IntroductionThe Bible...it is the greatest literary masterpiece of all time. It boasts the most sales of any other book in all of history. The manuscript evidence shouts for its authenticity and accuracy more than any other book. The confirmed prophecies confound even the most ardent critics. Archaeological discoveries add icing to the cake of the unparalleled reasons to celebrate this book. On top of all of this are the countless stories of changed lives from those who have embraced its teaching.

Yet, this amazing book can be overwhelming! For anyone who has attempted to read it cover-to-cover, the “marshlands” of Leviticus and Numbers have stalled even the most dedicated readers.

What we hope to provide through this little digital book is a map. The Bible is a compilation of scenes. Scenes of narrative, instruction, wisdom, prophecies, and apocalyptic windows into the end of time. But, it is also a “big story.” A crucial key to understanding the scenes is to understand how they fit within the big story!

There are plenty of threads that pull the big story through the Old and New Testaments: the covenants, salvation through judgment, freedom from slavery... However, one of the most impactful is the story of God dwelling with His people. This digital book will take you through seven major developments of this big story theme. We hope that it will serve as a map. So that no matter what scene you read in Scripture, you will be able to connect it to the Big Story. And so...on to Scene #1...

Garden of Eden Temple

Church Universal

New Jerusalem

Tabernacle Cross & Ressurection

Church Local

Garden of EdenA recurring theme from Genesis to Revelation is God’s desire to dwell with His people in unhindered fellowship, “the Kingdom of God.” Graeme Goldsworthy succinctly defines the Kingdom of God: “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule.”1

The Garden of Eden was the first experience of creation where God dwelt with His people according to this theme. His dwelling was personal and physical and included responsibilities and benefits.

Responsibilities: Adam and Eve were instructed to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”2 Their task would be to fulfill the roles: prophet (teach the Word of the Lord), priest (protect the dwelling of God from uncleanness), and king (exercise authority over creation).3

Benefits: God’s objective would be revealed later: He intended the knowledge of His glory to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.4 His promise was eternal life and eternal and unhindered relationship with Him.5

Tragically, the first prophets, priests, and kings, Adam and Eve, failed epically6 and would leave creation longing for the fully realized Kingdom to come!7

1Graeme Goldsworthy, The Goldsworthy Trilogy (Carlisle, Cumbria; Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2000), 66. 2 Genesis 1:28 3 Genesis 1:28; 2:15 4 Habakkuk 2:14 5 Genesis 2:9, 17; 3:8 6 Genesis 3:6 7 Romans 8:19

1 Genesis 3:15 2 Genesis 10 3 Genesis 12, 13, 15, 17 4 Exodus 2:23 6 Numbers 14:21-23 5 Willem VanGemeren, ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 1130.

TabernacleThe story of the Bible quickly moves from judgment and shame to forgiveness and grace. But the dwelling of God with man had been fractured. There would be a promise of a future reconciliation,1 but the details would be few and far between. As nations were established,2 God set His affection on one nation in particular: Israel, the offspring of Abraham.3

Israel dwelt in a foreign land and eventually would be enslaved. Their longing to return to a place where their God dwelt with them weighed heavy upon them, leading them to “groan...and cry out for help.”4

God delivered them and brought them out of Egypt on a journey to their land of promise. The greatest blessing of this deliverance was a physical expression of His dwelling with His people: the Tabernacle. The word “tabernacle” actually means “dwelling” in Hebrew!5 The Tabernacle would be the place where priests would guard the dwelling place of God from uncleanness. Moses would also declare the Word of God to His people, and the leaders would exercise authority over the people. However, this generation would fail miserably as prophets, priests, and kings...6

TempleIsrael arrived in their land of promise, setting up their place of worship at Shiloh.1 However, through the Ark of the Covenant, God’s presence continued to dwell in a tent2 until David’s vision to build a house in which God would dwell was fulfilled by his son, King Solomon.

The Temple became the rallying point for Jews from all over the world. They flocked to Jerusalem for each of the feasts with great expectation, often reciting Psalms as they journeyed, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the House of the Lord!’”3 Surely, some of the excitement was the anticipation of returning to Jerusalem and seeing friends and family. What most excited them, however, was being able to be in the place where God dwelt, the “House of the Lord,” the Temple.

