The Fourth Tabernacle (Birmingham Conference) — David Wilkerson

Lord, we've gathered in your name today. We've come here from all over the country, from other places around the world. We didn't come to hear a man, any man, or a group of men. We came, Lord Jesus, with ears open and hearts open.

We came here, Lord, because we wanted to hear the word of the Lord that would speak to our hearts, that would touch us. Now, Lord, I pray that you come upon me now. Lord Jesus, make me a vessel. Let there be unction.

Let there be the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, you put this message so deeply into my heart. It's been made a part of my very spiritual life. Let it become a part of the spiritual life of everyone in this place this morning.

God, we give you this day. We invite you, Holy Spirit, to come now. Give us hearing ears. Come, Holy Spirit. Folks ask him to come. He said, well, come to those there. Lord, we ask you for the Holy Spirit this morning.

Lift your hands and just invite him, Holy Spirit, come. Give me a word. Give us a word, Lord. God, change us. Let the spirit of God. Lord, without your spirit, we don't have a meeting. Lord, this is just another gathering without you.

Holy Spirit, come, fill the house. We invite you. You said wherever you're invited, you will come. Come, Holy Spirit. Now, mightily upon us we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The fourth tabernacle is the ultimate purpose of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Tabernacle as the Purpose of the Cross

The fourth tabernacle is the reason he came, the reason he died, the reason he was crucified and raised again. The ultimate purpose of the cross of Jesus Christ. After this service this morning, if anyone asks you what is the purpose of the cross, you can tell them it's the fourth tabernacle.

Would explain what that means. Tabernacle merely means a residence, a place, a home. In a scripture context, it's where God lives. It's where God abides. It's the place of his presence here on earth. Now, in the Garden of Eden, there was no such place.

God came down in evening part of the day and he would talk and commune with Adam and Eve, but he had no permanent dwelling place here. There was no tabernacle among men. There was no tabernacle in the time of Noah.

There was no place where God could say, this is where I live. No man could say, this is where I live. God speaks to Noah about things to come and tells him to prepare an ark. There is no evidence in the Bible that he spoke again to Noah until the end of the 120 years.

There's nothing there. Perhaps he did, but he did not come. There's no thought that he came down and fellowshiped with Noah. Noah, being moved by fear, the scripture said, prepared the ark. And you talk about faith.

If he had not been hearing from God during that time, what a step of faith to walk 120 years on one word from God. But there was no tabernacle then. Abraham had an altar. He built an altar there, he communed with God.

God came down and communed with him. But there was no tabernacle. There was no place where God could say, this is where I live on earth among men. The same with Jacob. He had a place called Bethel and he said, surely God is in this place.

But it was a one-time visit and this was not his dwelling place. This is where Jacob thought it would be, but this was not the dwelling place of the Most High God. Jacob was visited by God, but all he knew was the appearance of God on occasions.

The First Tabernacle in the Wilderness

First tabernacle was raised up by Moses. The Scripture says, let them make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them and there I will meet with thee. I'll commune with you between or above the mercy seat.

The first tabernacle was designed by God himself. Moses had no input. When the plan was completed, there was nothing that Moses could say, that's something I suggested. That's something that was in my heart.

This was my idea. There were no ideas of men. It was designed by God. No man had any input on this tabernacle. Now, this was not something so beautiful to look at, especially if you looked at it from a distance or from the air.

What you would have seen was a box-like room covered with badger skins, an oblong room covered with badger skins, and walled in in a courtyard. It was nothing of beauty. There was nothing unusual about this.

But the thing that made it different was that this is where God came down. There was a cloud over it by day, and there was a fire, a pillar by night, and that was the presence of God. And there was a holy of holies there.

God said, I will dwell among you, I'll meet you. He was in one place. You had to go to the wilderness. You had to go to that place. It was a assigned place where God dwelt among men. This was the first tabernacle.

And Moses did as the Lord commanded. All through the construction of this, you'll read, as the Lord commanded, as the Lord commanded. God's presence was manifested there. That tabernacle existed for 480-some years, and then it was done away with.

David, Solomon, and the Temple

It came to the heart of David much later to build God a house. But because he was a man of war, his son was chosen to build that house. David said, is it not time that there should be in Jerusalem, this chosen city, a palace for the most high God?

And David spent his lifetime, his later lifetime, putting together the building, the materials for the construction of this temple. David said, the Lord may be to understand in writing by his own hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.

