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 Believer Whom Jesus Loves

John 13:23

It is Valentine’s Day; a day when lovers share little sentiments of their affection with one another, often with cards, candy, flowers, stuffed animals or jewelry. The purpose is no doubt to generate money for these various products within our economy, but for those participating, it is all about sharing the love with someone special.

It is truly joyful to boast of your love for someone. You can shower them with praise and affection, and that showing of love brings warmth to your heart. That is a sampling of what it feels like to pour the love of Christ into someone’s life. As wonderful as that is, many believers go every day without experiencing that wonderful feeling.

The reason that many believers rarely, if ever, share the love of Christ with anyone is not because they don’t think that the Lord loves people, or because they are being rebellious against the Great Commission, but rather is because they have little knowledge of how loved that they are. The knowledge of how much God loves you will give you the power to share love with other people.

The apostle John writes of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, and then never names himself in this gospel. This disciple whom Jesus loved is identified as the author of the book (John 21:24), so we know that John is referring to himself. Jesus certainly doesn’t love John more than He loves any of the other disciples, but it is John who recognizes the love of Jesus for him. This knowledge finds John leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper, resting close to the heart of the Savior. Those who know how loved that they are do not run off looking for opportunity to sin, but rather they rest close to the heartbeat of the one who loves them so much.

John refers to himself in this manner a number of times in this book. The other usages show us John in various situations, always learning something new, as those who know that they are loved are always growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

On this day set aside by the world as a day of love, let’s think not only of our love for our spouse or our boyfriend or girlfriend, and not only of our love for the Lord, but let’s think of His love for us. The Apostle of Love would write in his first epistle, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). John is telling us that true love is not how much we love the Lord, but rather how much the Lord loves us. We cannot even know how to love Him without this knowledge, for “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Perhaps no poet or writer has ever captured the perfect love of God in any of their work, but one songwriter came very close. The Sunday school tune, “Jesus Loves Me” has been sang by children the world over and there may be no truer theology regarding the love of Christ for us all. Maybe every Christian should sing its lines from time to time, and rest in His matchless love:

Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so,
Little ones to Him belong,
They are blessed for He is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me,
The Bible tells me so

(If you enjoyed this devotion, and would like more information on this topic, contact the ministry and request Pastor Paul’s sermon titled, “The Love Secret of the Apostle John” on CD. It is our gift to you!)

The Walk of the Believer

Ephesians 4:17-25

Even though the Apostle Paul was a preacher of radical grace, he in no way endorsed sinful lifestyles or failure on the part of believers. He was accused of this sort of doctrine however, as he tells us in Romans 3:8, “…we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, ‘Let us do evil, that good may come’…” However, Paul’s approach towards getting believers to live right was different than what many people then, and just as many now, tend to use. He felt that an introduction of law preaching and teaching into believer’s lives would cause sin to revive in them (Romans 7:9). It is for this cause that when Paul wanted to emphasize a lifestyle problem in his churches, he introduced a different tactic.

Paul maintained that believers were already complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10), but that their minds were lagging behind their hearts. He felt that if a believer thought like a believer, he would live like one, but if he thought like a sinner, then he would see sin take root. He told the church at Ephesus to “walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17). Sinners walk according to a mind “void of truth” which is what “vanity” means in Greek. They have their “understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18). Again, Paul is showing the saints that in many ways they are acting like sinners through their lifestyles. Now, he appeals to who they truly are:

“But ye have not so learned Christ” (Ephesians 4:20).

With this statement, Paul introduces a three-fold plan for the believer to live right:

1. Put off the old man and the way he lived, which was according to his lusts and desires (verse 22).

2. Renew the way they think, concentrating on who Jesus is in them (verse 23).

3. Put on the righteousness of God which is Jesus Christ (verse 24).

When you do these things, it will lead you to live right which is why the next verses begin to give instruction on not lying, not letting our anger get the best of us, not allowing Satan a foot hold in our life, not stealing, etc. Why doesn’t he just say, “Thou shalt not lie”, or “Thou shalt not steal”? Surely that would be easier, right? That would be Old Covenant preaching, and Paul is better than that. Instead, he appeals to who you are in Christ, and convinces you to change how you think of yourself. When we do this, we put away lying and stealing and everything else because we stop thinking like sinners and start thinking like the sons which we are.

