Where God Lives
In earliest times, God appeared to dwell in nature, and made His presence known from time to time in fire, cloud and earthquake. As the Israelites settled down in the promised land instead of a nomadic life, a permanent ‘residence’ was built for God on Zion - The Temple. The time of building was a time of great joy as people sacrificially brought gifts of material, time and skill. When Jesus came on the scene, Temple tradition was upset, when Jesus claimed that God lived in him - Jn.14:10 (‘How can that be when God lives down the road in The Temple?’). Not only that, but Jesus declared and foretold the end of ‘Temple Worship’ ( Jn.2:19-21 ), in the rending of the temple curtain, the physical destruction of The Temple, and his own bodily death. In His resurrection, He instituted the era of God’s spirit indwelling the hearts of believers. But Jesus did not just bring about a spatial change, from centralised to distributed, but rather completion of God’s plan for His relati...