In a few weeks, it is Shavout (Feast of Weeks), known in the West as Pentecost. This was the time when in Acts 2, God chose to come & dwell in men.
God did something that day, He had never done before. He moved location.
Instead of chosing a tent (Tabernacle) or solid stone Temple to dwell in, He chose the body of mankind. This was His new Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19).
What a radical thing God did. Unprecedented. God moved in a new way & did a new thing! This was a stunning moment in time. This was a moment in time long prophesised & forecast.
In Biblical & Jewish tradition, the Priests were a chosen group of people who were seperated from the people, for the one purpose to draw near to God, to do the work of the Tabernacle & to then stand before the people to serve them (Numbers 16:9).
The Priests were made up of two groups, Priests & Levites. It was the role of the Levites to do the “service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders” (Numbers 7:9). This stunning moment in time at Shavout (Pentecost) was forecast here in the role of the Levites.
The holy things that were carried on their shoulders was the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the presence of the Lord to the people of Israel. When the people of Israel saw the Ark of the Covenant on the shoulders of the Levites, they were seeing the presence of God carried in man.
God was giving us a prophetic echo of what would come.
It is said of us by the disciple Peter, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him..” (1 Peter 2:9)
The glory of God dwelling in man is a big deal to God.
When God pours himself into man, things happen. But always preceeding this, is a priesthood who will pay the price to seperate themselves from the stuff of men, draw near to God & to minister not only to people but to God.
It was for over 30 years day & night that the Priests offered sacrifices of praise in the Tabernacle of David before Solomon built the Temple.
It was for 7 weeks that the disciples of Jesus, met together day & night to worship God before God’s spirit came & dwelt in the new Temple, the bodies of men.
It was for 400 years that the celtic monks of Bangor Ireland, met together day & night to worship God, sporning a move of God in them, that saw Europe recieve Jesus for the first time.
And it was in 1906 for 15 years, in Azusa St, Los Angeles, people met together day & night to worship God, beginning a revival in the hearts of men that would birth the Pentecostal Missions movement.
Charles Perham and later William Seymour (leaders in this place) prophesied the return of the glory cloud coming in a greater outpouring 100 years after the revivial, 2006-2010. The saints of Azusa Street even declared that 2008 would be the year of preparation and 2009 the beginning of the outpouring.
And so here we are, but weeks away from Shavout. All over the world, God has been stirring his ‘priests’ day & night to worship Him.
Within us is the dwelling place of God. The Tabernacle is the womb of revival. We are that Tabernacle, that womb.
God always leaves His fingerprints, echoes. He is doing a new thing & it has been forecast just as it was in the Scriptures.
The presence of God is coming in a greater way. On whom will He rest & dwell on?
Where He rests & dwells, changes the world. History testifies to this!