Since the beginning of creation, God has longed to share the infinite joy of His fellowship with mankind. God created the first man, Adam, and breathed the breath of life into him. He placed Adam in the garden to tend it and constantly communed with Him there. But then, Adam disobeyed God’s instruction, which brought about corruption in the divine life he carried. Consequently, the God-life man once bore was then replaced with the sinful nature. The law of sin and death controlled man’s being.
After the fall, man embodied a corruption which was incompatible with God’s presence. And as a result, God interacted with man from a distance while He set in motion his ultimate plan for man’s redemption. And Glory to God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Savior, we have been liberated from Satan’s grip.
1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being;” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” The last Adam refers to Jesus Christ, our High Priest, whose influence we are now under. From the moment we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour, He came in by His Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. He settles down and makes Himself at home in us, thereby making us a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
The word dwell means “to pitch his tent” among us. Jesus came in human form, and through Him, God dwelt with men in a more physical, personal, direct, and accessible manner than in times of old. The sacrifice of Jesus abolished the need for a tabernacle or temple that was seen as God’s dwelling place in the Old Testament. He also didn’t leave us stranded, but made provision for the Holy Spirit to live within us.
In our dispensation, God dwells in the temple of regenerated believers in Christ. The Holy Spirit indwells each believer who is His temple, and His corporate dwelling place is composed of all kinds of people, of different backgrounds.
The best part of this redemption story is that we have a glorious eternity with Him in heaven, and that eternal life begins NOW because His Spirit dwells in us. Getting us to heaven wasn’t Jesus’ primary goal; He wants us to know Him and the Father, which means that it’s all about the relationship. We are immediately ushered into this relationship the moment we declare our allegiance to Him.
Truthfully, I love that God has longed to “dwell in the midst of” His people from day one. Have you ever considered how it might have been if God had made a different plan or priorities concerning our redemption? For instance, Jesus could have arranged for our sin price to be paid by someone else and then returned to the Father. But no, He didn’t do that.
I believe a relationship with His creation is what God wanted all along. While it is true that we cannot see and know God until we get to heaven, Jesus made it very clear that we can know God in some measure now because of the indwelling of the Spirit in us. My experience so far is that even a small measure of knowing God is life-changing, heart-changing, beautiful, wonderful, fantastic and amazing, then how much more dwelling with Him in Heaven.
Today, the dwelling place of God is in YOU and I. However unworthy you may feel, however difficult it may be to believe, it is true. You are a temple of the Lord, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.
If you are in Christ, God lives in you. You are now his temple, his tabernacle, his dwelling.
1 Corinthians 3:16
You are the place from where God lives and moves on this earth. You should remember this TRUTH that you are His temple because of GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS and SPIRIT in YOU. This is why the Psalmist says, “How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!” This practically means YOU are “the lovely place” where God lives on earth if you have invited His Spirit to come and fully live in you.
We see in Psalm 84 that David did not have God living inside of him, so he had to travel three times a year to Jerusalem, where God’s temple was, to worship Him at that specific place God designated as his home on earth. That worshiper couldn’t get up every morning and say, “Good morning, Lord!” and enjoy spending every day with him as you have.
The crucial concept of the dwelling place of God is that God comes into You, reveals Himself, and this generous sharing of Himself makes you, His habitation, a carrier of His Glory. He even makes you love to dwell in His Presence, presenting you as an embodiment of His divine Presence (That is why we call you Dweller). Don’t overlook the fact that God has chosen to live in you; it is because HE LOVES YOU.
God so loves you, and He desires to reveal Himself to you. He wants you to know Him, to truly taste His goodness, feel His gracious heart and make Him known to the world. God is not playing hard to get; neither is He hiding from you. You don’t have to be perfect or be able to say the right or perfect prayers to “see” and “know” Him better. Just believe in his Presence, treasure Him and love Him for choosing to dwell in you.