Faith. Obedience. God's moral image
Faith. Obedience. God's moral image.
The Jar of Manna speaks of how the righteous live by the faith of depending utterly on the Lord Jesus.
The fact that Aaron's fire-hardened staff came to life reminds us that as we enter the rest of God, our life becomes the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The tablets on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments, the Covenant from which the Ark of the Covenant was named, proclaim that we are to be created in the image of God: thinking as God thinks; speaking as God speaks; behaving as God behaves. This is how we testify of the Nature of God.
Only believers who have been formed according to these characteristics are fit to serve as a dwelling place for God; who will enable God to find rest; who are able to govern God's creatures in righteousness.
The reason God created man is that God might have children in His image: children who would look only to Him for all their needs; children who would govern the works of His hands in the wisdom, righteousness, and compassion of Himself.
God desires a house. God desires a place of rest. God desires a place other than Heaven for His Throne.
This is why God created us: that we might be His house; that we might be a place of rest for Him; that we might govern the works of His hands.
The believers are filling the need for a house.
Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 20-22)
The believers are filling the need for a resting place.
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?' (Acts 7:49,50)
The believers are filling the need for a throne.
"What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet." (Hebrews 2:6-8)
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Revelation 22:3)
As I said mentioned previously, the articles in the Ark of the Covenant symbolize the three areas in which we need to come to maturity if we are to meet God's three needs:
The Tables of Stone; the Jar of Manna; and Aaron's Rod that Budded.
Which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. (Hebrews 9:4)
The stone tablets, the Ten Commandments, represent righteous behavior.
The jar of manna represents living by dependence on Christ, which is genuine faith. The idea today appears to be that we should use faith to try to get God to do what we want. There is another idea---that true faith is doing what God wants.
Aaron's rod that budded represents death to our self-will and resurrection life.
Before we can serve God in the three areas in which God has needs, we must be transformed into His image, that is to say, we must behave as God behaves.
We must have no other gods to whom we look for our survival, pleasure, and achievement. We must have faith that God will provide all our needs, and satisfy our desires---when our desires are righteous because they are coming from Him.
We must be sternly obedient to all Christ commands. This requires that we die to our soul, setting aside our own will that the will of God may be done.
Iron righteousness. Fiery holiness. Stern obedience to the Father.
The new Jerusalem portrays the glorified Christian Church, the Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb. It is the eternal Tabernacle of God.
The ornate wall represents the righteousness of God. Nothing unrighteous or unclean can enter the city of God.
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." (Revelation 22:14,15)
We wash our robes by confessing and turning away from our sins. Then we can enter the city in which are the River of Life, the Trees of Life and Healing, and the Throne of God and of the Lamb.
The wall is beautiful to look at. So it is true that righteousness and holiness are beautiful to the sincere Christian, and much to be desired.
Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. (Psalms 119:111,112)
God will not make His home, rest, and throne in us until we are transformed in righteousness, faith, and obedience. The fullness of the transformation is described as follows:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
In Christ, righteousness, faith, and obedience are present in perfect, complete form. When we are living by the Life of Christ we have them all.
God making His home, resting place, and throne in us is as follows:
Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23)
First there is the preparation for the indwelling (Galatians 2:20). Then, when the necessary change has been wrought in us, the Father and the Son make Their eternal home in that changed person (John 14:23).
When the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews speaks of the deceased saints coming to perfection together with us it means that all of us have become the house, resting place, and throne of the Father and Christ and are clothed with an incorruptible body. "The spirits of righteous men made perfect," Hebrews says.
We then will be life-giving spirits, ready to bring eternal life to those of the remainder of mankind who are willing to receive. Such are the members of the Royal Priesthood.