“Wondering”. . .Fascinated By God, and By His Truth

(Friends: during this series, the messages may frequently be longer than usual due to the subject matter.  Thanks for your patience, and I think you will find the considerations interesting, and hopefully, helpful in our walk with the Lord.  Glen)

Part 23 – “With… Within”

     If we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Spirit is with us to the degree that He is within us.

     “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16).

     God made human hearts to serve as His spiritual home.  No indication exists in Scripture that this can be said of any other creature, including angels.  Only in believing man does the triune Lord constitute a dwellingplace, through the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

     “Jesus answered and said unto him, 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).

       Few truths of the Bible more challenge communication than this wonder of the “Where?” of God being the heart of man.  The reality is so monumental, so wondrous to consider, so seemingly impossible, and so profound that, whether in speaking or writing, I feel incredible frustration in seeking to find words to express “the hope of glory, which is Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27).  Indeed, “God with us,” as manifested in the Lord Jesus is glorious enough (Matthew 1:23).  God within us, as manifested by the Holy Spirit, elicits an even more mind-numbing and word-transcendent reality.  Nevertheless, this abiding presence of the Divine in trusting hearts constitutes the very heart of the Christian gospel, and perhaps the most sublime purpose of God concerning humanity.

     The truth that seems to shine brightest in my own heart regarding the indwelling Holy Spirit is simply that God loves human hearts, including yours and mine, to the degree that He desires to live within them.  He desires His “Where?” to be here, in the innermost sanctum of our being.  This is how near He desires to be to us.  This is how near He is to us, if we have believed.  No closer intimacy could be possible, and no one else can occupy the holy place in humanity made by our Lord only for Himself.  We do well to ponder often this “hope of glory,” seeking to live in the belovedness whereby “God with us” means God within us.

“I will dwell in them.”

(II Corinthians 6:16)