“…Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.” Psalm 132:5
Where does God dwell? It is true that He has declared Jerusalem as a dwelling place, chosen by Him, there to associate His name and presence with it. It is true also that it was at Jerusalem that His glory was revealed in mighty ways in and upon the temple built by Solomon. However, it was there that the Son of God was apprehended, judged falsely, and then crucified. Does God still dwell there? Does He dwell elsewhere?
David’s passion was that God dwell in the Tabernacle, to be sought and found by the people of his day, a place designated by God to worship. David would go further, writing, “We will go into His tabernacles: we will worship at His footstool.” (Ps. 132:7) David also sought a place where the tabernacle could be placed in a permanent manner. He envisioned the building of the temple in Jerusalem, where there would be the permanent site, and symbol, of the true worship of the living God. He there envisioned the permanent and powerful blessing of God, and the revelation of His glory. There He would be sought and found by any person who would worship Him in truth, by the Spirit.
Many years later, there would come a day, when after the destruction of that temple, because of the turning aside from the worship of God as the only true, and living God, that the Lord Jesus would tell a Samaritan woman a truth that would, to some extent, shake the entire religious, Hebrew world of that day. He would say to her: “Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” (Jn. 4:21) He continued by saying, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.” (4:23) From a physical place, and a limited spiritual structure, the Lord takes the Samaritan woman, and all who would trust in Him, beyond the limits of man’s possibilities and capacities, to the very ends of the earth, where God can be found, worshipped, and served. However, it will not be until after His crucifixion, death, resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand, that the power of that declaration will begin to be known, certainly beyond all that man could ask or think. For it would be the realization of the promise of the Father, and the outpouring of the Spirit “…upon all flesh,” that the power to worship anywhere on this earth would become possible. The knowledge of the truth, declared in the everlasting Gospel, would be that beacon directing all of mankind to the living Christ for salvation, and then to the appropriation of His very Life by the Spirit, giving to every man, woman, and child the capacity to worship the living God, receiving the revelation of Him and His presence by the Spirit in the heart. So then, where does God dwell?
The Lord, in the book of Isaiah, declares: “The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest?” (61:1) The great issue of the dwelling place of God is not in the creation, but in the Creator. The Lord goes on to say, “For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord.” (66:2) The Lord brings us to the end of our consideration of a specific place, or address, where He dwells in the most manifest manner. He brings us then to the consideration of the heart of man. He says, “…but to this man I will look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.”(v.2) Jesus called the Samarian woman to believe Him, the Messiah. Moses would write: “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” (Psalm 90:1)
Dear Father, Dwell in us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.