Believers Worship at David’s Tabernacle

Amos 9:11, 12

In Acts 15, the Apostle James speaks to the assembled apostles and preachers at the council in Jerusalem. The council was held so that the Jewish apostles could determine what they should say and preach to the new Gentile converts regarding the observance of Jewish law. In his speech, James quotes our text from the book of Amos, placing Amos’ prophecy in New Testament times, not far off in some future millennium.

James states that the advent of Jesus and His death on the cross has brought back the tabernacle of David. Even the least experienced Bible student knows that the tabernacle was built by Moses, many years before David came along, and that David’s son Solomon constructed the temple. So when and where was there ever a tabernacle of David?

David decided that the Ark of the Covenant had been missing from Jerusalem for too long. Moses’ tabernacle was set up in Gibeon, but David wanted to bring the presence of the Lord to the capital of Israel and Judah, so he had a cart constructed so that the Ark could be rolled in. On the way, one of David’s men touched the Ark as it was shaking on the cart and he fell over dead. David was frightened of the Ark’s power so he took it to the nearest house, the home of a Gentile named Obed-edom.

Obed-edom means, “Servant of Edom”. Edom is another name for Esau, showing us that this man was actually a descendent of Jacob’s brother Esau. For the next 3 months, blessings are poured on the house of Obed-edom, and as David hears of this, he becomes a bit envious in his spirit, desiring that God would bless him with such goodness. This prompts David to take the Ark out of Obed-edom’s house and bring it up to Jerusalem, this time with priests carrying it, as Moses had been instructed.

David places the Ark in a tabernacle that he pitches for it (2 Samuel 6:17). 1 Chronicles 15:1 tells us that this “tabernacle” is a tent. David seems unconcerned with placing the Ark in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle at Gibeon, for he makes no effort to do so. Instead, he leaves it in Jerusalem, basking off of the same blessings that were on it while in the house of Obed-edom. Through all of this he had learned that God’s blessings were not on the tabernacle, but on the Ark, and that God would bless all who approached it, even an unworthy Gentile.

James references this prophecy because of what Christ’s finished work has accomplished. Under the Old Covenant, God was to be feared and placed at a distance. Only the high priest ever saw the ark while it was in the tabernacle, and that only once per year. David is hearkening forward to a better covenant built upon better promises, when all of God’s people can go boldly into the presence of the Lord and have their moment at the mercy seat of heaven, covered by the blood of the precious, spotless Lamb.

Believers no longer worship a distant entity, but a living God. Because Christ lives in us, we worship at David’s tabernacle, where God’s presence is always right where we are. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God dwells in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Just as in David’s tabernacle, the blessings are not on the tent, but on the Ark in the tent. The blessings that we experience are not because of us but because of our Jesus in us! Therefore, His blessings are not dependent on how good we are or how consecrated we may be, but rather they are dependent on how good Jesus is. As Amos said, even the remnant of Edom and all of the heathen are called by the name of the Lord (Amos 9:12).

The Worshipper Is Wise

1 Kings 4:29-31

When young Solomon sought God for wisdom, he did not request riches and fame for himself. He felt that as king of a great nation, he needed wisdom to govern; understanding to relate to people and their needs; and largeness of heart to show the compassion befitting a man of God. God granted him all of these things, and the riches and fame to boot.

When the author of 1 Kings relates to us the wisdom of King Solomon, he tells us that Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the children of the east country, of which the wise men would come at the birth of Christ, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh. He was even wiser than all of those in Egypt, who were world renowned for their intellect in all things, including architecture and science.

More telling than his comparison to the wise men of the east or to the intellectual giants of Egypt is the author’s comparison of Solomon to the characters in verse 31 of chapter 29. It tells us that he was “wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about”.

