God Tabernacles in Us

When we keep biblical festivals, we are following God’s pace. Thank God that we have had a very special Sukkot Celebration this year. It happened that Sukkot just fell when we have been reading the book of Numbers at the morning devotion. Since we resumed the observation of biblical festivals in 2004, the festive atmosphere has grown stronger and stronger in our church. We held seven sessions of “Wedding of the Lamb” last year. Previously we celebrated festivals over one Sunday only, but this year we shall celebrate the birth of Jesus in Feast of Tabernacles on two consecutive Sundays. God’s grace and guidance have been evident in all these.

Though I had a strong prompting that onsite services would be resumed during the Feast of Tabernacles, I found the second Sunday of October most probable. This year, since the Feast of Trumpets on Jewish New Year and the Day of Atonement, we have been standing on the priestly position to offer sin offering and pleasing aroma on behalf of all tribes and nations. We even sent co-workers to prayerwalk around Hong Kong and to virus-infected places like hospitals to pray and intercede. All these we have done based on the truth of God.

The day after the prayer walk, suddenly the government granted “places of worship” a relaxation of ban of gathering in the evening of last Tuesday (29/9), after the curator meeting earlier on Tuesday. What a timing that physical service was resumed!

More amazingly, the Sukkot started at 6:00pm (according to the Jewish calendar, a day starts at evening) on 2nd Oct and our services began at 7:30pm that day, celebrating Sukkot! When we follow God, He gives us special blessings. This occasion is golden memory for our brothers and sisters, just like the Israelites crossed the Red Sea together. The whole church has experienced God’s tabernacle in us.

For the two-week Sukkot celebration services, we preached on “Christ was Born in Feast of Tabernacles” on the first one, and the musical “King of Love: the Prequel” will be shown on the second. Actually I had prepared to preach from the Old Testament, but C-Mo advised me to preach on the first chapter of John, especially verse 14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (NKJV). As I was delving into the verse, God revealed to me the message “Christ was Born in Feast of Tabernacles: Zoom! Waa! Zoom!”. It’s the blessing of spiritual transfer, hence I believe that after Sukkot, God has many more blessings in store for us.

Dear brothers and sisters, thank God that He provides all our needs abundantly. After we have prayed for the pandemic and presented offerings as prompted by the Holy Spirit, He blesses us mightily. From the Day of Atonement until last Sunday, we had received HK$1.2 million as the pleasing aroma, to be used for the poor in Israel and the Middle East, and sin offering over HK$3 million for church building use. As we continue to follow God in faith and devote ourselves faithfully, our heavenly Father will move greatly in our midst.•[2020.10.11]