RUSSELL SANDERS
10-7-2020
THE BIBLICAL FALL FEASTS – PART 22
TABERNACLES -TEMPLE – SUKKOT
Part 7
This is the fifth day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) commemorating the Jews forty wilderness years during which all Israelites lived in a Sukkot, a temporary make-shift hut, their personal “tabernacle” (dwelling place). The larger Tabernacle of the Congregation sat in the center of the camp with each of the twelve tribes of Israel situated around it.
The Tabernacle of the Congregation lasted from their exit from Egypt (circa 1485 B.C.) all the way through King David’s reign, approximately 500 years. Solomon replaced it with a permanent temple which was beautifully designed. The Ark of the Covenant then had a permanent home for God’s presence to dwell with them.
We have a more perfect tabernacle in which God can dwell by His Spirit. It is His “temple,” and it is every believer. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit from the Father and that Spirit dwells (tabernacles) in our “temple,” the physical being of mankind.
It is important to know that everything Israel, or the priests actually, took into the Temple had to be purified, cleansed, sanctified (set apart) unto God alone. No defilement was allowed. What does that mean to us today as Christ-followers?
I Corinthians 6:19 says, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have (from) God, and ye are not your own? For (He has bought you) with a price (the blood of Jesus).” That means your physical body belongs to God, purified, cleansed, and sanctified unto Him alone. It no longer rightfully belongs to you; it belongs to Him.
Sanctified means “set apart” for a singular purpose, and that purpose is to be a holy dwelling place (Temple) for the Holy Spirit of God. That is why Hebrews 12:14b says, “…holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
Is my temple or your temple purified and holy? Is there anything in your or my life that is not purified, totally cleansed, any type of defilement? God’s Spirit cannot dwell (inhabit, live in) within a defiled temple (our body).
We must daily examine ourselves through His eyes. Is there anything you are doing that Jesus would not do with you?? If so, that is a defilement and your temple is unclean. Is it worth risking eternity for the pleasures of the flesh? Romans 12:1 says, “…present your bodies (as) a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God…” We sacrifice the lusts, urges, and desires of our body so that we may present ourselves as a pure and holy vessel of honor unto God.
During this Feast of Tabernacles (Temples) we can rejoice that God’s Holy Spirit dwells (lives in) our physical human temple (tabernacle.) His life eternal dwells within us, you and me as His sanctified vessels that are set apart unto Him for His purposes.
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