There is expectancy and a belief among us that next year’s Feast of Tabernacles will be extraordinary.

It will take place 100 years after the famed Balfour Declaration that gave rise to the birth of the modern renewed State of Israel, and 100 years after the British Empire, with the magnificent ANZAC capture of Beersheba, began the final push to drive the Ottoman Turks from the Holy Land.

Also in 2017, history will mark 70 years since the United Nations voted for the Partition Plan and a glorious 50 years since the liberation of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

As some of you know by now, we long believed fervently that the Feast of Tabernacles would one day be the Feast of the double portion – the former and the latter rain falling on all flesh in the same month – the month of Succoth!

“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls,” Joel 2:28-32.

This passage of Joel which the Apostle Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost indicates that although there indeed was a partial fulfillment in regard to the day of Pentecost outpouring it was not its whole fulfillment. At the day of Pentecost it was not yet on all flesh and the sun was not darkened and the moon not turned into blood when it happened to the 120 disciples waiting in Jerusalem for Jesus own promise to them to be fulfilled!

I have held and preached this for years. In fact it was the very basis for us beginning to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles as Christians in Jerusalem – for the LORD already gave me this understanding back 1978!

This is how the prophet Joel describes it, as Jesus does too when He significantly chooses not the Feast of Pentecost but the Feast of Tabernacles to declare the impending rivers of God’s Holy Spirit:

“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you — the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame.
Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God and there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.
And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls,” Joel 2:23-27, 32.

“On the last day, that great day of the feast (the Feast of Tabernacles), Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified,” John 7:37-39.

Let me try to be clear: We are not speaking about just a new revival such as has happened in various places in recent history, wonderful though they may have been.

We are believing for another Pentecost in Jerusalem, this time a pouring out during the Feast of Tabernacles upon those who, as on the day of Pentecost, have assembled as believers from the nations of the world. However – and this is important – on this occasion it will be double in blessing and result!

It will mark a time when we will see and experience the same things, and more, as those we read about in the Acts of the Apostles.

This is how this double Pentecost, that will take place during a coming Feast of Tabernacles, will look. It will have not just a subjective quality to it, but also an objective quality as the Acts report shows.

There were at least three objective dimensions to what happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

1. They were all together in prayer, waiting on the LORD to fulfill His own promise in the place appointed by Him – Jerusalem. The place where the LORD said the disciples should wait on the Pentecost promised by Him, was Jerusalem. Thus they were in one accord, together in prayer, on the day of Pentecost, in the upper room – and it happened!
   
   Equally we know that it will happen in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles. And as the LORD has shown via different human channels, the valley of Hinnom is the specific place of His choosing we need to be in to wait on this second, double, Pentecost.

“Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the LORD – for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever,” Jeremiah 31:12-13, 40.

2. When the Holy Spirit fell, it was not on them personally at first but on the place where they were gathered, filling it with His glorious presence. Only thereafter, as they breathed in His breath and His wind, were they filled with the Holy Spirit themselves.
3. Tongues of fire were seen upon each of them first, and only thereafter did they begin to speak in tongues themselves.

The three (at least) more personal and subjective results of that former rain Pentecost were:

1. They all began to speak in tongues and signs, miracles, dreams and visions resulted.
2. Amazingly all the people heard the preaching of Peter in their own tongue or language (so no more need for translation)!
3. Through Peter’s preaching 3,000 people found salvation and as Acts reported the LORD daily added to the number of the saved ones!

If the result of Pentecost was all this, what can we expect to happen at the double Pentecost that is set for the time of the Feast of Tabernacles – the former and latter rain falling together again on an international crowd of God’s own children together with the people of Israel?

The chief reason why I review these truths is because I believe that it is the LORD’s desire that you should earnestly beseech Him not only for a confirmation that He wants you to come to the Feast in 2017, but because He may also want to guide you into bringing a substantial, Spirit-driven group from your area and nation to come up to Jerusalem for Succoth 2017.

I ask you, therefore, seriously to pray and ask the LORD to help you to not only come yourself, but to also lead a group from your nation to this Feast!

 

~ Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center

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Newsletter of December 13, 2016.

Republished with the kind permission of Author Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director of International Christian Zionist Center.

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