EXODUS (Part 6): I WILL DWELL WITH THEM

"And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God." (Exodus 29:45).

Since the beginning, God has wanted to dwell with man. In the garden of Eden God walked and talked with Adam and with Eve, and they enjoyed sweet fellowship together. The Creator desires communion with those whom He has created.

After delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt, God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle in the wilderness. God's presence rested upon this tabernacle in the form of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. It was there, at the door of the sanctuary before which they offered their sacrifices, that God met with His people. "This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory." (Exodus 29:42, 43).

Today, God dwells with His people in the form of His Holy Spirit. The communion that we enjoy with God now is much more intimate than even Adam and Eve knew in the beginning for God was with them, but today He is in us. Because of this indwelling of God's presence, we have now become the temple of the Holy Spirit, and, like the tabernacle, we are sanctified by God's glory. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).  God no longer dwells in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48), but seeks to inhabit those whose hearts hunger and thirst to know Him. "Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest? For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word." (Isaiah 66:1, 2).  It is therefore not some church or temple that sanctifies the people of God. No earthly building is any more holy or blessed over another. It is God's people who sanctify the building, hillside, field, cave, or wherever they may meet to worship and glorify their Maker. Believers don't go to church, they are the church. As Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20).

In Ezekiel 43, God is speaking to Israel and once more calling His people to repentance for their iniquities and their idolatrous ways. He tells His prophet to show them the pattern of the house of God, and to exhort them to carefully follow that pattern with all of the ordinances, laws, and forms; and then He tells them to, "keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them." (Ezekiel 43:11).  He promises that He will dwell with Israel if they will no longer defile His house with their sins. God then says something very interesting. He says, "This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house." (Ezekiel 43:12).  The law of God's house is holiness. All of it, from the top to the bottom, and the whole limit round about is to be holy.

If God considers His church, the body of Christ on earth, to be His temple today, then it is evident that He requires that we be a holy people. It is the law of the house! Peter tells us, "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15, 16).  Paul paints an even clearer picture when he says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17).

Just what is holiness anyway? There are various words in the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible that are translated as "holiness" in our language. Generally they mean "moral purity," "separation," and "consecration." To put it simply, holiness is considering oneself as set apart for God's service, and therefore dedicating oneself to a life of moral purity. In exchange for this decision, God promises to dwell with us, or more accurately, in us.

How do we achieve such holiness? It is a simple matter of faith. Our efforts to be holy are futile. The exertion of our will to be more godlike is vain. Our determination to keep His commandments is useless. It is by grace that we are saved through faith. Laws, rules, and commandments, as necessary as they are to set a moral standard, never made anyone perfect. They were only meant to be instructors to point us to Christ, the Savior of mankind. When we quit struggling to be good, and start believing that we can be holy because He is holy, then we can start to change. Yes, it is the law that convicts us of sin, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ Who makes us free from sin. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:3, 4).

Years ago, I had a habit that I became convicted by the Holy Spirit to quit. He made it quite clear to me that it was something that was harmful to my health and bad for my witness. I quickly determined that I would quit this thing for the Lord, and I gave it to Him. Soon after, I began to crave this habit, and found myself doing it again. So I quit again, but soon started up once more. This happened several times until I just gave up, thinking that it was useless to keep trying. I felt very condemned before my Maker. I loved the Lord with all my heart, and wanted to give this thing to Him completely so that I could serve Him more fully; but I found a weakness in myself that I thought I could not overcome. Not long after this, I was at a gospel meeting, praying about my predicament. It was then that the Lord began to speak to my heart. He reminded me of all the things that He delivered me from when I first became a Christian. I did not struggle with them; they just fell away because I believed in His mercy and grace. He told me that this was no different, and if I would just trust Him, He would deliver me from this habit also. I then prayed a simple prayer of repentance. I said something like, "Lord, forgive me for thinking that I could do this on my own. Deliver me, Lord, and I will be free." That night, the craving left me, and has never returned for over 40 years.

This, of course, was an object lesson for me - something meant to be a reminder to me for the rest of my life that God is my Savior and my deliverer, and it is He that makes me holy. It is neither my efforts, nor my best intentions that will prevail against sin. I find that as I live this simple principle of faith, I experience the presence of God more fully.

We, as Christians, must learn how to possess our bodies in sanctification and honor. We must trust that because our Lord is holy we can and must be holy as well. As we observe holiness in these our temples, we will discover that God will indeed dwell in us!

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14).