Boyce Mouton
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THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID

Boyce Mouton · 10 pages · 5,919 words

THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID

Understanding the tabernacle of David will not be easy. It will be like Abram trying to count the stars or Moses trying to understand the mystery of the burning bush by drawing closer. Our mental and spiritual discipline in studying the Scriptures, however, is not in vain. As you know, “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) Even though we may not completely understand what David did, we must agree that what he I is recorded in the Bible for a reason. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33)

As you know, God commanded Moses to put the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle, behind the veil, in the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:30-35). David, however, pitched a tent for the ark in Jerusalem while the tabernacle of Moses was in Gibeon (1 Chronicles 15:1) Since no specific command can be found authorizing David to do this, this brief study will present evidence to indicate that David erected this tent with the guidance and approval of God. Among other lessons we can learn, Acts 15:13-18 teaches that in some mysterious way the “tabernacle of David” helps us to understand God’s desire to take from the Gentiles a people for himself.

Let’s begin with David’s history. Even as a young shepherd David earned the honor of being known as a man after God’s own heart! (1 Samuel 16:7). As far as I know David is the only man in the Scriptures so honored. (See also 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22)

  • When God sent Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be the new king, David’s brothers were all rejected. Samuel explained: “The Lord does not look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
  • It is interesting to note that even though Samuel consecrated Jesse and all his sons were invited to the sacrifice, Jesse’s youngest son David was not invited but was assigned to tend their sheep.
  • David, however, was the one chosen by God and Samuel refused to sit down until he arrived (1 Samuel 16:5-11).
  • “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. From that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” (1 Samuel 16:13)
  • Not long after this David killed Goliath!
  • Sadly, when David came to the battle bringing food for his brothers, his oldest brother, Eliab, accused him of having a wicked heart (1 Samuel 17:28).
  • While others feared that giant, David believed that God would give him victory over this pagan Philistine. He told King Saul: “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:34-37)
  • After killing Goliath David cut off his head and brought it to Jerusalem (1 Samuel 17:54). Apparently David did this as a warning to the Jebusites.
  • There was a reason for this warning. For many years Jerusalem was controlled by the Jebusites because nobody could defeat them. Note: “Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites who were
  • living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.” (Joshua 15:63)
  • The Jebusites arrogantly considered themselves so strong that when David became king “The Jebusites said to David, ‘you will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” (2 Samuel 5:6)
  • The Jebusites didn’t know, however, that God was going to help David. Against all odds God empowered David to conquer the Jebusites just as he had empowered David to conquer a lion, a bear, and Goliath. So after defeating the Jebusites “David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.” (2 Samuel 5:9-10)
  • Since Jerusalem became the City of David - “Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.” (2 Samuel 5:11-12)
  • Remember! Jerusalem was special to God for He had chosen Jerusalem as the one place where all men were to worship Him (Deuteronomy 12:4-14). This is why when the church began there were devout Jews in Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5).
  • Therefore David, as a man after God’s own heart, wanted to build a temple for God in Jerusalem. God, however, had other plans. King David explained to all the officials of Israel: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’ “Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the tribe of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel. Of all my sons—and the Lord has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.’” (1 Chronicles 28:2-7)
  • While God did not permit David to build a “house” in Jerusalem for the ark of the covenant, it seems He did permit David to erect a “tent” in Jerusalem for the ark of the covenant.
  • Further, even though Solomon built the “house,” God gave to David the plans on how to do it. “Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things.” (1 Chronicles 28:11-12)
  • God also gave David instructions for the division of the priests and Levites, and the articles they were to use in their service in the temple. David also passed on these instructions to Solomon together with specific instructions concerning the weight of the gold and silver used in making all of the articles used in temple worship (1 Chronicles 28:13-18).
  • “All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.” (1 Chronicles 28:19)
  • Since God gave David all of these specific instructions regarding the “house” for the ark of the covenant, it seems that God also gave David specific instructions regarding the “tent” in Jerusalem where the ark was to be kept temporarily until the temple was completed.

