________________________________________________________________________

In this sermon, I want to present to you one of those themes of scripture that, by understanding it, will forever change your life! It is one of those topics that we will never uncover all of the truths in scripture and we can spend a lifetime of study and still find new revelations! I am talking about the little talked about, something I've never heard taught or preached about, tabernacle of David.

The fifteenth chapter of Acts is one often skipped by preachers because the storyline is not one that is obviously inspiring. There are no miracles in the chapter but instead we have the first official church meeting. It is known as the Jerusalem Council and all of the apostles and preachers of the Early Church gathered in the capital city to discuss to what was then a controversial issue: whether or not Gentiles Christians (non Jewish people) had to be physically circumcised in order to be saved. Many of the Jewish brethren wanted physical circumcision to remain a part of the plan of salvation. Paul and Barnabas and Peter knew that it was not God's will for it to be required and that water baptism with the removal of the "dead flesh" of your past sins was a form of spiritual circumcision that had replaced the necessity of the physical rite. This is not a dynamic topic to preach upon today, and I can see that from your lack of shouting and dancing that the great "revelation" that physical circumcision is not a requirement to be saved is not particularly a surprise or inspiration. At the very least, all the men should say a respectful "Hallelujah!"

I'm not here to preach about circumcision but instead want to focus our attention on an Old Testament scripture that James quoted during the end of the meeting. The Jewish Christians had made their argument for circumcision and Paul had made his argument against it. Peter had already opened his mouth, as usual, and had his say. But the issue was still unresolved because they needed scripture. The real issue was that physical circumcision was a sign that a person was a Jew. Therefore, the question was "Do Gentiles have to become 'Jewish' to be saved?" The arguments were great but somebody needed to speak a Word from the Lord that the Gentiles were to be included in the plan of God without becoming Jewish.

It was James, the brother of Jesus who spoke up and under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost quoted an obscure prophecy from the prophet Amos. In quoting the Old Testament verse, James realized that God was talking about the Gentiles. We read his statement in our text and I want to draw your attention to it once again. He was quoting Amos 9:11-12:

There are many interesting points that we can learn about this verse that we do not have time to explore. For example, James translated the original "Edomites" to Gentiles comparing the Gentiles to the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob who was tricked out of the birthright. We could preach all night on that subject and maybe, one day we will, but the phrase that I want you to notice is that James quoted the prophet as saying God "will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down!" James said that God would build up the ruins of the tabernacle of David and make it a place where all of the men of the world, Jews and Gentiles, could seek after the Lord! That James said that God would rebuild the "tabernacle of David" is a remarkable statement! God did not refer to the tabernacle of Moses who was the ones with the original plans. God did not say that he rebuild the temple of Solomon. God did not say that He was interested in Zerrubabel's temple which was still standing. He said that He would rebuild the "tabernacle of David." Let me explain why this is such a remarkable statement.

Most people are familiar with the tabernacle of Moses. It was the first one that God commanded built. God gave the plans to Moses along with the Ten Commandments and Moses meticulously wrote the plans down in the Book of Exodus. We have page after page of laws dealing with the tabernacle of Moses. It was constructed to be completely transportable and was to be set up wherever the Israel people camped on their way to the Promised Land. It had a huge wall of curtain that separated the outer court from strangers and kept them from getting in. Only Jewish people could set foot into the outer court. In the outer court was a large square altar where animal sacrifices were offered. There was a brazen laver, which was a large brass bowl full of water for the priests to wash themselves. In the middle of the court was the tabernacle building itself. Only the priests could enter into the tabernacle building. Inside were various pieces of furniture such as a candlestick, a table holding bread for the priests to eat, and a table of incense. Inside the tabernacle was a large curtain called the "vail" that separated the first "Holy Place" from a sacred place called the "Holiest of Holies." Behind that veil was the ark of the covenant, a golden box that represented God's throne upon earth. It was above the box that God's presence dwelt among His people. Only the High Priest could enter behind the veil, and that only once a year on the special "Day of Atonement." On that day he would follow a meticulous ritual where one sacrifice was killed and another sacrificial animal was set free. He would take incense and the blood of the sacrifice and enter into the presence of God to sprinkle the blood upon the golden box. By doing this, the people's sin were rolled ahead for one year. If the High Priest did not do everything right in the ritual, such as forget the blood or incense, God would strike him dead on the spot. If anybody else decided that they wanted to go behind the veil, they would be struck dead on the spot. If any Jewish man who was not a priest and from the tribe of Levi even tried to enter the tabernacle building, they were to be put to death. If a Gentile were to even try to enter into the outer court, they would be put to death. The tabernacle of Moses was a solemn place and quiet place of worship.

