Those who study Scripture with a knowledge of the original languages find many rich truths. For instance, I picked the word DWELL today thinking of how God speaks in the OT of dwelling with His people. Since God is omnipresent, that seems obvious, but there is a special sense of His presence. His people know that He is near them. This shows up in the words they used. One word for dwell is generally about human habitations and generally about God being in Jerusalem and in His heavenly dwelling. It suggests His regal majesty.
The other word is also translated ‘dwell’ yet the context is about Him being near, close to them. It is more personal and used in verses like these:
May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.” (Genesis 9:27)
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. (Exodus 25:8)
I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 29:45–46)
From God’s promises and our relationship with Him, Christians know that He dwells in our hearts. Jesus declared it first. After saying the Father dwells in Him, He said to the disciples that “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him” that they “know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:10; 17)
In this promise, dwell means to continue a certain state, condition, or activity. Jesus told us that His Spirit would stick around. Another NT word translated ‘dwell’ means to exist or co-exist, to be situated within, speaking of the same residing place of God the Spirit.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)
The Bible is clear that the Spirit of God is with His people yet this does not make us the same as Jesus:
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell . . . (Colossians 1:19)
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily . . . (Colossians 2:9)
In Jesus, this was about His identity. He is fully God and fully man. For us, His indwelling is about God’s power to save us from sin including idolatry, and to give us His transferable attributes including love:
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit . . . . so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 2:22; 3:17–19)
This wonder comes full circle. God made the promise and it is fulfilled at the end of time and for all eternity:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3)
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The Bible says that looking at Jesus is part of becoming like Him. I can spend a lot of time looking at my work, projects, out the window, books, etc. but the most precious and valuable thing to do is read, study, meditate about Jesus Christ, the One who dwells in my heart.
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