Go in God’s wonderful grace and mercy today, putting off who you used to be by knowing who Jesus has made you to be. Renew your mind on His wonderful finished work. Stop thinking like you thought as a sinner and see your heavenly Father as well pleased with you, His adopted son or daughter.

Believe You Will See Good

Psalms 27:13, 14

It is easy to parcel out advice to others when they are going through tough times and things are rosy in your own life. In fact, we tend to give our most flowery advice when there is nothing but roses in our own garden. That advice makes life no easier for the person going through it, and it probably makes them wish that you had kept it to yourself. Though we advise in love and with concern, sometimes we sound as if we have all of the answers, and no one really does.

We can rest assured that the answers are found in the person of Jesus Christ. He does not have the answer; He is the answer! For believers, we have a steady, fixed point on our horizon, so that we can remain stable even though the boat rocks on the waves. Because we know that He loves us and cares for us, we believe for good things even in the midst of bad times.

“Hope” is the confident expectation of good. When we have hope we are confidently expecting that our God is going to make things work together for our good. Paul gave us this promise, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). How do we know that they are going to work out for our good? Because He spared not His Son and He freely gives us all things (8:32).

The Psalmist David said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalms 27:13). In a very trying time in his life, David has come to the end of his sanity. He claims that he would have fainted, and given up if he had not believed to see God’s goodness. He does not claim to have already seen this goodness, but rather he believes that he will see this goodness. He has a confident expectation of good things. His faith is anchored in God’s ability to do good things and he does not need to see the circumstances change to believe that they will.

If an Old Testament saint can have this kind of faith, what more can a New Testament saint have? David did not have the divine nature of Christ living in him, nor did he have the finished work of the cross to bring him perpetual victory. Yet this saint of the faith believed that God both could and would do all that needed to be done. So confident was David that he gave us this advice, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalms 37:14).

David refers to God by the name “LORD” which is Yahweh or Jehovah. It means, “Covenant keeper”. David is saying that God is bound by covenant to take care of you so keep your confidence in Him. If he did not believe this, he knew that he was done, but by believing that he would someday see good, he could keep going.

Don’t wait until you see good to believe that God is good. Believe that you will see good, even when you are seeing bad. When you have this kind of faith, you can speak to your mountain and see it cast into the sea. Our mountains are obstacles for us, but nothing for God. Trust Him that He is good and that He wants to show His goodness in the land of the living.

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 Believer Whom Jesus Loves

John 13:23

It is Valentine’s Day; a day when lovers share little sentiments of their affection with one another, often with cards, candy, flowers, stuffed animals or jewelry. The purpose is no doubt to generate money for these various products within our economy, but for those participating, it is all about sharing the love with someone special.

It is truly joyful to boast of your love for someone. You can shower them with praise and affection, and that showing of love brings warmth to your heart. That is a sampling of what it feels like to pour the love of Christ into someone’s life. As wonderful as that is, many believers go every day without experiencing that wonderful feeling.

The reason that many believers rarely, if ever, share the love of Christ with anyone is not because they don’t think that the Lord loves people, or because they are being rebellious against the Great Commission, but rather is because they have little knowledge of how loved that they are. The knowledge of how much God loves you will give you the power to share love with other people.

The apostle John writes of “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, and then never names himself in this gospel. This disciple whom Jesus loved is identified as the author of the book (John 21:24), so we know that John is referring to himself. Jesus certainly doesn’t love John more than He loves any of the other disciples, but it is John who recognizes the love of Jesus for him. This knowledge finds John leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper, resting close to the heart of the Savior. Those who know how loved that they are do not run off looking for opportunity to sin, but rather they rest close to the heartbeat of the one who loves them so much.

