Habitation or Visitation? — David Ravenhill

Let me just share something before I get into the message that I will put as a suggestion to you, and that is regarding communion. All my life I was raised, obviously, in a Christian home and went to church, and over the years been in numerous churches.

And some have it every week, some have it once a month, and so on. But it's always bothered me a little bit that it was treated almost like a sort of a PS at the end of the letter. You know, everybody being served, pass out the emblems.

OK, brother back there, somebody over here needs to be served. And then brother so-and-so, would you pray for the bread? And sister so-and-so, would you pray for the cup? And sort of down the hatch and out the door.

And it was just sort of treated like a mechanical thing. And the last church I passed at, I really became challenged about communion, because the only ordinance that God left us, really, in the New Testament, apart from marriage, is baptism and the Lord's table.

Those are the only two things. And you think there's got to be something more significant if Jesus said, you know, do this as often as you do this, and remembers me. And so I started studying, and I got into Revelation where it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, and I want to come in and sup with you.

And I realized that the evening meal in the natural was the time where the family got together. There was no television going on. There was no radio. The night cometh when no man can work. There was no electric lights.

And so they would sit around the table, and it was a prolonged sort of family sharing time, basically, where maybe the head of the house would, you know, he's just come back from Memphis or something, and he gives the latest news.

And it was sort of the newspaper, and the how are you doing, and how was school today, or, you know, something about the farm. But it was a time of fellowship. And I said, when you have a meal, you don't sit the way you're sitting now.

No matter how big a family you have, you don't sit looking at the person's head in front of you. You sit around the table. And the best table, of course, is a round table, because that way everybody's equal, and you can see the family.

And so I would go down to the auditorium, and I would take the chairs, and I would put them in two semicircles. And we'd have maybe a couple of hundred people max that would come, and I did it on a Wednesday night instead of Sunday morning, because the church was a little too big at that stage.

And we would put the emblems in the middle, and a microphone on either end. We'd dim the lights a little bit, sometimes bring in the stand lamp to create a sort of more homey, relaxed atmosphere, rather than the typical church atmosphere where everybody tends to freeze.

And then I would say, if you're visiting, this is not our usual Wednesday night teaching service. This is what we call family time. And we only have one rule, and that is no preaching. You know, because you always get some young guy or gal, whatever, that thinks they're going to show up the pastor by, you know, hugging the microphone.

And I said, this is a time where we encourage you, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Each one has a psalm, a hymn, a spiritual song. And so we would have maybe 10 or 15 minutes of worship, and it would all be centered around the cross and the blood and just, you know, the death of Christ.

And then we would open it up, the microphones, and we'd say, you know, keep it to five minutes or less, but share what God is doing in your life. Maybe it's a scripture that God has quickened to you. Maybe it's a problem you're going through that you've, you know, God has dealt with you on.

Maybe it's, you know, a little passage from my utmost for the highest, whatever it is. Maybe you wrote a poem. Maybe you want to teach us a new song, whatever it is. But we want to hear what God is doing in your life.

And people would line up at those two microphones. We literally, there was never a meeting where I didn't have to shut it down and say, okay, one more here, one more at that end. The young people would come in.

And then after the final one, we'd just leave the table as it was, very seldom do we ever pass out communion. And we'd say, when you feel ready, come up with your family and partake. Now we had about 30 single mothers there and students and so on.

And we said, listen, when you come up and you break bread with your family, invite one other single person to come into your sort of family circle, if you like, and then break bread together and pray as a family.

And so the meeting would close with these little pockets of believers all over the auditorium praying for each other and breaking bread. And I have to say, it was, you know, it was my favorite meeting.

We only did about every six weeks. I think if I passed it again, I don't know how I would do it if the church was too big on a Sunday morning. But certainly in your setting, you know, we've got such a divide and there has been in the body of Christ for so long between the laity and the clergy.

And yet, you know, the church, which is His body, you know, I am not the body of Christ. I'm a member, but so are you and members in particular. And we need to hear what God is doing. And I used to call it the dipstick of the church for me as a pastor, because, you know, you always misjudge somebody.