Who are these wise men that are named by the Holy Spirit? What made them so wise? Notice their occupations: Ethan the Ezrahite was the author of Psalm 89, which spoke of the arrival of the Holy One; Heman was the author of Psalm 88, “O Lord God of my salvation”, and the choir director under King David; Mahol is the father of three of these men named, and his name means “dancer” in the Hebrew. Two of these men are song writers, one of them a choir director and a third one, a dancer. Solomon’s wisdom is being compared to worshippers! God viewed those who wrote of His greatness and glory and danced before Him as the wisest men in the world before Solomon.

When the believer worships the Lord, they do it, “in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23). Jesus takes the worship away from an object and a formula and makes it personal, coming from the heart of man. No worship is proper worship that does not have at its core, the truth, which is Jesus. He is the truth, so to lift up Him and His finished work is to worship in truth, and that is to worship in wisdom.

God viewed the wisest people in the world as those who sang and danced of His goodness. You and I as believers can worship Him for His goodness every moment of every day, in our hearts. True wisdom is found in true worship. Do you have a pressing need today? Worship Him, and watch wisdom flow in your heart of understanding.

Be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove today. Remove an unholy fear of God and replace it, like Jesus did in the wilderness, with worship. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8). Go in grace and favor!

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

Did you know that there is a proper and an improper fear of God? David said that, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalms 19:9), showing us that proper fear is pure and clean and it will last for all of time. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Here, we see that there is “godly fear” which comes only from those who “have grace”.

Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness with various temptations. One of those temptations was to take possession of the earth without going to the cross. Satan offered all of it to Christ if Jesus would only worship him (Luke 4:6, 7). Jesus refused, and said, “For it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Luke 4:8). Notice that Jesus said, ‘it is written’, meaning that He is quoting from the scriptures. The only problem is that what He claims was written is not written!

Jesus puts two verses together, both from the book of Deuteronomy:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 10:20).

In neither verse do we see, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”, yet Jesus says, “It is written”. In fact, the phrase, “Thou shalt worship the Lord they God” never appears in the Bible until Jesus says it in the wilderness. Rather than assume that Jesus is mistaken, we must take into account something of more importance.

Jesus is the author of Deuteronomy! John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and then he writes, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was there in the beginning and He was the inspiration for all of the Old Testament scriptures. As the author of the Old Testament, he retains the right to change the wording in the New Testament, thus, when He speaks to Satan in the wilderness, He is not confused, He is simply changing the wording to reflect the Spirit of the New Testament.

With the arrival of grace and truth in the form of Jesus Christ, God no longer wants man to have an unhealthy fear of Him. Now, instead of fear, Jesus changes the words to “worship the Lord thy God”. Every time you read of the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, you have the right to insert “worship” in its place, for this is how New Covenant believers live. We do not fear our heavenly Father; we worship Him because He is so good.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). As a believer in Jesus Christ, remember that now, “The worship of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The man who is wise enough to worship the Lord for who and what He is is truly wise indeed.

Believers Worship at David’s Tabernacle

Amos 9:11, 12

In Acts 15, the Apostle James speaks to the assembled apostles and preachers at the council in Jerusalem. The council was held so that the Jewish apostles could determine what they should say and preach to the new Gentile converts regarding the observance of Jewish law. In his speech, James quotes our text from the book of Amos, placing Amos’ prophecy in New Testament times, not far off in some future millennium.

James states that the advent of Jesus and His death on the cross has brought back the tabernacle of David. Even the least experienced Bible student knows that the tabernacle was built by Moses, many years before David came along, and that David’s son Solomon constructed the temple. So when and where was there ever a tabernacle of David?

David decided that the Ark of the Covenant had been missing from Jerusalem for too long. Moses’ tabernacle was set up in Gibeon, but David wanted to bring the presence of the Lord to the capital of Israel and Judah, so he had a cart constructed so that the Ark could be rolled in. On the way, one of David’s men touched the Ark as it was shaking on the cart and he fell over dead. David was frightened of the Ark’s power so he took it to the nearest house, the home of a Gentile named Obed-edom.

