In the Old Testament, God gave Moses the plans for the tabernacle that they were to build. It was to go with them everywhere they went, as they traveled through the wilderness.
In the New Testament, you will fnd that there is still a tabernacle that is to go with you everywhere you go. If you have been born not just of water, but of the blood of Christ, then your body is that reborn spiritual tabernacle that is God's temporay house that goes with you. Of course you cannot leave your body and travel without it, that is the idea. God's desire has always been,and still is, to be with His people.
When a person asks Jesus to forgive them of their sin, and save their soul from Satan, that is what happens.
"If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14:23
The dictionary definition of the word "abode" is: housing that someone is living in. How can that possibly be? God is spirit, the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit who is the third person of the triune God is who lives within the believer. Look at what Jesus told his disciple before he ascended:
"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot recieve, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14:17
Jesus Christ, the second person of the triune God was preparing his disciples for this major change that was about to happen. He would no longer be with them physically, but God himself in the person of the Holy Spirit would be moving into their body, he wanted them to know what to expect. Just as he wants the believer to know what to expect today.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Inside the Temple
Inside the Old Testament temple of God, there were several pieces of furniture.In Chapter 25 of Exodus God is very specific as to how the furnishings are to be made and the materials that they are to be made of. For instance the ark of the covenant. Verses 10- 22 explain how the ark is to be made and also the mercy seat. The ark was made of wood, then covered inside and out with pure gold. The mercy seat was placed over the ark.
Inside the ark were to be reminders of the testimony of God for his people, and a copy of the ten commandments.
"And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."
Now I want you to look with me in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 6:19 says:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
A Christian's body is the temple (tabernacle), that the Holy Ghost lives in. There are items within you that were given to you at the time you willingly offered yourself to Jesus to come live within you. These items will remain forever. Just as the furnishings of the tabernacle of the Old Testament, these are meant to be permanent.
Your spirit, or what the Bible calls your heart/mind, the new man, is one of these. It is the piece that can be compared to the ark of the Old Testament. God takes the old heart/mind, made of wood (something that will decay) changes it with the washing of his Word, that is incorruptible and can never decay, and covers it with his blood for protection.
The psalmist David could only plead with God:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
Compare that to the New Testament :
"for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."Eph. 2:10
Jesus has created in you a clean heart, cleansed by his pure, perfect sinless sacrifice.
1 Corinthians 6:19 spells it out:
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
You see, after you ask God to come into your heart and bring the forgiveness that he has died to give you he places within that clean ark of your heart, the evidence of his grace and mercy, his good faith offering of his intentions to keep his part of the agreement. What is that good faith offering? Read what the scripture says:
"...ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest (down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, (see Cor. 6:19) unto the praise of his glory." Eph. 1:13,14
Then he wrote his agreement on your heart.
"This is the covenant that I will make them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; Hebrews 10:16
Until next time-- think about it.
Inside the ark were to be reminders of the testimony of God for his people, and a copy of the ten commandments.
"And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."
Now I want you to look with me in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 6:19 says:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
A Christian's body is the temple (tabernacle), that the Holy Ghost lives in. There are items within you that were given to you at the time you willingly offered yourself to Jesus to come live within you. These items will remain forever. Just as the furnishings of the tabernacle of the Old Testament, these are meant to be permanent.
Your spirit, or what the Bible calls your heart/mind, the new man, is one of these. It is the piece that can be compared to the ark of the Old Testament. God takes the old heart/mind, made of wood (something that will decay) changes it with the washing of his Word, that is incorruptible and can never decay, and covers it with his blood for protection.
The psalmist David could only plead with God:
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
Compare that to the New Testament :
"for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."Eph. 2:10
Jesus has created in you a clean heart, cleansed by his pure, perfect sinless sacrifice.