Maybe they don't dress the way you think is appropriate or whatever. And you already write them off before they even open their mouth. You know, we're all guilty of that. And maybe that same individual would stand up and share what God is doing in their life, you know, and I would have to repent on the spot and say, my goodness, that person's way more spiritual than I am.

And God's obviously speaking to them, you know. But it was a great time of sharing. Sometimes a theme would come out. Somebody would share about, you know, God's been dealing with me about unforgiveness.

And the next person would say, well, that's interesting. That's something that I've been battling lately and so on. And before you know it, there's a whole theme that would come out that would happen many times.

But it was just a great time of letting, you know, the church really be the church, instead of, you know, the setting where, you know, we're just looking at the person in front of you and say, you know, they dyed their hair a different color this week, or this guy needs a haircut or whatever, you know.

And we're looking at one another's heads, you know, so let me just suggest to you that that, because I think your communion at least is a little better than the quick PS. But I think there's something about communion that, let me share this, it's coming back to me now.

A friend of mine from years ago, prophetic brother, said that God spoke to him once and said, the highest form of spiritual warfare is a communion. And I think there's a tremendous amount of revelation we still have to have about communion.

But you recall, if I can just take you back for a moment into Exodus chapter 12, which is the first communion, obviously the Passover, and one of the things that God promised during that, if you like, first communion, verse 12, I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike down all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both of man and of beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment.

I am the Lord. So one of the things that happened with the very first Passover, God declaring his supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and let's face it, those were principalities and powers, because when Moses threw down his rod, it became a serpent, but it was no big deal because the Egyptians were able to do the same.

In other words, they were operating at a tremendously powerful demonic realm. But God says, I'm gonna show you that I am the Lord, and of course, in the final communion, if you like, the final Passover, Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us, the Bible says he strips Satan and made an open show of him, and so when we take these emblems, we are declaring a major, the most major victory that was ever accomplished, and we've gotta take it with that realization, and sometimes when we just sort of do it, it becomes mechanical, but if we can honestly say, listen, what this represents, what these emblems represent is the ultimate triumph over all the powers of darkness, you know, and we can celebrate this feast.

The first Passover, again, Miriam grabbed the tambourine, I mean, it was a celebration, it really was, you know. The other thing is, my father republished an old book many, many years ago called Christ's Paralyzed Church X-Ray, crazy old, long title like they used to have in the old, but this guy was an expert in Greek and Hebrew, and what he says about communion is interesting, I've never tried to document it, I'm not an expert when it comes to Greek and Hebrew, but he takes one Corinthians there where it says, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, because you don't discern the Lord's body, and he said the word discern means to differentiate between, you discern, you know, it's like a jury, did this man, you know, kill his wife, or is he innocent, you know, we've gotta discern, you know, we weigh the evidence, no, I think he's guilty, no, I don't, you know, and so he says, because we don't discern the difference between what the cup represents and what the bread represents, for this cause many of you are sick, and he said the cup, we recognize, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, you know, that cleanses from all sin, but he says the body, this is my body, by my stripes you're healed, and because we fail to make a distinction between the two, now this is what he brings out in the Greek, because we fail to distinguish, for this cause many are weak and sickly, in other words, you're not appropriating what I've done, you appropriate cleansing, but you don't appropriate healing, and so if that's true, and you know, I'm taking a Greek expert on that, but then, you know, there's even more significance in our times together, this doing remembrance of me, and we bring Christ back into, you know, in the real place of centrality, remembering what he did, he triumphed over all the powers of darkness, he triumphed over sin, sickness, and so on, and this is why he said, listen, do this, as often as you, you know, as often as you do this, you just show the Lord's death until he comes.

So, you know, I just thought I'd share that with you, and maybe God will give you even more revelation, but I've always felt it's one of those ordinances that is just, is treated so mechanically, I guess, and there's revelation yet to be revealed, I believe, on it, and that's a little taste of it, but I do think it was, you know, it was a time where it was followed by a meal, it was part of a meal, you've already got that in place, because, you know, the rich guys were always hogging down the stuff, where the slaves couldn't get the food, they were getting drunk, and, you know, there's a bit of a schmuzzle going on there in the Corinthian church, but, you know, we're a far cry from that, but it was a time where the family, the church got together and had a meal, but that was sort of the crowning part of the meal, was the Lord's table, so, anyway, I thought I'd just share that with you.