WHAT DAVID DID

  • What David did was important for he was the Lord’s anointed. Remember, David was careful to obey God and consistently inquired of God before he did something. See 1 Samuel 23:2, 4, 11, 12; 2 Samuel 2:1, 5:19, etc. We “assume” David also sought the will of God before pitching a tent for the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem.
  • Apparently David was not limited by the way the Jewish priests understood the will of God. For example, God guided David to do something at the tabernacle that was considered “unlawful” by the priests.
  • Jesus made reference to this when His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and to eat them on the Sabbath day. “When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.” (Matthew 12:2-4)
  • Jesus explained: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)
  • IN OTHER WORDS, SINCE JESUS IS THE LORD OF THE SABBATH, WHATEVER JESUS AUTHORIZES TO BE DONE ON THE SABBATH IS LEGAL!
  • THE SAME, OF COURSE, APPLIED TO DAVID WHEN HE AND HIS COMPANIONS ENTERED INTO THE HOUSE OF GOD AND ATE THE CONSECRATED BREAD!
  • THE SAME APPLIED TO THE PRIESTS IN THE TEMPLE WHO DESECRATED THE SABBATH AND YET WERE BLAMELESS!
  • THE SAME ALSO APPLIED TO THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS! IF JESUS GAVE THEM PERMISSION TO EAT GRAIN ON THE SABBATH, THAT IS ALL THE PERMISSION THEY NEEDED!
  • THE SAME ALSO APPLIED TO DAVID IF GOD TOLD HIM TO PUT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT IN A TENT IN JERUSALEM!

DAVID’S TENT

  • As we have said, God told Moses to put the ark of the covenant behind the veil in the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:33). According to the Law of Moses, no one could go beyond the veil and minister before the ark but the High Priest, and he could only do this one day each year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34).
  • As we have also said, the tabernacle where Moses put the ark, was at the high place in Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39-40). David left Zadok the priest there in Gibeon, with his fellow priests, to minister at the tabernacle and to present burnt offerings to the Lord. David, however, pitched a tent for the ark in Jerusalem.
  • Regarding this tent the Scriptures explain: “After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.” (1 Chronicles 15:1)
  • “Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. He said to them, “You are the heads of the
  • Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.” (1 Chronicles 15:11-12)
  • “They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman. He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to extol, thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel: Asaph was the chief, and next to him in rank were Zechariah, then Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps, Asaph was to sound the cymbals, and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.” (1 Chronicles 16:1-6)
  • “David left Asaph and his associates before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister there regularly, according to each day’s requirements. He also left Obed-Edom and his sixzty eight associates to minister with them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah were also gatekeepers.” (1 Chronicles 16:37-38)
  • While David was still alive, and before Solomon became king: “David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.” (1 Chronicles 25:1)
  • “All these men were under the supervision of their father for the music of the temple of the Lord, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. Along with their relatives— all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord—they numbered 288. Young and old alike, teacher as well as student, cast lots for their duties.” (1 Chronicles 25:6-8)
  • As we have previously said, God gave David specific instructions for the temple: “All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.” (1 Chronicles 28:19)
  • It seems logical that if God gave David specific instructions regarding the “temple”, He also gave David specific instructions regarding the “tent” he erected for the ark in Jerusalem.
  • It is obvious that a great deal of spiritual activity took place before the ark in David’s tent and not once was anyone reprimanded by God for doing so!