In the Most Holy Place, the Inner Court, and the Outer Court of the Temple, the Word of God was taught; nothing unclean was allowed in; and order was maintained by the godly authority. It was truly a place of worship!

The Temple provided access to the dwelling of God, but only through imperfect prophets, priests, and kings...

1 Joshua 19:51 2 2 Chronicles 17:1 3 Psalm 122:1

The promise of reconciliation1 remained unfulfilled. Individuals showing promise of being potential promise-fulfillers came and went. And, the nation on which God chose to place His special affection teetered on the precipice of empty religion and corruption.

That is...until a baby was born...This baby would be the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King and would be described in this incredible way: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”!2

This baby was given the name Jesus, which means Savior.3 The promise was that this baby would save “His people from their sins.” Up to this point, the concept of God’s people might have been limited to the physical offspring of Abraham. Yet, as the Old Testament had hinted4 and the New Testament would develop5 the people of God will include members of every tribe, tongue, and nation.6 There remained a problem: Sin.

The solution is stated plainly: “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.”7 But not just any blood, the blood of a perfectly righteous sacrifice. The judgment of death because of sin...the shattered fellowship of God dwelling with man...the failed candidates to fulfill the promise of reconciliation...was there any hope?

The cross and the resurrection of Jesus paid the penalty of sin8 and broke the chains of the curse of death9 for God’s people, which leads us to the next major development...

Cross & Resurrection

1 Genesis 3:15 2 John 1:14 3 Matthew 1:21 4 Hosea 2:23; Isaiah 10:22-23 5 Romans 9-11; Galatians 6:16 6 Revelation 5:9 7 Hebrews 9:22 8 Romans 6:10 9 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

The Church (Universal)The New Testament advances the concept of God’s dwelling with His people in a very interesting and unexpected way. This advance is most vividly displayed with Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

The woman views worship in terms of location. Up to this point, worship in the presence of God had focused on locations.1 Jesus presents a new perspective on worship: It is not about the place but instead the object of worship and the individual who worships.2

The object of worship is not an Ark or a building. The object of worship is the One speaking to the Samaritan woman, the One who fulfilled the promise of reconciliation.3

The worshiper, then, is the individual who embraces the sacrifice of Christ on the cross by seeking forgiveness of his or her sins and surrendering the throne of their lives to Jesus as Lord and King.4 The individual receives forgiveness of their sins,5 a new spiritual nature,6 and the indwelling Holy Spirit.7 This is referred to as being “saved.”

The saved individual becomes, “God’s Temple...”8 This is staggering! Each individual saved by Christ is considered the “Church.” We are then tasked to follow Jesus’ example by being prophets, priests, and kings in our homes and in the context that follows...

1 John 4:20 2 John 4:21-24 4 Romans 10:9-10 5 Colossians 1:14 6 2 Corinthians 5:17 7 John 14:17 8 1 Corinthians 3:16 3 In order to convey the success where all the other candidates failed, theolgians refer to Jesus with titles such as: The True Israel, The True Moses, The True David, and so forth

The Church (Local)God never intended His individual “temples” to function as prophets, priests, and kings independently.1 God’s solution? The local church. The local church is tasked with one mission: make disciples until Christ returns,2 a mission with responsibilities and benefits.

Responsibilities: The leadership is to submit themselves to the Word of God3 and demonstrate patterns of faithful character4, providing oversight, equipping, and care for the local church.5 The members of the local church submit themselves to the leadership of the church6 by gathering regularly and investing in one another’s lives for the purpose of love and growth in their own areas of responsibility as prophets, priests, and kings.7 They are called to serve the local church with their spiritual gifts,8 contribute to its needs,9 and invest in discipleship activities that will lead to lost people being saved, saved people being matured, and mature people being multiplied...all to the glory of God.

Benefits: Through baptism, individual believers are publically and symbolically joined to the body of Christ (the local church).10 And through the Lord’s Supper, they provide testimony to their church family of the health of their relationship with God and each other.11 The local church provides the opportunity for Christians to be encouraged, comforted, and convicted in their journey as prophets, priests, and kings.12

This appears to bring the story full circle back to the design of the Garden. But, not yet...

