HE MAKES HIS HOME WITH US by Gary Wilkerson
When God’s glory manifests, it reveals His distinction from us—His purity, holiness and almightiness. Even the celestial beings in His presence see Him as separate and full of majesty. Right now multitudes of angels are in God’s presence, and they never stop praising Him day and night. Their nonstop song is, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). That is the effect of God’s holy nature: He invokes our praise at all times in all things.
Amazingly, this holy God tells us, “The world won’t see Me—but you will.”
The Jewish leaders knew the separateness of God but they couldn’t see His tenderness, and they were outraged when Jesus called God His Father. They saw it as blasphemy and wanted to kill Him for it. Yet Jesus took this audacious teaching a step further when He told the disciples, “Not only does your heavenly Father care for you, but He’s going to make His home in you.”
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).
Picture yourself as one of the disciples in the Upper Room when Jesus said this. You were taught the same as your elders, that no one could see God and live. You knew that righteous Moses was able to behold only a small part of God and survive it. So when you heard Jesus’ teaching, you would have thought, “There’s no way God can make His home in me. He’s too holy, too awesome, too other. It can’t be!” Yet Jesus has entrusted to us these incredible twin truths: God is indeed holy and pure—and He seeks to dwell in us, His creation.
Think about what Jesus taught His fledgling church that night. He began by saying He would leave to prepare a home for us. And He ended by saying He would make His home in us. There is the paradoxical beauty of our God—holy and pure, yet intimate and caring. He is above us and with us—and He gives us peace we could never find on our own. That is a God worthy of our confidence in and through all things!
Amazingly, this holy God tells us, “The world won’t see Me—but you will.”
The Jewish leaders knew the separateness of God but they couldn’t see His tenderness, and they were outraged when Jesus called God His Father. They saw it as blasphemy and wanted to kill Him for it. Yet Jesus took this audacious teaching a step further when He told the disciples, “Not only does your heavenly Father care for you, but He’s going to make His home in you.”
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).
Picture yourself as one of the disciples in the Upper Room when Jesus said this. You were taught the same as your elders, that no one could see God and live. You knew that righteous Moses was able to behold only a small part of God and survive it. So when you heard Jesus’ teaching, you would have thought, “There’s no way God can make His home in me. He’s too holy, too awesome, too other. It can’t be!” Yet Jesus has entrusted to us these incredible twin truths: God is indeed holy and pure—and He seeks to dwell in us, His creation.
Think about what Jesus taught His fledgling church that night. He began by saying He would leave to prepare a home for us. And He ended by saying He would make His home in us. There is the paradoxical beauty of our God—holy and pure, yet intimate and caring. He is above us and with us—and He gives us peace we could never find on our own. That is a God worthy of our confidence in and through all things!