A Holy Habitat.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV

During their years spent wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites had the tabernacle, provided for them by God, as the place to offer sacrifices to Him. Within the Holy of Holies, His presence dwelt above the mercy seat which sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant. So holy was this room, that only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, was the High Priest allowed to enter in to make atonement for sin on behalf of the people. Later, during the reign of King Solomon, God's presence would dwell in the Holy of Holies inside the temple that Solomon had built. After Solomon had dedicated and prayed over the temple, God responded by saying, “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time” (1 Kings 9:3 ESV). But years later, due to the sins of the people of Israel, God allowed the temple to be destroyed when the Babylonians ransacked the city of Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies was destroyed. The Ark of the Covenant and all the treasures of the temple were stolen. And for all intents and purposes, the people of God no longer enjoyed or were assured of God's presence in their midst.

To be the people of God, but to have no assurance of the presence of God, would be a difficult condition to endure. To constantly wonder if God was with you, cared for you, or was even aware of your condition, would be disconcerting and discouraging. But God had warned Solomon that if the people refused to obey Him and remain faithful to Him, they would reap the consequences of their unfaithfulness. But He also told him, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV). They would once again experience His favor and enjoy His presence. But even after God returned to the people to the land after 70 years in exile and even after He provided a way for them to rebuild the temple and restore the city of Jerusalem, they remained obstinate and disobedient – for generations.

Then at just the right time, God sent His Son. God knew He could not count on the faithfulness of men, so He sent His Son to earth as a man, so that He could do what no other man had ever done – live a totally sinless and righteous life, in perfect obedience to God. And it was His sinlessness that qualified Him to act as the substitutionary sacrifice for mankind and to satisfy the righteous justice of a holy God. In His incarnation, Jesus became Emmanuel, “God with us.” He dwelt among us, modeling for us the very life that God expected us to live. And His death on the cross provided a way for us to be made right with God. All that was required was our admission of our own sin and acceptance of His sacrifice on our behalf. And when anyone accepts Jesus as their sin substitute and Savior, they receive the Holy Spirit. The very Spirit of God comes to dwell within them. Which is Paul's point in the passage for today. God makes our bodies His temple by sending His Spirit to live within us. He sets us apart and designates our bodies as His dwelling place. From that point forward, we no longer belong to ourselves. We become His.

With that incredible fact in mind, Paul asks the Corinthian believers, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?” (1 Corinthians 6:15 ESV). Then he answers his own question: “Never!” Obviously, these new believers living in the city of Corinth were struggling with sexual sin. Paul spends a great deal of time dealing with this problem. Theirs was a sexually charged society. Promiscuity and prostitution were not only prevalent, but practiced by just about everyone in their culture. So Paul has to tell them that “the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13 ESV). They were having to learn that their new relationship with Christ was intended to change everything about them, including their habits. Their bodies were no longer their own, to do with as they saw fit. They now belonged to God. In fact, they were each to view their bodies as the temple of God, housing His Holy Spirit. So they were to flee from sexual immorality. They were to glorify God in their bodies. Why? Because they no longer belonged to themselves. God had paid a high price for their lives. He had sacrificed the life of His own sinless Son in order that they might become His sons and daughters. Peter reminds us of the high price that God paid, and encourages us to live accordingly. “…conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:17-18 ESV).

Paul would have us remember that God had a purpose for setting us apart as His own and placing His Spirit within us. “God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 NLT). He goes on and says, “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 NLT). God's will for us? Holiness. God's calling for us? Holiness. God's view of us? A holy habitat for His Spirit. 

The Dwelling Place of God.

Daniel 9-10, Revelation 21

Daniel 9-10, Revelation 21And 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.” – Revelation 21:3 ESV

Daniel and his contemporaries had been in captivity in Babylon for nearly 68 years. He was probably in his 80s at the time these two chapters were written, and had spent the majority of his life living in exile, away from the city of God, and unable to worship in the temple of God. When Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem in 586 B.C, he had completely destroyed the temple, the dwelling place of God. So since that time there had been no place for the people of Israel to go in which they might worship and offer sacrifices to their God. For almost 70 years, the people of Israel had endured exile and had lived with the awareness that their great temple lay in ruins. But by the time Daniel received his vision recorded in chapter 10, a group of Jews had been able to return to Jerusalem and had begun the restoration of the city of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple – all by virtue of a decree issued by King Cyrus. God had miraculously provided a means by which His people would be returned to the land and the city of Jerusalem could be rebuilt – all in keeping with His promise. But the real emphasis in these two chapters seems to be the presence of God. In spite of the fact that Daniel lived in a foreign land, far away from the city of Jerusalem and the temple where God's presence was supposed to have dwelt, He received word from God Himself. When he prayed to God, He answered. “At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision” (Daniel 9:23 ESV). God then proceeded to give Daniel a glimpse into the future as it related to the people of Israel. He provided Daniel with the assurance of His ongoing presence and unwavering commitment to His people – the Jews. God told Daniel, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage” (Daniel 10:19 ESV).

