelation 21:3-4
The passage taught · Leviticus 23:33-44
33 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
34 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tents for seven days to Yahweh.
35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.
36 Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- December 7, 2025 The Promise of Rest A Jackson Hole pastor traces the biblical feast of Sukkot to Jesus' arrival as the fulfillment of Israel's hope, promising rest and provision for weary lives.
- October 17, 2022 Whom Have I in Heaven But You Brian Hunter wraps up four weeks on the Feast of Tabernacles, exploring what it means to dwell with God now and to rehearse for his promised return.