Let's fast forward ahead to Solomon's temple before we talk about David. Solomon was the richest king that ever lived, and the tabernacle that he built proved it. It was essentially a much larger, permanent version of Moses' tabernacle. For instance, His laver of water was such a big bowl that it was called "the Sea!" Because it was so large that the priests could not actually reach over the side and use it, Solomon also had 10 smaller bowls made for the priests to use. Everything of Moses' tabernacle was reproduced in Solomon's temple in a much grander scale, but all of the strict laws were kept! The outer court and veil and Holiest of Holies were much nicer but still had the restricted access of Moses' tabernacle.

Later on, after the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Solomon's temple, a much smaller version was built by Zerrubabel. It had all of the same stuff that Moses' tabernacle and Solomon's temple had but just on a slightly less grander scale. All of the laws still applied, though, about the strictness of ritual and the blood sacrifice, and only the priest entering into the temple!

But in between Moses and Solomon was David. The ark of the covenant had been stolen years before David had become king and had never been brought back into Jerusalem. David began talking to the Lord and the priests and decided that it was time for God's presence to come back into the capital city. The golden box had been kept at a man's house named Obededom and David decided to have a celebration and bring it back into the city. In our text, we read about this day it was a day of celebration and dancing. David worshipped God in a way that no one had ever worshipped God before! He got singers organized singing new songs. He got musicians and then the king himself joined the dancers and the singers as they worshipped and shouted to God with a great voice of praise and exclamation! It was a service style unlike anything that Moses ever had! David loved God with all of his heart, and was determined that the heathen and their rituals would never outdo his adoration and praise for his God!

In studying these passages of scripture, I discovered a remarkable thing! David did not take the ark of the covenant back to Moses' tabernacle. Moses' tabernacle was still pitched on Mount Gibeon where it had been since Israel had gotten to the Promised Land. But David had obviously gotten some different divine direction because the scriptures say that he simply pitched a tent on a different mountain, Mount Zion. This was the tabernacle of David. It was extremely different from Moses' tabernacle. It had no outer court barring strangers and Gentiles. They could walk right up to the door! It didn't have a secret room inside to place the golden box and it did not have a veil. In fact, the ark of the covenant was situated right out in the middle of the tent! To even "further break the rules" David changed out of his kingly garments and put on a linen ephod which was the garments of the priest, and DAVID began offering sacrifices to the Lord and blessing the people from the tabernacle which was supposed to only be the priests' job! And David was NOT from the tribe of the Levites! And God did not stop him but instead blessed him!

You may remember that the king before David, King Saul, tried to act in the place of the priests and offer his own sacrifices to God and that is why God rejected him as king. And yet here is King David a few years later, taking off his royal robes and entering in the presence of God as if he were the High Priest! And God had obviously told David to do what he did because God did not strike him down, but instead blessed David, and responded to the sacrifices! For some reason, God had given David permission to step out the bounds of the Mosaic tradition and the law and have free access to the His presence, and it did not last for long, because less than 40 years later, the temple of Solomon was built and all of the order and ritual and solemn ness of Moses' tabernacle was restored!

________________________________________________________________________

And so James stands up in Acts chapter 15 and looks at the Jewish preachers that want to keep part of the law of Moses as mandatory in the Apostolic Church and quotes this scripture about how that God wants to rebuild the tabernacle of David that has fallen down! God was not interested in restoring the tabernacle of Moses and Solomon, but it was the tabernacle of David that He is interested in! In fact, it would be the tabernacle of David that God wanted to be the model for the Apostolic church!

