I had a dream a few nights ago that I believe is a word from God.  This dream is not to be confused with the one I had a few weeks ago in which my friend Lumberjack had shaved his face and the next time I saw him his face was clean-shaven.  That was eerily prophetic.

A man and his friend were getting their mail, they were middle-aged and the man who was getting his mail was a former sinner, the good old-fashioned kind that drank too hard and treated people he loved with anger, lashing out at them.  He has been saved, and was glad to find in the mail a check from someone who had agreed to sponsor his new business venture.  He told his friend that he was going to just have the one sponsor, because while he needed more money he had given the situation over to God and he would work hard to make what he received this month last until next month.  Then he noticed that he had another piece of mail, and it was a check for $10,000, double what his sponsor has agreed to give him a month to help him put together his venture.  He started rejoicing, his friend joining him, thanking God.  Then he found more mail, and I knew that he was receiving more of these checks, which were each spontaneous donations from believers that felt compelled by the spirit to help this man begin a new life by showing him the provision of God.
I was not inside this part of the dream, I was watching with God.  He had taken me to this place to show me what he had given the man.  I was watching and I was cool with the man having a sponsor, but when God started giving him more checks I got self-righteous and judgmental.  I didn’t say it out loud in the dream, because I didn’t want to actually tell God that I didn’t think this man really needed so much money at this time, because he had a past of using his money for things that were… bad.  I thought that maybe it would have been wiser for God to give him installments. 
But God knew exactly what I was thinking, and while he was providing check upon check for this man he was laughing and excited.  He turned to me while the men were rejoicing and said “Don’t you see?  I want to give you what you ask for.  I know this man’s heart, and I trust him with my gifts.  His heart has been cleaned, it is clean while asking me for the ability to create his new business that I gave him the idea for.  I have given him these things and now he knows me.”
In all honesty, I’m not sure if God said these words exactly, but I know it was something close to it that he imprinted on my heart because as I was sliding through the haze towards conscious thought I got this big call in my spirit that said “This is a word from God“.  This woke me up at 3:30am, and since I was tired and lazy I stayed in my sleepiness and prayed and after a few hours fell back asleep.
Thoughts, Revelations, and Why I Believe this was a Word from God:

• I was strongly convicted of the judgment in my heart.  Who am I to ever even think that God is foolish? 
• In being strongly convicted of my sinful heart, I felt his grace during the dream on a large-scale.  It was like understanding that while God knew I felt bad about being sinful in that moment he filled me with the knowledge of his grace for me and spoke what was important into my heart.
• God is the God of second chances, of redemption, of kindness.  And he wants to be all of that for us now.
• Matthew 7 says to recognize whether or not something is healthy by its fruit.  During the time after this dream I have been spending time in the word because I want to know more of God, I have been worshiping, and I have been praying that God does a work in my heart that it will be more like his for people, even the ones that I sinfully cannot find any way to love.
• The dream does convict me, but it also exhorts me to live like this man who I was judgmental towards: putting all hope, all trust, all plans at the foot of the cross and rejoicing in whatever it is that we receive from our Lord.
• 1 John 4:2&3 – “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”   The dream was an illustration of how God not only wants to give us a new life, but we have one because of his son.  The man in my dream had given his heart over to Christ and had turned from his ways of a sinner in order to have the new life promised through the blood. 

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
   dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
 Delight yourself in the LORD,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.  – Psalm 37:3&4

This verse combined with the story in Luke of the sinful woman who washed the feet of Christ with her tears and her hair assure my spirit that I’m not going completely crazy.  This dream agrees with the scriptures, and speaks to their truth.  It has been a light to the darkness in my heart, shown me the depths of God’s mercy and grace, and how much he wants to give to his children. 

“You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”  – Luke 7:46-48

This week our bible study leader went on vacation, and I had to work.  We both missed bible study!  I wasn’t happy about it, in fact I rued the day I picked my job!  But I felt better later with a little TLC from a few very wonderful people, and the kid that got to deliver a message this week gave me the rundown of what he was going to talk about.  This kid (man, dude, dude-man?) is something else, I’ll call him Sailor because he’s got something to do with the Coast Guard or something.  I think.  Sailor is one part opinionated hipster glasses, one part incredible teachings and one part snark, all wrapped up in a ginger.  When he told me about what he’d be teaching on it got me thinking, and so I will give a briefing and my thoughts on the topic.
When Sailor said he was teaching on the tabernacle I looked like…..

And when he said he was using Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon to explain a bunch of things I looked like…..

