Open to the ninth chapter of the book of Amos.
Verse 11 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:This is a prophetic announcement concerning David’s Tabernacle being restored. I'm not going to teach on that, but let me say that the principles that you see in David’s Tabernacle will be fulfilled again in the church.The basic principle that I want you to see is David had a tent built on Mt. Zion. There was Jerusalem and then Mt. Zion which was part of a mountain range. And on Mt. Zion there was a tent constructed by David.
In the process of time, David brought the Ark of the Covenant back into that tent. The Ark of the Covenant pictures the manifested presence of Jesus. And so what we believe about the main thought in this prophetic utterance from Amos concerning a restoration of the tabernacle of David is that when God gets finished with the church, there will be a manifested presence of Jesus in Her.
He is always present. Do you know that? He is present. He will never leave us nor forsake us, but He will go with us all the way, even unto the end of the world. He's persistent. But I'm talking about a manifested presence.
Jesus said, "I and my Father will come and we will manifest ourselves to you."
That's something that can be seen, it can be felt, and it's a tangible thing. It’s not a natural tangible thing, but a spiritual thing. And so that prophetic utterance regarding the bringing of the presence of Jesus back into the church is what we are on the verge of seeing in the church right now. At the end of the church age, the Tabernacle of David will be restored, and the presence of Jesus, our heavenly David, will bring His presence back into the midst of us.
See Isaiah’s picture of this.
Isaiah 4: 2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord...The branch of the Lord speaks of the church. Many commentators will not agree with that. But I'm going to go with what Jesus said. He said, “I am the vine and you guys are the branches.”...... In that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious.That's what we’re looking for...... and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.That is the Cross! Verse 4 is talking about the cross. He is cleaning us up by the Spirit of judgment. It's that spirit that was involved in the workings of Jesus on the day that He was crucified.
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.He said, “Now is the judgment of this world come.”
And we will be washed by that. We are going to be cleansed by that, because His death was the death of your old man. And that is the place where the processing of His death into our lives, the doing away of everything that we were and leaving only what we are in Christ, occurs.
5, And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion,....You should love that, because Mt. Zion is a people. That tent that David had on Mt. Zion speaks of a many-membered Tabernacle. A many-membered dwelling place of which we all are a part, if you’re in Christ.He went on to say.....
...and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night:Sounds like the fire and cloud in the book of Exodus. Notice, this is said to be not only upon the dwelling place, but upon the assemblies. Wouldn't that be the churches?..... for upon all the glory shall be a defense.This word “defense” means “a marriage canopy or a marriage covenant.” What holds this glory in the church is a marriage canopy. I want you to see that, because the presence of Jesus is being brought back into the church.