Obed-edom means, “Servant of Edom”. Edom is another name for Esau, showing us that this man was actually a descendent of Jacob’s brother Esau. For the next 3 months, blessings are poured on the house of Obed-edom, and as David hears of this, he becomes a bit envious in his spirit, desiring that God would bless him with such goodness. This prompts David to take the Ark out of Obed-edom’s house and bring it up to Jerusalem, this time with priests carrying it, as Moses had been instructed.

David places the Ark in a tabernacle that he pitches for it (2 Samuel 6:17). 1 Chronicles 15:1 tells us that this “tabernacle” is a tent. David seems unconcerned with placing the Ark in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle at Gibeon, for he makes no effort to do so. Instead, he leaves it in Jerusalem, basking off of the same blessings that were on it while in the house of Obed-edom. Through all of this he had learned that God’s blessings were not on the tabernacle, but on the Ark, and that God would bless all who approached it, even an unworthy Gentile.

James references this prophecy because of what Christ’s finished work has accomplished. Under the Old Covenant, God was to be feared and placed at a distance. Only the high priest ever saw the ark while it was in the tabernacle, and that only once per year. David is hearkening forward to a better covenant built upon better promises, when all of God’s people can go boldly into the presence of the Lord and have their moment at the mercy seat of heaven, covered by the blood of the precious, spotless Lamb.

Believers no longer worship a distant entity, but a living God. Because Christ lives in us, we worship at David’s tabernacle, where God’s presence is always right where we are. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God dwells in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Just as in David’s tabernacle, the blessings are not on the tent, but on the Ark in the tent. The blessings that we experience are not because of us but because of our Jesus in us! Therefore, His blessings are not dependent on how good we are or how consecrated we may be, but rather they are dependent on how good Jesus is. As Amos said, even the remnant of Edom and all of the heathen are called by the name of the Lord (Amos 9:12).

The Worshipper Is Wise

1 Kings 4:29-31

When young Solomon sought God for wisdom, he did not request riches and fame for himself. He felt that as king of a great nation, he needed wisdom to govern; understanding to relate to people and their needs; and largeness of heart to show the compassion befitting a man of God. God granted him all of these things, and the riches and fame to boot.

When the author of 1 Kings relates to us the wisdom of King Solomon, he tells us that Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the children of the east country, of which the wise men would come at the birth of Christ, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh. He was even wiser than all of those in Egypt, who were world renowned for their intellect in all things, including architecture and science.

More telling than his comparison to the wise men of the east or to the intellectual giants of Egypt is the author’s comparison of Solomon to the characters in verse 31 of chapter 29. It tells us that he was “wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about”.

Who are these wise men that are named by the Holy Spirit? What made them so wise? Notice their occupations: Ethan the Ezrahite was the author of Psalm 89, which spoke of the arrival of the Holy One; Heman was the author of Psalm 88, “O Lord God of my salvation”, and the choir director under King David; Mahol is the father of three of these men named, and his name means “dancer” in the Hebrew. Two of these men are song writers, one of them a choir director and a third one, a dancer. Solomon’s wisdom is being compared to worshippers! God viewed those who wrote of His greatness and glory and danced before Him as the wisest men in the world before Solomon.

When the believer worships the Lord, they do it, “in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23). Jesus takes the worship away from an object and a formula and makes it personal, coming from the heart of man. No worship is proper worship that does not have at its core, the truth, which is Jesus. He is the truth, so to lift up Him and His finished work is to worship in truth, and that is to worship in wisdom.

God viewed the wisest people in the world as those who sang and danced of His goodness. You and I as believers can worship Him for His goodness every moment of every day, in our hearts. True wisdom is found in true worship. Do you have a pressing need today? Worship Him, and watch wisdom flow in your heart of understanding.

Be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove today. Remove an unholy fear of God and replace it, like Jesus did in the wilderness, with worship. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8). Go in grace and favor!

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

Did you know that there is a proper and an improper fear of God? David said that, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalms 19:9), showing us that proper fear is pure and clean and it will last for all of time. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Here, we see that there is “godly fear” which comes only from those who “have grace”.

Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness with various temptations. One of those temptations was to take possession of the earth without going to the cross. Satan offered all of it to Christ if Jesus would only worship him (Luke 4:6, 7). Jesus refused, and said, “For it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Luke 4:8). Notice that Jesus said, ‘it is written’, meaning that He is quoting from the scriptures. The only problem is that what He claims was written is not written!

Jesus puts two verses together, both from the book of Deuteronomy:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 10:20).

In neither verse do we see, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”, yet Jesus says, “It is written”. In fact, the phrase, “Thou shalt worship the Lord they God” never appears in the Bible until Jesus says it in the wilderness. Rather than assume that Jesus is mistaken, we must take into account something of more importance.

Jesus is the author of Deuteronomy! John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and then he writes, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was there in the beginning and He was the inspiration for all of the Old Testament scriptures. As the author of the Old Testament, he retains the right to change the wording in the New Testament, thus, when He speaks to Satan in the wilderness, He is not confused, He is simply changing the wording to reflect the Spirit of the New Testament.

With the arrival of grace and truth in the form of Jesus Christ, God no longer wants man to have an unhealthy fear of Him. Now, instead of fear, Jesus changes the words to “worship the Lord thy God”. Every time you read of the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, you have the right to insert “worship” in its place, for this is how New Covenant believers live. We do not fear our heavenly Father; we worship Him because He is so good.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). As a believer in Jesus Christ, remember that now, “The worship of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The man who is wise enough to worship the Lord for who and what He is is truly wise indeed.

Beware of Dogs

Philippians 3:2

“Beware of Dog” is a sign that we might see on someone’s property to warn you that there is a guard dog on the premises. It is not a phrase that we would expect to see in the Bible, yet that is precisely what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Philippi. He warns them of three things; all prefaced with the word “beware”: dogs, evil workers and the concision.

We can assume that Paul is not actually warning the church about ferocious dogs, but using the tried and true method of allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible, we find that there was previous precedent for this example. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Isaiah 56:10, 11).

In this example, Isaiah is talking about the watchmen, or the supposed men of God, who were supposed to hear from the Lord for Israel. With that in mind, we can assume that Paul is warning of the spiritually lazy leadership who will not “bark” to warn you when something is threatening. This apathy unfortunately is rampant in every church age.

He also warns of “evil workers”, which is different from the dog that won’t bark. These workers actually perform evil deeds, and they influence others to do the same. David said of them, “Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God” (Psalms 119:115). The actions of the evil workers will pull the saint further away from Christ and His finished work, causing the saint to slip into wickedness.

Finally, Paul mentions “the concision”. This is the token appearance of this word in the entire Bible, and it is a statement of sarcasm. The Greek word for ‘concision’ means ‘mutilation’ in English. The next verse in this sequence shows us what mutilation that Paul is speaking of, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Paul is referring to the circumcision of the Jewish nation when he speaks of the concision. His warning is stern and must have struck a serious chord with the Jewish readers of that day. Circumcision was considered the single rite of Judaism that separated them from the rest of the world, like no other single act did. By warning the Philippian Christians to watch out for the ‘mutilation’, Paul was effectively lowering the act of circumcision to that of asceticism, taking all spiritual authority away from it.

In our modern age of political correctness, it is hard to fathom just how offensive and controversial that the Apostle Paul was with his preaching of pure grace. When he warned of “another gospel”, he was warning of a return to a religion of works and ordinances. When he said “Beware of the concision”, he was warning of placing your confidence in the physical act of circumcision to identify you as one of God’s chosen one’s. While there is nothing spiritually wrong with a baby boy being circumcised, Paul was adamant about all confidence being removed from the flesh and its abilities and into the finished work of Jesus Christ.

“Worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:3).