1 Ephesians 5:21 2 Matthew 28:19-20 3 Titus 1:9 4 1 Timothy 3:1-7 5 Acts 20:28 6 Hebrews 13:17 7 Hebrews 10:24-25 8 1 Peter 4:10 9 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 10 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 11 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 12 1 Thessalonians 5:14

The theme of God dwelling with His people has transcended the peaks and valleys, the heroes and the villains, the twists and the turns of this unparalleled story. From the Garden to the Tabernacle to the Temple to the Cross and the Resurrection to the Church Universal and Church Local, God has made a way to dwell with His people. Yet the story is not complete. Until we arrive at Revelation 21...

It should come as no surprise to read these words in Revelation 21:3: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Sound familiar?

Revelation 21 and 22 describe what the Bible calls the New Jerusalem,1 also known as the New Heaven and the New Earth2 fulfilling Habakkuk 2:14! This is the city that the heroes of Hebrews 11 longed to see.3 This is where all of God’s people - from every tribe and every tongue4 - will dwell with their God and He with them, the “Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.”5 Read Revelation 21:1-22:5 and let your heart soar with anticipation of that glorious day! In the New Jerusalem, there will be “no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”6

The Word of God will no longer need to be taught (no more need for prophets). Nothing unclean will enter the city (no more need for priests). And the Eternal King will rule forever (no more need for kings). Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!7

New Jerusalem

1 Revelation 21:2 2 Revelation 21:1 3 Hebrews 11:10; 12:22 4 Revelation 5:9 5 Revelation 11:15 6 Revelation 21:22 7 Revelation 22:20

Prophets, Priests, & KingsSo, you have read a lot about the roles of God’s people being prophets, priests, and kings. But, you may still have questions. Doesn’t the Bible show that some of God’s people fulfilled only one role - such as: the prophets - who were not kings. They served the kings, right? There were formal offices within the people of God that specifically focused on one of these roles, but God’s people were always called to fulfill all of these roles in their own contexts.

Consider the formal roles: Israel had offices of prophets (Elijah), priests (Eleazar), and also kings (Solomon). These offices functionally fulfilled the roles of teaching God’s Word (prophets), protecting the dwelling of God from spiritual uncleanness (priests), and exercising authority to uphold God’s standards (king). Yet, there were others who functioned formally in all three offices: Adam, Moses, and David. So, how can individual believers formally function as prophets, priests, and kings in their own contexts? The answer: Jesus!

Jesus is referred to as the True Adam, the True Moses, the True David, and the True Israel. His completed work as the True Prophet (He is the Word of God1), Priest (He is the Perfect Sacrifice2), and King (He is the King of kings and Lord of lords3) enables His people to formally function in these roles in their contexts. How? Keep reading...

1 John 1:1 2 Hebrews 10:14 3 Revelation 17:14 4 Ezra 7:10

Fathers, widowers, single men, husbands, widows, single women, wives, mothers... Without going into every context of life, take for example a mother. The Bible provides guidelines for how she must function in submission in her contexts. However, in all of those contexts, she can function as prophet, priest, and king! In her home: by instructing her children and - in the proper context - her husband in the Word (prophet), partnering with her husband - where possible - to protect the home from spiritual uncleanness (priest), and exercising biblically-defined authority to ensure God’s righteous standard is upheld (king). In the church: instructing other women and children in the church (prophet), sharing the truth in love with the leaders if something unclean is impacting the church(priest), and - with proper submission - exercising authority in the church to ensure God’s standards are upheld (king).

What about a man who is single? In much of the same way! If he has roomates, he can do this in the home for them. If he lives by himself, he instructs himself in the Word, protects his life from spiritual uncleanness, and exercises authority in his own life to ensure his home and life are displaying that God’s standards are being faithfully followed. He also can invest in the church to exercise these roles as well.

All members of the Church Universal are instructed to and enabled to fulfill the roles of prophet, priest, and king in their own context! The best way to effectively fulfill this responsibility is to follow the example of Ezra: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in all Israel” (that is: The People of God!).3

Because of the True Prophet, Priest, and King, we can and must fulfill these roles in our own contexts. May we bring Him glory as we fulfill our roles today!

A s c e n d KC . o rg / 1 5 8 6 5 S . R i d g e v i ew Ro a d , O l a t h e, KS 6 6 0 6 2