Hi Pastor John,
I had a thought yesterday while watching a Jewish Rabbi on TV. Sometimes they are refreshing to watch because they talk about the Law of Moses and Jewish history.
My thought was that the Tabernacle was not designed to be set up, taken down, and moved around in a desert for 40 years. God’s people were supposed to move directly into Canaan from Kadesh-Barnea after the 40 days the spies, including Joshua and Caleb, searched out Canaan’s land and reported back to Moses. We know how the story ends: Because of their fear and rebellion, God sent Israel back into the desert.
I look at Christianity and see God’s people wondering and searching for something (fellowship in the truth), and it’s been there in front of those precious souls the whole time.
God was giving Israel a land that He promised their fathers, but they didn’t want it; they were afraid to possess it. It’s the same way in Christianity today; God has given the precious gift of the holy Ghost that he promised through prophets like Joel, but God’s people are too afraid to come out of Christianity and receive the rest that He has for his people, and they spend the whole lives searching and wondering.
I remember I was searching for the truth for years, even though I had the holy Ghost, and told myself, “There has got to be something more than the way I had been living (even with the holy Ghost).” Then, when God put you in my life, or rather put me in your life, the first meeting at Bro. Gary’s unfinished house in Louisville, with the plastic and army blankets on the floor, that desire of searching and wondering what is right and true left. From that moment on, I felt as though I found it, or rather God rescued me. No more wondering, no more searching, no more asking God what is right. I could experience joy, truth, and, finally, peace and rest in my life. In essence, the Temple (which I am in Jesus) can be set up permanently in my heart to do its job of functioning in me and for others. The Truth certainly makes you free form wondering.
I think about that day at Gary’s house often.
Hope all is well,
Billy