From Visitation to the Habitation of God

Turn with me to Exodus, if you will, chapter 25, I want to begin in the Old Testament, and we'll jump into the New Testament here in a moment. I want to talk to you about the habitation of God. The habitation of God, I have felt for many, many years that God is wanting to take the church from visitation to habitation.

I have been a part of some of the visitations, I was a part of the Pensacola revival, and it was a visitation, it was a five-year visitation, but it was a visitation. But I believe there's one step beyond visitation, like I say, and it's habitation.

I am visiting you here in Barnesdale, is that, have I got it right? Anyway, but I spent the night in, you know, down the road here in, where was I? Bottlesville, yeah. And, you know, I was in a hotel.

So I was a visitor. Now, if that hotel said to me, listen, you're one of the best guests we've ever had, and we want to donate that suite to you, and we'd love you to move here, and that becomes my permanent habitat, then that room would change.

Right now, I don't have the right to change it because I'm a visitor. But the moment that room becomes mine, and it's my habitat, then I'm going to make it conducive to my personality. It's going to reflect my personality, the way I decorate it, the pictures I put on the wall, the way I arrange the furniture, and so on and so forth.

And I believe God wants to take us from visitation to habitation. In other words, He promised in John 14, we will come and we will make our abode in you. In other words, we shouldn't have to constantly run to some hot spot to get topped up, spiritually speaking.

He wants to come and dwell within us. And here in Exodus chapter 25, He's expressing that desire to Moses in verse eight, and He says, I want you to construct a house for me, a sanctuary, that I may dwell among you.

In other words, that's the longing on the heart of God. This is God initiating this. This is not Moses at the end of 40 days of prayer and fasting, twisting God's arm and saying, God, we really want you.

Won't you please consider coming and living amongst us? This is God saying to Moses, I want to live amongst you. After all, He's a Father. And like any Father, and He's the ultimate Father, He wants to be with His family.

God is no exception. And so in verse eight, God expresses His desire. This is the desire of God. I believe it's an eternal desire because God never changes. And if you like, instead of the word desire, it's God's request.

God's desire or God's request. Now, if verse eight is eternal, and I believe it is. He wants to dwell with us. Then so is verse nine. Verse nine says, according to all that I'm going to show you, as to the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of the furniture, just so you shall construct it.

So in verse eight, you've got God's desire. In verse nine, you've got God's demands. In verse eight, you've got God's request. In verse nine, you've got God's requirements. What we learn in verse nine is that God is finicky.

To use a good Irish expression, He's fussy. He's particular. He said, listen, I won't dwell anywhere. I want to dwell with you. That's my desire. But in order to fulfill my desire, I want the house built according to my plans.

And I'm going to give you in the 64 chapters devoted to the house of God, the tabernacles, we call it in the Old Testament, where God went into minute detail as to the type of house that He wanted, the type of furniture He wanted, the color scheme He wanted, where the furniture was to be placed.

All of that, God was incredibly particular. Now, I believe that what happened is when God called Moses up the mountain and gave him the plan of the tabernacle, obviously a cloud came down. The children of Israel could not see him there for 40 days or whatever.

And I believe on the other side of that cloud, my feeling is another cloud opened and Moses was brought in to the dwelling place of God. Because God said, listen, Moses, this is where I live. Now what I want you to do, Moses, I want you to sort of replicate this on earth.

I want these same sort of conditions here in heaven that I've spent eternity in, I want that replicated on earth. Now I can almost prove that to you because the book of Hebrews says that the true tabernacle, or the earthly tabernacle was a copy of the true tabernacle which is in heaven.

It was a copy. In Acts it says that Moses made it according to what he was shown on the mount. In other words, he saw it. It wasn't a blueprint that sort of suddenly materialized in front of him. God obviously gave him a revelation.

And so the earthly tabernacle contained a basic essence, if you like, of what God has been living in throughout all of eternity. And so what I want to look at now is if you turn with me to Revelation chapter four, let's look at God's house.