I am here to preach today and declare unto you that God is not interested in a church that is based upon ritual and formalism! God does not want fancy temples with restricted access and heartless, quiet worship! That is the kind of church that appeals to many men and man has built such religions, but that is not the kind of church that God is interested in! God wants to rebuild the tabernacle of David! God is interested in heartfelt, expression-full worship! God is interested in people that will put aside pride, formality, and prestige, and dance before Him with all their might! God is interested in people that do not care what others may say about their lifestyle or worship! God is interested in people who are more interested in getting into the presence of God than getting accepted by society! God is interested in people who desire to stay in His presence and will sacrifice in order to get there! God is interested in people who will be willing to lead others into worship and will live with the joy of the Holy Ghost bubbling from their lives! God is interested in people who will push themselves beyond tradition and formalism and dull, dead, dry religion that only appeases their conscience but does not allow their spirit to be set free! God is interested in worshippers like David! It is the tabernacle of David that is to be the model of our church! God wants to restore the tabernacle of David! God wants to restore it in your life! Hear the words of James to the church: God will rise up the tabernacle of David!

That's why in our church, it's okay to clap your hands. It's okay to dance around. It's okay to get lost in His presence! It's okay to get so excited that you run around shouting Hallelujah! It's okay to forget about your problems and your kingdom and just worship Him and trust Him, and give everything to Him! Because God is restoring the tabernacle of David! God is interested in building up the tabernacle of David! You do not have to be born into a certain family to be able to serve God and experience His mighty Spirit! You do not have to wait for a certain day of the year to feel His presence! But you, an imperfect human being, just like David was, can take upon the linen ephod of God's anointing! You, a Gentile, can come before the presence of God! You do not have to worry about praying your prayer a certain way and using all of the correct phrases. You do not have to worry about God rejecting your praise! But you can boldly come before the throne of mercy today! You can enter into the Holiest of Holies! God has not raised up a church that separates His people from His power, but one of intimacy and closeness! God want His church to be like the tabernacle of David!

God is not interested in ever again having the tabernacle of Moses where people just go through religious motions without their heart being involved! Yet, many churches today have raised up religions that are more like Moses' than David's! Some people's worship would be more at home in Moses' stiff, starchy tent! Some people go to service after service and do the same thing and leave the same way and never really enter into God's presence: that's having church Moses' style! But King David is saying "we are doing things a little different!" Somebody needs to be honest with God and forget about those around you and just worship Him with everything that you have!

It is not God's will for you to have a great spiritual breakthrough just once a year or so. That's Moses' style worship! But God is interested in responding to your praise every service! God is interested in moving in a powerful way every time that you come to His house! That's David style worship! And David did not wait until he was in the house of God to play and sing and worship God, but David would have himself a time in God out in the fields while working! David would sing and praise God anywhere! Some of us need to realize that it is David's style of worship that God desires!

In the tabernacle of Moses, the bread was only for the priests and the food was for the priests! And those blessings were only for the men and not the women! The women were not even allowed into the outer court! But we find that when David did the sacrifices, that he began to distribute the cakes, meat, and wine to everyone! He treated everyone as if they were priests! Everybody got a blessing, including the women! You see, the devil will try to tell you that certain blessings and experiences in God are only for those who were raised in this and have been living this way all of their lives. The devil wants you to believe that God blessed and performed miracles in the Bible days that He will not do today! But that is a lie from the pits of hell! In a church like the tabernacle of David, the blessings are for everyone! The anointing of God can flow through anyone! Everyone can get the revelations of the Bread of Life, the Word of God! Anybody can receive the meat, the doctrines of God! The wine of the Holy Ghost is available for whosoever will! But to get the blessings of David, you must worship like David! To receive the benefits of the tabernacle of David, you must give yourself to praise and His presence! God's power is available for everybody!

