Our vision for the Tent of Meeting has come from various God encounters and a series of prophetic words from respected prophetic voices. We hold the vision of the Tent of Meeting as the primary mandate of Forerunner Ministries.
Our mandate is much like the New Testament mandate in Acts 15:16-17, which is to rebuild the tabernacle of David so that mankind would seek God. We see our assignment as bringing the Church to a place of deep encounter with God through meaningful worship.
We see corporate encounters that are as personal with God as Moses experienced in the Book of Exodus:
Exodus 33:9 “ And it came to pass that, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses.”
Exodus 33:11a “ So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend…”
Interesting thoughts about the Tabernacle of David
2 Chronicles 1:3-4 The tabernacle of David and the tabernacle of Moses existed at the same time in King David’s day. However one had a veil and was hidden from the people and the other had the veil removed so that all the people could worship God and see His glory. One required the sacrifices of animals by priests and the other relied on the sacrifice of praise by worshippers.
1 Chronicle 13:1-5 King David called for unity amongst the nation of Israel in order to return the Ark of His Presence back to its rightful place in Israel.
1 Chronicles 15 Levites were required to carry the Ark of His Presence.
Each time Israel restored David’s Tabernacle in the Old Testament it brought about revival amongst God’s people or military breakthrough ( 1 Chronicle 15-16, 2 Chronicle 5-7, 20, 23-24, 29-30, 35, Ezra 3:10-13, Nehemiah 12:28-47).
Correlation between Tabernacle of David in the Old Testament and New Testament
It is interesting to see that the tabernacle of David is the only form of corporate worship that God wants to restore. He wants His people to openly see His glory. The promise given to us as we restore such worship, as written in both Amos 9:11 and Acts 15:16-17 is linked to a revival amongst the unchurched. God wants to reveal Himself to humanity through an open revelation of Himself through the Church.
God is calling a unity amongst the people of God in order to usher in a harvest of souls. In the Old Testament unity did not come about by way of disregarding diversity of tribes but rather a combined pursuit for a common goal. God is calling the Body of Christ to combine in their pursuit of Him in order to release a greater measure of Himself – and not at the expense of individual / corporate difference. This can be accomplished if we rally around relationship rather than divide over doctrine.
God is calling His Church to embrace King David’s style of worship - 'prophetic encounter worship'. Many of the psalms were written as David encountered God in worship. This is where David received his revelation from God. These revelations he turned into songs. As a result we have many psalms declaring the nature of God, prophesies about the future and decrees of God’s judgements upon His enemies. This is the nature of prophetic worship – worship as the Holy Spirit leads. As the Holy Spirit reveals God’s heart - we respond in worship.
Since Davidic worship manifests as a result of a communion with heaven – it is worship that calls down His manifest Presence (Psalm 22:3) and releases heaven on earth as can be seen in Solomon's temple (2 Chronicles 7:1). This is a picture of how God wants to honor true worship. This is our vision for worship in the modern day church - worship that bring God's manifest presence.