YOU ARE GOD’S TABERNACLE OF MEETING
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV)
Under the Old Covenant, God’s people are not God’s temple. Whenever God wanted to use any person, the Spirit of God would rest upon him and thus empowered and furnished him with supernatural abilities to accomplish a specific assignment or task for God.
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Afterwards, God’s Spirit would leave until when needed again (Judg. 3:10, 14:6. 1 Sam. 11:6).
That is why the phrase, “the Spirit of God came upon me”is found many times in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament saints did not have the privilege of being God’s spiritual temple where God could abide and dwell continuously. This awesome privilege is one of the beauties and blessings of the New Covenant. It is exclusively reserved for the New Testament believers.
The Spirit of God no longer seeks to visit us or rest upon us now and then to accomplish some tasks and then leave afterwards. Rather, the Spirit of God now dwells in the born-again believers and abides with them forever.
This is according to the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ before He left this world.
John 14:
16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–
17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (NKJV).
It is therefore a sheer ignorance for any New Testament believer to be praying and fasting for God’s Spirit to visit him or rest upon him from time to time. Why?
Because under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit does not seek to visit or rest upon the born-again believers from time to time, but to dwell in them and abide with them continually and forever!
When Moses delayed to come down from the mountain where he had gone to receive the tablets of law, the children of Israel gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” (Exo. 32:1 NKJV).
Because Aaron feared the people, he granted their evil request and fashioned a molded calf for them from the gold he had collected from them. Consequently, God’s wrath burned hot against the people and His presence departed from their camp(Exo. 33:3).
When Moses saw that God’s presence had left the camp of Israel, he took his tent and set it up outside, far from the camp. Having left the camp of Israel, God was pleased to dwell in the camp of Moses. Therefore, the tent of Moses became the tabernacle of meeting where the people went out to seek God (Exo. 33:7-11).
In Moses’ tent or the tabernacle of meeting, the Scripture records that God spoke to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend (Exo. 33:11).
God’s awesome presence or glory in Moses’ tent was visible to all the people and that was why everyone who sought God went outside the camp to meet with God at Moses’ tent.
Exodus 33:
7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.
8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.
10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. (NKJV).
Just as Moses separated his tent from the corruption in the camp of Israel, God has separated the born-again believers from the corruption that is in the world through lust.
The Scripture clearly states that God has given the believers in Christ, “exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Pet. 1:4 NKJV).
As a born-again Christian, you have been redeemed from sin and the corruption in the world to become God’s holy tabernacle of meeting in the world. You have been made righteous, holy, sanctified, or separated to God by your faith in the offering of the body of Christ on the cross.
The Scripture aptly states this truth.
1 Corinthians 6:
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (NKJV).
Hebrews 10:
10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (NKJV).
Like Moses’ holy or separated tent, the born-again believers are God’s spiritual house or tabernacle of meeting where God desires to shine forth or manifest His love, grace, glory and goodness, presence and power to the people of the world seeking for Him (Psa. 50:2).
Like Moses, every born-again believer owes it a duty to the people around him seeking for God to reveal or manifest God’s nature, character, glory and power to them.
It is expected that when people meet you as a believer, they should encounter God – hear His voice and experience His love, glory, presence, and power.
Regrettably, it is the believers today, rather than the unbelievers, who are running from one church to another and from one special service to another seeking for a divine visitation from God or for a divine encounter with God.
It is so sad to see many undiscerning believers today zealously but ignorantly chasing after God all over the place, not knowing that God dwells in them and that the people seeking for God are supposed to be chasing after them for an encounter or experience with God.
Paul queries, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16 NKJV).
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19 NKJV).
Beloved, while it is certainly necessary and beneficial for you to fellowship with other believers or attend your church services regularly; however, you must always walk in the consciousness that you are God’s spiritual house or tabernacle of meeting in the world.
You don’t need to wait until you get to a sacred place, service or meeting before you commune with God and experience His awesome presence and glory.
God dwells in you in the fullness of His glory and power. It is the same Holy Spirit who worked mightily in and through the Lord Jesus and His early apostles that now dwells and works in you (Acts 10:47, 15:8-9).
Friend, just like Moses separated his tent from the polluted camp of Israel to retain and manifest God’s glory, you also have been called out or separated from the pollution of the world to carry and manifest God’s awesome glory to your generation.
Therefore, quit searching for God everywhere; you are God’s temple. God now dwells and lives in you in His fullness. The world should be searching for you in order to meet with and experience the God who dwells and lives in you.
Like Moses, begin to spend quality time daily to commune with God in your tent and then go out to manifest God’s love, wisdom, glory, presence and power to the perishing and desperate souls out there searching for God.
You are God’s tabernacle of meeting and many people are waiting to encounter and experience the God who is dwelling and living in you. Please, don’t keep them waiting for too long!
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for making me Your tabernacle of meeting where people seeking for You can encounter and experience You. Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me daily to prepare myself so that people may meet with God in me wherever I go, in Jesus’ name. Amen.