But when he put it all together I got it!  But I digress.
When the Israelites got out of Egypt they were so happy then so hungry then so thirsty then so content then made an idol then nearly got smote a few times.  Somewhere in there God had them build him a tabernacle, a place for his essence to reside with his people.  There was a whole system for it, and I admit I’m no scholar so if I get things wrong please correct me, from the outer courts and sacrifices to the inner court and preparation, then only the priest was allowed in to the holy of holies.  There was a massive amount of tradition, ritual, and other crazy stuff involved, and if the priest had done something incorrectly or was holding back sin in his heart he got straight up smote!  If I grew up with that I would have a pants-wetting problem all the time just remembering God was in that thing. 
When Christ came, saw, and conquered death the Israelites were still using this same system.  The inner courts and the holy of holies was divided by a veil or curtain, but when Christ died he broke the curse that condemned man to a life set apart from God, and the veil-curtain-thingy in the temple got ripped in half.  We no longer need an intermediary in the form of a priest to have communion with God!  Sick, I know.

If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.  They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”  But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.  – Hebrews 8:4-6

Yay for good news!  Now let’s back-track a little bit to where I mentioned Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.  These three books were written to convey certain things to the Israelites through different relationships, all of which we can find in the Lord.

Proverbs was written as a father teaching a son about life, and it represents the outer courts of the temple.  It is what I would call superficial, a surface level book, in that it is about how we conduct our lives as proper people of God.  It completely made sense to me that a father instructing his son on the way to live a Godly life would be tied to the outer courts, because that is where the people are, where the bringing in of sacrifices happened, most of the interacting with each other. 
In my mind the outer courts and Proverbs are tied into crucifying our flesh with Christ. 

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  – Galatians 5:24

When we are in Christ we are given a new spirit, HIS Spirit, and our actions toward others, the church, God, should reflect the new longing in our hearts to become more and more like our heavenly father.  We find ourselves wanting to do things we know are sinful and turning from them because we have been taught what is right and we don’t want to disappoint the Lord with our actions.

Ecclesiastes, which represents the inner court of the tabernacle, is written as a teacher/pastor to a church.  Ecclesiastes, if you haven’t read it, is full of pondering life and why it’s important and various other things I usually can’t stand, but it also has a lot to say about how life is fleeting and we should enjoy it.  To me, this book feels like guidance of the heart and mind, reminding the Israelites to set their hearts in the right place and to keep their eyes on the ultimate goal as opposed to momentary gains.  The inner courts were a place of preparation, a place where the priest would have to become completely humbled and repentant in his heart in order to move in to the holy of holies.  So I see this book and this area of the tabernacle as being similar in that they are both meant to prepare our hearts for the importance to come, to get us focused and contrite and clean before moving into the intimate place.  A reflection of this relationship is seen not only in Christ Jesus being a teacher and telling really cool parables, but in his gifting of the Holy Spirit.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  – John 14:26

We have a helper/counselor/teacher/reminder with us always that will gently remind or rebuke our hearts in whatever way it does, pointing us towards the ultimate truth of God’s glory being far more important than anything else.

Song of Solomon was written from the point of view of the Beloved.  It is like reading a conversation between a honeymooning couple, full of sweet, sweet love and a whole ton of intimacy between the two.  Tieing it to the holy of holies, that’s where priests had face time with God.  Also, there’s an “of” between two words in each title. 
Why would a book that sounds like a honeymoon be written to convey face time with God?  That’s strange, right?  Not really. 

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body.  “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  – Ephesians 5:25-32

It’s really stupid, but sometimes I feel bad for God because we sinned in the first place and can’t all get legitimate face time right now.  I know he wants it, I know I want it.  But I remember that his time isn’t like ours, and his wisdom makes our geniuses look handi-capable. 
And while I’m done explaining all of this for the most part, I do want to mention why I spent more time on the outer two courts than the inner-most.  I have found that sometimes I get to the holy of holies in prayer time or worship time and I don’t know how I got there.  I understand that Christ completely nullified the need for any courts at all, but I have found that when I am actively trying to keep to the teachings of each court in my own life (Proverbs being my life with others, Ecclesiastes being my life to myself and where I focus my efforts, Song of Solomon being my spiritual life) I feel like I’m actually trying to be a better, new version of myself that Christ says I am.  It doesn’t happen every day, and I would never say that works get you into heaven, but I would rather please my Father with my actions and enjoy life with a true understanding of why I’m here than ignore what has been passed down to me in the Word.  At the same time, I have to be careful about thinking that anything can make me a little more worthy of the mercy I’ve recieved, and when I sin (which is often) I try to remember that only because of my sin can I experience grace that surpasses my understanding. 
And for a cool tabernacle song, check out this tune.