Tuesday, July 1, 2014

PSALM 132 - Cleaning Day

Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. Let's go to His dwelling place. Let us worship at His footstool. Arise, O Lord, and go to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness and let Your saints shout for joy. (Verses 6-9)

Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for Me? And what is the place of My rest? All these things My hand has made, and so all these things came to be," declares the Lord. "But this is the one to whom I look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My word." Isaiah 66

Deep in the tabernacle built by Solomon was the Holy of Holies where God dwelt in shekinah glory, a brilliant sphere of light that hovered over two cherubim whose wings touched. The cherubim were gold and were set on top of the Ark of the Covenant, the holy relic of God's presence in the wilderness. In the Ark were the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were engraved, a golden urn holding some manna, and Aaron's rod. Symbols of God's protection, rule and leadership over Israel. Solomon dedicated his massive gift to God kneeling on a bronze altar and crying out, "Now arise, O God, and to go to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed in salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in Your goodness. O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed one! Remember Your steadfast love for David Your servant."

Solomon had barely time to finish the cry for the presence of God when fire came streaking out of heaven and consumed the massive bloody sacrifices the people of Israel made to dedicate the house of God. In a rush of glory the people and priests couldn't stand before, The Almighty God entered the dwelling place built for Him. With their faces to the pavement and awe humbling them before His Presence, the people worshiped and gave thanks to God. From that day forward, it was assumed God would live there, in Jerusalem, forever. Confined to His new home. In time, the Israelites became lax in their service to Him. Thinking He wouldn't leave, they felt immortal, almost. Nothing would happen to Jerusalem while God lived in the temple there. Accustomed to His living in their midst. Forgetful of the former glory of His dramatic entrance into the tabernacle. And so...God left. (Ezekiel 10)

The Jews were dispersed to Babylon for seventy years. Their glory days over. It was time to await Messiah. For it was not enough for them that God dwelt in a temple made with hands. The new covenant promised our God would live in our hearts, each one of us a holy vessel of His shekinah glory. "I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31)." No longer does the one who knows Jesus have to take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to be near the Presence. When we ask Jesus into our hearts to sit there on the throne and rule over our lives, the Presence rushes in, consuming our sacrifice and setting up an altar over which His glory brightens and illuminates our souls. It is palpable. Life changing. Awe inspiring. A rush that pushes out the darkness. As inexplicable as the fire streaking out of heaven to consume the altar sacrifices of the thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem when the earthly dwelling was complete. The king cried, "Arise and enter Your dwelling!" Just so, the same God, mighty and wise, collides with our sinfulness and washes us clean. Making for Himself a new tabernacle in us.

Have you forgotten? Is the Spirit of God so at home in you that the place is a mess? Cobwebs around the throne? Dirt hidden under the rug? Has the home of God in you become littered with all the stuff of your hoardings? Is it hard to find Him there, the light dimmed and the darkness creeping back in? The God of All has deigned to rush into our hearts and minds, vacuuming our filthiness into the depths of His mercy, cleaning up the messes we've made in order to have a fitting place to rule. If you've made Him too small a place to inhabit, perhaps you have some cleaning to do.

Revelation 21 records the end of all things, a new heaven and a new earth. The new Jerusalem comes down, bright and perfect, and the Lord God looks around to see the city and us, His beloved children, and God says, as if declaring His will finally to be accomplished: "Look! The dwelling place of God is with man! He will dwell with them and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God." He is with us now...the same Spirit Who raised Christ from the dead lives in those of us who know Christ (Romans 8). Oh, let's give Him the mansion He deserves, bright and clean, where He can live large and rule in splendor. I'm going to get out the dusk cloth and the broom. I've got a little work to do today.


 

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