Who May Dwell in the Tabernacle? – Psalm 15:1

“LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?  Who may dwell in Your holy hill?”

David asked these questions and used the remainder of this psalm to list the qualifications of those who will dwell with the Lord.  

“He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart;

He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the LORD; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.”

(Psalm 15:2-5a)

God is consistent in His scripture, whether it be Old or New Testament.  He repeatedly shares His desire to be with His people.  God is not secretive about how to dwell with Him.  This question of David’s is one that we should consider frequently, and help others consider.  In the New Testament, God shows us that He wants us with Him in His tabernacle.

“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.  God Himself will be with them and be their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor pain, for the former things have passed away.”  (Revelation 21:2-4)

‘And He will dwell with them!’  I cannot wait!  I want to be with our Righteous and Holy God.  Shortly after this passage, scripture then describes who will and who will not dwell in this tabernacle with God.

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”           (Revelation 21:7-8)

Do you want to dwell forever with our Holy God in His tabernacle?  Then you must be an ‘overcomer.’  Yet no person can overcome this world on his own power.  “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:7)  If you have not already surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, do not waste another minute.  Believe and receive Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your Savior and you will be with Him for eternity.  You will be an ‘overcomer.’  

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5)

May you grow in the grace and knowledge and overcoming victory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Quest for Fortune or Faults? – 1 Kings 14:2-3

 “And Jeroboam said to his wife, ‘Please arise, and disguise yourself, that they may not recognize you as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh.  Indeed, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told me that I would be king over this people.  Also take with you ten loaves, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will become of the child.’”

Previously, Jeroboam worshipped and consulted his golden calf idols at his altars with his personally selected priests.  Yet when a real problem arises, one apparently unsolvable, he turns to the one true God for the truth.  It seems ironic that Jeroboam would be so silly to imagine that the very prophet from whom he sought a word about the future would somehow be fooled by a physical disguise.  “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked…” (Galatians 6:7a)  God will judge men according to what they are, not what they seem.

This hiding from God while appearing to seek Him is something seen within many congregations today.  This type of person is seeking something other than an intimate relationship with God.  In this case, Jeroboam is not trying to learn what has caused this illness or even to ask the prophet to pray for his son.  He only asks what the future will hold.  Will his son live or die?  Matthew Henry comments “It would have been more pious if he had desired to know wherefore God contended with him, had begged the prophet’s prayers, and cast away his idols from him; then the child might have been restored to him, as his hand was.  But most people would rather be told their fortune than their faults or their duty.”   What action would then be taken based upon the knowledge gained about the future?  None.  If the son is to live, nothing is done for the son.  If the son is to die, nothing can be done for the son.  The entire quest loses all meaning.

There are many folks that will attend a Bible study about the book of Revelation.  They are curious.  They seek information.  They want to know the future.  Yet they are not willing to participate in studies of other books of the Bible that teach of repentance, of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, or of the dangers of sin such as envy, pride, lust, and the love of money.  They are not interested in endeavoring to live a life that glorifies God, that serves Him in reaching the world for Christ, and that serves the community of believers. 

Do not misunderstand.  The book of Revelation does promise a blessing to those who read and hear it.  But there is a condition: the reader must also obey what is read. “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)  Indeed the second and third chapters are bursting with corrections needed in the churches.  Repeatedly it is told to the reader what blessing will come to ‘he that overcomes,’ as well as the alternative outcome if the reader does not overcome.

We must seek a close personal relationship with God our Father through Jesus Christ His Son by surrendering to Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives.  If we seek God in this way, we will hunger for all of God’s Word, for the whole counsel of God.  Only then can we overcome.  “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)  Only then will we have peace.  As Jesus tells us “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace, in the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)

What good is it to know the future, if you do not know the One who holds the future in His Hands.

May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.