(by Tim McKitrick, World Ministry Fellowship)

As I write this email, I am thinking about the season we are in on the Jewish calendar. Yesterday was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), a solemn preparation to enter his presence. So now is the season for the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) celebrations in Israel – a feast that speaks of glory, of harvest, of joy, and of rest in God. I see in these things our foundation for great hope in what is yet to come!

I love how the illustrations in the Old Testament serve as types and shadows to instruct and encourage us who live under the grace of the New Testament. The Feasts (Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles) illustrate God’s planned progression for our Christian walk and growth in the Body of Christ. The pattern shows us the journey from bondage to new birth in Christ (Passover), to empowerment and fullness in the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), and then on to maturity and fruitful harvest (Tabernacles).

The Apostle Paul tells us, “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious (1 Cor 3:7-8)?”

To this question my heart shouts a resounding YES! And we are part of the Holy Spirit’s glorious work!

Paul also tells us that the Holy Spirit is a deposit of our inheritance (Eph 1:13-14), a little bit of the more which is to come. And if the fullness of the Holy Spirit is just a deposit of that which is yet to come, as amazing as that experience is, how incredibly glorious must the church’s full maturity in her inheritance become!

How glorious it will be to see the Body of Christ come into maturity without spot or wrinkle (Eph 5:27)! And this is what we as ministers of the Gospel are called to facilitate, the maturing of God’s people. “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:12-13).

The Feast of Tabernacles is a harvest feast that speaks prophetically to the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and harvest to come. It is a harvest feast that in the natural celebrates the glory of God with the Israelites in the wilderness, so how much more will its spiritual fulfillment in the coming age mean to you and me?

Be encouraged, my friend, you are part of God’s master plan!

(To Be Continued)