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"He shall build me an house, and I will establish
his throne forever"
1 Chronicles 17:12
The Hebrew word for "tabernacle" is OHEL, which means a tent of meeting. In Exodus thirty-three, we find where it was a meeting place for God and his people: "And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his door" (Exodus 33:9-10). Here, God not only met with his people, but it was also the center of worship where all the people did obeisance to him.
Later on in the life of David, it came into his heart to build God a house. He said to the prophet Nathan, "Lo I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains" (1 Chronicles 17:1). However, that same night God spoke a word to Nathan, and said, "Go tell David my servant, Thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in..." (1 Chronicles 17:4). In turn, he said, "And it shall come to pass, when thy days are expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. HE SHALL BUILD ME AN HOUSE and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son; and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee" (1 Chronicles 17:11-13).
This is a clear depiction of God's promise to David that the house of the Lord would not be a house of cedar. And despite the fact that Solomon was chosen to build a glorious temple unto the Lord, it would not be a temple made with hands that God would make his dwelling place (Acts 7:48). It would be the hearts of men (Ephesians 2:21-22).
Hebrews chapter three says, "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Hebrews 3:6). God has chosen us to be his house. We are now the temple of the living God, which Paul points out in his message to the Corinthian Church: "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people...And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:16, 18). This is the same word he spoke to David-and the same word he spoke concerning Christ (Hebrews 1:5).
It is a wonderful truth knowing that we are the house of God, his tabernacle. And what makes it even more special is that the tabernacle was the tent of meeting. We do not just house the presence of God we are the meeting place of God. We must see ourselves as such. All we have to do to meet with him is look down on the inside, in our very own hearts, and visit with our heavenly Father as often as we want to and as long as we want to.
One of the amazing things concerning this tent of meeting is what we learn about Joshua. "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp; but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, DEPARTED NOT OUT OF THE TABERNACLE" (Exodus 33:11). Here was a young man that remained after Moses left. He found himself lingering in the presence of God, and laid fast hold upon it.
That should be our desire today? We are so privileged to be God's tent of meeting, and since he is abiding in us there is not a day that goes by that we should not be conscious that his purpose in making us his house is to meet with him on a daily basis. Unfortunately, so many times we lose sight of what is in us and we miss opportunity after opportunity to stir up his presence and enjoy a time of visitation. Would to God we were more like Joshua, and remain to mingle with his presence until we are fully enriched and satisfied.
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