SOLOMON’S TEMPLE

  • After Solomon began building the temple it took seven years to complete it.
  • In the mean while Solomon worshiped at the tabernacle in Gibeon. He made a thousand burnt offerings on that altar and it was at Gibeon that the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and gave him great wisdom (1 Samuel 3:4-14)
  • After Solomon awaken from his dream “He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.” (1 Samuel 3:15)
  • Then - “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.” (1 Kings 6:1)
  • “In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.” (1 Kings 6:38)
  • Then the ark of the Covenant was returned to the Holy of Holies: “When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.” (1 Kings 8:3-9)
  • David pitched his tent for the ark in Jerusalem around 1050 B.C. It was approximately 40 years later before the temple was completed and the ark was returned to the Holy of Holies.
  • Apparently, during this time Israel continued to worship before the ark, but we have no record that the Day of Atonement was observed.
  • No one knows for certain what happened to the ark. It is generally thought to have disappeared when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple in 586 B.C. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet about 626 B.C. Jerusalem was partially destroyed in 606 B.C. It was further ravaged in 597 B.C. and finally burned and devastated in 586 B.C.
  • The last reference to the ark in the Old Testament Scriptures was written by Jeremiah in in Jeremiah 3:16: “In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the LORD, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.”
  • The last reference to the ark in the Bible is in Rev. 11:19: “Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”
  • The presence of God in David’s tent, however, pointed to the good news that someday Jesus would be our great high priest and minister before God in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man (Hebrews 8:2)
  • Many years later, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom and all believers were invited to come boldly into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus (Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:19).
  • Christianity is radically different from Judaism in many ways. For example, no longer are we dependent upon the sons of Aaron to be priests, for today every true believer is a priest! We are, in fact, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
  • Now we worship God in Spirit and in truth and not in a tabernacle or temple (John 4:23).
  • God inspired David to write some 73 psalms that are in the Bible. Perhaps many of these psalms were composed in David’s tent in the presence the ark of the covenant.

THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID

The expression “tabernacle of David” is found three times in some versions of the Bible:

  • “And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.” (Isaiah 16:5 KJV)
  • “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:” (Amos 9:11 KJV)
  • “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:16-18 KJV)
  • This is not only true of the KJV in English, but also of the 1960 RV version in Spanish.
  • Not all versions, however, use the word “tabernacle” in these verses. The NIV, for example uses “house” in Isaiah 16:5; and “tent” in Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16.
  • This means that there are more than three references in the Bible to the “tabernacle” or “tent” of David.
  • The Hebrew word translated as “tabernacle” in Isaiah 16:5 is “ohel” which is translated as “tent” 285 times in the Bible.
  • The Hebrew word translated as “tabernacle” in Amos 9:11 is “sukkah”. It is used 31 times in the Bible and refers to a “booth, tent, tabernacle, or pavilion.” This is the word used in Leviticus 23:42 to instruct the Israelites to live in “booths” seven days during the Feast of Tabernacles.
  • The Greek word translated as “tabernacle” in Acts 15:16 is “skene”. It is used 21 times in the N.T. Scriptures and refers to a “tabernacle, tent, or booth.” This is the word used in Matthew 17:4 when Peter wanted to build three “booths” on the Mount of Transfiguration.
  • IT SEEMS OBVIOUS, THEREFORE, THAT THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WAS ALSO THE TENT DAVID PITCHED FOR THE ARK IN JERUSALEM!
  • WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVE IS THERE?

GOD CONSISTENTLY CORRECTED DAVID WHEN HE DID WRONG!

  • Remember! “The Lord disciplines those he loves, and punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” (Hebrews 12:6)
  • Even though David was a man after God’s own heart, he still was still a sinner who made mistakes!
  • When David sinned, God chastened him as a loving Father chastens a wayward son.
  • For example, when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, God sent the Prophet Nathan to rebuke him. As part of his punishment, Natan promised David: “Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.” (2 Samuel 12:10)
  • When David disobeyed God and transported the ark of the covenant on a cart instead of having it carried by Levites, Uzzah died and David was afraid of the Lord (2 Samuel 6:1-11).
  • When David sinned by numbering Israel the Lord sent a plague that killed 70,000 people (2 Samuel 24:15).
  • BUT WHEN DAVID PITCHED A TENT FOR THE ARK OF THE COVENANT IN JERUSALEM, GOD DID NOTHING TO PUNISH HIM!
  • In fact, “David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” (2 Samuel 6:12-15)
  • When David’s wife, Michal, criticized him for this: “David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.” (2 Samuel 6:21-23)
  • Obviously, we need to be careful before criticizing the Lord’s anointed!

REMEMBER ALSO THAT DAVID WAS A PROPHET

Peter, in his first gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost, quoted David. As a prophet of God David spoke the words of God. When Peter quoted from Psalm 16, for example, he was actually quoting God. That’s why the personal pronouns in this verse actually referred to Jesus and not David. The psalmist said: “I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.” (Acts 2:25-28)

Peter then pointed out the obvious! These inspired words did not refer to David. David, as a prophet of God, was speaking the words of God. THESE WORDS ABOUT A BODY THAT DID NOT SEE DECAY, REFERRED TO THE BODY OF JESUS AND NOT THE BODY OF DAVID!

