House or Tabernacle?

Samuel 7:1-6 And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies;
2 That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains,
3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart; for the Lord is with you.
4 And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying,
5 Go, and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shall you build Me an house for Me to dwell in?
6 Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.

David wanted to build God a house. God told Nathan, “You tell David I don’t want him to build Me a house, but I will build Him a house. I have lived in tents.” In other words, I have moved from place to place. I have led My people; I have been in their midst.

When Moses and the children of Israel came out of Egypt, there was a tent, the tabernacle, and in that tent was the ark which was symbolic of God’s presence. The Shekinah glory dwelt between the cherubim above that ark on the mercy seat. It doesn’t mean that God wasn’t anywhere else, but there was a special manifestation of Him there. It was symbolic because that was in the middle of the camp. It was symbolic of the fact that God is going to dwell in the midst of His people and His people are going to be on the move. We are not going to dwell in one place.

Proverbs 14:11 talks about the difference between living in a house and living in a tent. The wicked live in a house. The righteous dwell in a tent. The wicked live in a house that is stationary, and they don’t move. They are not moving forward.

Isaiah says, “Egypt sits still.” In other words, it doesn’t function. It doesn’t go forward, no progress, but that is what the tent or tabernacle represented. That tent was always in the midst of God’s people, because that is where God wants to dwell – in the midst of His people. That is symbolic of what God has in mind of doing today. The Christian world wants to put Him up some place in the sky, what they call the heavens. God keeps saying, “I want to dwell in the midst of My people.”

II Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

God doesn’t want a house to dwell in. He doesn’t want a temple. A lot of religious people want to build a temple in Jerusalem and think they are doing something special. God says, “I don’t want a temple. I don’t want a house to dwell in. I want to dwell in My people.” You are the temple of God. You, the many-membered Christ, is to be the temple God dwells in and walks in them and moves in them. He is going to function within His people. The whole purpose of having a many-membered Christ, the Body of Christ, is to give God access in the earth. The majority of the Christian world is thinking that Jesus is going to come and take them out and leave them somewhere in heaven and He is going to do all the work down here by Himself. It is not so. All the way through the scriptures God tells us that He is going to dwell in His people and function in them.

Psalms 149:5-6 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand…

The psalmist is talking about the high praises. How important is worship? Very important, because everything comes out of worship. Revelation 4 and 5 talks about the twenty-four elders gathered around the throne worshiping God. The next thing that happens is judgment going forth. Everything takes place out of worship. We don’t worship, nothing happens.

Psalms 149:7-9 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all His saints. Praise ye the Lord.

What is the honor? To execute the judgments of God. This honor is given to His saints. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Romans 16:20. He works through His many-membered Body.

The Christian world thinks, “Well, I’ve received Christ as my Savior. I’m saved and can go to heaven.” That is not scriptural. God has a job for us to do, to function. He wants us to be filled with His presence and He wants to move through us. God wants to function in the earth. He cannot do it without someone to function through.

Lo and behold, man is in sin, lost without God and something must happen. Couldn’t God have done something to save us? Yes, He did and made it a principle. He became flesh; Jesus Christ came. He had to have a human body to function through so God gave Himself a human body. Now, the human body that God is creating is made up of many people and He is to function through those people. That is how the will of God is performed. The will of God is not performed by us being raptured out and taken somewhere. The will of God is performed by Him coming forth within a people and functioning, doing His work, and accomplishing His purposes. That is what this whole Bible is about.

So, God doesn’t want a house. David felt very religious at that time. He is at peace, no enemies on either side, and he is feeling good, “I think I’ll build God a house.” Nathan said, “Do all that is in your heart.” Next thing you know, God is speaking to Nathan, “You go tell David I don’t want him to build Me a house! I am going to build him one – the house of David.” And that is done through Jesus Christ, the son of David. Amen.