Scripture:
Psalm 8:4 – “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?
Have you ever thought about how intentional God was about forming mankind separate and apart from any other creation He spoke into being? We were created a little lower than the angels and given dominion over the earth and the works of God’s hands. Further to this, God enabled us to host the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us as His tabernacles. A privilege that not even Lucifer had before he became a fallen angel. Not only is Satan enraged because he cannot be more powerful and glorious than God; he is also bitterly envious of every believer made in the likeness and image of God who has been enjoined with Christ as one Spirit with Him.
As Christians, we claim to possess the life of God and yet for many of us, we still live powerless and defeated lives of little influence, authority, anointing and possession. Satan does not have any legal rights to the children of God and yet many persons are casually allowing the Devil to have dominion over their tabernacle and territory with his deceptive missiles of fear, pride, self-righteousness, infirmity, poverty, unbelief, lust and ignorance.
It is not enough for us to be content living our lives as divine artifacts – a showpiece on the outside with a matrix of emptiness within. While an artifact does show forth God’s divine workmanship on mankind as distinguished from the rest of creation, we see that an artifact is powerless as it carries no divinity or glory within. An artifact may serve well as an example of how wonderful and marvellous we were created on the outside but it tells you little about the internal outfitting of one’s nature. In the natural world, artifacts are formed and studied as clues for historical or cultural references. So too are we studied upon to give scientific and sociological data and yet to date, there is no one who can boast of God situating His omnipresent indwelling within any of the physical (natural) traits of mankind.
In Exodus 25, Moses was instructed by God to build the Ark of the Covenant with specific materials and dimensions. This mysterious Ark was to serve as a representation of God’s presence to the nation of Israel and when they were in the presence of that Ark they produced victory in their battles. While an artifact can be used as a source of information, we see where the Ark of the Covenant was a source of God’s presence and power. Despite the Ark being a baffling weapon of victory, we learn in 1 Samuel that the victorious power of the Ark was dependent on the state of the heart of the Israelites who were chosen to carry the Ark. It was not automatic hence the reason why the Israelites eventually suffered defeat from the Philistines in the presence of the Ark. Defeat came when the Israelites began taking the presence of the Lord and the Covenant He established for granted.
Just like the Israelites, we are chosen carriers of God’s holy presence. Once you have had an encounter with Jesus Christ and accepted Him as your Lord and Saviour, you become enjoined with Christ who transforms you into a new creature. You are re-birthed into the family of God as a co-heir with Christ. You become an Ark of the Covenant which entails carrying and hosting the Holy Spirit everywhere you go. While we aim to be like Christ, we must also endeavour to be noble carriers of his presence so that His glory will rest upon us and give us weapons of victory against every negative circumstance, stronghold and attack from the enemy.
You cannot mismanage and dishonour God’s tabernacle where His presence dwells and expect God’s approval. You cannot dirty your tabernacle with sin and expect God to dwell in your messy vessel. He will always depart from where sin is laden except we genuinely repent and he cleanses us anew. We are not just vessels to look upon in awe of each other’s beauty and abilities. As believers, we carry the actual life and impartation of divinity, of God Himself within us. Just as Moses was given strict instructions to construct the Ark, so too, are we given strict instructions in God’s Word on how to construct our internal tabernacles for the hosting of the Holy Spirit. The problem usually comes when we become more focused on the craftsmanship of our external man than our internal man and when we desire the glory of God’s victory more than we desire to sustain His covenant.
An Ark is just an artifact without the presence of God. A human being is just a well created artifact who lives temporally but his life is powerless without the habitation of God. The posture of our hearts as Arks of God’s presence must be right if we are to produce signs, wonders and impartations of God in our lives and in the lives of others. Our heart posture must first be one of obedience. Remember Moses did not build the Ark to his fancy; he built it in accordance to the metrics given by God.
Can God trust and covenant with you to obey Him, to keep your tabernacle pure and carry His presence wherever you go?
