God's Tabernacle

 

Hebrew 8:5

The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

Christians who have the view that the Tabernacle that Moses erected in the desert (and the subsequent Temples built in Jerusalem) belong only to the Old Testament and to the Jewish religion, are generally surprised to learn that a Temple currently exists in heaven. In the book Revelation John was shown that God will reveal aspects of it during the Tribulation, one of which is found in Rev 11:19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. (In the final newly created heaven at the end of the age, no temple is needed, as God and the Lamb are its temple -Rev 21:22).

We know that illustrations from the Old Testament are there for us to use as examples in how to live a godly life, as Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. We therefore are grateful to Dr David Cho from Korea who gave us this beautiful framework as an example of how to use the tabernacle as a basis for prayer. In your imagination, go to:

The Altar of Sacrifice: This brazen altar was where all offerings were made. This reminds us of Jesus, our perfect sacrifice (John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!) See the redeeming grace flow from Him, thank Him that His blood has declared you a righteous person, completely free from the guilt and condemnation of sin. Also thank Him that He has taken your infirmities and carried away your sickness; that He has blessed you; that you are no longer under the curse of the law; that you are redeemed from death and hell!

The Laver of Water: Priests had to wash their hands and feet and face here. It was made of polished bronze, reflecting like a mirror all who bent over it, serving as a prophetic washing and cleansing of sin. We are reminded of our own baptism here (Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’) Meditate on the 10 commandments – Do I worship another god? Do I love something more than You? Do I take His name in vain? Do I keep His day holy? Do I respect my parents? Am I killing (hating) anybody? Always forgive! Is there adultery, even in my imagination? Am I stealing in any way or form? Am I lying? Do I covet? This is a time for repentance!

The Holy Place: Open the dividing curtain and walk into the Holy Place. See the candlestick, which represents the 7-fold manifestations of the Holy Spirit (Is 11:2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD). Remember that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12). Ask Holy Spirit to give you the fear of the Lord. He is a Person with will and emotions, He is your Guide and Teacher, do not “use” Him. Have fellowship, love Him, welcome Him, adore Him, worship Him! Thank Him for His anointing and follow His leading all day long. The shewbread is the Word of God, which is also Jesus (John 6:51). Thank Him for both the logos and rhema word, the knowledge that Holy Spirit turns into faith. At the altar of incense, start interceding. Commit everything to the Centre of the Universe, the Great Creator, the Ruler over history, send praise and stop worrying!

The Holy of Holies: In the original Tabernacle, this is where God met with Moses personally (Ex 25:22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.). Open the curtain to the Holy of Holies, for we received the right to do this through the blood of Jesus. See the disarmament of the devil, he is a defeated enemy! And commune with Abba, our Father. Thank Him for your redemption, the freedom from fear. Just worship and adore Him, He is worthy of all praise! And receive His everlasting love flowing through you.

Tabernacle

Summertime

Matthew 9:37-38

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

In the natural, we are currently in the grip of a very cold spell here in the Western Cape, with very low temperatures and heavy rain combining to keep us indoors as much as possible! But spiritually, the entire world is finding itself in summertime, the time of year in Israel when the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, has just been celebrated.

What happened next in ancient Israel was that the Hebrews went out from their cities into their fields to gather the harvest. They laboured at this throughout the summertime until the Feast of Trumpets, a date in autumn, when they would finish their harvest and gather before their Lord in Jerusalem.

This is exactly what happened spiritually two thousand years ago, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles on the Feast of Pentecost and they were sent out to bring in the harvest of souls into the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus meant when He said to them in John 4:35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” He showed that the fields are the world, and the harvest is the ingathering of lost souls. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for harvest is kayitz, which also means summertime.

This then is the season we are living in now. Jesus fulfilled all the Feasts of the Lord up until Pentecost, and we find ourselves eagerly anticipating the fulfilment of the next Feast, which will include the Rapture of the bride of Christ, gathering us to appear before our Lord. Until then, we are meant to be workers in the fields of the world, bringing in the harvest of new believers in Jesus. We are also meant to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send even more workers to work alongside us.

Pearls to ponder:

We are living at the end of the age. Harvest time is limited; there is not a lot of time left to gather people to Jesus. We have to go about our work in the fields with a sense of urgency! What does that mean?

It means that we have to actively look for opportunities to spread the Gospel. It means that we have to be ready to obey the voice of the Lord when He sends us out, even if it is to places that make us feel uncomfortable. It means speaking when we need to speak because Holy Spirit guided us to, not keeping quiet to ‘keep the peace’. It means maintaining an uncompromisingly holy lifestyle, so that what other workers of Christ have built up in people’s lives, we do not break down again.

Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you what He wants you to know about your own particular situation, and where your own field of harvest is.

Bringing in the sheaves 

God's promises

 

1 Kings 18:1

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

We find the vivid account of the spiritual showdown between 850 pagan priests and one true prophet of God, Elijah, in 1 Kings 18. The background to this event is that God was punishing Israel with a very severe drought brought upon them because of their idolatry. By the time these dramatic events unfolded, the country had been without rain for three years, and every brook and river had run completely dry.

The reigning king Ahab, who can be described as the most wicked king in all of Israel’s history, then summoned the governor of his house Obadiah, and commanded that he go through the land to search for any remaining source of water and seize it for the king’s use. Unbeknown to Ahab, Obadiah feared the Lord and had hidden a hundred prophets in a cave, feeding them secretly. On his travels Obadiah met Elijah, who then told him that he needed to see Ahab immediately and would Obadiah go and inform the king of his intent - an instruction that Obadiah quite understandably did not appreciate, fearing that king Ahab would certainly have him killed for delivering this unwanted message!

This brings us to the quoted verse above. Mostly, when we think about this part of Scripture, we immediately remember that Elijah prayed to God to bring down fire from heaven to supernaturally burn up his (soaking wet) altar and bull offering. Certainly God had instructed him to do so (1 King 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.)

But what we easily overlook is that God promised rain if Elijah obeyed his command. This is why Elijah, immediately after dealing with the pagan prophets by killing them at the brook Kishon, instructed Ahab to go back up the mountain to eat and drink, as he already was hearing the rain fall in the spirit. He then sent his servant seven times to look for clouds bringing rain. Even when the servant reported only a cloud the size of a man’s hand in the sky, Elijah reacted by sending a warning to Ahab on top of the mountain to come down immediately before the rain made it impossible for him to do so.

Pearls to ponder:

Elijah spoke God’s promise of rain out loud nine times in total. With not a cloud in sight, he spoke the promise from God repeatedly, until the rain manifested. He had no natural indications that rain would come, only God’s word to him that it would indeed be so. Every time he spoke rain, he was enabling the Holy Spirit to start creating this miracle! What are you doing with the personal promises God made to you? Are you idly waiting for God to bring it about, or are you actively proclaiming it until it manifests? Make very sure, however, that it is a promise from God, and not your own fleshly desires that you call for!

God will make a way

Fifty

Acts 1:3

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

In the wider church community, we have just celebrated Ascension Day, commemorating the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. He had been crucified and buried forty-three days earlier, and upon His resurrection visited His disciples over a period of forty days before ascending to heaven before their very eyes.

They then withdrew into the upper room to wait another ten days before the Holy Spirit came upon them, making the length of time between His resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, fifty days. Why is this significant?

It is important because it shows that Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost down to the very last detail! Just as He had fulfilled the previous three Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits) in their entirety and in all details.

The word ‘Pentecost’ means fifty - the Lord instructed the Israelites to count seven weeks after the Feast of First Fruits and then celebrate this Feast on the next day, and this adds up to fifty days (Lev 23:16). The Jews also call this Feast Shavuot, which means weeks. The seven sevens referred to here (seven weeks of seven days) is a picture of the pattern given in the Bible of seven sevens of years with the year thereafter being a Jubilee year – an indication of God’s ultimate period of rest and restitution. This is why Holy Spirit was poured out on that fiftieth day. It marked a reset of creation, proclaimed rest in the Lord and restitution of the relationship between us and Him, and between us as human beings. The leavened bread baked for this Feast shows that the Holy Spirit is now inside the followers of Jesus, making the Bride of Christ holy (Rom 11:16 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.)

This brings us back to the book of Acts, and to Acts 2:1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. They were celebrating the Jewish Feast of Pentecost when God poured the Holy Spirit out upon them, as He had promised He would. The very event we as Christians also celebrate when we gather for Pentecost, even though on a different date from their celebrations.

And I am wondering: is it not time for us as Christians to unite with our Jewish brothers and sisters by celebrating our common heritage on the historically real dates, i.e. as given on the Jewish calendar? Not according to Jewish religious and cultural customs, but in a uniquely Christian way?

Pearls to ponder:

Jesus fulfilled the first four Feasts of God, showing us that they really are all about commemorating Him. (He will also fulfil the next three!) Meditate on this – what is referred to as the Jewish Feasts actually are Jesus Messiah pointers – why do we hesitate to celebrate them alongside our fellow Jewish believers in Christ? Why do we criticize those who do take part and label them as being under the Law? Rather think about what these celebrations could look like, how we can remove Jewish cultural elements from them and celebrate Jesus only. And then quietly start observing them in our own homes, without fanfare or finger-pointing.

Pentecost