CHURCH IS GOD’S DWELLING PLACE
(Ephesians 2:19-22)
The beginning of the New Year is a
perfect time to evaluate our past year and plan for what is ahead of us in
2024. I am excited about what God has in store for me personally, my family,
and collectively at Hope Church. I pray that God will pour out His Holy Spirit
on all of us so that we will grow in our understanding of who God is, his plans
for us, and the World around us. This understanding will come as we read and
apply His Word more.
To navigate these turbulent times,
we need God and His Word. Read it, live by it, and see how it will change you.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who resisted Hitler’s Nazi Germany in 1945, has this to
say about the Scriptures. “Just as you do not analyze the words of someone you
love, but accept them as they are said to you. Accept the Word of Scripture and
ponder it in your heart. In our meditation, we ponder the chosen text on the
strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say to us for
this day and for our Christian life.”
Before Advent and Christmas, we
learned about two of the three definitions of the church that the Apostle Paul
wrote to the believers in Ephesus. We learned that the Church is God’s family.
It is God’s house built on the foundation of the apostles, prophets, and Christ
as the chief cornerstone. Today, we will see another spiritual definition of
the church being God’s Temple or dwelling place. In simple terms, the church
is where God lives.
Ephesians 2:21-22, “In him,
the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the
Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit.” Let me clarify the Word temple before we unpack
these verses.
What comes to your mind when you
hear the Word temple? A Hindu temple, a Jewish temple or Synagogue, a Buddhist
temple, or an Islamic Mosque. In the Bible, the temple does not refer to a
particular structural building but is often called God’s house or the
Tabernacle.
I.
God’s dwelling place in the Old Testament
In the Garden of Eden, God walked
and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Genesis 3:8, “Then the man
and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in
the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the
garden.”
In Leviticus 26:11-12, God made a
covenant with a promise to Israel. “I will put my dwelling place (Tabernacle) among
you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your
God, and you will be my people.” Let’s see how God continued his dwelling
among people.
Though God banished Adam and Eve
from the Garden of Eden, He never totally abandoned people. He returned to them
repeatedly. We see His dwelling place among Israelites as they wandered through
the wilderness for 40 years. He accompanied them in a pillar of cloud during
the day and a pillar of fire at night. (Ex 13:20-21).
God gave them ten commandments and
instructed Moses to build a sanctuary or Tabernacle for Him where He would
dwell among them. Ex 25:8. At that time, Israelites lived in tents, so the
presence of God dwelt in the tent of the wilderness tabernacle (Exodus 27:21).
The Tabernacle was a physical and
symbolic representation of God’s presence among people. Because the Lord met
his people there, its general designation was “the house of the Lord” (Ex
34:26). Remember the incredible sight: when the Tabernacle was completed,
the
cloud covered
the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. (Ex
40:34). It was the same cloud by which the Lord went before the people when
they came out of Egypt.
Later, after the Hebrew people
entered the Promised Land and lived in fixed dwellings, God affixed His name to
a place, sanctifying Solomon’s temple as the Lord’s holy dwelling place. Again,
the Lord proved His presence during the temple’s dedication. “When the priests
withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.” (1
Kings 8:10–11).
In the wilderness, God dwelt in the
Tabernacle, a movable and portable tent fitting to the nomadic lifestyle of His
people. In the promised land, God’s presence dwelt in a fixed location,
Jerusalem, and a more permanent structure built by King Solomon. Does that mean
that God is now bound and tied to a place called the temple?
King Solomon had this humble
realization, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest
heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! I Kings
8:27. This tells us that God is not limited to time, space, and dimensions. God
boldly declared that heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where
is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?” Isaiah
66:1
Israel’s history tells us that there
is incredible religious corruption in the temple. Ezekiel saw animal worship in
the temple. The more disgusting thing was that seventy elders of Israel bowed down
to the idols and worshipped the Sun, turning their backs to the temple. ( Ezek
8). In Ezekiel 10, we read about God’s glory leaving the temple via the east
gate. Like sheep without a shepherd, God’s people wandered in the darkness for
their sins of rebellion and idolatry.
II.
God’s dwelling place in the New Testament
The Glory of God that left the
temple that day reentered the earth when God’s son Jesus was born in Bethlehem,
in Jerusalem. In John Ist chapter, we read, In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his
dwelling (tabernacled) among us. God once again dwelt among people in Jesus.
After 33 and a half years of
ministry, Jesus died, rose again on the third day, and ascended to heaven. He
promised to return to the earth one day. Have we become orphans again without
God’s presence on the planet? No! Jesus promised to build His Church and leave
His Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and protect it until He returns to the earth
for the second time.
III.
Church is God’s dwelling place
The Apostle’s essential message for
the Ephesians was that they were individually and collectively the Church where
God’s presence would dwell by His Spirit. Believers in the universal Church are being built together in Christ and
raised to become a holy dwelling place of God on the earth. The Holy Spirit
began, sustaining and perfecting God’s dwelling place.
People everywhere search for God,
including those who don’t believe or foolishly deny His existence, because we
are all made in His image. St. Augustine says, “You have made us for yourself,
O Lord & our heart is restless until it rests in you.” In my conversation,
Ron mentioned a discipleship booklet, “My Heart Christ’s Home,” by Robert Boyd
Munger. I liked the title.
Can you imagine what it would be
like to have Jesus come to the home of our hearts and take a permanent
residency? That’s what Jesus promised, “Anyone who loves me will obey my
teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home
(dwell) with them.” John 14:23. In Rev
3:20, Jesus had a message to the Lukewarm Church that was neither cold nor hot
in Laodicea: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If Anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with
me.”
Many christians and churches are
Lukewarm in America and around the World. We need to hear the knocking of Jesus
on our hearts. Let’s not let the loudness of the World drown that gentle knock
of Jesus. Open your heart and let the Savior come in and make His dwelling.
Then, each of us, individually and
collectively as a church, becomes God’s dwelling place. What does it mean to be
God’s dwelling place on earth? It means that we live lives that are pure and
righteous. It means loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind and with all your strength and loving your neighbor as
yourself. When we do that, more and more people open their hearts to Jesus, and
they, too, become God’s dwelling place.
