March 16, 2006                                         The Tabernacle and the Temple

I’ve been studying on the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, and the Temple that Solomon built today. I really believe the Lord is trying to show me something he is doing and wants to do. I understand as Christians, we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. When we believe in and on the Lord Jesus Christ and we are born again, his Spirit comes to live within us. We have the new life of Christ growing and changing things inside us. We become his dwelling place.

I was also reminded me of Eph 5:26-the washing of the water of the word... and I know I am the tabernacle of the Lord and he lives in me-oh, family in Christ, I can't tell you how that humbles me to know the King of Glory would lower himself to such a weak place to dwell.....what a treasure and honor I have been given.....and from there, I kept reading, and exploring his precious word.

See how he does it? It reminds me of what the Lord said unto Zerubbabel in Zech 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts!”

The priests had to offer atonement, for sin, and sacrifice, and sprinkle the blood; they had to do this for themselves and then for the people. It had to be done a certain way, in God’s order. Then this:

The head-burnt on the altar-oh, we have to let God burn up the chaff of our carnal mind. Renew it and let the mind of Christ dwell in us. The inwards had to be washed- cleaned, and that is what exposure to the word of God does for you, it washes you, shapes and molds you. And it is one of the most awesome and refreshing things. It hurts at first, when you are just beginning to grow in Christ, but now I welcome it for it doesn’t hurt much anymore. It’s my security, my peace, my HOPE. My LIFE. My SOURCE. The Word of God is my Treasure!!!

See? Being in his presence, in his word, letting it become so much a part of us that the outward man perishes, that we no longer want this world, but the kingdom of God, when we lay hold of what that means, and what he has for us, the things of the world pale in comparison and lose all their appeal.

We have the mind of Christ in writing, folks. We have the Holy Ghost to open it up to us and make it a part of us. What a blessed people we are!!!

Now for some reason when I was reading this, my attention was captured by the word “Goat” here. What I found in Faussett’s Bible Dictionary was eye opening. Consider this: There are three or four kinds of goats mentioned in scripture, and I didn’t know most of this until now. But the first, is the wild goat, the second, the goat deer or gazelle, and the third, “he goat” which was the leader of the flock. I quote here: “The he-goat, the leader of the flock; hence the chief ones of the earth, leaders in mighty wickedness, the ram represents the headstrong wantonness and offensive lust.” End Quote. (Isa 14:9, Zec 10:3) and then consider this: the goats are separated from the sheep in Mat 25:32-33. The sheep are destined for eternal life in heaven with the Lord, the goats for eternal darkness without the Lord.

In Ezek 34:17, the Lord was furious with the pastors and shepherds who were supposed to be ministering his truths to the people but were taking advantage of them and lying to them and misleading them. They cared only for their own gain, and took from the people, and left them wanting. Now here’s where it gets really interesting, because there’s two more kinds of goats mentioned in scripture, but they are called by the same name-in the original language... Both are called sair (pronounced “say eer” ; the rough hairy goat, mentioned in Dan 8:21; Isa 34:14, and Lev 17:7 reveals that they are evil spirits referred to as goats. Then the last kind, also called “sair” was the “scape-goat”. This is the one Israel used to sacrifice, here. They would get two goats, and one would be sacrificed, the other would be led a long way off from camp, so far it could not come back, and their sins were piled on the back of this goat. (described in Lev 16:8-10). Goats like hard and rocky places. They are stubborn and self-willed. Sheep are easily led, meek and obedient to the shepherd’s voice. Gentle, not rough as are the goats. The goat had to be slain, no fellowship with the world, no stubbornness, no going your own way, it had to be offered on the altar and sacrificed. Given up to destruction. Then Aaron burnt the fat on the altar. Our flesh has to be crucified. It can’t rule or we will die. It has to be mortified through the Spirit and the deeds of the body.

You might be thinking this sure does sound awful. Why does God make it so hard? Well, from my experience, it’s not as bad as it sounds, though it’s not a cakewalk. These are examples written for our learning. They are physical illustrations of spiritual applications.

And it occurs to me, that this is also illustrative of how dangerous and serious sin is. If you consider the blood that was shed and the sacrifices made brutal-is not the consequences of sin brutal?

But when everything was done right, and in God’s order, look at the glorious result. The fire of God consumed the fat, and the offering. This takes me back to Rom 12:1, again. If I present myself a living sacrifice to God, daily, and offer up all that I am and all I have to him, to do with as he pleases, he will set things in his order, and the Holy Ghost fire will fall sooner or later and baptize and consume the sacrifice-only in this case, the chaff, or flesh is burned away, leaving a purified heart, and a willing vessel meet for the Master’s Use, and full of the Holy Ghost.

For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise, For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. (Heb. 10:36-37).

When I think of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which I have not as yet receive, through NO fault of my Heavenly Father’s, mind you, the blame lies in the face of that person I see every day in the mirror. But when I think of how long I have been saved, 5 years this past Feb 25, and how content I was to just read my Bible, pray, and go to church, without a full understanding, without the hunger I should have had for this promise, I cringe. Then when I started craving it, there were the mental battles, the lies of the enemy telling me I wasn’t worthy, and the battle of unbelief. Not that I didn’t think God couldn’t baptize me, but that I didn’t deserve it-which is a denial of his HOLY word. He cannot lie. He doesn’t play favorites. There’s a damnable doctrine circulating among the church world that the Holy Ghost and the gifts he brings were only for the early church. Really? If that were so, that would mean that God would leave the church of the last days in the lurch without the power she needs to fulfill her commission. It would mean he was willing to give them something he’d hold out on us? Never! In the last days, when the devil is raging harder than ever, and the world is being shaken with one calamity after another, and ungodliness and sin is abounding more and more, he will not deny the church-his Bride-what she needs.