(Exodus 25 to 50)

By Chijioke Nwauche 

(Sunday, April  12^th, 2010)

[For a printable version click here.]

QUOTABLE QUOTES

The table in the holy place of the tabernacle of Moses was made of shittim wood; the wood is over-laid with Gold. The symbolism here is that your wooden nature (the earthiness, the deficiencies, the weaknesses) can also be over laid with Gold; the nature of God. Let us come just as we are and ask the Lord to remove the filthiness and replace it with the gold nature.

The Lord is mindful of us brethren. He is prepared to take us from our lowliness and make us glorious sons. He is a God that takes men with infirmity and causes them to be priests. The old order is passing away. God is coming in to take full control of His church. (2 Cor 5:17)

Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.  2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

v2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

v3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

v4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, v5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) .

It is important we examine some foundational teachings especially at this time when God is being more particular in His demands on us as Christians. The tabernacle has evolved through different dispensations: the tabernacle of Moses, the tabernacle of David, presently we are in what I would like to call the dispensation of the tabernacle ofMan.Every aspect of the tabernacle represents an aspect of our Christian experience. Every Christian must walk this part.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES

This tabernacle was divided into

This tabernacle represents the foundation of our Christian experience. It had a priesthood represented by the man Aaron. It had a court round about it and was covered with a white cloth. The white cloth represents righteousness (the first impression you have of a true Christian is righteousness). Seven pieces of furniture are found in the tabernacle of Moses. It contained the brazen altar and laver of brass in the outer court. Brass speaks of judgment. The outer court is symbolic of our experience of the new birth (becoming born again), consecration, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit etc.

In the holy place you find the lamp stand which gives light to the entire area, and the table of shew bread. This area was specifically limited to the levitical priests (the descendants of Aaron and Levi).It should excite us that Jesus was not of the levitical priesthood. It means that our own Priesthood is not according to this tabernacle of Moses. HALLELUJAH. It was only a pointer to the dispensation of another tabernacle, not made with human hands. Hallelujah! The next item was the golden altar of incense, where the incense was offered; after which you had the veils with figures of cherubim’s embrioded on it.

In the most holy place was the Ark of the Covenant with the cherubim’s on either side. The glory of God was over the ark. On the Day of Atonement the High priest carries the altar of incense, breaks through the veil and enters the holiest.

What we learn from this is that: of all the articles in the holy place, it is only the altar of incense that goes in to the holiest. It is very significant that of all our Christian experiences, it is only the experience at the altar of incense that can go with us into the holiest. The veil that separated the holy place from the holiest had several layers. This is also significant in the sense that we need to overcome several experiences to enter into the holiest.

THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID (REV. 19)

The only article here was the ark of the testament. In this tabernacle there was no veil. Immediately you enter you sight the Ark of the Covenant. The implication here is that there was no veil shutting off the glory of God. In this temple as you enter, you are in direct contact with the ark which housed the presence of God. It speaks of the fact that there is a free flow of life from God to the man who enters in. This place speaks of a high walk in God. There are veils over the soul of man, but in this tabernacle the veil is done away with for the bible states that when it shall turn to the Lord the veil shall be taken away ( 2 Cor 3:18); that we all beholding the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. This tabernacle of David represents the final product. A finished product where all the veils have been broken and man is able to receive Gods fullness with out any hindrance. HALLELUJAH.

THE TABERNACLE/TEMPLE OF MAN

The soul of man is made up of four compartments: the mind, the will, the emotions and the desire. (The operation of all together constitutes what we know as the heart).The spirit of man is in direct contact with the soul of man, and the soul is in direct contact with his physical body.God has declared in the scriptures that He will not dwell in the temples made of stone. God’s temple is the human being; the soul is His dwelling place. Any where you have the Spirit of God you must receive life. The whole counsel and purpose of God’s revelation is to bring the life of God back to the four dimensions of our soul: your mind, will, emotions, desires and lastly the body. So if the veils (barriers) can be removed, God’s Spirit reaches the soul and we have the victory.

UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSECRATION

The first thing that happens when you become born again is that God (the Spirit of Christ) comes into your spirit. The Father and the Son come in to your spirit and the blood of Jesus is applied to your soul; in so doing God enters into covenant with you. If you do not have the blood of Jesus you cannot be saved. So what saves a man is not how much you cry or how bad you feel; it is in receiving this sacrifice (blood) of Jesus that makes atonement for your sins. The foundation of our Christian experience is the covenant of life found in the blood. The bible says, he has given the blood to make atonement for the soul.(Lev 17:11). Now the atonement for the soul does not just stop when you get born again, it continues to function through  your Christian experiences until you come to the place or experience of the altar of incense (where the process of God taking full and total control of the soul begins). The more you grow in God, the more relevant the function of the blood in your work with God. The bible says that from this one sacrifice He has made an eternal sacrifice for us. The blood is that which atones for your soul (mind, emotions, will and desires).The blood is applied first to the mind (your thinking begins to change and you begin to understand spiritual things) then to the will, desires, emotions etc, that is why you cannot afford to go one day without applying the blood (feeding the word of God) to your mind. This is the way to counter the fiery darts the devil throws. If you want to be an overcoming Christian you must learn to use the blood (i.e. interacting constantly with the Spirit of God). You do not overcome the devil with arguments; you overcome the devil with the blood. The blood can only work for you when you are in covenant relationship with him.

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE FIRST BORN

Unlike the tabernacle of Moses which was a priesthood that had to do with man (Aaron), our own priesthood is a priesthood of the Spirit. We do not belong to the priesthood of Levi.

What is the import of all this information? We see that our own priesthood can only begin when we break through our veil (the limitations). It is priesthood in the Spirit. A priesthood which was after the order of Melchizedek. It is an unchanging priest hood. Kingdoms have come and gone but this is one kingdom that shall not end, that is the priest hood that we are being called into. It is a priesthood that works according to the principle of the first born, and what does this mean to us. The principle of the first born is the principle that is activated at Midnight. When darkness is at its height. When the enemy comes to you when you are at your weakest point. (It was at the height of the power of pharaoh and his people that God delivered the children ofIsrael fromEgypt.) It is at the time of midnight that men will break forth from the covering of the veil (the veil of carnality, the world, the flesh). It at midnight that sons are born. It is when you are in the furnace of affliction that grace abounds and produces the meekness of Christ in a man. We must break through the different types of veil of the flesh and it is when we break through that son-ship starts. What instrument do you think God will use to help us break through this veil? It is tribulation.

For Paul, he said whatsoever things were gain to me, I have counted as dung for Christ. This is the priesthood we belong to. Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 

We can only qualify for this priesthood if like Jesus we are able to break through the veil of the flesh to become sons.  Just as a child needs to break through to be born so must we break through the veil of the flesh to be born. The priesthood of Son-ship is a priesthood that does not make allowance for the flesh. These veils are within me and you. At the point when you accept Christ and are baptized, the veil of your spirit is broken through and the Spirit of God comes into your spirit permanently. This is what is called the baptism of the Holy Ghost where the spirit of man becomes submerged into the ocean of the flow of the Spirit of God.We say he has been baptized into the Spirit. For the bible states that any man that has the Spirit of God is in the Spirit. But the problem here is that man is not made up of spirit only. Man is a soul, has a spirit and is   housed in a carton called a body. So when at baptism the spirit is taken over, what about the soul and body? The Spirit of God will not stop at your spirit. Speaking in tongues is not the ultimate plan of salvation. It is only a first measure, something to acknowledge, something to confirm that you have come into the realm of the Spirit. It is a deposit to energize and quicken you. The Spirit of God must come for your soul. God wants to tabernacle (live) in your soul. HALLELUJAH. This is the summary of the story of redemption. God wants your soul.  The soul has been barren and full of seeds of iniquity. But God wants to sow seeds of light, seeds of discernment and glory. He wants to cause the river of life to break through the veils of your flesh to touch your soul. In the natural we know that when there is water on a parcel of land any thing you plant will certainly grow. Why you are in your present state of weakness, in rising up to the things of God is because your soul is not being sufficiently touched by the life of God. (i.e. the flow of His Spirit).When the soul  receives sufficiently of His life, you will experience His power in its fullness, the nature  of the soul will certainly change, and your body will receive the quickening it needs to reflect the glory of God.

This river (of His Spirit) flows from your spirit and into the soul; it flows through the four different aspects of the soul and so begins to change the nature of the soul. This is the new covenant.

Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

In the tabernacle remember, the veils in the temple of Solomon and Moses were inscribed (marked), with cherubim’s and palm trees and pomegranates signifying the writings the Lord will inscribe on the tables of our hearts so that whereas with the old tabernacles the laws were written on tables of stone and on scrolls, in our time it is being written (engraved to make an impression) in our hearts; so we become epistles written by the Spirit of God .You become the bible. You become a living walking bible just like Jesus.

2Co 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 

3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE PLAN OF SALVATION. The manifestation of the word that states in Re 21:3 …. 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

Let us make this confession daily “I AM THE TEMPLE OF GOD”; for the Spirit of God has purchased your soul for His dwelling place. God has come to take over that which belongs to Him. This is the mid night call. The bride groom is calling for the bride. The pressure has moved to the veils covering the soul (mind, emotions, will, mind). We must break through them and get to the bridegroom.

THE ANOINTING OF THE SOUL

What happens on the Day of Atonement is worthy of note here. On the Day of Atonement the priest takes blood and begins to anoint every thing he sees. We are in the Day of Atonement so likewise we should take the word (blood) of God and anoint every aspect of our lives. If someone offends us what do you do? You anoint your reaction with the word of God (you react according to God’s instruction). By so doing you are allowing the blood of Jesus to redeem your soul and instead of taking offence you say ‘I forgive you’ or ‘God bless you’. HALLELUJAH. This is the first anointing. Brethren it is an on going process; we have been redeemed, we are being redeemed, we shall be redeemed. PRAISE GOD. God knows what is in you; that is why He purchased you with such a great price. He will certainly come and reclaim you. This soul must be anointed with the presence of His spirit. The same was done for Jesus. The bible tells us how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.

God is in the business of pulling us to heaven. The first part that was pulled was the spirit. This is the first anointing. So it was with Jesus, so also with you. The first anointing is in your spirit and it affects your soul to a measure, yes, you are able to pray, speak in tongues etc but you still fight with your brother, you are still beset with sin.

Brethren the second anointing is for the soul. It is taking place now and this is the greater experience. The bible says, He is coming to anoint us with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Praise God. It is this anointing that will cause us to arrive at our destination. We arrive when not only our spirit but our soul is saved. We must not be of them that draw back but we must be of them that press on to the saving of the soul. God is pulling us to come up to the higher realms of the Spirit. This is what the bible means when it says, set your affections on things above and one day, you will be able to make a clean break from sin and cross over to the heavenly. 1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

This image of the heavenly is the issue now. When Jesus came, he had the immortality (fullness) of God in his Spirit and the immortality of God in his soul; his body was still mortal and he laid it down (willingly) by submitting to death on the cross ( Php 2: 8 ). Right now the church (you and I) have the immortality of God in our spirit but we are still in the process of immortality entering into our soul. This is why, though you are speaking in tongues, you are still beset with sin.  Many people are not aware of this but the purpose of going to church is to receive this ability, for immortality to enter your soul. The clock is ticking; brethren midnight is around the corner. At mid-night there will be a people who will have the fullness of God in their soul.  At midnight those people called first fruits (1Co 15 v 23) will receive the immortality of God into their soul; (they would have received the fullness of God) and will enter into the Ministry of Christ to complete the remaining part of God’s program upon the earth. This is God’s desire.  He wants you to become His first fruit; which is: mortal men, walking upon the earth but carrying all that is God within them. This is the next event in the program of God.

How do you qualify to be part of these first fruits? You have to break through the veil of the flesh and receive the fullness of God in your soul. For such a people, the fear of death will no longer hold them captive. This is the level God wants us to rise to. Let us press on brethren. EACH OF US MUST BREAK THROUGH OUR OWN VEIL (flesh). JESUS HAS OPENED FOR US, A NEW ANDLIVING WAY. LET US PRESS IN AND ENTER THE HOLIEST BRETHREN. THEGARDENOFGODIS OPEN AND GOD IS INVITNGUSIN. HE’S INVITING US TO BE MEEK, FULL OF JOY AND TRUTH, TEMPRATE IN ALL THINGS, FULL OF DISCERNMENT AND LOVE. HE IS CALLING US IN TO BE CHANGED.

Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness {liberty} to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,V20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. V21 And having an high priest over the house of God;V22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water V23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

We must understand the times and season that we are in. The messenger of God is about to break into His temple and YOU ARE THAT TEMPLE. The bible says that when the soul would have received the fullness of Christ, the soul also would be adopted into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The restoration of God’s temple is the issue now and this temple will certainly be restored .This temple is not going to be in Jerusalem, like many think, you are the temple and the restoration takes place at midnight

REDEMPTION OF THE SOUL

How can the soul be redeemed from all the things it has joined itself to? How can it be redeemed from the wickedness and iniquity it was born with? How can it overcome the principle working in his members, when he wants to do good he finds himself doing evil? The first thing to do is that we must be willing to come to God. God will not compel any man. You must give him the freedom to work. We must come to Him and say God change me, we must like David cry

Ps 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

First, the soul has to be joined (married) to the Lord. The church therefore has to move forward, it has to move beyond just speaking in tongues to the point where we’ll be willing to offer ourselves or give up our rights                

(bringing an offering) before God. This it what the bible means by “No man should appear before me empty”.

Many of us interpret this to mean God wants our money. What God wants is our mind, emotion will etc.

We need to understand that the Devil is after our mind. What he does is that he projects thoughts and pictures/images to our minds, all of which we have to reject (the bible talks of casting down imaginations) and the soul has to be atoned for by applying the blood. This is how it works:

God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit. For man to get into the Holiest the carnal man has to be changed and this change starts in the holy place. Man begins to feed on the word of God and to walk in the Spirit, the old man is crucified slowly and it ( the word) begins to bring forth the life of Christ in us. Every seed planted must come to fullness, likewise, the seed of Christ planted in our hearts will certainly bear fruit; provided it is not choked and aborted by the deceitfulness of riches or the cares of this life. As long as we submit to Him, God will ensure our soul does not remain in hell and neither will he suffer us to see corruption (Ps 16 v 10). The light will shine in darkness and the darkness will not comprehend it, however we need to ensure that our light burns brighter and brighter lest we be in danger of our lights being snuffed out.

OFFERING OF THE SOUL

The sum of all our Christian experiences, the tribulations, the deliverances, the trials, testing, the mercies and goodness of God we experience daily, are all geared to bring us to one point: the point of  golden altar of Incense. The altar of incense is the most important of our Christian experiences; it signifies the experience of the offering of the soul we are talking about. This is the condition where a man can be and truly say, Christ has taken complete and total control of his entire being, inclusive of the mind, will, emotions, and desires. Without Christ, the soul is lost, no matter the level of education. Man was made as a vessel that can only be filled by God. When man sinned, his nature was corrupted and he was driven from the garden and another spirit took over; the spirit of whoredoms (the spirit of the strange woman. Hosea 4, 5). The battle of who controls the soul began to rage. So God put a plan into motion to ensure that man’s soul is redeemed or remade, so that the soul that had become deformed will be restored to its former heavenly controlled position, directly and only controlled or governed by God. This is the experience the church must come to. It is a place of brokenness; this is the essential experience each individual should be having at this time.

A soul that has been offered up is a soul that is broken and God will not despise him that is of a broken spirit and of a contrite heart. David is the typical example of a broken man. A man who was high and mighty yet he humbled himself under the mighty hand of God. It is brokenness that will set aside the old nature, so that the nature of Christ can come forth. I give you an illustration: if a bride decides to retain her father’s name, agenda or nature, or the agenda of where she comes from, she cannot be married! She may go through the motions of marriage but we know, that marriage will crash, because she will not be fully submitted to her husband’s own agenda; unity of purpose will be lacking. For a bride to be truly married she must be ready to forget her father’s house and take upon her, a new name, nature, environment etc. Every thing about her life must change. The soul must go through this same process. This is what the scripture means when it says “the things that were gain to me, them I counted dung for Christ for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ ( para phrased) .

It is from our walk with God that the treasures of God will be walked into our lives. Enoch walked with God. The question here is, are you walking with God? Or are you working by yourself? For a man to walk with God it means he is following the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus came to the earth as a man of flesh; he walked upon the earth without sin. He had the fullness of God in his soul, though his body was still upon the earth, after a while he laid his body down but after three days he took his body up again ( up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph over his foes ). The sons of God who have decided to walk with him must equally walk the very same path. He walked …. a walk of the cross. Jesus said If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.(Lu 9:23). Paul said I die daily. BRETHREN THE SOUL MUST BE CRUCIFIED. THE OLD NATURE MUST BE BROKEN.

The nature of Christ must come into our soul, mind and body. This is the season that the fullness of God comes into the soul. This is the time of tabernacles, brethren.