Because you can tell a lot about a person by visiting their home. This is where people get nervous when I've been in their home. And Jeremy is renting a house there and he's got a bunch of kids. But if Jeremy was out of the house and the kids were all out of the house, his wife was out of the house, and Jeremy said to me, listen, take my keys and I'll be home in an hour.

I want you just to relax. You know, we're going to give you a meal in a little while or whatever, but here's the keys, make yourself home. The moment I walk into that house, I can tell a lot about Jeremy, even though I've never met him.

You know, I can look at the toys. I can tell neat, you know, tidy, clean, unclean, you know, boys, girls. You know, all you got to do is look around. Isn't that right? You can go into anybody's home. The moment you cross the threshold, especially if they've lived there for any length of time, you can tell the type of person that lives there.

Again, whether they're clean or sloppy, whether they're rich or poor, type of furniture they like. You know, you look at the artwork, whether it's modern art or real art. And, you know, all of that tells you about the person.

You can look at the type of furnishings. You can, you know, if you come in through the garage and there's jet skis and golf clubs and fishing rods, you know that somebody in the family loves fishing or playing golf.

And, you know, all you've got to do is be in that house where that person dwells and the house itself tells you about the person. I remember being in Florida a number of years ago and the church called a week or so before I got there and said, listen, brother, you're coming down here.

The secretary said in a couple of weeks and we were wondering rather than book a hotel for you, if you would mind staying in somebody's condo. We have a gentleman in the church that has a condo and he doesn't use it very often and it would give you a little bit more room.

You're going to be with us for three days or whatever it was. And I said, sure, that's fine. Pastor picked me up at the airport, drove me to this apartment complex. The moment I stepped through the door, I knew it was single.

You know, there was no curtains. There was a couple of speakers about twice the size of these ones on either side of the monstrous television. There was a coffee table with four wheeler magazines and dirt bikes and, you know, magazines and so on stacked there.

And, you know, everything about it was masculine, everything about that place. You know, I knew he wasn't married, knew there were no kids or no kids' toys or anything, no little frilly things. Refrigerator was absolutely bare and so on and so forth.

So, you know, I knew what sort of a place it was just by being in the house. Now, Revelation 4, we enter into the house of God and this is what I want to look at with you because this is, to me, one of the greatest chapters on the sort of the nature and character of God is revealed here as we step into the house of God.

John, as you know, is on the Isle of Patmos. He's in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and this is what he describes. Verse one, after these things I looked and behold, a door was standing open in heaven. So, like any house, you know, God's house has got a door.

I'm sure it's figuratively speaking. And he says a voice, like the sound of a trumpet speaking to me said, come up here and I will show you what will take place after these things. So, John, the door of heaven opens.

There's a voice inside that basically says, John, welcome, come on in. And verse two, immediately I was in the Spirit and behold, a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. So, the very first thing that John becomes conscious of, he crosses that threshold from sort of earth to heaven.

He is now in the eternal dwelling place of God. If you and I died this moment, this is what we would see basically. And the first thing that he is captivated by is the throne of God. And on that throne, God Himself is seated.

He said there was one sitting on the throne. There's no help wanted sign. There's no vacancy applied within. Now, the throne obviously speaks of dominion, speaks of a king, of a kingdom, speaks of a place of supremacy, a place of authority.

It's from the throne that God stretches out or the king stretches out his scepter and says rule and so on. It's a place of headship, lordship, you know, everything that we associate with a king. I know as Americans, we have a difficult time, you know, thinking of a kingdom, although this is the closest presidency to a kingdom that you could get.

But Frank and I know a little differently there in being a British background. You know, we have a monarchy and we know what the throne is about and so on. But, you know, it's the seat of power. It's the seat of authority.

It's the place of supremacy. It's the very center, the very core of a kingdom. And what we need to recognize is that if God is going to take His place and dwell in us, because when we go from the old covenant to the new covenant, God no longer dwells in temples made with hands.

He now dwells in this house, whose house we are, Hebrews says. And He wants the same conditions. If we're going to go from visitation to habitation, God says, listen, if I'm going to abide in you, I want the same conditions that I'm used to.

And the very first thing that has to be settled and possibly one of the hardest things to settle in the Christian life is who is going to have the throne of my life? Am I prepared to surrender the throne?