No Fear

Luke 4:5-8

We looked at Jesus in the wilderness a couple of days ago, showing you how Christ overcame the devil with the knowledge that He was God’s beloved Son, and that the Father was well pleased with Him. Now we return to that story, this time from Luke’s gospel. Satan left something out when he tempted Jesus, choosing not to remind Jesus that He was “beloved”. Jesus does some revision of His own, changing the wording of a passage of scripture when overcoming the devil.

The scenario is the second temptation recorded from the wilderness. In it, Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows Him all of the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and offers Him the power and authority of the world. Satan has this right at that time, for the world had yet to be redeemed back to God through Christ’s finished work at the cross. His temptation was to give Jesus all that the cross would purchase, without the pain of going through with the sacrificial work. Whether Satan understood all of this or not is not completely clear, but Jesus overcame this in the same manner as before; by returning to the Word.

Jesus answers the devil, saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8). When the text says, “for it is written”, we know that Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament. In this case, it is from Deuteronomy 10:20:

“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.”

When Moses writes it in Deuteronomy it says, “Thou shalt fear the Lord…”, but when Jesus quotes it in Luke, he says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord…”. Why the change? Does Jesus not know the text? I think we can agree that Jesus knows His scriptures, as does the devil, and Satan doesn’t call Him on this error either. This is because it is not an error. Jesus, as the author of the original text, reserves the right to change it when necessary!

Christ is introducing the manner with which New Covenant believers should think of God. Instead of seeing Him as distant and angry, one to be feared and revered, He wants us to worship Him and feel His wonderful love for us. The Christian need not be afraid of their heavenly Father, for His entire wrath has been exhausted in the body of Jesus at the cross. You and I now worship Him in spirit and in truth, free from the fear of judgment.

This freedom to worship is in us because of the marvelous grace of God. Under Law, even Moses shook with fear when he heard from God (Hebrews 12:21), but “let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Only those who rest in His grace have true, godly, holy fear.

Let the grace of God change your unholy fear of a wrath-filled God into a reverential, godly fear of a Father whose good pleasure is to give to you the kingdom. God bless!

The Worshipper Is Wise

1 Kings 4:29-31

When young Solomon sought God for wisdom, he did not request riches and fame for himself. He felt that as king of a great nation, he needed wisdom to govern; understanding to relate to people and their needs; and largeness of heart to show the compassion befitting a man of God. God granted him all of these things, and the riches and fame to boot.

When the author of 1 Kings relates to us the wisdom of King Solomon, he tells us that Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the children of the east country, of which the wise men would come at the birth of Christ, bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh. He was even wiser than all of those in Egypt, who were world renowned for their intellect in all things, including architecture and science.

More telling than his comparison to the wise men of the east or to the intellectual giants of Egypt is the author’s comparison of Solomon to the characters in verse 31 of chapter 29. It tells us that he was “wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about”.

Who are these wise men that are named by the Holy Spirit? What made them so wise? Notice their occupations: Ethan the Ezrahite was the author of Psalm 89, which spoke of the arrival of the Holy One; Heman was the author of Psalm 88, “O Lord God of my salvation”, and the choir director under King David; Mahol is the father of three of these men named, and his name means “dancer” in the Hebrew. Two of these men are song writers, one of them a choir director and a third one, a dancer. Solomon’s wisdom is being compared to worshippers! God viewed those who wrote of His greatness and glory and danced before Him as the wisest men in the world before Solomon.

When the believer worships the Lord, they do it, “in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23). Jesus takes the worship away from an object and a formula and makes it personal, coming from the heart of man. No worship is proper worship that does not have at its core, the truth, which is Jesus. He is the truth, so to lift up Him and His finished work is to worship in truth, and that is to worship in wisdom.

God viewed the wisest people in the world as those who sang and danced of His goodness. You and I as believers can worship Him for His goodness every moment of every day, in our hearts. True wisdom is found in true worship. Do you have a pressing need today? Worship Him, and watch wisdom flow in your heart of understanding.

Be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove today. Remove an unholy fear of God and replace it, like Jesus did in the wilderness, with worship. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8). Go in grace and favor!