What are WE waiting for? (God's Dwelling)

Last week we considered what God's people of the Old Testament were waiting for. We saw that with the advent of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah had arrived. 

This week we will examine what we are waiting for as followers of Jesus after his resurrection. 

We are waiting for the eternal day when God's dwelling will be our dwelling. When the place of God's residence is in the midst of his holy people to never again be separated. The location of the dwelling place of God is a theme that arises throughout the scriptures. It's not an independent concept that first shows up at the end of the bible in Revelation (we will get there in a moment). The location of God's dwelling place is consistently near his people when he is pleased with them, and distant from his people when they have defiled themselves. 

Throughout the Old Testament God dwells near and among his people in many ways. God is near and dwells via smoke, thundering, and fire (at Sinai Exodus 19), via the tabernacle (Exodus 40) and via the temple (2 Chronicles 7). In the temple there was a massive separation between the people, the priests, and God's presence. Entering into God's presence was something that occurred only once a year, and only the serving high priest could enter into the holy of holiness. It was an inner room that was separated by a curtain. 

When Jesus was crucified, we are told by Matthew of the final moments of Jesus. In these final moments, a monumental event occurs which changed the dynamics of God's dwelling forever:

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. (Matthew 27:50-51)

Many have noted the significance of this moment. The fact that the curtain was torn in two, and began its tear at the top speaks that this was no man made tear, this was the Lord at work. This was a new moment for God's dwelling and a new moment for God's people. God would no longer dwell in Jerusalem, but rather his glory and dwelling would move with his people. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) forever changes the location of the Holy Spirit. Christ had promised that after his death his Holy Spirit would indwell his disciples.

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. (John 14:15-20)

This "Helper" is "the Spirit of truth" is the one whom we worship as the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus' incarnation was a change in the dwelling of God with man (Matthew 1:23, Immanuel, God with us, John 1:14 the Word made flesh and dwelt among us), now Jesus ascension would cause another change in God's dwelling with his people. The Holy Spirit's indwelling in the people of God now is what makes us (his people) the new temple of God. This language of believers as the new temple of God is used throughout the New Testament (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:15-20, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:5). Where we go, God goes because God himself indwells the believer. 

The current state of God's dwelling within believers is not the way things will always be. In Revelation 21:1-3 we're given a glimpse of the change that will come at the end of days. 

1 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. (Revelation 21:1-4)

The ever lasting and forever dwelling place of God will be with man. The end of time will look in some ways like the beginning. God dwelt in the garden (in Genesis pre-rebellion) with humanity. There was no separation. There was no partition. In the day of days, in the new city, when the new heaven and new earth are made and this old earth has passed away, there will be no separation, no partition between God's people and God. 

What are we waiting for? We await the time that will last forever, when God's dwelling place will move for the last time and when God's people will have no more need for barriers between God and his people. We wait for the time that will have no end, when God's eternal dwelling place, will be our eternal dwelling place.