493 years after the children of Israel
came out of the land of Egypt. Seventeen years after his father
David had gone to glory, King Solomon finished the temple at
Jerusalem. That magnificent structure took
seven years for Solomon with all his wealth and knowledge
and wisdom to complete. When the temple was finished,
the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the most holy place and
the Lord God condescended to come down into the temple, owning
it as his house. And the glory of God filled the
house so that the priest had to leave and were not able to
minister in the house. And then we read in 1 Kings chapter
8, and verse 22, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord
in the presence of the congregation of Israel and spread forth his
hands toward heaven. As I read that text again just
a moment ago, my heart was overwhelmed with the thought, wouldn't it
be wonderful if God would give us a king or a president or a
senator, a congressman who didn't just make gestures of religion,
but knelt before God and spread his heart to heaven. Wonder what God might do. Wonder
what God might do. Verse 23. And he said, Lord God
of Israel, There is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth
beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that
walk before thee with all their heart. Solomon, the king, extolled
the God of heaven as the only true God, the only living God,
Among all the things that men make and call gods, Sodom and
the King says, he who is our God, he is God alone. He is God alone. There is no
God like him, no God beside him, no God besides him, nothing to
whom God can be compared. Nothing to whom God can be compared. Would the God this generation
would learn this? Nothing to which God can be compared. He's the supreme sovereign of
the universe. The covenant keeping God of his
people, his Israel, his elect. God always keeps his covenant. God always performs his promise. God always does what he says
he will do. Nothing hinders him, nothing
stops him, nothing slows him down, nothing stands in his way. Not you, not me, not all hell
and not all the earth. God is the covenant keeping God. He's merciful, gracious, wise,
and good. He is faithful and true, fulfilling
all his word to all his people. And yet, look at verse 26. This great and glorious God,
God who inhabits eternity, the infinite, incomprehensible Jehovah,
condescended to come into the temple and to dwell in the midst
of his people upon the earth. To Solomon, this was a matter
of utter astonishment. And now, O God of Israel, Let
thy word, I pray thee, be verified which thou spakest unto thy servant
David, my father. He's referring specifically to
God's promise to David, saying that David would have a house
and a kingdom and a man to sit on his throne forever. He said to David, you're going
to have a house and a kingdom and a man to sit on your throne
forever without interruption forever But pastor everybody
knows there's been no king in Israel for a long long time now
I'm not talking about that little spot of ground over on the other
side of the world That's that's not the Holy Land that lands
just as cursed as Danville, Kentucky That nation is not God's Israel. I That nation is not God's church. That nation is not God's kingdom. And there is a man sitting on
the throne of David today. His name is Christ the Lord,
the son of David, the king of Israel. He reigns over all the
earth. But will God indeed dwell on
the earth? Solomon says, Lord, I'm astonished
at this, what you've done, what we've seen today, and what you
have promised. Will God indeed dwell on the
earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven
of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that
I have built it. Will God indeed dwell on the
earth? That is not an expression of
unbelief or doubt. It's an expression of utter astonishment. Will God, who dwells on high,
humbles himself to look upon the things in heaven, and stooped
to consider those things that are upon the earth, will this
great glorious God condescend to dwell with men upon the earth? That's astonishing. And yet,
blessedly true, will God indeed dwell on the earth? That's my
subject this morning. The condescension of the eternal,
almighty, holy, immense, sovereign God to dwell upon the earth is
an act of astonishing grace. I want to show you four things
Clearly revealed in this text of scripture. We've read this
morning Here's the first thing This one who came to dwell on
the earth in the temple at Jerusalem This one who who came down? by
some visible manifestation Into the holy of holies Into that
temple just as he had had come when moses finished the tabernacle.