Which means to put God in absolutely every area of my life, in control of every area of my life. The thing I battled with as a young believer, in fact, I wasn't a believer, but the reason I didn't become a believer until I was 18 years of age, even though I was raised in a God-fearing home.

My father was a hellfire preacher. I knew there was a hell. I knew I was going there. There's no question about that. There were nights when I could not sleep, thinking if I die tonight, I'm going to hell.

I mean, that was very, very real to me. And I wanted more than anything else to have peace with God. I wanted Jesus Christ as my Savior. But I also wanted it on my terms. I did not want His Lordship. I just simply wanted Him as my Savior because that way He ministers to my needs.

But when He becomes Lord, then I have to minister to His needs, and I wasn't prepared for that. Long story short, at the age of 18, I came forward in a meeting, surrendered my life to God. And I say that I believe there's a difference.

I think the average church, hopefully this is not an average church. In the average church, I would say 80 of the people have given their sins to God. But less than 20%, maybe even 10%, have given their life to God.

There's a big difference. And at the age of 18, I gave my life to God. I wanted to go into the field of graphics. That was what I enjoyed doing. That was the thing that my passion. And I knew somehow that if I gave my life to Christ, He may have another plan than what my plan was.

And I waged war, if you like, from the age of 14 when I became conscious of my need of Christ to the age of 18. It was over this very thing. Who is going to have the throne of my life? And this is the hardest thing I think to settle.

Am I prepared to give God His rightful place? He's a King. Every place you see God in the Bible, He is reigning. You know, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. Why? Sitting on His throne. Heaven is His throne.

The earth is His footstool. He is a King. Not only a King, the King of all kings. And the audacity of the church to say, listen, you're welcome in my house. You can sit anywhere, but not here. This is my house.

I'm in control. Now most homes, you know, the King has a throne. In fact, we have a little factory in Siloam Springs where those thrones are made. It's the Lazy Boy factory. And the King sits there with his scepter.

And he says, honey, bring me another cocoa. If the kids are old enough, Johnny, bring me a Coke. You know, the King's watching the program. And woe betide any kid that is sitting on the throne when the King comes in.

Isn't that right? You know, we know, hey, that's Dad's chair. I can sit here when he's not around. But boy, the moment Dad comes in, kids sort of scatter. Word to God, we had that same attitude, if you like, towards the King of kings.

This is God's place. And am I prepared to abdicate the throne? Am I prepared to get off the throne and say, God, take your rightful place. Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So that's the first thing he becomes aware of.

Holiness as the Condition of God's Dwelling

Let's drop down to verse 8. The four living creatures, each of them having six wings full of eyes around and within. And day and night they do not cease but to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

John now becomes aware that he's stepped into a place of absolute holiness. Christ's holy, God's way of hammering home, if you like, the point that God is a holy God. And as a holy God, he demands holiness.

This house is a house of holiness. And therefore, if he is going to abide in this house, the holy God cannot stand anything that is unholy. And so he immediately sets to work to bring us and conform us into that image where we begin to love what God loves and hate the things that God hates.

The word holy, one of the root meanings of one word simply is health, spiritual health is holiness. There's an old hymn that says nothing between my soul and the Savior. You know, when you're a kid and you do something wrong and, you know, mom says, David, did you do it?

And I said, no, mom, it was Paul. You know, whatever, you know, we passed the buck. And she said, well, I'll leave that to dad. When he comes home, I'll let him settle it. You know, dad comes home, David, did you do?

And as long as your head is down, you're fine. You know, you can seemingly, you know, it's a lot easier to lie with your head down. And then dad says, look at me, David. And, you know, and you know you cannot look him in the eye and lie, you know.

Nothing between my soul and the Savior. You know, if your head has to drop, you know you're not in the right place with God type thing. And God wants to bring us that place where, you know, we are a holy people.

Be holy as I am holy. Spiritual health. You know, would to God we were concerned about our spiritual body as we are about our physical body. You know, you get a twinge of pain that lasts for a few days and let's say over a weekend, Monday morning comes, you're not feeling very good.

