2 Corinthians 5:1-2 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling”
The tent has traditionally been known as a place of habitation. Easily moved and relocated, the covering demonstrates a weak but effective barrier against the elements.
Many people have lived their entire lives in tents, the nomads and bedouins who move their flocks from one green pasture to the next have found the ability to be flexible and adaptable as an advantage for their ways of life.
When examining the context of tents in the Bible, there are several interesting connections that undoubtedly helped people understand concepts that related God’s proximity to His people.
Heaven’s Revelation
To understand who we are in Christ today is to understand history from God’s perspective. God has revealed Truth from His heavenly habitation and calls for those who have been estranged by sin to recognize and know that He is in control.
Isaiah 46:8-10 “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”
The times and seasons of God’s timeplan for the world has been ordered in precision. Your life began exactly when God ordained it, and your days have likewise been numbered. What you do between the start and finish of your life is what determines your future.
The frailness of this earth is likened to a tent, a temporary housing for what is yet to come. Much like this earth, our bodies are also temporary, awaiting to be clothed with that which is perfect and eternal.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
What God has promised that will He fulfill.
Reysh
A while back I attempted to summarize the biblical Berisheet prophecy. The first word of the Bible is the term berisheet, “In the beginning”. It contains within it’s construct 6 separate Hebrew words that form multiple layers of meaning that constructs quite possibly the most profound prophecy in all of the Bible. As the prophecy unfolds we witness the beginning reveals the end.
Reysh is the first letter of this word and means ‘tent’ or ‘dwelling’. As one progresses through this complex word we see evidence for the description of the ‘prince’ who dwells in this tent, who comes forth to be crushed and also to destroy.
For the sake of time, I cannot illustrate every aspect of this prophecy, I only wanted to mention the fact that from the beginning of God’s Word to it’s final letter, Jesus has been revealed. Jesus came forth from His habitation in Heaven (His tent), to fulfill on earth the mission of the Messiah as redeemer of mankind from sin. Jesus was crushed for iniquities and yet conquered sin by His perfection.
Jesus has since ascended into Heaven and awaits for His eventual glorious return. The return of the King will no longer be as a suffering servant but as a conqueror to destroy His enemies over the face of the earth.
You see, Heaven is only a temporary abode for God’s people. For those who have already died and gone to be with the Lord, they await the unification of the church and likewise the new bodies that God will clothe His people in glory. The tent in which Jesus resides today will become a permanent habitation upon a new earth, a place where God’s throne will reside and His people alongside Him.
Tents are temporary, just like our earthly tent will be destroyed by fire, our corrupted flesh will be clothed with perfection, so will our eternal abode become a permanent habitation for all of eternity.
Isaiah 40:22 “It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;”
What we experience now is only a precursor for what is to come.
Permanent Habitation
2 Peter 3:7 “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
The prince who dwells in His tent is coming to destroy the heavens and the earth with fire. The evil we witness and have experienced on earth has no future. God’s timetable for the beginning of this destruction is very, very, near.
What you have known will be done away with, what we have been promised will be fulfilled.
2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
The tent is meant for the fire. Just like the tent of meeting that Moses set up for meeting with God was eventually replaced with the Temple of Solomon, so will our reality be replaced with that which will be permanent.
We see things dimly now because of sin, the weakness of our flesh limits our ability to see clearly. The closer we get to the great and awesome day of the Lord, the more clarity He gives His people. This clarity will culminate in a glorious revelation unlike any other time in the history of man.
Eventually, the Temple was destroyed, anything created by man has an expiration date. Today, God’s people experience a closeness to God even in the midst of corruption. Our bodies serve as God’s Temple today, a meeting place for us to dwell with Him until our final habitation is completed.
1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”
Our dwelling now is only a dim reflection of what our lives in Christ will be like one day.
We will dwell in fullness with Him—there will be no limitation to our understanding and knowledge of Him—we will see the magnitude of His splendor and glory—-we will rest in the fullness of His love.
Come Forth
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The only way to experience this reality is to come to Christ on His terms. You must cast off any notion that Jesus is anyone other than God Himself. He is not a way…He is THE way. If you don’t submit in humility to Him, you will never know His goodness. You will never know any part of His plan for His people, you will be cast out into the darkness, forever lost to the fires of destruction.
John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
If you are of the world, there is still time to come. Repentance is the act of obedience by the one who recognizes that sin is against God alone and desires to turn away.
If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.
Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
It is the last hour my friends. The Lord has calls to give encouragement to His people to stand fast, hold on, don’t lose hope—and He calls those who are lost to come quickly, do not delay, the time of His return is near.
If your one of those people who thought it was a good idea to live your life of sin and then make a choice to follow Christ at the last minute, well….that last minute has arrived.
The time is up, make your choice, the tent stakes are about to be pulled up and this covering thrown into the fire. Jesus has been preparing a home for His people for 2000 years and it is being completed as we speak.
I know the consequences of sin, everyone who has ever lived has known the regrets of living in a fallen nature. The plan to “enjoy sin”, has been a lie of the enemy and I’m sure you’ve experienced the pain of believing that lie.
It’s time to come home. Get on your knees, repent of your past, and let the life giving Spirit bring refreshing to your soul.
Taste and see that the Lord is good and know that a much greater feast awaits His anointed.
U.T. 