________________________________________________________________________

James did not say that God was interested in rebuilding the temple of Solomon. Although it was beautiful and impressive to view from the outside, the worship that it produced ended up being tainted with idolatry and self. Solomon's temple ended in ruin because the people failed to separate themselves from the world around them and fell into sin! There are many religions with great cathedrals and large buildings and big crowds that are modern day Solomon's temples! Their wise speakers can move the crowds and their money can build impressive edifices, just like Solomon's did. But that is not what impresses God! God is more impressed with a tent, and a worshipper, who when they fall into sin and are reprimanded by the man of God, will truly repent and turn from their sin! David wasn't perfect, but when he sinned, he did not try to justify himself. He did not get angry with the preacher that was pointing out his wrong. Instead he wept and repented, and God spoke to the preacher and told him "go back and tell David that I have heard his prayer and will cause him to die!" Something about David caused him to love God more than anything, and to realize that when he sinned, he did not hurt the church, or the preacher, but God himself!

And James said that it was the tabernacle of David that God was interested in rebuilding! What good are the crowds and money!? What good is having a beautiful cathedral if the people do not love God enough to repent of their sins and turn from the actions that go against God's Word?! God said: "forget the fancy stuff; I'll take a tent and a sincere heart!" "I'd rather have one sincere person worshipping me in Spirit and in truth than all of the gold and glamour in the world!" God is saying "give me someone like David, who will dodge the javelin of his enemy and still pray for him and will not retaliate when he has the chance but will respect my laws even when his enemy does not!" "Give me someone who refuses to allow a little persecution to stop his worship!" God wants to rebuild the tabernacle of David! Don't judge a church by it's exterior but rather by it's love for worship and it's desire to repent and stay right with God! Where is your walk with God today? Is it stiff and starchy like Moses'? Is it empty and fake like Solomon's? Or is it like David's? God is interested in the tabernacle of David!

________________________________________________________________________

God did not say that He would rebuild the temple of Zerrubabel! The problem with Zerrubabel's temple is that it did not come close to comparing with the glory of the former temple of Solomon. If you read the book of Haggai, you will find that the people in Zerrubabel's day were always saying, "this is nice but it is nothing like it used to be..." Their worship never grew past their first experience with God! They never reached a deeper level in God! Even today, there are some people whose religion is based upon the temple of Zerrubabel! They had a one time experience with God and they are convinced that they will never experience anything greater in God! But God, said "I want someone like David!" God blessed David more at the end of his life than at the beginning! God led David into a style of worship and access to His presence that nobody back then had ever experienced before!

Listen to this preacher: it is not the will of God for us to read what the Church did in the beginning in the book of Acts and say, "man, if it could only be like that now..." That's Zerrubabel style worship! But Jesus said, "greater works than these shall ye do!" It's time to realize that it is GOD'S WILL for us to perform miracles in His name and to see an even greater revival than the Day of Pentecost! God is wanting to build up the tabernacle of David, and David said, "I know that nobody here has ever done it this way before and see God move quite like this, but I'm going to step out in faith!" Nobody had ever killed a giant before, but David did! A boy had never caused an entire army to run in panic, but David did! A king had never danced with the commoners before the presence of God, but David did! A millionaire had never worshipped God until he sweated through his clothes, before but David did! I never find Moses dancing for God! NEVER! But I also never found it written about Moses that he was a "man after God's own heart!"

It was the temple of Zerrubabel that Jesus Christ taught in and performed miracle after miracle and yet was rejected by the Jewish leaders of the day. Jesus was trying to get them out of a Zerrubabel type worship that said, "God can't move like He used to..." Jesus was saying "yes, God still does miracles, watch..." But it was easier to stick in their comfort zone of tradition than step out in faith! Oh, give us the faith of David! Let us have the faith to put aside the armor of tradition and face the giant with a sling and the name of the Lord! God does not want a church like the tabernacle of Zerrubabel that stays in the shadow of the past; He wants to do even greater things in this generation!

________________________________________________________________________

When you decide to follow in David's footsteps, you will have your critics. And often they will come from those whom you love the most! In our text, we read how that David danced before the Lord with all of his might. His wife, Michal, whom he loved dearly and had fought for and risked his life for on many occasions, looked out the window and curled up her little nose at him! She said, "How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself !" I want you to realize that David was not naked in public. The Bible clearly states that he was wearing a linen robe called an ephod. This was the robe of the priest and was designed to conceal flesh. It was very modest!

