WHERE DOES GOD DWELL?

After Jesus was taken up to heaven, the apostle John received a magnificent vision of glory. He said, "I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it…and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Revelation 21:22-23). In other words, the only temple in heaven is Jesus himself.

Now that God's temple is in glory, sitting at his right hand, where does the Lord dwell on earth? As God himself asks, "What house will you build me? Where is the place of my rest?" We know that no building can contain God. He isn't in St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican. Nor is he in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. And he isn't in any of the great European cathedrals. No, as Paul stated on Mars Hill in Athens, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24). Simply put, if we look for God's dwelling place in some building, we're not going to find it.

The Lord has found his habitation—he lives and rests in the bodies of his created humankind. Paul states that the temple of God is now in human bodies: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Once we place our belief in Jesus, we become a temple, God's very dwelling place. This was demonstrated most visibly at the Upper Room. The Holy Spirit fell on the disciples there, filling them with himself. And he claimed their sanctified bodies as God's temple, where the Father would come and live. The Spirit would help them to mortify and destroy the works of their sinful flesh. And he would give them power to live victoriously. Their bodies became God's temple, a dwelling place not built with hands.

Jesus says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). An abode is a residence, a place to stay.

Paul says, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:20). In other words, you belong to God and he wants you to be his resting place. Now, open up your heart to the truth and give him glory by receiving it.