Limitless Word

The Dwelling of God

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God making his home with humanity — from a garden, to a tent, to a person, to a city.

The Bible begins with God walking with people in a garden and ends with God dwelling with them in a city — and in between he pitches a tent, builds a temple, and finally takes on flesh. Jesus calls his own body the true temple; the church becomes a temple of the Spirit; and the new creation needs no temple at all, "for its temple is the Lord God and the Lamb." This is the story of how a holy God comes to live with an unholy people.
  1. 1

    God walks in the garden

    Genesis 3:8

    When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

    In Eden, God dwells with humanity in unbroken fellowship — the dwelling that is then lost.
  2. 2

    The glory fills the tabernacle

    Exodus 40:34

    Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.

    God comes to live among Israel in a tent — the cloud of his glory settles on it.
  3. 3

    Solomon's temple dedicated

    1 Kings 8:11

    The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord.

    The glory fills the temple; God puts his Name in a house of stone.
  4. 4

    "Destroy this temple"

    John 2:19

    “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

    Jesus calls his own body the true temple — torn down and raised in three days.
  5. 5

    You are God's temple

    1 Corinthians 3:16

    Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

    The Spirit makes the church the dwelling of God — a temple of living stones.
  6. 6

    No temple in the city

    Revelation 21:22

    I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

    In the new creation there is no temple, "for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb."

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.