He came down in a visible manifestation of his great glory This one who
came down, but he didn't just visit the temple as he visited
the tabernacle He came down here to dwell He came and his glory
Filled the house and there he came to dwell This one who came
down is himself God. God. God. He was manifest, and
there was a visible manifestation of him, but the one who came
was not just a manifestation. The one who came was and is God
Almighty. Solomon built the temple it was
finished after seven years and he bought the Ark of God into
the Holy of Holies and for the first time in history God Came
down to dwell with man Imagine that Imagine that he came down
to dwell with man. I And Solomon, this man to whom
God gave wisdom above all other men on the earth, understood
the significance of what he saw. He understood the significance
of what God was revealing in that place. We tend to think
that the saints of God in the Old Testament really didn't know
much. That's a mistake. Don't misunderstand
me. Sitting in this congregation
this morning, some have greater knowledge and some lesser knowledge
of divine things. Among God's people, that is always
the case. There are babes, there are young
men, and there are old men. There are strong and there are
weak believers. But God's saints in the Old Testament
had a clear revelation of the accomplishments of Christ Jesus
that he would perform in time upon this earth. When Moses saw
the tabernacle completed, Moses understood this is a complete
picture of what the Christ will accomplish in the salvation of
our souls. How can you say that? We recognize
progressive revelation. In the book of God, we're given
revelation, here a little and there a little, line upon line,
precept upon precept, until the whole book of God is complete
and the whole revelation of God in scripture is finished. We
recognize that fact. It is given progressively. But
God's saints in the Old Testament looked for him to come who would
be seed of the woman, God in human flesh, by whom God would
accomplish righteousness and redemption for his people. Job,
who lived before any others that we have record of in scripture,
the first book to be written, In the Old Testament Scriptures
is the book of Job. That man Job said, I know that
my Redeemer liveth. And at the last day, he's going
to stand on this earth. And I'm going to see him with
my eyes, just like I look at you. He understood that. Enoch. Enoch. What was it, the
seventh generation from Adam? Before the flood before the days
of the flood he spoke not of our Lord's first coming but of
his second coming He spoke of Christ coming with ten thousand
of his saints Don't imagine that the Old Testament saints were
ignorant of the things of God. They were taught by God as well
Solomon saw God come in the temple to dwell and he's astonished. He's astonished. I God promised
that he would do this. God told my father David, this
is what he would do. And now Solomon senior come to
pass. And he says, Oh, well, God indeed dwell upon the earth. Yes. God came to dwell upon the
earth. Who is he? He is God omnipresent. Turn to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. We'll look at a little scripture
this morning. I've heard Brother Maurice Montgomery
make this statement numerous times. One of the things his
father, our friend, Brother Hubert Montgomery, said to him when
he was leaving to go to Okinawa, one of the most striking things.
As a matter of fact, I think I've heard Maurice repeat this
more than I have any other thing from his youth. He said, the
last thing Daddy said to me before I left home, he said, son, God
goes everywhere. God goes everywhere. That'll
teach you to behave, won't it? God goes everywhere. You're not
going to flee from God's presence. Ain't going to happen. God goes
everywhere. He came with you to the house
of God, and he goes to the whorehouse. He comes with you to the place
where you worship God, and he goes to the bar. God goes everywhere. God goes everywhere. Listen to
this, Psalm 139, verse 7. There's no fleeing from his presence
in heaven, earth, or hell. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as the day, and the darkness
and the light are both alike to thee. We're talking now about
God, not man. God. God. I often said to my
daughter, and I've said to about all of your children at one time
or another, It starts to go somewhere else. Now, you understand, Brother
Don knows everything. I learn about everything. I've
got eyes in the back of my head. I've got eyes everywhere. And
I say that in jest, but I say that because I want kids to behave.
I want them to behave. Well, this is no jest. With God,
dark and light are the same. But God, there's no covering
place. There's no hiding place. There's
no place you're going to flee from his presence. God is everywhere
by his power, upholding, maintaining, and sustaining all things, performing
with his hands, his will, always, everywhere at the same time. So that right now, today, God
is accomplishing His will by His hands right here in Denver,
Kentucky, and He's doing the same thing in Hong Kong, China.
Everywhere at the same time, God's present with His power.
His providence is always present everywhere, taking care of and
governing all creatures, executing in all places, at the same time,
His everlasting decrees. God is everywhere by his omniscience,
beholding all things, all places, all events, all people, even
the secrets of every man's heart all the time. This is this is
just beyond you and I this is beyond we cannot imagine omniscience
Omnipresence and omnipotence we we can't imagine it. It's
just stated in the scripture God is everywhere in his providence
always Doing his will in his power always working his purpose
and in his omniscience Beholding everything the eyes of the Lord
are in every place Beholding the evil and the good look at
the same psalm psalm 139 verse 6 Our verse 1 rather. Oh Lord
Thou has searched me and known me Thou knowest my down sitting
and mine uprising Thou understandest my thought afar off Thou compassest
my path, my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast
beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Yet this immense, omnipresent,
infinite, omniscient Lord God came to dwell upon the earth. When we consider who He is, we
might well cry in astonishment, will God indeed dwell on the
earth? Heaven's His throne. The earth
is his footstool, but the king of heaven and earth came down
here to dwell on his footstool. He came down here to dwell on
his footstool. My chair at home, got a footstool,
sitting back in our bedroom, back in the reading corner. And
the only time I ever sit on the footstool is if the house is
crowded, Or the chair, he's got something, Shelby's right now,
it's all piled up with stuff. Shelby's packing things up. So
I'll sit on a footstool, put my socks on. That's the only
time I ever sit on a footstool. The footstool's the place where
you lay your feet. But God came down here to dwell on his footstool. And my footstool is magnificent
compared to his. It's magnificent. You see, this
round ball of clay and water is a suitable habitation for
man and beast. The heaven, even the heavens
are the Lord's, but the earth hath he made and given to the
children of men. And yet God came down here to
dwell upon the earth. The earth, this cursed piece
of creation. This cursed thing. Cursed by
reason of sin. Cursed by reason of the fall
of our father Adam. So that thorns and thistles and
briars grow throughout the earth. Grow everywhere. You'll find
them in the lush green meadow. You'll find them on the high
mountain. And you'll find them in the desert. Thorns and briars
and thistles grow everywhere because the earth is cursed.
