DWELLING PRESENCE

The Purpose of His Presence from Genesis to Revelation

RESOURCES

OLD TESTAMENT DWELLING

shākan = to dwell, settle down, abide
ETERNITY PAST (Pre-Creation Dwelling)
  • In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

THE GARDEN-TEMPLE (The Ideal Dwelling)
  • Garden-Temple parallels: Gradients of holiness, place of worship, cherubim guarding the entrance as veil to presence, stars, sea, tree/menorah, priesthood 'work and keep' (Genesis 2:15/Numbers 3:7-8)
  • The Commission: "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth" (Ge 1:28, also see Habakkuk 2:14)

THE EXILE FROM THE GARDEN-TEMPLE (The Loss of the Dwelling)
  • Exile East (Gen 3:24 / Exodus 25:18-22)

THE TABERNACLE (Localised but Portable Dwelling)
  • “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can [dwell] among them. 9 You must build this Tabernacle [dwelling place] and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you. (Exodus 25:8-9)
  • Glory of the Lord moves from Mt Sinai to dwell (shākan) among his people (Exodus 40:24-28)

THE TEMPLE 1.0 (Stationary Dwelling)
  • “Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” (Solomon from 1 Kings 8:27).”
  • (Temple 1.0 destroyed) "He burned down the Temple of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings in the city." (2 Kings 25:9)

THE TEMPLE 2.0 (Became Corrupt)
  • Ezra & Nehemiah rebuild the temple
  • But it’s hopeless; the corruption can’t be cleaned out. So throw it into the fire." (Ezekiel 24:12)

400 YEARS OF SILENCE BETWEEN OLD TESTAMENT & NEW

NEW TESTAMENT DWELLING

JESUS AS THE INCARNATED DWELLING
  • So the Word became human and made his home (literally. tabernacled) among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:14)
  • For God in all his fullness was pleased to [dwell] in Christ (Col 1:19)
  • “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. (John 2:19-21)
  • By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 45 The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. 46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-45)

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE INNER DWELLING
  • The Promise of Inner Dwelling: So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. (Acts 1:6-9)
  • 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11, ESV)

THE CHURCH AS THE NEW TEMPLE (DWELLING PLACE)
  • "Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) 
  • So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. (Eph 2:19-22)

THE FUTURE HOPE OF DWELLING
  • Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4, ESV)