The Tabernacle of God

We read in Revelation 21:3 these words: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. This is a prophecy about the eternal state of God's people. We will live with God forever. God Himself will be with them and be there God.

The word tabernacle simply means dwelling place. The desire of God has always been to dwell with His people. In the Old Testament God dwelt among His people in the wilderness. God's tabernacle was a tent of meeting, where He lived indirectly with them. The tabernacle in the wilderness was a place of sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people.

In the New Testament God the Father tabernacled among His people through Jesus, His only begotten Son. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh. God was in Christ dwelling among His people. Jesus said, the Father who dwells in me does the works (John 14:10).

In the new heaven and new earth, God will dwell or tabernacle directly and intimately with His people. His manifest glory will be seen and experienced by all. It will be eternal communion with God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

Prophecy in the Bible

Prophecy in the Bible includes the end time. It must certainly come to pass (Matt. 24:1-2; Luke 21:9; Rev. 1:1). In a word, it is infallible. Prophecy of Holy Scripture is infallible simply because God is infallible. He knows the end from the beginning. God's word of prophecy cannot fail.

There are two types of prophecy in the Bible, conditional and unconditional. The prophecy of Jesus about the end time is unconditional. However, other prophecies, such as Jonah's prophecy to Nineveh, was conditional. The prophesied judgment on Nineveh was averted, because the people repented (Jonah 3:5-10). Prophecy was God's mercy and patience allowing them to respond to the warning. God has not changed. He is merciful and patient today.

Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple decades before it happened (Luke 21:20-23). That prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. Believers took the warning from Jesus and fled the city as the Roman army approached. Their lives were spared. Yet, according to the historian Josephus, more than a million Jews died in the destruction. Likewise, believers today take the end time prophecy of Jesus as sure to come.

Prophecy in the Bible is comfort and hope for the people of God today. Every believer should rest assured that God Almighty rules over the circumstances of our lives. His prophetic word in the Bible is infallible. Jesus is coming again. Our future is certain and our hope is sure. It's based upon a God's word of prophecy.

Christ Is Our Salvation

Christ is our salvation based upon Scripture alone. The Bible alone is the Word of God written. Scripture takes precedent over church tradition. Holy Scripture alone is inspired by the Holy Spirit. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

Christ is our salvation through the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Christ died for our sins. He is risen for our justification. All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are saved from the curse of the law and the condemnation of sin (Acts 16:30-31).

Christ is our salvation by God's grace alone. We can never earn salvation. Grace alone saves us from the condemnation and curse of sin. Grace is the unmerited favor of God, the gift of God freely given (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Christ is our salvation through faith alone. Faith is trust in God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Christ. Faith is trusting Christ to save you. Without faith no one can please God (Hebrews 11:1-6).

Christ is our salvation to the praise of God's glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). Give all the praise to God. The purpose of our salvation is to God's glory in Christ alone.

How God Shows Mercy

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Romans 9:16). God's mercy is not earned by our efforts, because it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs. Our will power and efforts can never save us. God shows us mercy by grace through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).

God shows mercy in Christ crucified for our sins. That is to say, the sacrificial death of Christ satisfies the demands of God's holiness and wrath against our sin. God's just wrath is satisfied for sinners who trust in Christ alone for mercy and justification. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2).

God shows mercy in the blood of Jesus taking away all our sins (1 John 1:7). Mercy through the gospel of Christ transforms your life. God's mercy changes your heart to change your life. Only God can change your heart. The heart is a symbol for your mind, will, and emotions.

God shows mercy in Christ working within us as believers. God's mercy renews your mind to understand the will of God (Romans 12:1-2). Such a change enables you to repent and come to faith in Christ. The word repent comes from two Greek words. Meta means change. Nous means mind. God's mercy leads you to repentance (Romans 2:4).

Christ Our Passover

Passover in the Old Testament was deliverance for God's people in Egypt. It describes how a lamb was sacrificed by each family to save the people of God from bondage and death. In the the New Testament, the sacrifice of Jesus saves believers from the wages of sin and death (Romans 6:23). Believers can testify, "Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us"(1 Corinthians 5:7).

Believers in Christ our Passover receive his sacrifice as full assurance that our sins are gone. Christ made the sacrifice in the place of every believer. This is the substitutionary atonement. His sacrifice is effectual to take away all the believer's sins (1 John 1:7). 

Believers are justified from all sin, through Christ our Passover. Religion without the sacrifice of Christ can never take away our sins. Our works can never be enough to pay for our sins. God has provided the way, and the only way, for every believer's sin to be forgiven, only through the sacrifice of Christ.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Christ our Passover is given by God the Father to all who believe (John 3:16). He is the sacrifice for the sins of all who believe.

God is calling out his people from every nation. The sacrifice of Christ redeems believers to God "out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9). Christ our Passover is every believer's sacrifice for sin.

The Unpardonable Sin

Jesus made it very clear, there is an unpardonable sin. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin. To blaspheme is to speak evil of the Holy Spirit. It is uniquely against the Holy Spirit and not God the Father nor God the Son. It is an intentional sin that no one commits ignorantly. It is a deliberate sin with eternal consequences (Matthew 12:31; Mark 3:28-30).

Why is blaspheming the Holy Spirit unpardonable? It's because only the Holy Spirit can convict us that we may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:7-11). Only the Holy Spirit can make Christ real to our hearts. He is the agent of new birth through faith in Christ. Saving faith is the gift and work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (1 Corinthians 13:13; Philippians 1:29). 

Understand that blaspheming is not resisting the Holy Spirit. A person may resist the Holy Spirit and later yield to receive Jesus as Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3). Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not committed by someone who has been saved, whose heart has already been transformed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:2). It is committed by someone who has rejected the gospel of Christ totally and finally.

Jesus warned people who saw His miracles and attributed them to the devil, that they would receive no forgiveness in this life nor the world to come. Jesus performed all His miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38). Those people adamantly reject Christ, as well as His miracles, and the greatest miracle of all, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:3-4).

Christ of the Covenants

Covenant is a contract or agreement that God reveals to and for his people. The framework of the Bible is covenant. To understand clearly the scope of the Bible, it is necessary to understand covenant.

The Bible reveals two major covenants (Galatians 4:21-31). The Old Covenant is also known as the Old Testament, and the New Covenant as the New Testament. The point is that God works through covenant with people. The covenants point us to Christ. 

The Old Covenant came to the nation of Israel through Moses as the mediator. It was the covenant of law, commanding holy days, sacrifices, and priestly rituals, that pointed toward our great High Priest Jesus Christ. It was Christ alone who fulfilled the Old Covenant and made the one final and only complete sacrifice for sin.

The New Covenant came through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is forever the one and only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Jesus is the Prophet, Priest, and King of the New Covenant, which is an everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20-21). All who trust in our Lord Jesus Christ are God's chosen people in Christ, through the promises of the everlasting covenant. Our New Covenant with God is in Christ.