---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Byron Wicker
To: People Who Keep Company with God
Date: 9/10/2009 8:42:41 AM
Subject: David's Tabernacle - Access To The Father
Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
After David established Jerusalem as the political capital of Israel, he began to re-establish and strengthen the worship of God. He moved the Ark of the Covenant from Kirjath Jearim (Joshua 15:9) and placed it within a tent he pitched in Jerusalem. This became known as the Tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16). The Tabernacle of David reveals much about worship, but first and
David caught a glimpse of God’s future redemptive plans when he witnessed God blessing a man that was neither qualified nor deserved to be blessed with access to His presence.
Thus the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire household. 2 Samuel 6:11
David ran into trouble on his first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem so he decided to leave it in the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. 6:1-10). What most people do not recognize is the fact that a Gittite was a person from the city of Gath, which was a Philistine city. Obed-edom was a Philistine! God blessed a Philistine and all he had. That was basically unheard of in David’s days and that is the key – David saw God doing something new, blessing an undeserving person who was not a part of God’s covenant family. David recognized that God was revealing what was yet to come. Obed-edom is the Old Testament forerunner of Cornelius, the first non-Jew who the Holy Spirit had come upon exactly as He had come upon the Jews at other times (Acts 10).
David then came and got the Ark and placed it in a tent in his yard (2 Sam. 6:17) where it remained for 33 years so any person could come and experience the blessing of God’s presence. That is what the Tabernacle of David is all about – we can all have access to the presence of the Father through Christ (Eph. 3:18) and worship in His glorious presence.
After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the Tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, 17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the gentiles who are called by my name, 18 says the Lord, who makes things known from long ago. Acts 15:16-19
David reached into the future and began to live as if Christ had already come and redeemed all of mankind and gave the Holy Spirit. The Tabernacle of David is one of the greatest examples of the future impacting the present in the Bible.
It is also important for us to understand that Moses’ tabernacle was still in existence at Gibeah and sacrifices were still being made (1 Chron. 16:39) while the Ark was in Jerusalem. David did not do away with Moses’ tabernacle or the sacrificial system put in place by Moses. In fact, David himself continued to offer sacrifices according to the Law of Moses. This is a key – we need to recognize that although we may see the future, and God intends for us to live based on that future, but we still have the present to deal with. This is where we stumble many times, seeing the future and living with the present.
Derek Prince gave some tremendous wisdom and counsel on this that we would be wise to heed.
“There are two things, the actual and the ideal. To be mature is to see the ideal and live with the actual. To fail is to accept the actual and reject the ideal, and to accept only that which is ideal and refuse the actual is to be immature. Do not criticize the actual because you have seen the ideal. Do not reject the ideal because you see the actual. Maturity is to live with the actual but hold on to the ideal”. Derek Prince
Many Blessings, BW