Christmas in the Holy LandSýnishorn

God Wants to Dwell with Us

It’s hard to imagine an omnipresent God dwelling in one place. And yet, every Christmas, we celebrate the fact that the Son of God now dwells eternally in the confines of a human body. But the Incarnation of Jesus isn’t the only time God has localized His presence among His people.

God walked among Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:8). That is until sin broke their fellowship. So God set His plan of redemption in motion, a plan to deal with the sin problem and to reconcile us to God. Why? Because God wants to dwell with us. He tells us so. 

At Mount Sinai, Israel constructed a tabernacle so that God could dwell among them, though His glory was hidden behind the tabernacle’s veil. They did this at God’s command and purpose: 

“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)

After Israel entered the Promised Land, the tabernacle found a dwelling place at Shiloh for three centuries. Later, God’s glory would dwell among His people in the Temple that King Solomon built. The prophets promised that God’s glory would again dwell with His people, but even the prophets had no idea how marvelous this promise would be (Isa. 7:14; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 2:10). The Apostle John explains: 

“The Word became flesh, and dwelt [literally: “tabernacled”] among us, and we saw His glory.” (John 1:14) 

Because John used the original word, “tabernacled,” he emphasized that the glory which filled the wilderness tabernacle was now veiled behind the flesh of humanity as God became a man in Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14; Heb. 10:14–20).

Jesus entered the Jerusalem Temple and used the Temple to illustrate His body that would be destroyed and raised up (John 2:19). Notably, when Jesus died for our sins, the veil in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:38). The separation that our sin caused way back in the Garden of Eden—Jesus removed when He died for us.

In future eternity, God promises that once again, He will “tabernacle” with His people. This fellowship—in a new heaven and new earth—will occur as it did at God’s first creation because there will be no sin to separate us from God. Again, John writes: 

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.” (Revelation 21:3)

The birth of Jesus and His death for our sins makes it possible for us to be forgiven by God. When we believe in Jesus, we can come boldly into the presence of God both now and forever.