Already there with the door shut

"You're already there with the door shut," Preacher Richard Jordan repeats often in his sermons.

So many, many classic hymns are about having a home in heaven to dwell with God. Obviously it was a major theme in the hearts and minds of the hymn writers. John W. Peterson writes in his song, "I've a Home Beyond the River,"

"O, the blessed contemplation

when with trouble here I sigh,

I've a home beyond the river

that I'll enter by and by.

 

Chorus:

I've a home beyond the river,

I've a mansion bright and fair.

I've a home beyond the river,

I will dwell with Jesus there."

The all-time great hymn, "Finally Home," was written by Don Wyrtzen: 

(1)     When alarmed by the fury of the restless sea,

Towering waves before you roll,

At the end of doubt and peril is eternity,

Though fear and conflict seize your soul

Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven

Of touching a hand, and finding it God's

Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial

Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home"

(2)     When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night,

Oh how lonely death can be,

At the end this long tunnel is a shining light,

For death is swallowed-up in Victory, (Victory!)

Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven

Of touching a hand, and finding it God's

Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial

Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home"

Finally Home!  

Paul assures Believers in Ephesians 2: [19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

[20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
[22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Similarly, Paul writes in II Corinthians 5, [1] For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

[2] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
[3] If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

[4] For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

*****

In a genius set of questions for a human, Isaiah 40 reads, [21] Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? [22] It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

"When God originally created the universe His intention was to create a tent, a tabernacle, for Him to dwell in," explains Jordan. "Adam understood that because God communicated that information to him. Had sin not entered into mankind, man was designed by God to be the one through whom He would go out and restore the headship of Jesus Christ over His creation.

"Man fell in with the Adversary so God made a promise that He would become a man and do for man what man didn't do for himself. That's where the plan and purpose of God's restoration, or reconciliation as Paul calls it, program begins to be manifested and it focuses on the earth.

"All the way through prophecy is the reconciling of the earth, reestablishing of the headship of Jesus Christ over Planet Earth. Now with the Body of Christ, the mystery program, we understand He had another plan, not just to have Christ reign over the earth, but to have Him reign over the government of the heavens.

"God kept that part of it secret because if Satan had known what God was going to do in that ultimate plan through the Cross of Christ, he wouldn't have crucified Christ. The fact that Satan crucified Him meant he didn't know the whole thing, couldn't figure it out. The wisdom of God took the crafty one in his own craftiness.

*****

"God had the intention to dwell with man in His creation but sin threw a monkey wrench into that. In the earth, the reconciliation program is going to be accomplished through the nation Israel.

"As He began to educate Israel about what He's going to do with them and how it's going to be accomplished, He gives them a place where His dwelling is going to be manifest. God was going to dwell on the earth in a tent made out of skin that Israel was in charge of.

"His intention was to dwell on the earth in what Amos calls the 'tabernacle of David'; the skin of David. In other words, He's going to dwell in Israel ultimately.

"You go all the way to the Book of Revelation and you discover that all of it begins to be accomplished over there. In the between time, you have the Lord Jesus Christ come on the scene and 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' He becomes the one through whom God dwelling with man is going to be accomplished.

"The great intention of God all along, the great issue in the universe, has always been God dwelling in His creation and sharing His life with His creation. The tabernacle that God gave Israel is a foreshadowing of that.

*****

"Psalm 132, about the covenant God made with David, is my favorite passage about this because it sums it all up in one place. There are 40 verses like this that you could look at, but this one for me ties the rag on the bush. Verse 11: [11] The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

[12] If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.
[13] For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
[14] This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

"God's intention is to put His dwelling place, His throne in the city of Jerusalem on the hill of Zion; that special place in Jerusalem that was the dearest to David's heart. God said, 'My intention is that I'm going to put my throne there and that's where I'm going to rule. I'm not just going to rule the earth from there; I'm going to rule the whole universe from there.' The tabernacle was designed to teach that to Israel.

"John 2: [18] Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?[19] Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.[20] Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? [21] But he spake of the temple of his body.