David received the architectural plan from the Holy Spirit. And again, there was nothing in this tabernacle or in this temple that David said, this is my idea, this is what I suggested to God. You see, anything that God inhabits, any place that he inhabits, it's of his own making.

And God only blesses that which he invents, so to speak, that he brings forth. He can only bless messages that are born in prayer. He can only bless that is not borrowed from some other person. He can only bless that which is made real.

Even though you got the idea for somebody else, it has to be something that is born in your spirit and you preach it out of the working of the Holy Spirit. And you can't go out of the pulpit and say, that's my idea, that's something I invented.

This was all God's doing. Now, this was a gorgeous temple. It was covered, everything was covered in gold. You know, I've heard people say, boy, when we get to heaven, everything's going to be gold. We're going to walk on streets of gold.

I prefer grass. Now, folks, there are streets of gold, but our concept of gold is this kind that we spend, that glistens. But you see, God has something crystal clear, far beyond any kind of gold that our minds can conceive.

But it was covered with gold. Everything was covered with gold, ornate, but that's not what made it special. It was special because God chose in the Holy of Holies to come down, and when it was dedicated, his spirit was so powerful, so strong, they couldn't even stand to minister because God was there.

God was there. When the priest came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house.

And Solomon said, I've surely built you a house, Lord, to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever. Now, that's a statement made by a man who believed that the temple that he built was going to last forever, that even today, we would be taking an American airline or some airline and flying to Jerusalem and walking through this temple.

That temple lasted 500 years and was destroyed. That was the second temple. I bring you now to the third temple. The third temple was the body of Jesus Christ on earth. He was the third temple. The scripture says, in him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Dwelt here in Greek is tabernacled. The word tabernacled among us. Jesus knew he was the temple of God among men.

He knew clearly that, and he said, if you destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up. This was the temple. His body was the temple of the Holy Ghost. He said, you destroy it because a body the Lord has prepared for me.

For 33 years, this was the resting place of the presence of Almighty God. He dwelt among us. The tabernacle was here. He was the tabernacle. But you see, all three of these tabernacles, as marvelously as they were, as God ordained and as instrumented by God himself through the spirit of the living Lord, you had to go to this place.

Even the second temple, you had to go to Jerusalem. If you were Gentile, you couldn't even go into that temple except an outer court. If you were in Europe, if you were in Asia, you had to take a tour, you had to take a trip if you're going to meet God.

Remember, the woman at the Samaritan well said, we've been told that God lives in Jerusalem. We're Gentiles, and they tell us, you Jews tell us that God's in Jerusalem. God is there. Bible said Jesus manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him.

He manifested his glory. The glory of God was in Christ. He was the third temple. What do you see as the essence of the cross of Jesus, the purpose of the cross? He died to save us from sin. The Bible said he was wounded for our transgressions.

He's bruised for our iniquities. Yes. Thank God for the blood. That is the essence of our faith. That is a part of our very Christianhood, so to speak. Thank God for the healing of his stripes. Thank God for righteousness by faith.

Thank God for all the benefits that we've been preaching about the cross, but there is more, much more. Some of us never get beyond forgiveness. Some of us never get beyond healing. We don't know the full depths of the cross of Jesus Christ and what happened at the cross of Jesus Christ.

He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And we must never stop glorying in those aspects of the cross. But the cross of Jesus Christ was where the fourth tabernacle was raised up.

The Church as the Fourth Tabernacle

The fourth tabernacle is the body of Jesus Christ here on earth now. The church of Jesus Christ, born again, cleansed by the blood. This body now, my body, your body is now the fourth tabernacle. This is the tabernacle of God in the last days before Jesus comes.

We are the tabernacle of God. Know you not that your body is the temple, the dwelling place of God? The wilderness was confined to one place, that tabernacle. Solomon's tabernacle was located in one place.

You had to go there. And even Christ, you had to go to Israel, you had to go to Judah. If you were in Asia, they say, where is the tabernacle? Where is God dwelling? You had to go where Jesus was. Jesus ministered to a small group.

He ministered in a small area. Jesus set an example for any man or woman of God. He drew a small circle, and he did everything inside that circle. He said, I'm called for a specific purpose. When someone outside that circle, two men said, help us settle our inheritance.

