My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, have you ever considered our God is in search of a dwelling place? That’s right, God is not homeless, but He is searching for a place to dwell. Every week at Holiness Tabernacle we stand and cite our church’s mission – “… to preach the gospel and spread the message of holiness; such that men’s lives will be changed and become living tabernacles; that God may have a place to dwell”. I wonder how many of us have considered how badly God desires to dwell within our hearts.
Let’s consider the scriptures. When God first created mankind, He had what appeared to be an awesome relationship with humans. God looked after the needs of man, and man only knew of God and tended the garden. When man sinned and was separated from God, a plan of redemption was spoken of by God in the midst of giving out punishment.” Sin had corrupted man’s heart and soul, but God was determined to r aegain them – after all, this is where God wants to be.
God declared through Abraham’s seed, He would redeem the world. It took a while, but you do recall as Moses demanded the release of the Hebrews, it was so they could go to the mountain and worship God (Exodus 3). Upon leaving Egypt, the people wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Even while wandering in the wilderness, God told Moses to construct a tabernacle (Exodus 25).
The Tabernacle
The word tabernacle means a place of dwelling, or sanctuary. The tabernacle consisted of a tent-like structure (the tabernacle proper) covered by rug-like coverings for a roof, and an external courtyard (150 feet by 75 feet). The whole compound was surrounded by a high fence about seven feet in height. The fence was made of linen hangings held by pillars. It was divided into three sections: the Outer Court, the Inner Court, and the Holy of Holies (where only the High Priest was allowed once a year). An altar and the Ark of the Covenant were within the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant represented God’s presence. In the Ark were the remnants of a bowl of manna, the first set of tablets that held the Ten Commandments (which had been broken by Moses) and Aaron’s rod that had budded. God was not in the Ark. He is too big to be confined to a piece of furniture, but His presence was wrapped up and put in the Ark. This is a great mystery of God’s greatness. Just as He wrapped Himself up in a seed and planted that seed in Mary’s womb. God is just that great!
One of the interesting aspects to the tabernacle of Moses was that it was mobile because Israel was a nomadic nation. When it was time for them to move to the next location, the tabernacle would be dismantled and moved. The Lord accepted this for a while until He knew Israel could do better. When we first come to Christ, He accepts us as we are. But after a while, He expects growth and progress from us and He requires more. It is not good enough to join the Church and occupy a seat. Or just come to Church casually or whenever the urge strikes us. God expects growth in us because He has provided a way for us to grow. II Peter 3:18, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever.” Or consider I Corinthians 3:2, “For I have fed you with milk and not with meat because you were not able to handle it.”
The Lord spoke to King David after he had conquered all of his enemies. II 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 dwelleth within curtains. 3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee. 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, Shalt thou 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 set in motion to build the Lord a permanent dwelling, but because of David’s history, he was only allowed to gather the materials. His son King Solomon would get the credit of the actual construction. Notice what happens upon the completion of the temple. II Chronicles 5, “Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God. 2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 3 Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. 4 And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. 5 And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up. 6 Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims:
However, because of sin and corruption, the temple was destroyed. There were attempts to rebuild the temple: Nehemiah, Ezra, and Zerrubbabel were some of the best known men who made valiant attempts to reconstruct the walls and actual structure. They were challenged in many ways. We had men like Sanballat and Tobias who confronted Nehemiah. Don’t be deceived, the devil is quite comfortable with the Lord being without a home. When you decide to do anything for God, the enemy stands ready to discourage, distract, and deter you. The Bible says when Sanballat and Tobias heard that Nehemiah was attempting to reconstruct the wall, they got angry (Nehemiah 4:1-5). Why might you ask? Why would it bother them? It was not about Nehemiah, just as it is not about you. All of these things come about because the enemy wants to take away from the Lord’s work. The devil delights in seeing our Lord seeking a dwelling place, and seemingly coming up short. However, the Lord who is ever so progressive, had an ultimate plan for a dwelling place – the heart and soul of man! Jesus revealed to Nicodemus that we must be born again. “How?” asked Nicodemus. Through the spirit!
In today’s text, Zacceaus had a problem – he wanted to see Jesus. The Bible does not say why, all we know is he had a desire to see Jesus. But, Zacceaus had a few challenges. First of all he was of little stature – he was short and he could not see over the press. Just as we have challenges today. All of us have had and some still do have challenges that hinder us from drawing closer to God: our tempers, friends and family, sin, a lying and/or disobedient spirit, a bad attitude, selfishness, self–righteousness, unfaithfulness, stubbornness and the list goes on. You do understand that God has not changed His standards – He still cannot co-exist with sin. For the Apostle Paul informs us in I Corinthians 3: 16-17,“…Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Unfortunately, we put a whole lot of stuff in the temple and expect God to dwell in us. How many of you would check into a hotel, give the desk clerk our credit card information, receive the key only to go to the room and discover the bed was not made up from the previous inhabitant: to walk into the bathroom and discover rings around the tub. Or find roaches, rodents and other pest have set up camp in a room we are paying for and choose to remain in the room? As distasteful as this sounds, we do the Lord this way. We expect God to lay down with sin and corruption. We have dirt in our lives and we don’t seem to mind half-heartedly asking the Lord in and we are either surprised or dismissive when He rejects our invitation. And remember, He did purchase our salvation. For the Bible declares inI Corinthians 6:19-20, “…What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
Zacceaus decided his need to see Jesus was more important than the press. He, therefore, put forth an effort to see Jesus. He ran down a ways and climbed a sycamore tree. This required effort – we have to do something if we expect God to dwell within us. You have to do something that requires effort! Not only did Zacceaus run ahead of the press, not only did he climb the tree, but he confessed of some sin in his life and proposed a plan of restitution. Did you read Jesus response to Zacceaus’ confession? Jesus invited Himself to Zacceaus’ home for dinner!
My friends, I don’t know about you, but I would love to have my Savior take up residence in me. I can’t choose for you, but I am about ready to shut down my computer and throw my hands up in the air and give my God a praise He’s worthy of so that He will know, I want Him to dwell in me!
I bless you in the name of the Lord!