What does this passage reveal about God?

Much of what God shared with Daniel regarding the future of Israel was confusing and disturbing. He received news of “a troubled time” in which “desolations are decreed.” He heard about floods and war, abominations and destruction of the city of God. But Daniel also received encouragement. He was told not to fear. He was given news from God Himself, providing him with a reassurance that everything was going to be okay. God was working behind the scenes, orchestrating the affairs of men and implementing His divine plan, according to His perfect timeline. God sent an angel to Daniel who told him that he “came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come” (Daniel 10:14 ESV). God was sharing with Daniel news about the future. He was reminding that He had not forsaken His people. He had seen Daniel and had been aware of His mourning. He had heard Daniel and responded to His cries for mercy. God was not restricted to heaven or relegated to a temple built by human hands. He was the transcendent God who omnipresent, able to be everywhere at once and capable of being with His people wherever they were at any moment and at any time. He is not hindered by time or space. And in spite of the sins of the people of Israel, He was still with them and would one day restore them to a right relationship with Him.    

What does this passage reveal about man?

Man's greatest need is God. And yet our greatest weakness seems to be our insatiable desire to try and live without Him or simply in place of Him. When Adam and Eve were created, they enjoyed unbroken fellowship and intimacy with God. But sin changed all that. They went from having unrestricted access to God to being physically removed from His presence and denied entrance into the garden where they once walked and talked with Him. The story of the Bible is about God's plan to make right what sin destroyed. Sin marred the world. So God is going to make it new again. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1 ESV). He will start fresh. He will recreate. He will even make a new Jerusalem. “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2 ESV). When the remnant of Jews returned to Jerusalem during the days of Daniel, they were able to rebuild the temple, but the finished product was a shadow of its former glory. It was nothing like the once-glorious temple that Solomon had built. Because man cannot restore like God can restore. Man can't fix what is wrong in the world. Everything we do is little more than a band-aid on a problem that requires extensive restoration and healing. Even Daniel understood that his people were helpless to fix the problem they were experiencing. Their own sins had gotten them where they were. But God had not abandoned them. He was still among them. And He was always giving them assurances of His ongoing presence and power. But any glimpses they got of God were nothing compared to what was to come. Sin still mars God's creation and damages man's relationship with God. But the day is coming when those things will be remedied once and for all.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

Man was created to have a relationship with God. Sin threw a monkey wrench into the plan, driving a wedge between man and God, and requiring God to do something radical to remedy the problem. God sent His Son to pay for the sins of man and to make possible the restoration of the relationship between God and His creation. But even now, sin continues to make it difficult for man to experience God's indwelling, ongoing presence perfectly, without interruption. So God has one last thing He needs to do. He is going to eliminate sin and its devastating influence. He will destroy Satan and remove him completely from the equation. John was told that God would “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 21:4 ESV). God reminds us, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5 ESV). A new heaven and a new earth. A new Jerusalem. A new relationship between God and man. “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” (Revelation 21:3 ESV). Over in his gospel, John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 ESV). The word for “dwelt” in this verse means to “fix one's tabernacle” and it pictures God's choice to dwell among men in a physical form. In Revelation 21:3, John records the noun version of the same word when he writes, “the dwelling place of God is with man.” When Jesus came to earth, He made God visible to men. But the day is coming when God Himself will dwell with men once again. We will enjoy unbroken, unhindered fellowship with God. Sin will be eliminated. Confession for sin will no longer necessary. There will be nothing to get in the way of our relationship with God. He will be our God and we will be His children.

Father, on this earth we only get glimpses of what fellowship with You can be like. Sin continues to make it difficult to see You, hear You, and experience You. The world can be a constant reminder of sin's reality and make it feel like You are distant and removed from everyday life. But the day is coming when we will experience You in uninterrupted glory. You will dwell among us and we will enjoy Your presence. Help me to stay focused on reality of that promise. Amen