Jesus said, that's not my work. In other words, that's not in my circle. Folks, I learned a long time ago, and I'm 73, and every pastor should learn it. You let the Holy Ghost draw you a circle, and you stay in that circle, and don't get out and get tied up in something outside that circle, and stay focused on ministering to Christ.

Stay focused on what God's called you to do. If God's called you to be a preacher, don't try to be a politician. If he's called you to a certain work, don't get out of that circle. I stay in a very small circle.

You say, I don't believe that. Well, I do. Jesus was a tabernacle confined to one place. He could be intimate with only a small group at a time. But as the hour of crucifixion approached, Jesus prayed, now, Father, glorify thou me now with your own self, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

Jesus was not saying, let me finish the work and get out of here. I've had enough of this. That's not what Jesus was saying at all. Jesus said, I want the glory that I had before you. And that glory, what is it?

It's the glory of omnipresence. Once again, he said, I want to be everywhere at one time. I want to raise up the fourth tabernacle. I know I'm the foundation. You said, I'm the chosen foundation stone, and I'm going to build my church.

And when Jesus said it's finished, what he said, the foundation has been laid. Now, I can build my church. It's finished. It's ready. The foundation is done. The foundation is ready. Now, I can build.

A few weeks ago in New York City, they brought in a 20-ton rock, big rock of granite, and laid it where 9 -11 was, where the towers fell. And they had a ceremony with the governor and the mayor and thousands of people, and laid this 20-ton piece of granite as the foundation stone of new buildings that are going to be built bigger and higher than...

Please don't clap at this because, in a way, there's a spiritual tragedy involved. It's called pride. We will build bigger, we will build better. Rather than national repentance, we'll show the world we'll build it bigger, and we dare anybody to touch this.

I love America, and I thank God, and I love ministering in New York City, but the pride and the arrogance is beyond comprehension. But my point is, as soon as the foundation stone is low, the building can go up.

And that, he anticipated coming back to abide in believers. The foundation stone, a tested stone, a costly stone, now firmly planted. Jesus said to the woman at the well, Jacob's well, said, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.

But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is seeking such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

You understand the moment Jesus breathed his last breath, the fourth tabernacle was born, so that now when Jesus is resurrected and takes the blood into the Holy of Holies, not the blood of bulls or goats, but his own blood, he went into the Holy of Holies and made atonement for sins of the world and reconciled the world to himself and said, now I can come and abide in anyone who believes in me, all who turn to me.

That is where I will live, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And what a truth that God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost abides in this. I am the temple. You are the temple. We are the fourth tabernacle of the Holy Ghost.

Christ’s Indwelling Presence and the Believer’s Confidence

The cross of Jesus Christ is more than just freedom from sin, more than just getting heaven. When we die, the cross made it possible for the Lord to rend the curtain and come out of the holy place and come and break the curtain, break down all the opposition, break through all pride and everything that sin had raised, and break through the veil of our minds.

There were two veils he had to break, and he broke through. And now, he is enthroned in our hearts, and now we don't have to come like Esther and tearfully, fearfully wait that he holds out a scepter because he lives here and abides.

I can go boldly. I am seated with Christ in a heavenly place. This body. Jesus said, if any man loved me, he will keep my words. My Father will love him and we will come unto him. And what will we do?

We will make our abode. We will have our living place. We will abide. Paul spoke of our earthly house of this tabernacle. This earthly house is his tabernacle, a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For we in this tabernacle or this house do groan, being burdened. Yes, it's a house of flesh, but it has been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ is a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing the hope to the end.

You see, when we were born, we were born with an Adam nature, and Satan made a jump claim on the deed of this house. He made a jump claim. It was not his, but he jumped the claim because of an Adam nature, a tendency to sin.

And so, because we had this tendency to sin and we had this ease of yielding to his temptation, he said, this is my house. He claimed this house. He claimed this body, saying, this body is mine. Adam sold it to me.

Now, Adam didn't sell it to, but he had a false jump claim, and he said, this is my house. I claim it, but Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate it. This is a true story. One of our neighbors, CEO, top leader of a corporation, started drinking and became an alcoholic.

And when he became an alcoholic, he lost his wife and lost his job, lost his career. And I talked to this man, I ministered to him, and he would sit all day in his house and drink. He so loved this house.

