A PLACE FOR GOD TO DWELL
Gen.2: 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
1 Cor. 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
From the earliest of times, it has been the desire of God to dwell with mankind. He created man as a companion, a son to Him; to spend time with him. How marvelous it must have been, how joyful to the heart of both the creator and Adam, to walk together in the cool of the day. Imagine the wonders God must have shared with Adam; the things they must have talked about! Mankind was holy, belonging only to God. God was man’s and man was God’s. Adam was created in the image of God. It was beautiful. It was perfect.
UNTIL SIN CAME INTO THE WORLD.
When man sinned, the holy communion God had shared with man was cut off. The relationship Adam had with the Holy God ended. How heartbreaking it must have been for God to see His beloved creation fall into sin.
Sin is a cursed thing. It is intolerable to the character of God. It is a filthy plague, a disease that ends in death, and cuts us off from the presence of God. Do not underestimate the wickedness of sin. One solitary sin, one violation of God’s holy command changed the pure, holy, sinless nature of man into something carnal, fleshly, sinful.
The Prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Paul said in Romans 3: 11, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:17 And the way of peace have they not known:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Because of the terrible nature of sin, mankind could no longer dwell in the presence of God, and God could no longer dwell with man.
Now I want to make a point here. John said, No man hath seen God at any time. Yet, throughout the Old Testament, men made the claim of having seen God. We know Adam walked with God. Abraham sat down to dinner with God. Jacob wrestled with God, and saw His face. The elders of Israel saw God sitting on His throne. Isaiah saw The Lord, high and lifted up. And yet John said no man has seen God at any time. Jesus said God is a spirit. He also said spirits do not have flesh and blood.
Speaking of Jesus, Col. 1:15 says, Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus told the Jews in John 8:56, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Hebrews chapter one Says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power…”
God is spirit. He did not possess a flesh and blood body. But He created man in His own image. Let’s look at man. What are we? I have a body a soul and a spirit. But I am one person. Hebrews says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.”
Man has a body, soul and spirit. Does God have a soul? Hebrews: “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
God said in Leviticus, “And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.”
It was Jesus who knelt down on the ground, and formed a man from lifeless clay. When He walked with Adam, Adam could not see Him as He is. He saw the image of the invisible God manifested as God saw himself to be. I am telling you, When Adam looked upon the face of God, it was Jesus. When Abraham looked upon the face of God, he saw Jesus. When Jacob wrestled with God, he saw Jesus. Jesus is the express image of the person of God! He is God, was in the beginning with God, and created all things!
Col. 2:9, For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. That means the Son is in Jesus. The Holy Ghost is in Jesus. The Father is in Jesus.
Isaiah said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
I am so glad I know who Jesus is!
And mankind was cut off from His holy presence. But God had a plan. As men began to call on God, God began to unveil His plan. He called Abraham to himself, stating that in his seed all the Earth should be blessed. Abraham was a friend of God, but it was not enough. God wanted more. He longed to fellowship with man like He had in the Garden of Eden.
He called the descendants of Abraham, the nation of Israel to Him. He gave the law to Moses, teaching him how to construct a tabernacle, where the Spirit of God could dwell among them. He gave them the ordinance of sacrifices. God dwelt above the Ark of the Covenant in the midst of the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. They saw Him as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But, still, this was not enough. God wanted more. HE WAS SEPARATED FROM MANKIND BY A VEIL IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. The gap between Holy God and sinful man was still too wide. There was no one to stand in the gap. The law could do nothing to make sinful man holy. It had no redeeming power. God knew what He had to do.
He began to speak through His Prophets. Isaiah declared a virgin would bring forth a son. He said a child would be born, who would be called wonderful, counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. He would come unto His own, but His own would not receive Him. He would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows. He would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, He would bear our sorrows, and by His stripes we would be healed.
Joel declared God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh…Ezekiel said God would give put a new heart within us… Isaiah said, for with stammering lips and another tongue would He speak to this people, to whom He said, This is the rest whereby He calls the weary to rest.
And when the fullness of time had come, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. The Word became flesh. The God who walked with Adam in the Garden, sat down to dinner with Abraham, parted the red sea, delivered the law to Moses, became flesh and dwelt among us. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Suddenly, God separated from us, became God with us! He walked among us. He grew up as one of us. He had to learn like one of us, had to pray like one of us. He had free will like one of us. How glorious it was. God was with man! But it was still not enough!
THERE WAS STILL A VEIL BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. It was the veil of His fleshly body. The body of Jesus was the Tabernacle of God on Earth. He was the Ark of the Covenant made flesh. He was the Word of God incarnate. But man was still sinful. He was still separated from the Holy God.
So, for the joy set before him, he gave his body as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. He stood in the gap that no other could.
What was the joy set before Him? You and I were the joy set before Him. As He gave his back to the whip, He could have called a legion of angels to set Him free. He could have destroyed His tormentors, but He looked into the future, and He saw you. With each stripe of the whip He suffered, he thought of you and me. We were the joy set before Him. We were what made His suffering worth it all to Him. When they struck Him with their fists, He thought of you. When they spat in His face, he thought of you. When they held Him down and hammered nails into His hands and feet, He was thinking of you. As He hung on the cross, in agony, He saw all the sins you were committing. He saw the pain and suffering sin would bring into your life. He cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
When, finally, He died for the sins we had committed, The sun hid its face to hid His shame. There came a great earthquake, and the veil in the Temple, separating man from the Holy of Holies was torn in two, from the top to the bottom! The separation between God and man was removed.
And suddenly, God with us could be so much more.
Jesus rose from the dead. He met His disciples in the Upper Room. The Bible says He BREATHED on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
That’s something to think about, when we understand it was Jesus who breathed into Adam the breath of life!
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance.
God separated from us, who became God with us was now God in us!
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
God wants to dwell in you! If you haven’t received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, tonight is the night. He wants to live in you!
Then you will live forever with Him.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Rev. 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
