1920AFC051719 – It’s All Over
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Revelation 21:3 – 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home* of God is among mortals. He will dwell** with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them”
* σκηνὴ (skēnē) {skay-nay’} = Tabernacle, tent, booth, dwelling, mansion, habitation, over-head covering; ** σκηνώσει (skēnōsei) {skay-no-say-i} “I dwell” as in a tent, encamp, have established and set fixed my tabernacle. This is my chosen residence where I live and will live. In this passage, “tabernacle” is dwelling in intimate communion with the resurrected Christ – even as He who Himself lived in unbroken communion with the Father during the days of His flesh. Note the similarity between the sounds of “skay-no-say-i” and שכינה (shekinah) {sheh-kai-nah} – perhaps chosen because of their assonance, i.e.,, the repetition of similar vowel sounds between two words.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea!
Today we will explore another aspect of Scripture we don’t often think about: What God says about his home. You can see in the notes above what the Lord himself speaks as his intention. When his intention is fulfilled, it will affect everyone everywhere eternally BECAUSE his presence will be all over everyone everywhere eternally. Although we are now separated from him because of our sinful nature – which is incompatible with his Perfect Integrity – it is his will that humanity become wholly holy and be reunited with his Divine Majesty in his dwelling because his dwelling will be where we live.
That’s a bit difficult for me to get my head around. I can understand that God’s plan has always been to “walk among us” in the place he created for himself and for us. He states that many times in Scripture, so I’d like to give you a few examples which will include links to examples of the original language.
Exodus 25:8 – 8 And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them.
In this example, “sanctuary” is based on a root word which means a place set apart for Holiness – a dwelling for Divine Presence. It was part of the Tent of Meeting which Moses set up based on God’s specific instructions. Later we find this declaration from God.
Exodus 29:43-45 – 43 I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory; 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate, to serve me as priests. 45 I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God.
In this example, the tent of meeting can also be translated as tabernacle – so we need to know what tabernacle means. In the Old Testament, particularly in Exodus, there are two words used to describe the structure God ordered Moses to build: ’ō-hel and mišh-kān. Both are translated as the following synonyms: dwelling, dwelling place, habitation, tent/tents, resting place, tabernacle, and abode. God’s instructions to Moses were to set aside a certain space meeting certain (complicated) criteria, for the express purpose of defining a space or location where God himself could interact directly with Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites.
Ezekiel 37:27 – 27 My dwelling place [mišh-kān] shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This same Divine Design is also expressed, as we have seen, in the New Testament as well. Here is another example from the Gospel of John that corresponds with the above quote from Revelation: John 1:14 – 14 And the Word became flesh and lived [tabernacled] among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews we find in Hebrews 8:1-2 – 1 Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary [hagios] and the true tabernacle [skēnēs] that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up.
If we return to the book of Revelation (note there is no s at the end of that word), we find other examples of this.
Revelation 7:15 – 15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter [skēnōsei – tabernacle] them. If you’ll do the the favor of following that link for Revelation 7:15, you will note a term in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) spelled phonetically as Sh’khinah. This manifestation of the Almighty Ever-Living God – El Shaddai-Olam – was found in the Temple in the Holy of Holies above the Cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant. If you’d like to look into that further, please spend a few moments with a lesson from 20-12 here.
We will examine one further example in Revelation where the concept of Tabernacle is expressed in two different ways: Revelation 22:3 – 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home [skēnē] of God is among mortals. He will dwell [skēnōsei] with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.
After God finishes restoring everything (“Behold I make all things new….” Please review Isaiah 42:9, Isaiah 43:19, these passages, and especially Revelation 21:5-8 – 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless [unbelieving] the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” This last passage should be especially heeded by those who studiously argue against the reality of Hell. Our “Jehovah-Shammah,” (The Lord is Present) will be with us in a New Heavens and New Earth in a New Jerusalem. El-Elyon — The Lord Most High – will be all with all in all and all will be tabernacled with him in the Tabernacle built by his Word. Everything present will be all over because everything Divine will be Over All and all will be All in him:
1 Corinthians 15:28 – 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
Belovéd, when it comes to things in this World, we can rejoice and proclaim “I’m over it!” It’s all over but The End, and The End isn’t here yet because in The End everything is Good because: It’s always good in the end. If it’s not good now, it’s not the end yet.
If you follow the link above for end you’ll see what God has planned for our end.
However, that is the end of this post! See you all in the Tabernacle (and did you know you can have a tabernacle in your own heart? Check the link for an example.)
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
