Who May Abide in Your Tabernacle?

 

LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

He who walks uprightly,

And works righteousness,

And speaks the truth in his heart;

He who does not backbite with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;

In whose eyes a vile person is despised,

But he honors those who fear the LORD;

He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

He who does not put out his money at usury,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.—Psalm 15

David asks, “Lord, who can come into Your presence?”  David asks this question because he clearly loved God’s house and desired to know God better.  I feel the same.  The more I know Jesus, the more I want to know Him more…the more I want His fellowship…the more I want to be in His Presence always. Truly, as a believer or a non-believer it is the the most important question we can ask.

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?

Or who may stand in His holy place?—Psalm 24

David’s greatest desire was to live in the presence of His God. 

LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house,

And the place where Your glory dwells.—Psalm 26:8

Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident.

One thing I have desired of the LORD,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.

For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

In the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.—Psalm 27:3-5

Blessed is the man You choose,

And cause to approach You,

That he may dwell in Your courts.

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,

Of Your holy temple.—Psalm 65:4

From reading the Psalms we know that God was David’s strong habitation here on earth to which he continually resorted. He desired to be with His God in heaven and dwell there forever.  As believers in Jesus, God is our eternal home. In Him, we live and move and have our being. 

David goes on to describe what the godly person will look like…

He is sincere, practices righteousness, speaks truth in His heart, does not slander or receive a reproach against a friend, does not do evil, distinguishes between good and evil honoring those who fear the Lord, keeps his oaths…walks in integrity, does not take interest, does not accept bribes. 

My favorite line of Psalm 15 is the very last line of verse 5 and of the Psalm itself. 

He who does these things shall never be moved.  

Beloved…Trust God’s promises.  They are grounded in His covenantal love. The godly described in these verses will have security and stability in this life and will abide forever with God in the next. They need not be afraid of anything that is to come. 

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."—Matthew 10:27-30

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.—1 John 2:17

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and great was its fall."—Matthew 7:24-27

Ending with additional verses from Scripture…

Micah described the godly man in three ways…

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the LORD require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?—Micah 6:8

Jesus summed it up in one..

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."—Matthew 22:36-40

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.—Hebrews 10:19-25

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD

Forever.——Psalm 23:6

I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

Selah—Psalm 61:4

Blessed is the man You choose,

And cause to approach You,

That he may dwell in Your courts.

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,

Of Your holy temple.—Psalm 65:4

"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.

"And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.—John 14:19-31