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:29-36)

DAVID’S TABERNACLE AND THE GENTILES

  • David’s tabernacle somehow was involved in God’s acceptance of the Gentiles.
  • Remember! God loves the whole world and wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
  • Remember! When God chose to work with Abraham He did so to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3).
  • Remember! While God began with a special relationship with the Jews, His ultimate goal was to make salvation available to all the nations of earth. The Great Commission sending the disciples to all nations is found in all four Gospels and the book of Acts. (See Matthew 28:18- 20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8)
  • For many years, however, Christians from Jerusalem preached only to the Jews: “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.” (Acts 11:19)
  • They apparently believed that Gentiles could only be saved if they first converted to Judaism.
  • This controversy came to a head around A.D. 50 (some twenty years after the church began). A Council was convened in Jerusalem to decide if the Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses (Acts 15:5).
  • After Peter testified how God led him to preach to a Gentile Centurion named Cornelius, then “James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:13-18 kjv)
  • This quotation from Amos 9:11-12 reveals that one reason why David built a tabernacle in Jerusalem for the ark of the covenant was to prepare the Jews for God’s acceptance of the Gentiles.
  • On other occasions God was also preparing His people for the future!
  • When the Hebrew people were in the wilderness, for example, Moses commanded them to observe three annual feasts (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles – Exodus 23:14-17) All three of these feasts were harvest festivals. Passover came first at the time of the barley harvest, Then Pentecost came later at the time of the wheat harvest. Finally Tabernacles came at the end of the year when they were gathering in their crops.
  • Remember that the Hebrews were shepherds (Genesis 47:3-4). The did not live in one place and harvest crops but followed their flocks from one pasture to another. These three feasts, however, helped prepare the Hebrews for the future when they would cease their nomadic life, live on their own land, and harvest their own crops!
  • In a similar way David’s Tabernacle prepared God’s people for the time when the veil of the temple would be rent in two from the top to the bottom and all men everywhere could boldly approach God by the blood of Jesus (Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 10:19)
  • The “words of the prophets” regarding the Tabernacle of David in some profound way involved the salvation of the Gentiles!

NEW WINE – OLD SKINS

Understanding the revolutionary teaching of Jesus requires revolutionary thinking! The Jewish scholars resisted any change in their thinking and demanding the crucifixion of Jesus. An irreligious

man like Pilate, could find no fault in Jesus, but the Jews insisted: “We have a law, and according to that law he must die.” (John 19:7)

Jesus prepared the people for dramatic change by saying: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:16-17)

Please consider the revolutionary nature of the first miracle Jesus performed. It happened at a wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-11). Jesus and His disciples were invited to this wedding and when they ran out of wine, Mary, the mother of Jesus, sought His help. She told the servants at the wedding to obey Jesus and said: “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5). This is the only command Mary gave that is recorded in the Bible and it is both simple and profound. Certainly it is always correct to do what Jesus commands you to do.

“Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants,“Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:6-11)

Drinking water from jars used for ceremonial washing raises some questions. Leviticus 11:1-47 provides a long list of warnings against touching or tasting anything that would make you unclean. In fact, the Jews had a saying: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” (Colossians 2:21)

Here is what the Law required when something unclean that fell into a clay pot: “If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. Any food you are allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean.” (Leviticus 11:33-35)

Remember however, the commandment of Mary! We must do whatever Jesus tells us to do!

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS

Not everyone who claims to be Jesus, of course, is Jesus. Jesus warned: “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:24-25)

Paul warned: “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was

deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:2-4)

John warned: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

It is easy to know that a commandment comes from Jesus when we take it directly from the Bible.

It is not so easy to identify the commands of Jesus when they do not come directly from the Bible.

That’s why we must “test the spirits to see whether they are from God”.

THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID

“These are the last words of David: “The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse, the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, the hero of Israel’s songs: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’ “If my house were not right with God, surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part; surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire. But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they lie.” (2 Samuel 23:1-7)