John refers to himself in this manner a number of times in this book. The other usages show us John in various situations, always learning something new, as those who know that they are loved are always growing in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

On this day set aside by the world as a day of love, let’s think not only of our love for our spouse or our boyfriend or girlfriend, and not only of our love for the Lord, but let’s think of His love for us. The Apostle of Love would write in his first epistle, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). John is telling us that true love is not how much we love the Lord, but rather how much the Lord loves us. We cannot even know how to love Him without this knowledge, for “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Perhaps no poet or writer has ever captured the perfect love of God in any of their work, but one songwriter came very close. The Sunday school tune, “Jesus Loves Me” has been sang by children the world over and there may be no truer theology regarding the love of Christ for us all. Maybe every Christian should sing its lines from time to time, and rest in His matchless love:

Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so,
Little ones to Him belong,
They are blessed for He is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me,
The Bible tells me so

(If you enjoyed this devotion, and would like more information on this topic, contact the ministry and request Pastor Paul’s sermon titled, “The Love Secret of the Apostle John” on CD. It is our gift to you!)

The Walk of the Believer

Ephesians 4:17-25

Even though the Apostle Paul was a preacher of radical grace, he in no way endorsed sinful lifestyles or failure on the part of believers. He was accused of this sort of doctrine however, as he tells us in Romans 3:8, “…we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, ‘Let us do evil, that good may come’…” However, Paul’s approach towards getting believers to live right was different than what many people then, and just as many now, tend to use. He felt that an introduction of law preaching and teaching into believer’s lives would cause sin to revive in them (Romans 7:9). It is for this cause that when Paul wanted to emphasize a lifestyle problem in his churches, he introduced a different tactic.

Paul maintained that believers were already complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10), but that their minds were lagging behind their hearts. He felt that if a believer thought like a believer, he would live like one, but if he thought like a sinner, then he would see sin take root. He told the church at Ephesus to “walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17). Sinners walk according to a mind “void of truth” which is what “vanity” means in Greek. They have their “understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18). Again, Paul is showing the saints that in many ways they are acting like sinners through their lifestyles. Now, he appeals to who they truly are:

“But ye have not so learned Christ” (Ephesians 4:20).

With this statement, Paul introduces a three-fold plan for the believer to live right:

1. Put off the old man and the way he lived, which was according to his lusts and desires (verse 22).

2. Renew the way they think, concentrating on who Jesus is in them (verse 23).

3. Put on the righteousness of God which is Jesus Christ (verse 24).

When you do these things, it will lead you to live right which is why the next verses begin to give instruction on not lying, not letting our anger get the best of us, not allowing Satan a foot hold in our life, not stealing, etc. Why doesn’t he just say, “Thou shalt not lie”, or “Thou shalt not steal”? Surely that would be easier, right? That would be Old Covenant preaching, and Paul is better than that. Instead, he appeals to who you are in Christ, and convinces you to change how you think of yourself. When we do this, we put away lying and stealing and everything else because we stop thinking like sinners and start thinking like the sons which we are.

Go in God’s wonderful grace and mercy today, putting off who you used to be by knowing who Jesus has made you to be. Renew your mind on His wonderful finished work. Stop thinking like you thought as a sinner and see your heavenly Father as well pleased with you, His adopted son or daughter.

Believe You Will See Good

Psalms 27:13, 14

It is easy to parcel out advice to others when they are going through tough times and things are rosy in your own life. In fact, we tend to give our most flowery advice when there is nothing but roses in our own garden. That advice makes life no easier for the person going through it, and it probably makes them wish that you had kept it to yourself. Though we advise in love and with concern, sometimes we sound as if we have all of the answers, and no one really does.

We can rest assured that the answers are found in the person of Jesus Christ. He does not have the answer; He is the answer! For believers, we have a steady, fixed point on our horizon, so that we can remain stable even though the boat rocks on the waves. Because we know that He loves us and cares for us, we believe for good things even in the midst of bad times.