Michal's problem was that David had changed out of the garment that he used to wear and put on a new garment for the first time! She felt like they were "too good" for such actions and it was somehow "beneath them" to worship God in such a way! Isaiah 61:3 tells us to put on the "garment of praise!" Outward praise is something that you either willingly put on or you reject! But a characteristic of worship in the tabernacle of David was that David changed out of what he had been wearing and put on a "garment of praise!" You may walk into church weary and worn down. You may have a spirit of heaviness hanging from your shoulders. You may come into this place feeling despondent and depressed. But you need to change garments now that you are here! This is the tabernacle of David! Put on your praise! Shed the weeping and receive the joy of the Lord! Forget about the problems and worship the problem solver! God wants His church to be able to change into praise! That's the way of the tabernacle of David!

Many people criticize outward worship just like Michal. There are many religions where they forbid you to clap your hands and leap for joy and shout the praises of God! They prefer the quiet solemn ness of Moses' tabernacle and they will not hesitate to criticize those who emulate David and change into the garment of praise! But notice what happened to Michal. The scriptures say that she was barren for the rest of her life. It does not say that God struck her with barrenness, though. Why, then was she barren? Because David never again had an intimate relationship with her! When she criticized David's worship, Michal lost her relationship with the King! Can I tell you that is exactly why those churches where they frown on clapping your hands and leaping for joy do not experience the infilling of the Holy Ghost! They do not see people set free by the power of the Spirit of God! They do not see services where the waves of the Spirit sweep through and meet the needs of the people! Because they have criticized outward worship, and have lost their relationship with the King of Kings! That is why they do not have people born again in their church! Where there is no intimate relationship, there can be no births!

We need to learn a principle here. David willingly cut himself off from those who criticized his worship! If you have friends that constantly put down your style of praise or the outward manifestation of worship, you need to tell them to get lost! Don't let them affect your praise! Your relationship with the King is too important for that! Don't let a little criticism keep you from worshipping Him! He is worthy of all of it! He is worthy of your highest praise! And He is interested in people who will separate themselves from the critics and change into the garment of praise!

________________________________________________________________________

I don't have time to do this subject justice and when we study prophecy again, we will explore many other areas. For instance, in prophecy the Law of Moses represents the dispensation of Law, the Tabernacle of David represents the Dispensation of Grace, the time of the Apostolic church, and Solomon's temple represents the Millennial Reign where Jesus Christ, the "greater than Solomon," will reign and rule! Only this time, Jesus Christ's reign will never come to an end!

But in closing I'd like to finish with one more scripture. The only other reference to the phrase "tabernacle of David" in the scriptures is found in Isaiah:

This is a Messianic prophecy and is about Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ was a great, great, great, many times great, grandson of King David and inherited his throne! Isaiah was saying that Jesus Christ would sit upon His throne only in the Tabernacle of David! That is, Jesus Christ is only Kings of Kings in a church that is modeled after the tabernacle of David! And there is no other way to get to heaven except through Jesus Christ! And if you want to come to Jesus Christ, you have to enter into the tabernacle of David! God does not dwell in dull religion, or rituals that appease your conscience, but rather wants someone to realize that to be a "man after God's own heart" like David was, I must become a worshipper, and I must be willing to step out in faith and allow God to move in my life! David refused to allow anything hinder his personal relationship with God! He did not care about who had done what or what had never been done: he simply believed God was ALL powerful and ALMIGHTY and he praised God "according to His excellent greatness!"

David's worship revealed how great that he believed God was! David was praising God long before he ever faced the giant! He was praising God even before the ark of the covenant had gotten into Jerusalem! He was not waiting on results and miracles to praise God, but rather praising God according to how great he believed he was! When he did so, God stepped in and moved mightily!

Maybe the "tabernacle of David" is non existent in your life, or maybe it has fallen down! James said that God would return and "build it up!" God desires a church modeled after the tabernacle of David!