First thing you're gonna do, call the doctor and you want to figure out what's going on. You know, why do I have this pain? I've never had it in this part of my body before and it seems to come and go.

It's a strange feeling. And we want that thing diagnosed. We want the doctor to give us some sort of medication or operation or whatever it is to get rid of it. And, you know, we call Monday morning and the receptionist says, well, boy, he's got a very busy, you know, you can hear the pages turn.

He's got a busy week ahead already. But listen, we've got an opening on Friday morning. And you think this is Monday morning. I've tolerated this pain for two days. Now they're asking me to wait another, you know, three or four days.

And so you say, listen, if you get a cancellation, would you please call me? You know, or if it's bad enough, we head off to the emergency room to get it taken care of. And yet when it comes to the sickness of sin, we will go for months, if not years, you know, with lust and pride and anger and bitterness and resentment and so on.

I never go to the great physician and say, God, I need a spiritual operation. I need some spiritual medication. I need the blood of Jesus Christ just to take this thing out of my life once and for all, you know, to break this spiritual fever that rages in my body, so to speak.

And so holiness is absolutely essential. In the Old Testament, you've got the story of Noah. You remember Noah at the end of the, if I calculate it right, from the beginning to the end is nine months, which is interesting.

But he finally has to figure out, you know, is it safe to go outside the ark? And the only light, from what I can understand, the light came from above. There were no portholes in the side. He couldn't look out and say, you know, it's stopped raining now for the last four days and the ground is drying up and the waters have receded.

And, you know, any day now we'll be able to go out. He couldn't determine any of that, so he releases a raven. And the raven is an unclean bird. Problem with a raven is it will settle on any sort of environment, whether it's a bloated carcass, you know, full of maggots or whatever floating on the surface of the deep.

It feels at home anywhere. It's an unclean bird. And it says Noah could not determine whether the waters had abated or not. And then he releases a dove. The dove flies around. The dove comes back. And it says there was no resting place for the sole of her feet.

He waits a period of time. Is it a week? Lets the dove out again. Towards the end of the day, the dove comes back. She's got a freshly picked olive leaf in her beak. And Noah notes, the waters have receded.

This is fresh life now, springing forth, not some slimy leaf that's been buried or floating on the surface of the deep here. This is a fresh life. It's dry outside. We can open the door and we can go out.

It's interesting, that's the first mention of the dove, which is a type of the Holy Spirit. You see, the dove will not settle where the raven will settle. And the Holy Spirit will not settle where any spirit of the world will settle.

The most common phrase for an evil spirit in the New Testament is an unclean spirit. Most common phrase for the Holy Spirit is the holy spirit. Holy spirit, unclean spirit. If I have an unclean spirit, you would expect me to do unclean things.

If I have a spirit of anger, you expect me to get angry. If I have a spirit of lust, you expect me to lust. If I have a spirit of pride, you expect me to go around with my nose up in the air, whatever.

If I have the Holy Spirit, it should manifest itself in a holy life. And so the dove, again, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the dove would not settle where the raven would settle. My wife and I, I mentioned this morning, lived in New Zealand for 15 years and raised our kids there, at least the older two.

The youngest one was 12 when we came back to the States. But the others graduated from high school, one from college, and another one was in sort of a college at the time. But on vacation time, it was always a dilemma that we faced as to where to go.

We didn't have any aunts or uncles, no grandparents. They were all in the States. And so we always struggled, and they have a different school year there than we do in the States. They have sort of two-week blocks throughout the year.

And so we were wondering where we would take them on this particular holiday that was coming up, and somebody recommended a place about two or three hours drive from where the church was and where we were living.

And it was down a sort of a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere, and beautiful towering mountains on either side, and a river going through. And they said, there's this cabin that you can rent. It's just an idyllic spot, and blah, blah, blah.

So we booked it, sight unseen. Put the kids in the car, they were much younger then, and packed a week's supply of things, and finally found this gravel road winding in. Sure enough, these gorgeous mountains came to this river and pulled in at the farmhouse.

And what happens in New Zealand, you know, New Zealand is a sheep country. There's about 40 or 50 million sheep, and at lambing time, you know, 75 to 100 million, something like that. I mean, there's sheep everywhere.