“Hope” is the confident expectation of good. When we have hope we are confidently expecting that our God is going to make things work together for our good. Paul gave us this promise, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). How do we know that they are going to work out for our good? Because He spared not His Son and He freely gives us all things (8:32).

The Psalmist David said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalms 27:13). In a very trying time in his life, David has come to the end of his sanity. He claims that he would have fainted, and given up if he had not believed to see God’s goodness. He does not claim to have already seen this goodness, but rather he believes that he will see this goodness. He has a confident expectation of good things. His faith is anchored in God’s ability to do good things and he does not need to see the circumstances change to believe that they will.

If an Old Testament saint can have this kind of faith, what more can a New Testament saint have? David did not have the divine nature of Christ living in him, nor did he have the finished work of the cross to bring him perpetual victory. Yet this saint of the faith believed that God both could and would do all that needed to be done. So confident was David that he gave us this advice, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalms 37:14).

David refers to God by the name “LORD” which is Yahweh or Jehovah. It means, “Covenant keeper”. David is saying that God is bound by covenant to take care of you so keep your confidence in Him. If he did not believe this, he knew that he was done, but by believing that he would someday see good, he could keep going.

Don’t wait until you see good to believe that God is good. Believe that you will see good, even when you are seeing bad. When you have this kind of faith, you can speak to your mountain and see it cast into the sea. Our mountains are obstacles for us, but nothing for God. Trust Him that He is good and that He wants to show His goodness in the land of the living.

What If the Christian Fails to Confess?

1 John 1:9

This verse marks the only time in the New Testament that we are told to confess our sins in order to receive forgiveness. Paul wrote 14 books of the New Testament, and was given the Covenant of God’s grace in face-to-face meetings with the Lord Jesus, and he never once mentions confession by the saint. Paul’s lone usage of “confess” as it regards salvation is found in Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”. This confession is obviously for salvation and not the repeated confessing of sins that we commit.

John’s usage is not as a foundational principle for how believers deal with sin. If it were, then we would be judged responsible for all of our sins, every moment of every day. This would take the judgment for sins off of Jesus, and place it onto the believer. The load of this is more than any of us can bear.

Do you suppose that you can remember all of your faults? If you can, then you must literally remember ALL of them. Not one can be left out. Not only would you have to confess the sins that you committed, you would also have to seek forgiveness for the ones that you committed but do not know about. You would also be responsible for the sins of omission; the things you should have done but did not do. This is overwhelming!

John furthers his case in chapter two, by telling the believer, “My little children, these things write I unto to you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2). Here, John does not mention confessing the sins; only remember than Jesus is your attorney in the high court of heaven. He is the “propitiation” or “satisfaction” for all of our sins. God cannot be angry with sin, for He has been satisfied by the sin offering.

By informing us that all of our sins are forgiven, John is equipping us to “sin not”. Only he who knows that he is forgiven can have the peace and joy to live free from this world of sin. Sin comes natural to us, because we did it our whole lives. Even though we are free from the old nature that we had, we still know how to sin by habit, like tying our shoes without thinking about it. The knowledge that we are completely washed and forgiven is the very thing that Satan wishes to deny us. Grasp hold of that knowledge and watch sin vanish from your life.

If Paul intended for the believer to confess their sins in order to have them forgiven, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to remind us of this at least once in 14 books? He deals with Christians getting drunk on communion wine, committing incest, suing one another and sleeping with harlots (all in 1 Corinthians alone!) and yet he tells none of these to “confess your sins”. He simply reminds them of who they are in Christ and tells them to wake up to this fact.

John is telling us of a passionate relationship that ensues when we confess our failures to Jesus. I forgive my son for whatever wrong that he might commit, even if he never asks me to. I do this because he is mine, and I love him unconditionally. However, I love for him to say I am sorry because it gives me an opportunity to shower him with love. My forgiveness is not dependent on his confession, but the hug that comes to him is so much sweeter because of it.

When you fail and you know it, confess it to the Father. Don’t do it because you think He will send you to hell without it, but rather because you know that on the other side of that confession He sheds His love on you, and that is a wonderful feeling.