God's Presence - Our Christian Experience

God's presence always dwells in a "house" on earth.

After the exile of the first couple from the Garden of Eden, God did not have a dwelling place on earth. His transcendent presence (omnipresence) has always been here, but His immanent presence (personal) was absent from the earth, except for special visitations to the early patriarchs (Noah-Genesis 6:1-7:16; Abraham-Genesis 12:1-22:13).

The first mention of God's immanent presence having a house on the earth comes in the life of Jacob. This is the story of Jacob's dream of a ladder or stairway resting on earth with its top reaching to heaven. On this ladder or stairway the angels of God were ascending and descending (Genesis 28:10-13, 16-17, 19). This story sets the foundation for the subject of "the house of God" on earth throughout the Scriptures. Jacob's response was:

"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

Jacob called that place "Bethel" which means "the house of God."

The next occurrence that relates to a house for God is during the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. God told Moses to make a house for him (Exodus 25:8):

"Then have them (Israelites) make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."

And once the Tabernacle was completed, "The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:34-35). The Tabernacle became the place where God dwelled on earth.

The term "dwell" is an interesting term as it is used in the Scriptures. It literally means "to inhabit as one's abode, to settle down in a dwelling, to dwell fixedly in a place; to tabernacle with." God came to dwell among the Hebrew people and His abode was the Tabernacle.

In I Chronicles 17 we read of David's desire to build a house for God.

"After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent."

Nathan had a dream that David was not the one to build a house for God but that it would be Solomon, David's son who would build God's house (I Chronicles 17:1-14).

Solomon did build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem (II Chronicles 3-5). When the Temple was finished, "the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God" (II Chronicles 5:13-14). Solomon said the Temple was a place for God to dwell forever (II Chronicles 6:1-2). But God had another dwelling place in mind that Solomon did not know about.

The Hebrew people turned from God and the Temple was eventually destroyed. The Israelites were taken into captivity and eventually scattered all over the earth. After the Temple was destroyed, God did not have a dwelling place, a house on earth, until Jesus was born. This was God's place that Solomon did not understand.

In John 1:14 it reads:

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."

Remember that the word "dwelt" means "to tabernacle with." Jesus was the tabernacle of God in the flesh, the place whwere God lived on the earth. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Paul wrote, "For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him..." (Colossians 1:19). The author of Hebrews wrote, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being..." And Jesus Himself connected His life to Jacob's dream (John 1:51) signaling that He Jesus was the house of God on earth.

Jesus was the dwelling place of God. The house of God made flesh; the abode where God lived. The house of God was no longer a tent or a building; the dwelling place of God was now a Person. Jesus brought the nature and character of God to earth in His flesh. He was an incarnation of God who dwelled inside of Him. He was a tabernacle, a temple of flesh. But God had a plan for something more!

Jesus told His Disciples that the Father would give them another "Helper" of the same kind as Himself to be with them forever (John 14:16). This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 17:21) and the Spirit of God came upon the Disciples and dwelled within them. God had a plan for a new dwelling place on earth!

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "You yourselves are God's temple" (I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19) and in II Corinthians 6:16: "We are the temple of the living God." The consistent message of the New Testament is that christians are the house (temple, tabernacle, dwelling place) of God and that God's Spirit lives in us, making us His sons and daughters (Romans 8:14-16; Galatians 4:16). You are the "House of God' on earth today!

God's presence tabernacles (dwells) in us. His glory dwells in us as it did in the Tabernacle and Temple. Our hearts are the "holy of holies." His desire is for that glory to flow through us into the world. Wherever we go, we take the presence of God into that situation, that place of work, that relationship. And God wants us to let his glory, His love, His light infect every environment in which we live or work or pass through. We are "new creatures" (II Corinthians 5:17), "Christ's ambassadors" to spread the message of God's Kingdom (II Corinthians 5:20).

Wherever we go God's presence goes with us and we are to allow this "unseen" power and presence to change the atmosphere of every situation or encounter we experience. Jesus said we are the "salt" (Matthew 5:13) and the "light" (Matthew 5:14) and wherever we go, we add salt and shine His light. The atmosphere is impacted and changed.

You are the "House of God" on earth. Allow God to be at home inside of you, but unlock all the doors so He can freely pass in and out impacting every situation, every environment you encounter. You are an agent, an ambassador, presenting God through your life, telling the world Jesus is the real thing.

This article was written by Waylon Ward, Executive Director of Mercy Matters. For more information or to contact Waylon email http://waylon@mercymatters.com or phone 214-415-3486. Check out http://mercymatters.org for information about Mercy Matters.