After they stopped speaking, James responded, saying, “Brethren, listen to me. Simeon has described how God first concerned Himself about taking a people for His name from among the Gentiles. The words of the Prophets agree with this, just as it is written: ‘After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.” Acts 15:13-18.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
How do you build a stone wall or building? One stone at a time. Have you ever noticed that Jesus made disciples one at a time? When He called Peter, it was just Peter and Andrew, same for James and John. And when Andrew and John first saw Jesus, it was just the two of them that went to stay with Him for the afternoon. When He called Matthew it was just Matthew, when He called Philip and Nathaniel it was as individuals. The woman at the well was saved as an individual. It was just her and Jesus. When He saved Zacchaeus, it was just Jesus and Zacchaeus at the house of Zacchaeus. And when I called Paul, then named Saul, on the Road to Damascus, it was just him and Jesus, no one else heard His voice in that group but Paul.
And that is how you will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David and raise the tabernacle of praise, the third temple, the temple for the endtimes that will call Jesus back when the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached to every nation—one stone at a time. But if each stone you bring brings another stone and that one another and that one another, pretty soon the whole structure is there in glorious splendor and unity.
But I have jumped ahead a bit. Let us go back again and take a look, because without the foundation there is no edifice. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22. Your building project began before the foundation of the world, for Jesus is the Lamb slain since before the foundation of the world and He is the chief cornerstone. The blueprint was already completed that you need to follow now. Just as I warned Moses when he was about to construct the tabernacle, “See that you make all things by the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:5. It was to reflect heavenly realities.
The first redemption of My people from slavery was for a building project, but not just any building project, it was one I had planned from eternity, a place for Me to dwell among My people where they could access Me night and day, the Tabernacle of Moses in the Wilderness. And it was those whose hearts were toward Me who made the offerings for its construction and did the work. The second redemption of My people from slavery was for a building project, again My dwelling among them where they were assured of accessing My presence night and day, the rebuilding of My destroyed Tabernacle in Jerusalem when the people whose hearts moved them returned from the captivity of Babylon to build Me a house in Jerusalem. And the third building project for My dwelling among men will again be to redeem those whose hearts are willing from slavery to sin and death to be reborn again in Jesus by My Word, from the slavery of new Babylon captivity to the freedom of the children of Zion on high. And this time I have already given you the assignment of what the third tabernacle is that will usher in the end of time as you know it and let Jesus return to make new heavens and a new earth where I will tabernacle with you in My heavenly Jerusalem, the true Zion from on high. And Jesus first talked about it to one Samaritan woman at a well, although I had let My prophet Amos talk about it years before. Things are hidden only to be revealed at the right time.
And this new Tabernacle is the one you build neither in Jerusalem or any particular city, but in Spirit and in truth as an assembly of the heavenly Zion of which My servant Peter spoke: “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5.
And foretold by My prophet Isaiah: “The LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies (convocations) a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy (bridal chamber). There will be a tabernacle (sukkah) to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and a hiding place (a secret place) from the storm and the rain. Isaiah 4:5-6.
For you who have been cleansed in the blood of Jesus and made righteous with My own righteousness, “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal gathering, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24.
But the details about this were foretold by My prophet Amos and witnessed by My apostle James. First by Amos, “On that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle (sukkah) of David, and wall up its gaps; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old; so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My name,” declares the LORD who does this.” Amos 9:11-12. And then the second witness after I raised Jesus from the dead and began to open the mystery of the gentiles coming to Christ as fellow heirs with the Jews, “After they stopped speaking, James responded, saying, “Brethren, listen to me. Simeon has described how God first concerned Himself about taking a people for His name from among the Gentiles. The words of the Prophets agree with this, just as it is written: ‘After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’ says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.” Acts 15:13-18.
It is the rebuilding of the fallen tabernacle of David, the Tabernacle of worship in Spirit and in truth of the worshipers I seek, it is the convocations (assemblies) of the heavenly Zion throughout the world wherever believers join in the songs of Zion, My songs of grace and of the Kingdom.
Let us look for a moment of the sukkah of David. It was in a tent structure and movable, like My first Tabernacle so I could travel with and lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, but it was much simpler. He simply pitched the tent and put the Ark of the Covenant in it and set out a schedule for singers accompanied by musical instruments to take turns singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, prophetic songs, before My presence as represented by the Ark of the Covenant with its mercy seat twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Nonstop worship. And David was extravagant in this. He asked for LOUD cymbals and trumpet blasts. And David danced before Me with all his might. Psalm 150 sums up the worship there. “Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary! Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with trumpet sound. Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with tambourine and dancing. Praise Him with stringed instruments and flute. Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals. Everything that has breath shall praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
And you, if your heart is moved to join by My Spirit stirring within you and among you, can join in the building project. And I, the LORD of Hosts, am again shaking the nations to fund it. And it is to that tabernacle, His glorious Church, that Christ will come back for in His second coming.
Are you beginning to see how to bring the people of your day out of captivity to the system of Babylon? It is time for a building project, it is time to rebuild the fallen hut (sukkah, tabernacle, tent) of David and raise the Tabernacle of Praise.
And the first feast to celebrate? Just as Ezra did when the people came back from Babylon to Zion—My Presence among you, the Feast of Tabernacles. For I, the LORD of Hosts, am stirring up and shaking the nations, and the later glory of My Tabernacle will be greater than the former. Every place the tabernacle of praise is raised with the living stones of My worshipers, I will give peace, shalom, that passes all understanding. Haggai 2:3-9. Won’t you call a holy convocation of Zion? Let the knowledge of My glory cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
It always goes back to the Tabernacle and that is the way it will end time too. Revelation 21:2-5. “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” Revelation 21:2-6.
And how are you to build it? One stone at a time. And in your home, you be the first stone of your family and the others will follow. Go and tell the good news and seek the worshipers. Never feel you are not a success because you do not have large numbers of people who listen to you. You build one stone at a time. Like Jesus did. Remember the Samaritan woman, but she brought in a whole town and finally all of Samaria. They were ready for Philip when he went there to preach after I raised Jesus from the dead all because of her. One heart set on fire sets others on fire also.
Jesus said to her, “Believe Me, woman, that a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:21-24.
I love you. Go to all the world and tell the good news, one stone at a time. Even if you are talking to a crowd, I see each individual and I speak to each one’s heart. Like the woman who had the issue of blood for twelve years who got through the crowd to touch Jesus, it was like there was no one else in that crowd to Jesus. And for Me, My call is for all, but eyes are on you.