June 04, 2014
The Tabernacle
"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." The tabernacle of God is with men. There has never been a time in all the ages past when it was not so, but somewhere along the way someone needs to behold it. The tabernacle of God is with men; the dwelling place of God is with men, not separate from men.
Now one of the most
important aspects in the expression of the truth of oneself is to keep
inviolate the Holy of Holies. Only those who are holy, who have been restored
to wholeness in the awareness of the truth of themselves, in the expression of
the truth of themselves, may serve in the holy place, and a primary attitude in
the holy place is to make sure that nothing ever violates the Holy of Holies.
The Holy of Holies is the place of the Lord on earth. Again, it is an invisible
spiritual place; it is not some spot that one could find here or there.
"Ye shall not say, Lo here! or, lo there! The kingdom of God is within
you." It relates to the truth of your own being, and to keep your
integrity is found to mean that you keep inviolate the place of the Lord on
earth. You may remember that in the tabernacle of old there was a veil between
the Holy of Holies and the holy place, a veil that was said to have been rent
at the time of our Master's crucifixion. It was rent in the sense that it need
not provide a barrier anymore between God and people.
The High Priest enters the
Holy of Holies alone. The hedge relates to the holy place and to those who
properly occupy it. There is a hedge about the Holy of Holies, so that nothing
is ever permitted to enter that would defile or work abomination or make a lie.
Now how can you stop those things entering? Simply because they do not enter
into you; they do not enter into the truth of the individual's own being. When
you know yourself there is no more defiling, no more working abomination or
making lies. But until a person comes to the point of this awakening to himself
he cannot help but defile and work abomination and make lies. This state of
affairs is reflected in the world everywhere. It is an abomination, simply
because the tabernacle of God, though with men, has remained unknown.
Only by remembering, awakening, may it be done—remembering who one is, the truth of oneself, the reality of being made in the image and likeness of God, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who in his day was the High Priest, a priest in the tabernacle of God, ministering on earth in the holy place, with the primary attitude of protection, enfoldment, care, of the Holy of Holies. Most human beings think of care and protection as related to themselves. "That is primary," they say. "We must take care of ourselves." Self-centeredness! The true attitude is first to take care of the place of the Lord on earth, so that nothing that defiles or works abomination or makes a lie is ever allowed to approach the Holy of Holies.
Coming again into a consciousness of the truth of oneself, then it is natural
to love the Lord thy God and to provide what is necessary of enfoldment and
protection, so that there is a place on earth where He can be. That was one of
the problems, wasn't it, when He came on earth. He said, "The foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head," no place on earth anywhere. It proved out that way,
didn't it? There was no place of safety on earth because human beings were
intent about their self-centered ways, and they have not changed since that
time. It is exactly the same thing now as it was then. However there are some
who are beginning to awaken. There were very few when He was on earth, very few
who kept their integrity. There was only one of His disciples who entered into
the palace of the high priest after the Master was arrested. Where were all the
others? They had forsaken Him.
Where are those with
integrity who will permit, because of their awakening to the truth of being,
the establishment on earth of a safe place for the Lord? It takes those who are
restored to a consciousness of the truth of being to allow a safe place to be
established. Now most people give no thought to it; they follow out their good
ideas in the world, all the things that are going to make the world a better
place for human beings. How about making it a safe place for the Lord? When
that is the sole concern, then the tabernacle is known once again, the true
ministry is established in the tabernacle, the creative power of God is on
earth and all things are made new, whether anyone likes it or not. To be sure,
most people don't like it, because it interferes with what they want to do; it
interferes with their self-willed self-centeredness. People have it all set up
nowadays as to what the good life should be; they think they know and they try
to make it be that way.
Let God do it, do what is right, do what should be
done; not what human beings think should be done by reason of all their
knowledge about everything under the sun while at the same time remaining
abysmally ignorant, not knowing anything except perhaps that momentarily they
are still alive. But the truth of being? Who cares? We do, I trust, and there
are others the world around who do because basically they have integrity; it
has not been totally covered up. So there are those who are capable of
awakening, and these are the hope of the world—not of the world of man but of
the world of God.
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