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The Christian Perspective on the Old Testament

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Saturday, March 15, 2014

Where does God live?

When Samuel went to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king, God told him: "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
I Samuel 16:7
When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, he mused: "But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!" I Kings 8:27 and II Chronicles 6:18 (NLT)
We read in the book of Isaiah: "This is what the Lord says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place? My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord, have spoken!" Isaiah 66:1-2
The fact that God exists on a higher plain than humans was reinforced by what God told Isaiah. God said: "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God predicted: "I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And when my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I am the Lord, who makes Israel holy." Ezekiel 37:27-28
Christ told his disciples: "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going." John 14:1-4
And: "All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them." John 14:23
When Paul was explaining God to the Athenians, he said: "He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't serve his needs - for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need." Acts 17:24-25
Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth: "Don't your realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." I Corinthians 3:16
And: "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price." I Corinthians 6:19-20
When John described what he was experiencing as the New Jerusalem descended from heaven, he wrote: "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, 'Look, God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.'" Revelation 21:3
Scripture, therefore, is very clear about where God currently lives, and where He/She plans to live for all eternity!

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