The Restoration of the Davidic Tabernacle – Andy Raine

God’s reason for choosing a people is not to give them a ticket to Heaven, but to demonstrate His character, His care and His love to the world, to lift Him up so that others might see Him, and be drawn also into His love, a real relationship with Him. Ern Baxter has said, “The Church is an extension of the Trinity on Earth, to catch the eye of the world.” God wants to reveal Himself in His glory.

THE VEIL
When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, God spoke with an audible voice to them, giving them the commandments. They were terrified, and asked that He would not speak directly with them again, but use Moses as an intermediary. While God was speaking with Moses, the people turned to idolatry. When Moses came back, he was angry with them but even through his anger, his face shone with the reflected glory of God.

The tabernacle in the wilderness (or the Mosaic tabernacle, as we call it) was built upon the same pattern. Its symbolism spoke of the mystery of the Cross, the Trinity, but the Holy of Holies, in the centre would enter there only once a year and that would be as representing all the people. In fact, before he entered, he would tie a cord around his ankle, so that; should he be struck dead, they would be able to retrieve his body without touching it and without needing to enter the Holy of Holies!

What was to be seen within the Holy of Holies? Three things which speak to us of the Trinity: 1) The Ark of the Covenant. This was a box made of wood, covered with gold, signifying the combination of man and God we see in Jesus. Inside this box, were the two tablets on which were written, the 10 commandments, which Jesus summarized as saying, “love God, and love your neighbor.” The commandments we contained in the Ark; Jesus embodied God’s intention for us in His life; Love came, and was the fulfillment of the law. The Ark symbolized God as the refuge and strength of His people. It had poles attached, so that in times of battle, God’s presence could lead them on. More than that, it spoke just of who He is. 11) THE MERCY SEAT This was the golden lid or covering of the Ark. It speaks of YHWH, the unspeakable God and His forgiveness on the basis of the Ark of salvation. Formed out of the same piece of gold on either side were cherubim, both with head bowed in worship and surrounding the Mercy Seat which is the throne of God, with their great wings. 111) The Shekinah The Shekinah – glory of God is His visible presence by the Holy Spirit. It would come as a brilliant light, resting between the cherubim, and lighting the Holy of Holies. This was not symbolic, but actual. There was no candle or oil lamp there, nor could day-light penetrate, even as there will be no need of created light in Heaven. (As always, though, we cannot clearly differentiate in character, symbolism or activity between the Persons of the Godhead. He is one God, and in His nature, is such sweet fellowship and unity, that whatever involves or concerns one member of the Godhead inevitably concerns all.)
The High Priest hardly dared, once a year, after much preparation, to enter the Holy of Holies, but often, the cloud above the tabernacle would descend, filling the Holy of Holies, with the Shekinah-glory of the Lord, this being the sign that God was summoning Moses into His presence. Moses would then go straight into the presence of God, with no outward preparation, entering boldly, but humbly, to talk with Him.
Years later in the Davidic tabernacle, the most remarkable new thing was that the Ark was set in the midst of the congregation. The presence of God was no longer hidden behind a veil. The people still had cause to fear God (As C.S. Lewis said, “He’s not a tame lion”) but they were prepared to take the risk. They wanted the presence of God.

A KING
God had wanted Israel to remain a theocracy, but sadly agreed to the peoples demand for a king, so they “could be like all the other nations.” God had chosen them to be set apart, special, peculiar, people, but they chose to conform to this world’s standards. It was the veil all over again! A king would serve God for the people, and the people would serve the king. Even worse, the first king, Saul, was not obedient to God, and finally even meddled with the occult.
The man God chose to be his successor was David, a shepherd, “a man after God’s own heart.” This shepherd king, knew where his authority came from, and his strength, and would use all the power he was given to glorify God the more. Elvis Presley was known even from the early stages of his stardom as “The King.” Often when he would sing, “I may be the King, but He is the King of Kings!” I believe David would have said the same to his people – “Listen, I may be the King, but the Lord God is the King of Kings; you think I understand you because I come from being an ordinary shepherd? Well, try to understand this; the Lord is my shepherd…” He tries to lead them into the same relationship; “We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gate with thanksgiving…” In 1 Chron. 21: 1-30; we read how radically God dealt with David, when he was tempted with pride, and embraced it. God wanted him as a king, precisely because he was a king who would let God reign. See 1 Sam. 17:37; 45-47)

LOVE – RELATIONSHIP
The central feature of the reign of David was the open expression of His love for God. The Lord and David had a relationship big enough to include a whole nation in, and still not be distracted. On the hill side, David expressed his love and praise for God, as a king, he did the same. The love affair was contagious – it overflowed to affect other meaningful relationships. Look at David’s covenant with Jonathan, his faithfulness to Saul his enemy, the quality of relationships amongst his people. (Psalm 133) The New Testament tells us that “love covers a multitude of sins.” David broke all the rules, he wore an ephod, ate the shrew-bread etc. – but his heart was right, and that mattered far more than law or convention. No wonder the Lord says, “Love is fulfilling the law.” All the praise and worship and festival and celebration flowed out of David’s love of God.

SO WHAT IS THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID?
The Ark representing the presence of God had been taken away into battle in Saul’s time, and God allowed it to be captured. The enemy found it very uncomfortable to have around – even their idols fell before it – and sent it in a cart, back to David’s kingdom. David and his people went with great rejoicing to fetch the Ark of His Presence to Jerusalem on Mount Zion where God had chosen to dwel.l David could have waited a long time and prepared a beautiful place to bring the Ark to, but to him, it mattered more to go quickly, so he put up a tent (The same word as tabernacle) in his own back yard, as close to him as he could get it, where God’s Ark could be received. Here, David would go and spend time in the Lord’s presence. Chas Schmitt has imagined the scene of David creeping into the tabernacle that first night after the recovery of the Ark, and after David had been rowed at by his wife, then tried to retire for the night………

“Lord, Lord, are You there? Lord, it’s me, it’s David.
Can you hear me Lord?”
“Yes David”
“I’m sorry to disturb you Lord, were you sleeping?”
“No David, I never slumber, nor sleep.”
“Lord, I just wanted to come in and see you. I didn’t have a special reason, but I’ve been lying there all night, just thinking about you, and I couldn’t help just coming out here, just to peek and, Lord, Lord, Lord….”
“David, if we’re going to get better acquainted, we better drop the formalities, just call me Jesus.”
‘Jesus? Jesus-Jesus, JESUS! JESUS !!!
“David, you’ve been going to too many Pentecostals meetings!”
“Lord, I mean Jesus, You don’t mind do You? I mean, mind me coming here like this?”
“No David, just make yourself at home. Take your shoes off, draw up a chair, rest your feet there on the Ark.”

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The Lord loved David. No wonder He nearly broke David’s heart by not letting him build Him a beautiful temple to dwell in. The Lord preferred that old tent in David’s back yard, where he could spend time with Him. David sat in His presence and poured out his heart. And he did know Jesus. (Psalm 110, Matt. 22: 42-45) God’s promise (Amos 9: 11-12, Acts 15: 16-17 etc.) to restore the Tabernacle of David, does not refer to restoration offering creativity, of continual praise offering, of thousands worshipping together in the Spirit, of demonstration of His glory- but most of all to a people with lives built together in His praise, but each, with an intimate love-relationship with God, knowing Him as all-in-all.