He said, everything in that house is from my design. It reflects all of myself. I put my house into this. And it was the pride and joy of his life, this house of his. But he couldn't…he had no income and he couldn't pay the mortgage.

And so, the house was put up by the mortgage company for sale. Well, he tried to sell it at first, and I don't know whether he sold first, the mortgage company sold it. But he would sit there all day and they had cases of vodka and all kinds of whiskey.

The man, first thing he'd get up in the morning, start drinking, drinking all day long. House was morbid. The house was just a place of fear and alcoholism. But the house was put up for sale and it was sold.

But this man said, I don't care whether it's been sold or not, it's my house and I'm not moving. So, he locked all the doors and locked all the windows. He had a good supply of alcohol. And he said, I'm not leaving here because this house is a reflection of who I am.

I'm not moving. Now, someone else bought the house, paid off the mortgage, and got a new deed, and registered in the court. They had this house and they were ready to move in, but the man said, I'm not leaving.

I'm staying here. And that's exactly what the devil says. This is my house. I'm not going to leave. I'm staying here. I don't care what the law says. I don't care what God says. I don't care what the judge says.

This reflects my being. This is who I am. I live here. This is my house. But you see, there's such a thing as a sheriff. That's the Holy Ghost. And the sheriff comes knocking on the door and says, sir, this house is no longer yours.

The debt has been paid. The mortgage has been paid. There's a new owner. Now, I'm commanding you to get out of this house. And I'm giving you five minutes, or I'm going to lock you up, and I'm going to drag you out of here.

And this man is literally dragged out. And he's yelling, I'll be back. But you see, as far as the law is concerned, he's dead on this issue because this deed has already been recorded in the highest court.

He's dead. That's what the law says. He's dead. Folks, the devil is dead concerning your house. For a time, he's dead. He's gone. There's no more judgment against you. There's no judgment. It's gone. It's settled.

The deed has been paid. You say, yeah, but there's some broken windows. But we've got the Holy Ghost repairer there. We have got the best repairer in the world. Oh, you say, but Brother David, I'm so hounded by the enemy, I'm being harassed on all sides.

Well, that's what this man did. He got in his car and drove up and down the streets. I'll be back. That's my house. He went to the bars drinking, boasting. He said, I'll be back. That's still my house.

Let him make all the noise he wants. Let him drive back and forth. Let him harass all he wants. You're safe. You're safe. You've been bought with a price. Therefore, even the devil's outside yelling, screaming, and harassing, maybe throwing a rock in the window, God will repair it.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Because I have spoiled principalities and powers, and I made a show of them openly. I've triumphed over them. So you rejoice. You are safe.

You don't need to fear the threats of the enemy. Glory be to God. He said, hold fast your confidence. Remain firm to the end. Don't fear his threats or his power or his authority because he has none. God has removed all the judgment.

Living as God’s Tabernacle

You know, folks, so many Christians live in despair, and they don't even comprehend or appropriate the glory and the victory of the cross. Can you get it in your heart and your mind now that you're the tabernacle?

And folks, sometimes I wonder why we're saying, oh, Holy Spirit, please come down. Rend the heavens, come down. Well, folks, he's here. He is here. He abides. And if he abides, he talks to me. I can't believe a Holy Ghost would live in me and then take up residence some little corner of my heart in some back room and say, when you need me, come and knock on the door.

No, this is a tabernacle church. This is a house, and he lives with me. He speaks to me. He talks to me. He guides me. He leads me, and he does the same with you. I'm almost finished, but I want to tell you something.

I was in England, in Windsor Castle, past Windsor Castle, and there's a big pole, empty pole there on top of the castle. I asked somebody, what's that? And he said, well, if you hear a few days of Watson, you'll see on certain days a flag rising.

And I said, what's that mean? And he said, it means the king's in residence. The king is there. And when he's gone, they lower the flag. The Bible said when an enemy comes in like a flood to spear the Lord, raises up a standard against him.

What does it say? What does it say? The king is in residence. The king lives here. The flag. God said, I'll raise up a standard. I'll raise up a flag against him. Folks, I want you to stand to your feet.

I want you to stand to your feet. And I want you to raise your flag right now and say, King Jesus lives here. King is in residence. The Lord is in residence. And let's just praise him. Let's just praise him and worship him.

Lord Jesus, you are king. You abide. You are here living in us. Orchestra, choir. Lord, you are here. The king is in residence. The king is in residence.