Dwelling

It has been said in real estate sales, that when considering the purchase of a home, the three most important things to take into account are "location, location, location". The same can be said of our spiritual homes.
The world is not the place of our spiritual home. We who are in Christ were not born here, our dwelling is not here, and we will not be dwelling here in the future. We are aliens here, and need a special environment in which to live and thrive. What makes us aliens here?
Scripture describes us this way:
"But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become sons (children) of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."   Jn. 1:12-13
Jesus described us this way:
"...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  Jn. 3:5-6
Jesus said that like Him, we are not of the world (Jn. 17:9, 14, 16, Jn. 15:19).
The Apostle Paul tells us not to be conformed (to fashion one's self to another's pattern) to this world (Rom. 12:2). Our minds are to be transformed by this knowledge. In another place, Paul wrote:
"...seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden  with Christ in God...you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world..."
                                                                                                  Col. 3:1-3, 2:20
We often describe ourselves incorrectly as "born again", based upon an incomplete and insufficient translation of Jn. 3:3. The word "again" used in that verse principally means "from above, from a higher place, of things which come from heaven or God, from the very first". The root meaning of the word is "up, upwards, from above, on high, of the quarters of the heaven, of time formerly, of the heavenly Jerusalem". The Hebrew language uses the word "al", translated as "above" to describe this place. So we are more accurately described as being "born from above", rather than "born again". Do you see how this makes a big difference in our understanding?
So how do we aliens find a dwelling place here in this world? I think the best place to answer this is from the end of the story, which will point us back to where we need to be now:
"...the accuser (AKA the great dragon, that serpent of old, the devil, Satan who deceives the whole world) of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea... Rev. 12:10-12
There will be a difference between those who inhabit the earth, and those who dwell in the heavens. The words "heavens" and "dwell" that are used here are important. "Heavens" is the Greek word "uranos", which can mean the physical heavens, but also encompasses "the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings". Also "those blessed qualities associated with the Gospel".
The word "dwell" used above is the Greek word "skanoo", which including its roots means "to fix one's tabernacle, abide in a tabernacle or tent, to occupy (as a mansion) the tabernacle of old-a symbol of protection and communion, the earthly house of our tabernacle, tent made of green boughs, skins, or cloth*, vessel, chosen instrument, to cover, a shadow: image* cast by an object as light falls on the object and representing the form of that object." (I asterisked *cloth and *shadow/image, because they brought to my mind the Shroud of Turin. In a way, we could say that the Shroud, and the image of Christ cast upon it, also represents the place of our tabernacle, the covering of our dwelling. It seems to fit well here.)
At the time described in the verses from Revelation, a time of the devil's wrath, and great persecution of believers, where one "dwells" will make a big difference. Those who tabernacle in and with the heavens will be able to rejoice through this time.
God established the principle of tabernacle with His people Israel, and commanded a feast to teach it to all generations. His people are to build tabernacles of tree boughs, and dwell in them for seven days. It is a feast of rejoicing. These structures are called "sukkah":
"You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths (tabernacles, shelters made of boughs) for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt (upper and lower Egypt, lay siege, to bind, shut up, show hostility, be an adversary, distress, beset, assault): I am the LORD your God."   Lev. 23:41-43
This feast has other things to teach us, including a prophetic significance dealing with Christ, but for the subject we are dealing with here, I am looking at the actual "booths" themselves, and what they might mean to us.
Those who are Gentiles with a few exceptions, have not recognized nor understood the importance of the teaching of this feast. We have lost this knowledge, and perhaps it is time to rediscover it. Psalm 91, a beautiful Psalm, describes the supernatural protection found in a special dwelling place:
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High (veil, covering, curtain) shall abide (lodge, dwell, rest, remain, endure) under the shadow of the Almighty."
Where we dwell spiritually will ultimately affect the future of the whole earth as well. In 2 Peter, the apostle tells us that where our hopes, our spirit, our hearts and minds look eagerly forward to, or dwell, will even hasten the return of Christ, the coming of the day of God, and the "new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet. 3:11-14). The hastening of the day and the return of Christ is not just for our benefit, but will preserve life on earth from total destruction. Jesus said:
"For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened (lopped, mutilated, abridge, curtail) the days."   Mk. 13:20
In another place, scripture says that all creation waits to be delivered from bondage into the place in the Spirit of our glorious liberty. It is accomplished by the groans of our own eager waiting within our tabernacles (ourselves) of our adoption (Rom. 8:18-22). Our tabernacle is constructed from this hope in Christ, and in the Holy Spirit (v. 24).
The Apostle Paul wanted to differentiate the spiritual dwelling place of new covenant believers:
"But you have come to Mt. Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel."   Heb. 12:22-24
If our dwelling place is not of this world, then why have we been placed here? We are here to be salt, for cleansing and preserving, and light, for illuminating the darkness with the truth of God's salvation and love in Christ.
Where is your dwelling place? Where we dwell makes all the difference in the world. It's all about location, location, location.

Our Father has commanded that we dwell in tabernacles in the heavens while we are still in the world.