Page 43 - Holyland Magazine - 2016 Edition

Arena, brings Christians to Jerusalem from all
Suddenly the music swelled again as the
worship team led the gathering in a new
version of a very ancient creed: “We believe in
the crucifixion; we believe that He conquered
death; we believe in the resurrection, and
He’s coming back again!”
The question was being answered before our
eyes: We believe!
Many tribes, many tongues, many nations.
One Lord. One God. One Bible. One Creed.
And a shared love for Israel and the Jewish
People.
This is how the 36th Christian Celebration
of the Feast of Tabernacles began, with one
simple declaration that in Jesus we can all
become One. In His presence all barriers of
ethnicity fade away.
That night in Ein Gedi, thousands left the event finally see why I came! This is the land where
in the desert touched by this experience. But
the following morning, the Christian pilgrims
gathered at a very different site: Jerusalem’s
Garden Tomb, a small area outside the Old
City walls many believe to be the location of
Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Unlike the previous night, the gathering did
not include any big screens or colorful lights.
There was no dance team. And yet, as the
worship team invited the pilgrims to join them
in song, the place was filled with a tangible
sense of the presence of God.
The Feast of Tabernacles
is a vivid expression of the to come up to Jerusalem,” said Kareem
strong Christian support
for the people of Israel
In this unique setting Brother Yun, a former
leader of the underground church in China,
shared his miraculous story. Persecuted for
his faith, tortured and imprisoned, Yun is still
able to talk about his experiences with a smile.
“I had a vision from the Lord that China would
become a village of the Gospel, so when the
police asked me where I was from, I told them
– Village of the Gospel! They couldn’t find it
on the map.”
Clair, originally from Taiwan, travelled with her
church group from California. “I came to the
Feast because my pastor encouraged me
to, but now that I’m here in Jerusalem, I can
the Bible comes alive! Ein Gedi was a great
celebration, but the desert around reminded
me of what the Israelites had to go through for
40 years. I don’t want to be lost and wander
in the desert. [Jerusalem] reminds me that I
was saved from that! I am not lost, because
God saved me!”
What used to be a trend dominated by
European and American Christians is today
shared by hundreds of millions of non-
Western Christians who recognize that they
have, as they say, a natural connection to the
Jewish People, based on the clear testimony
of the Bible.
The Feast of Tabernacles conference
sponsored by ICEJ, first held in 1980 and
since 2014 celebrated at the Jerusalem Pais
four corners of the earth.
Kareem (name changed) came to the Feast
from Egypt, Israel’s neighbor to the south.
Despite what scholars have called the “cold
peace” between Israel and Egypt since the
signing of the 1979 Camp David Accords,
Kareem and four other Egyptian Christians
faced many challenges making their trip to
the Jewish capital, needing to enter Israel
through Jordan. Kareem heard about the
Feast of Tabernacles from a Facebook friend,
and ever since wanted to attend.
“It’s so powerful that every country is called
of the Scriptural foundation of the Feast of
Tabernacles, the prophecy from Zechariah 12
that says all nations will come to Jerusalem to
praise God.
On the second to last day of the Feast,
thousands of Christian pilgrims participated
in the Jerusalem March. Pilgrims proudly
dressed in their national costumes and waved
the flags of their homelands as they walked
the route through the heart of the capital.
“I’m amazed how we come from different
countries and different cultures, and we
can worship one Lord, together, with no
boundaries,” shared Amerita from Fiji, who
came to the Feast of Tabernacles with her
whole family for the first time this year. “I’ve
never seen the global Church so united and so
free. It’s very special to see it here, in this land!”
The finale of the Feast of Tabernacles at
the Pais Arena gathered more than just the
Christian pilgrims, who attended the entire
six-day event. The arena was also filled
with Israeli guests and many international
representatives, among them a delegation of
20 parliamentarians from the Ivory Coast who
came at the urging of their President, who is
seeking closer ties with Israel.
The 36th annual Feast of Tabernacles
celebration concluded with the singers from
Moscow’s Grand Choir, directed by world-
famous conductor Lev Kontorovich, leading
the gathering in the Israeli national anthem,
Hatikvah.
“We will continue to bless the nation of Israel,”
promised Dr. Jürgen Bühler, the Executive
Director of the International Christian
Embassy Jerusalem, to the Israeli guests. “It
is your Bible that tells us to do so, and we are
your ambassadors all around the world.”
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