"Notice how he's changed the words here? John 1 says, 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' He lived in a tent like the tabernacle, but now He's talking about the temple. What's the difference between those two? Who built the tabernacle? Moses. Who built the temple? Solomon.

*****

"The tabernacle is a picture typically of the first coming of Christ. The temple is a picture of the Second Coming of Christ. Think about it. The tabernacle was a temporary structure; it was made to be moved from place to place. It was a tent; you could knock it down, take it and go with it.

"The temple was a permanent place built in the city of the great king, Jerusalem. It was built by the king, Solomon. You remember how David prepared all the stuff for it, wanted to build God's house and God said, 'You can't do it; you're a bloody man. We're not going to build the temple by the bloody man. We're going to build it by the son of David.' There's another one of those first-coming, second-coming comparisons.

"Moses is the prophet and he builds the tabernacle. It's the king who builds the temple. The temple is the second meeting place; the tabernacle was the first. The prominent number in the temple is 12, the number of Israel. Twelve is the number in the Bible associated with governmental perfection.

"The prominent number in the tabernacle is five. In the Bible, the No. 5 is the number of death. Everything in the tabernacle pointed to that. The temple was renowned for its glory and beauty. It was like the city on the hill. Just gorgeous. People would come and marvel at its majesty.

"The tabernacle was just the opposite of that. It wasn't built in the city; it was built for life in the wilderness, moving from place to place. Life, not in the kingdom reign of glory, but in the wilderness of nomad life. It was humble and unattractive in its outward appearance. When you walked up on the tabernacle what you saw was a funny-looking wall made out of boards and skins. It was not outwardly attractive.

"The Lord Jesus Christ in His first coming, what does Isaiah say about Him? There was no comeliness about Him. He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. The tabernacle was a place where God's majesty dwelt but it was veiled behind the skins of that building. I keep emphasizing that it was made out of badger skins, goat skins, all kinds of skins.

If God puts His life in you, where does He put it? A body of flesh. Skin. That's the idea back there. By the way, the tabernacle was the center of life for the nation Israel. When Israel in the wilderness moved from one encampment to the next, the way they encamped when they settled in a location is the tabernacle would be in the center.

*****

“Numbers, in the first few chapters, tells you specifically where each tribe was to be and everything about how they were lined up and encamped was determined by the tabernacle.

"On one side there would be three tribes of Israel, and on another side there would be three tribes, and another side three other tribes, and another side three other tribes.

"In the Ark of the tabernacle were three things--the two tables of stone, a little pot of manna and Aaron’s rod that budded.

“The tabernacle is where the sacrifices were made. It’s where the priestly family, Aaron and his sons, were fed. It’s where all worship for God was accomplished. Deuteronomy 16:16 says that there were three great feasts in Israel—Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles—and the only place they could be celebrated was at the door of that tabernacle. That’s a serious matter. That tabernacle was the center of everything that went on in Israel’s life.

*****

"There is a fascinating comparison between the tabernacle that Moses built and the Book of John because, just like this system is a system for Israel to approach to God, in the Four Gospels, which tell Israel how to approach God, whether John knew it or not, or intended it or not, God wrote the book in such a way that it follows the pattern of the tabernacle.

“When you come in the tabernacle, there are basically seven pieces of furnishing. The first thing you see is the brazen altar where the sacrifices were brought.

“You come through the gate, from east to west, and you see an altar where there’s fire and they’re killing and offering animal sacrifices, pouring out blood. Can you imagine how, on a hot summer August afternoon, when they’ve offered sacrifices all day and all night for the nation, what a bloody mess that would have been?!

“Have you ever been around people where they killed animals and the blood’s all shed out? You know what immediately shows up? Flies. Gnats. It gets nasty. That tabernacle was not a sweet, wonderful place. The brazen altar spoke about blood for the atonement of souls.

“The reason it had fire in it was because the sacrifices had to be burned. It was like a big barbeque grill and it had a grate on it. The first thing when you walk into that tabernacle, it tells you, ‘You can’t approach God till you deal with sin and the only way is with blood and fire.’ ”