The Tabernacle of our Body
As we continue today with our second study of “Walking in the
Spirit” let us embark on it by observing
the following. As human beings, God
fashioned us with a spirit, soul and body.
In the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit, God deems all believers
as His temple. It is very important
then that we acquire a fundamental understanding of the tabernacle /temple as
described in the Old Testament. The Lord designed the OT temple as a reproduction
of our approach to God, our worship, and our walk with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:19 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?
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people
The
tabernacle/temple of the Old Testament was designed with an Outer Court, the
Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Symbolically this characterizes for us
today as temples of God, our body, soul, and spirit respectively. For the sake of time and space we will not
discuss the Outer Court. Now let us
look at the following three verses describing the Hoy Place, or in essence our
soul.
Exodus
25:30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me
alway.
Ex
30:1 ¶ And thou shalt make an
altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.
Exodus
37:17 And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten
work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops,
and his flowers, were of the same: As we had noted in our
previous study, the soul is composed of our emotions, will, mind, and
intellect. Its function is to understand and put into action the desires and
promptings of the Holy Spirit, thus bringing our lives into complete obedience
with God. Let us now observe the furnishings of the Holy Place.
Heb
9:3 And after the second veil, the
tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4
Which
had the golden censer, and
the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden
pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant;
The Holy of Holies was a square room that contained the Ark of the Covenant, a wooden box overlaid with pure gold.
The Holy Place symbolic of our souls then demonstrated an area of constant activity. However the activity has little to do with agendas and programs, but much to do with cultivating an ever-deepening relationship with the Lord. The Holy of Holies symbolic of our spirits and the indwelling Holy Spirit is a place of general inactivity. There is no light in this chamber except for that which came from glory of God. We have entered through our prayer life, the study of the Word, and an obedient relationship with our Lord, into an ever-deepening awareness of His presence and our discernment of the still small voice of the Spirit. The Holy of Holies is a place of communion, or of dialogue with the Lord. The Holy of Holies represents a position of discernment, revelation, and manifestation. The tables of the Covenant or the Ten Commandments in the Ark represent God Himself, His presence and His character. It is within our spirits then that very essence of God dwells. It is our spirits that reveal Him and manifest Him to the world. Our soul is the vehicle that mediates this revelation from our spirit through our mortal human bodies to a dying world.
Exodus
25:22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with
thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are
upon the ark of the
testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the
children of Israel.
Numbers 7:89 And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation
to speak with him, then he
heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony,
from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.
Beloved, I must tell you that the primary goal of believers is not about saving the lost. It is not about feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. It is not about having church programs or choir practices, or hearing a sermon, or home groups, or the likes of these. Are these things bad then? Absolutely not!! The Lord’s heart is for all these things, and especially for the salvation of the world, for which He died. Yet if we make these very issues our ultimate goal, we have missed in great part what the Lord wants to do with us, and through us.
·
Our main priority must be to do all things in accordance with the
wishes of the Holy Spirit; NO MORE and NO LESS!! Look at the words of Jesus.
Luke
4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save
unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27
And
many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them
was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. The Spirit of God
did not send Elijah the prophet to the countless starving widows in the land of
Israel during the time of this great famine, but just to one. Similarly Elisha
the prophet was sent to heal one leper, though I am sure there were thousands
at that time. Moses had a vision from
God to deliver the Israelites from the terrible bondage of the Egyptians, yet
God did not allow him to fulfill it for another forty years! Acts 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to
visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Acts
7:30 And when forty years were expired,
there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a
flame of fire in a bush
Does God not
care about all these perishing souls?
The ways of the Sprit of God are infinitely
higher. He deals in times, the bringing
of peoples and plans together, the executing of judgments, and eternal
counsels. We must no rush to save the
lost! It is far more critical to wait
upon the leading and timing of the Holy Spirit. Remember, any spirit led minister must know what it is to be put
on the shelf by the Lord, and not used for a number of years!
The Example of Uzzah
·
God Does Not Need us to Soulishly Help Him!! Let us look at the story of Uzzah, an enlisted man in King
David’s service:
2
Samuel 6:3 And they set the ark of God
upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in
Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.
2
Samuel 6:6 And when they came to
Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took
hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
2
Samuel 6:7 And the anger of the LORD
was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he
died by the ark of God.
2 Samuel 6:8 And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day.
King
David had assigned Uzzah in the transporting of the Ark of the Covenant back to
the land of Israel, after its release from enemy hands due to Israel’s
sins. There was a point in the journey
when the ark began to fall from the cart probably due to rocks on the
road. Uzzah reacted in humanly haste,
concern and wisdom to hold the Ark from tumbling to the ground. God immediately struck him dead! Was our Lord being cruel? Absolutely not! God did this to protect His character and the very laws, which He
binds Himself by. One is that human
flesh cannot touch God’s glory and live.
Secondly, the Spirit of God does not need our fleshly help or
wisdom! Why is that?
Ye are Dead
Romans
7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is
present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Romans 8:3 For what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh , and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
As I have reiterated before, God has no need of our earthly plans,
agendas, and ideas to help Him out. As
a matter of fact, they are interference to Him. However, God desperately needs
a Christian dead to himself, empty of ego and plans, with faculties stilled and
yielded to God, so that He can work and manifest Himself through that
believer’s life.
God has already judged our flesh and condemned it to die. God knows that it is so hopelessly cancer stricken with sin that His only solution is to kill it!
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin
There is nothing we can do to perfume it or make it
look good. Our hearts are desperately
wicked, and our best works of righteousness are as filthy rags. Every time that our flesh gets in the way it
produces greed, selfishness, pride and the likes. The soul life that operates without the leading of the
Spirit works in the flesh.
Colossians 3:3
For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Let
me ask you, can a dead man work? What is our position as Christians then?
\1 Corinthians 3:9 For we
are labourers together
with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. The desire for ministry, the desire to be recognized, our desire
to be first, our reputations, our time frames, our agendas and expectations
must suffer countless deaths. Through these deaths to our fleshly soul life,
the Holy Spirit begins to break through our mortal bodies in an unhindered
way. Our responsibility then is one of
co-laboring with the Lord. Our co
labor is to carry out the wishes of the Spirit of God. The believers’ responsibility is so
simple yet so hard; He must become so dead to himself as to allow some one else
within him to live a totally separate life from his, mainly that of the Lord. The believers’ role is to be an avenue for
this other life to be manifested! If we
are full of ourselves, our plans, and agendas we will not only snuff out Christ
life within us; we will be unable to discern it!
Gal2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.