GOD PITCHED HIS TENT

Transcript

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Hello everyone. This is Pastor Dean Thompson with the word of hope. God pitches his tent. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. Revelation twenty one verse three. When the new creation dawns, a loud voice from the throne announces what it is all for. Not new scenery, not merely the absence of suffering, but this behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. The whole vast renovation of the cosmos serves one purpose that God and his people may finally dwell together. The Greek word behind dwelling place is skenae, a tent, a tabernacle. And the verb skin skeno means to pitch a tent to tabernacle. This is no accident of vocabulary. It reaches back through the whole of scripture. It recalls a tabernacle in the wilderness where God came to dwell in the midst of his wandering people in a tent of meeting. And it is the very word John used in his gospel. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. The God who pitched his tent among the Israelites, and then pitched his tent in human flesh in Jesus, now pitches his tent forever among his people. This is the destination toward which the entire biblical story has been straining. From the garden where God walked with his people in the cool of the day, through the tabernacle and temple where his presence dwelt behind a veil, through the incarnation where he dwelt among us as one of us, to this final scene where the veil is gone forever, and God dwells unhindered with his people. It has all been moving toward togetherness. The deepest desire of God, it turns out, is not to be served from a distance, but to dwell with us up close. Notice the relational language piled up in the announcement. He will dwell with them. They will be his people. God himself will be with them as their God. This is covenant language, the language of belonging, the language of husband of a husband and wife or a parent and child. It is a language of mutual possession. You are mine and I am yours. The goal of all things is not an agree arrangement, but a relationship. Not God ruling over us from afar, but God being with us as our God. Think about how much of our pain in this life is the pain of distance, feeling far from God, far from the people we love, far from home, far from the sense that we belong somewhere. The promise of the new creation answers that ache at its root. The distance will be gone. God will not visit occasionally, he will dwell. The tent will be pitched in our midst and never struck again. Every form of exile will be over, and we will be at last fully at home with the one who made us. This is the love story of the Bible reaching its goal. The lamb who was slain, the bridegroom who came, the God who pitched his tent in human flesh, all of it was driving toward this, that God and his people would dwell together forever with nothing left to separate them. Heaven is not finally a place, it is a presence. It is God with us at home. So when you feel the ache of distance this week from God, from others, from home, let it remind you of where the story is going. The dwelling place of God will be with us. He is pitching his tent to stay. The longing for nearness that you cannot quite satisfy here is a true longing, and it will be answered. One day God Himself will be with you, and you will be home. O Lord, you who tabernacled among us in Jesus, thank you that you are coming to dwell with your people forever. When we feel the ache of distance, just remind us you are pitching your tent to stay. Please bring us home to your presence. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you, brothers and sisters.