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The Daily Word of Righteousness
God Has Needs and Desires, #5
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8—NIV)
The purpose of the Tabernacle was to meet God's needs and desires.
To my knowledge, the first mention in the Bible of God's desire to have a dwelling place is as follows:
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. (Exodus 15:17—NIV)
The sanctuary of the Lord, the place the Lord made for His dwelling, is the Body of Christ. The reason the Body of Christ must be brought to the stature of the fullness of Christ is that it may serve as the eternal tabernacle of God, the city that will govern the saved nations forever.
The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains; rugged are the mountains of Bashan. Why gaze in envy, O rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the LORD himself will dwell forever? The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary. When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious—that you, O LORD God, might dwell there. (Psalms 68:15-18—NIV)
The "mountains of Bashan" represent the spirit of religion, that is, the attempt of the adamic nature to do the works of God.
The mountain where God chooses to reign is Mount Zion, the Body of Christ, the Church of the Firstborn.
The chariots of God are people who have chosen to lose their life in Christ and God so God may have a vehicle through which to move.
The Lord comes from Sinai into His dwelling place, meaning that we must obey the commandments of Christ (spiritual Sinai) if we hope to become the dwelling place of God.
Many believe that when Christ ascended on high, into Heaven, He brought with Him the righteous dead who, prior to Christ's ascension, had been resting in the spirit realms beneath the surface of the earth. Christ "led captivity captive."
Psalms 68:15 (quoted above) is employed by the Apostle Paul, in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, when speaking of the ministries and gifts of the Spirit.
Paul says that the "gifts" mentioned in Psalms 68 are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers of the Christian Church.
Paul maintains that the purpose of these gifts is to bring every member of the Church to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.
But why is it necessary for all the members of the Body of Christ to attain such a high level of maturity?
The answer is found in Psalms 68: "That you, O Lord God, might dwell there."
We understand from this that the Christian Church is the answer to God's need and desire for a house and a resting place.
Ezekiel tells us of the coming down of the eternal house of God to be located for eternity on the new earth.
The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE. (Ezekiel 48:35—NIV)
To be continued.