Three Transforming Experiences - Part 8
We can also look at the lives of people who entered into the Feast of Tabernacles experience to see glimpses of what it will be like when we enter into the fullness of transfiguration and experience this ourselves.
The Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul spoke of the Feast of Tabernacles experience in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ;** it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;** and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” **(NKJV) **
We have not really understood the depth of this verse. Paul was not exaggerating here. What he described here in this verse is what was literally true in his life. The person of Jesus Christ came into Paul and established residence in Paul’s body. Paul became a living tabernacle of Jesus Christ. Jesus was continuing His ministry on earth in the body of Paul the Apostle, as well as in others. That does not mean that Paul became a mindless puppet, but Paul fully surrendered his will to the will of God and cooperated fully with what God wanted to do through him.
Peter after Pentecost
Peter entered into the Feast of Tabernacles experience at the same time that he entered into the Feast of Pentecost experience when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the other disciples on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. Peter was a changed man after his experience on the day of Pentecost.
Before Pentecost, Peter had cowered in fear at Jesus’ trial and even denied that he knew Jesus, but after Pentecost, he boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ to the very same leaders who had condemned Jesus to death just a few days before! (See Acts 4.)
After Pentecost, when people heard that Peter was coming, they scrambled to bring their sick friends and relatives out to the sidewalks so that they might be healed as Peter passed by them.
“More and more believers in the Lord, crowds of men and women, were constantly being added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried their sick out into the streets and put them on cots and sleeping pads, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on one of them [with healing power]. And the people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing the sick and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”—Acts 5:14-16 (AMP)
What Peter experienced was beyond what most of us have experienced in our lives and ministries. People were healed just by being in the presence of Peter. Peter carried something after Pentecost that most of us do not yet carry. The manifested presence of God was abiding in Peter. He didn’t just pray for people to be healed. He carried healing in his body. This is the Feast of Tabernacles experience. This is what life looks like after transfiguration.
But what caused this supernatural transformation in Peter? Many of us have received the Pentecostal experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but we have not experienced the indwelling presence of God as Peter did. Peter experienced more than we usually experience when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
What was it that he received that we usually do not receive in our Pentecostal experiences?
Think back to what happened on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. What appeared on the heads of the disciples that day as they were baptized in the Holy Spirit?
It was tongues of fire. That is the key!
The disciples not only received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they received the Baptism of Fire as well. That is a major key because the Baptism of Fire is required to move into the Feast of Tabernacles experience.
As a result of receiving the Baptism of Fire that ushered in the Feast of Tabernacles experience, Peter carried the abiding, manifested presence of God in his body with God’s authority. We see that in the confrontation with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 (NLT):
“But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.
“Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!’”
Ananias may have been puzzled by Peter’s assertion that he had lied to God because Ananias wasn’t talking to God. He was talking to Peter and the other church leaders there. Unfortunately for Ananias, what he didn’t realize was that Peter carried the manifested presence of God Almighty in his body after Pentecost. God lived in Peter’s body. When Ananias lied to Peter, it was the same as lying to God Himself. We see the result in the next verse.
“As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.”
This should remind us of the story of Dagon falling on his face before the Ark of the Covenant. Ananias fell to the floor in the presence of God Almighty just as Dagon did.
Sadly, Ananias’ wife experienced the same consequence.
“About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, ‘Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?’
“‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘that was the price.’
“And Peter said, ‘How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.’
Here Peter asserts again that Sapphira was not testing him. She was testing God Himself, who resided in Peter’s body now after his Feast of Tabernacles experience. Because of this, she experienced the same consequence that had befallen her husband.
“Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.”
Paul and Peter were forerunners. One day, the fullness of time will come, and the entire Church will enter into Feast of Tabernacles experience, just as we entered into the Feast of Passover when Jesus died on the cross, and the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came with power in Acts chapter 2. When that day comes, the fear of God will return to the Church as it did in the days of Ananias and Sapphira. The question is, will you be a participant or only a spectator watching from the sidelines?
Three Transforming Experiences
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