By Pastor Michael Quinton
YOUR TEMPLE OF PRAISE
Amos 9:11 In that day I (God) will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close-up the walls and I will raise up his ruins and build it as in the days of old.
In the wilderness in the days of Moses, the people of Israel were represented before God by the High Priest who entered the Holy Place, passed the veil into the Holy and Holies, and sprinkled blood on the Mercy Seat atop the Ark of the Covenant.
This was a very solemn ceremony and the people waited in silence outside. Israel carried the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle with them through the forty years of wandering. When they reached the promised land, it was set up “permanently” in Gibeon. 2 Chronicles 1:3-4.
In 1 Samuel 4 we find the Philistines had captured the Ark. This Holy object was so sacred that the priest, Eli, dropped dead when he heard the news. 1 Samuel 4:11-18.
God send a plague among the Philistines who then returned the Ark to Israel where it was placed in the house of Aminadab for 20 years.
When David became king, he brought the Ark back to Jerusalem. 1 Chronicles 13:8 describes the joyous ceremony. There was singing and dancing and shouting and playing of musical instruments.
David did not return it to the Tabernacle where the veil still separated the people from God. He brought it to a tent without a veil where the people were now able to worship openly
The Tabernacle was of Moses and the law.
The tent was of David, with grace, joy, music, singing.
Are you downhearted, sad, overwhelmed by the evil around us today? God, in His mercy, permitted the people to come to Him with singing, rejoicing, and praise.
Where is the temple today? 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which you have of God and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price, therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Today, the only veil between you and God is the one you erect in your heart.
I challenge you to remove that veil, let God reign supremely in our bodies and in our souls.
You will rebuild your temple of praise.
WHOM DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
Michael Quinton is Pastor of Mesquite Baptist Church, 742 W. Pioneer Blvd., Suite A.
Sunday worship is at 10:30. We can also be found on Facebook and our website: mesquitebaptistchurch.com
(All messages in the Church Directory are the opinion of the writer, who submits them as a columnist)
