God’s Dwelling Place

God gave Israel instructions on building the place He was to dwell. But can God really dwell with us? This was Solomon’s question as well.

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27)

Later through the prophet Isaiah the Lord said, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?” (Isaiah 66:1)

God is omnipresent, that is, He is present everywhere, which means the Lord doesn’t dwell in just one place. Solomon was right then when he said that the temple he built, no matter how majestic, could never contain the Lord God.

God’s dwelling place cannot be made through human hands or ingenuity. No power on earth can ever contain the presence of the Lord God. Such a dwelling place can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the human spirit.

The Lord said, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.” (Zechariah 4:6)

Thus the Spirit of God is the only one who can build such a dwelling place, and He chose to build it within a believer’s life.

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

To the prophet Isaiah the Lord said, “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15)