It's All About Resting Places

[HKHaugan]

It’s All About Resting Places 

It was April 1978 when a group of believers from All Saints Church were led by faith in the Lord Jesus and a word of knowledge, through the Spirit, understood by 25 families, to start a mission in the Mandarin section of Jacksonville.  Within the first year, after meeting in a storefront, a steel building was erected to become All Souls Church worship center.  Every Sunday was an exciting experience.  From the first worship meetings, where we brought chairs to sit in the store, singing praise songs led by a single guitarist, shared prayer and personal sharing, this body of believers has been through a lot.  But the focus has always remained the same, Jesus, His Word and the Spirit’s leading.  This short history is mentioned only to get a feel for what David felt when he made an oath and vow to build a temple suitable to worship the Lord God (Psalm 132).

 If you watch how Psalm 132 develops, it carries through the theme of David’s passion to build a temple suitable to worship the Lord God.  “We heard it in Ephratha (Bethlehem), we came upon it in the fields of Jaar (city of forests), let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool---arise, O Lord, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.  May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy (vs.6-9).”

 David had heard the Lord speak through His people from different areas.  They wanted a place to worship Him.  They wanted the presence of the Ark.  These things fortify David’s oath and vow.  But take a closer look at where the people call from, Bethlehem, the city of David and the birthplace of the Messiah, and Jaar, the wilderness residents. 

 David adds more definitively, the resting place for the Lord and the Ark of the Lord.  The Ark contained the Law, the commandments of God. It is the inseparable tie of God’s presence and His Word.  The Ark was the visible assurance of the Lord’s presence.  In Jesus, the Word is fulfilled.  He is the Ark in the flesh, visible, Spirit filled and dynamic.  David’s passion for the Lord and his subjects set the stage for the ultimate passion of Jesus for the hearts of mankind everywhere. 

 Follow the Word here.  As we have already pointed out, David’s prophecy and Jesus’ words are intertwined, “The Son of Man has no place to rest His head.”

David’s insight within his passion would later be seen as a prophetic heralding of the coming Messiah (vs.11). When He comes, He fulfills the spiritual meaning of the physical place and building on Mt. Zion.  They would symbolize individual hearts of believers in which Jesus would rest, Jerusalem would be the symbol of every local heart community of believers and Israel the land, as the symbol of the national Body of Christ, where His heart would rest.  Through Jesus then, the Temple is the individual heart, Jerusalem the local community of hearts and Israel the nation of heart communities. 

Also, He brings a new and fulfilling understanding of what it means to be a priest and a saint.  Every believer, by his belief and faith in Jesus is a priest (1Peter 2:9) and a saint (Rom.1:7, 1Cor.1:2, 2Cor.1;1, Eph.1:1, Php.1:1, Col.1:2).  Not only that but Jesus is described as the great High Priest, the head of all gathered priestly saints.

So, as saints and priests we have two responsibilities, to be set apart as His disciples for service to Him and to administer His gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit, basically to witness and to minister.

 Now, look at the promises that arise from the Lord’s heart redemption mission in the context of David’s prophetic spirituality.  There is the covering promise and the seven that fulfill it:

 The covering promise:  “For your servant David's sake, turn not away the face of your anointed. The LORD has sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it;

 1.Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne. 

 2.If your children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon your throne forevermore. 

 3.For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation.  This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. 

 4.I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. 

 5.I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 

 6.There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. 

 7.His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish (vs.10-18).

 Amazing, isn’t it?  How much there is in each of these Psalms.  The dynamics that each contain to identify God’s mind and the way they retrain our mind to think about Him, one another and the world.  Note number 5 and the personal sense of mission and ministry we as saints and priests have been blessed to receive.

 Can we help others who don’t have a resting place open one of their empty rooms for Him?  He’s real good about being a guest who can light up the whole house.