1 Corinthians 6:19 spells it out:
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
You see, after you ask God to come into your heart and bring the forgiveness that he has died to give you he places within that clean ark of your heart, the evidence of his grace and mercy, his good faith offering of his intentions to keep his part of the agreement. What is that good faith offering? Read what the scripture says:
"...ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest (down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, (see Cor. 6:19) unto the praise of his glory." Eph. 1:13,14
Then he wrote his agreement on your heart.
"This is the covenant that I will make them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; Hebrews 10:16
Until next time-- think about it.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Spiritual Temple (cont.)
I promised that we would compare the tabernacle in the Old Testament with the spiritual temple of the believer ,as Jesus taught, in the New Testament. It has been a few weeks so you may want to check the first post for a refresher(that would be 3/7/11).
"According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Exodus 25:9
Chapter 25 gives the instruction for the building. Here in this verse God is cautioning them to follow the pattern He has given. He is very precise in what he wants; not just what He wants, but how he wants everything done--the materials needed, the way it should be built, even to the furnishings that were to be inside.
They must be built or fashioned and placed according to the pattern he gives. No variations would be accepted. "But Lord this is the desert! Can't I just use this instead?" would not cut it with God then and it still doesn't today. He had provided everything needed for this tabernacle when they left Egypt. Whether they realized it at the time or not, what they needed to be able to serve Him --they had been carrying around with them all the time. The test was--would they be willing to give it back to Him?
This tabernacle was not meant to be a permanent structure. It was mobile and could travel with the people until they reached the promised land. This was --if you will, God's tent. A place designed for God to live among his people, He wanted to be near them. He wanted them to involve Him in their day to day lives. He wanted the parents to be able to point to His house and tell them "This is where God lives, let's go visit him"
God wanted the people to be able to draw assurance that He was "in their midst", meaning he was right there in the middle of everything that happened to them all the time. This was their loving, providing Heavenly Father wanting to build a relationship with his children.
The outside was a temporary structure, but the furnishings inside were meant to be permanent.
Next time we will take a look at each piece and how God wanted it made.
Till next time..... God bless you and keep you.
"According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Exodus 25:9
Chapter 25 gives the instruction for the building. Here in this verse God is cautioning them to follow the pattern He has given. He is very precise in what he wants; not just what He wants, but how he wants everything done--the materials needed, the way it should be built, even to the furnishings that were to be inside.
They must be built or fashioned and placed according to the pattern he gives. No variations would be accepted. "But Lord this is the desert! Can't I just use this instead?" would not cut it with God then and it still doesn't today. He had provided everything needed for this tabernacle when they left Egypt. Whether they realized it at the time or not, what they needed to be able to serve Him --they had been carrying around with them all the time. The test was--would they be willing to give it back to Him?
This tabernacle was not meant to be a permanent structure. It was mobile and could travel with the people until they reached the promised land. This was --if you will, God's tent. A place designed for God to live among his people, He wanted to be near them. He wanted them to involve Him in their day to day lives. He wanted the parents to be able to point to His house and tell them "This is where God lives, let's go visit him"
God wanted the people to be able to draw assurance that He was "in their midst", meaning he was right there in the middle of everything that happened to them all the time. This was their loving, providing Heavenly Father wanting to build a relationship with his children.
The outside was a temporary structure, but the furnishings inside were meant to be permanent.
Next time we will take a look at each piece and how God wanted it made.
Till next time..... God bless you and keep you.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Seasons of Change
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Matthew 7:16
The month of March has lived up to its name again this year. Notorious for coming in softly and leaving in a huff of swirling chilly winds, the month seems to have acquired a less than admirable reputation. None of us like cold winds finding all those places we are trying so hard to keep covered and warm, and then exposing them to the elements. March is the last brush with winter that most of the country will see until next year. Those chilly winds, as troublesome as they may be, come for a purpose. They play an important part in the future productivity of the fruit trees and vines from which we love to gather plums and grapes once summer is here.
God plans swirling changes in our lives much the same as He does the month of March. We don't always like the abruptness of these changes, but just as with the winds of March, God is looking forward to the time of harvest when He can gather the fruits of righteousness that He so very much wants to see in His children.
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