Everywhere you go. It's cursed. I've mentioned Israel
folks refer to go into the Holy Land Please don't say that to
me now correct if you do in public or private it ain't holy. It's
just dirt with thorns and briars and thistles Thorns and briars
and thistles the earth Because it is cursed is marked for burning
It is reserved Peter tells us against the day reserved to fire,
against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men.
And yet God came down here to dwell upon this sinful, cursed
earth. The inhabitants of the earth
among whom he came to dwell are fallen, depraved, sinful, cursed
sons and daughters of Adam. When the Lord God condescended
time and again to look upon the inhabitants of the earth, he
declared, they are all gone aside. They are all together to come
fit. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. It would be
marvelous if God should, in condescending mercy, look upon man and the
earth with tolerance, visit fallen man as we're told he has. And
yet our text speaks of God coming to dwell on the earth. He came
here to dwell with man upon the earth. Now surely, surely, I've
said all that to say this. If God came down from heaven
to dwell on the earth, He didn't come here to get something. He
didn't come here for us to do something for Him. He didn't
come here to gain something from us. He came here to do something
for us. And Solomon understood. God coming
into the temple, there when he put the Ark of the Covenant,
the symbol of our Redeemer in the Holy of Holies, where it
pictures redemption accomplished when the blood sprinkled on the
mercy seat. God came to dwell! And Solomon said, will God indeed
dwell on the earth? Will God dwell here to do something
for man? Will God dwell here to do something
for sinful fallen man? Will God dwell here to do something
for this sin-cursed earth that man has ruined? That brings me
to my second point. You see, Solomon understood that
the temple he had built and the presence of God dwelling in that
temple foreshadowed and prefigured greater things yet to come, which
are even more astonishing. So here's the second thing. Our
text refers specifically to the marvelous incarnation of God
the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and him dwelling on the earth
to work out righteousness, redemption, and salvation for his people.
Will God the Son indeed dwell on the earth? Indeed, he has. Indeed, he does. And this is
marvelous in our eyes. Turn to that very familiar passage
in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians the 8th chapter,
verse 9. This is an astonishing thing.
It's an astonishing thing. Paul's talking here about the
gifts of men for their brethren. And he says to the saints of
Corinth, prove now the sincerity of your love. Prove it by your
giving. Now, look what he says. This
is the motive and the example. For you know the grace, 2 Corinthians
8 and 9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, rich being God, the creator and sustainer of
all things, rich being God the Son, rich being God our covenant
surety and mediator, the adoration of angels, though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor. He became poor. The scripture says he emptied
himself. He became poor that you, through
his poverty, might be made rich. Turn back a few pages to John
chapter 1. John chapter 1. The Lord Jesus
tabernacled upon the earth in our nature. He pitched a tent
and dwelt here. He pitched a tent and dwelt here.
John chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Now, this description
of our Savior is peculiar. It's unique to John's writings.
John speaks of Christ as the Word. Brother Lindsay handled
that so well just a few minutes ago. He is the revelation. He is the medium of communication. He is the one by whom God makes
himself known to men. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, face to face with God. And the Word
was God. A more literal reading would
be, God was the Word. God was the Word. Now look at
verse 14. And the Word was made flesh. God, who was the Word, was made
flesh. The Word was made flesh. God
became one of us, Rod. God became one of us. The Word
was made flesh. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. God incarnate. The Word was made
flesh, just like us in all things, sin alone accepted. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. John says, we
who are witnesses of His majesty, Peter, James, and John on the
Mount of Transfiguration. We who see him by faith, we who
believe him, we who understand what he accomplished, we beheld
his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. Moses' tabernacle was a type
of Christ's human nature. His humanity, we're told, is
the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. The
temple that Solomon built was also a type of our Savior's humanity. He said, destroy this temple.
And in three days, I'll build it again. I'll raise it up. He's
talking about his body. Destroy this temple. Three days,
I'll raise it up. Christ is the true God. He is the great God, the brightness
of the Father's glory and the express image of his person.
He is the maker, the creator of all things. Christ Jesus,
our Lord, our Savior is over all God blessed forever. It is he who upholds all things
with the word of his power. He's high above all. And yet
he came to dwell upon the earth. He thought of not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took on
him the form of a servant. He came here and became obedient,
obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross came
to dwell upon the earth. And yet, He is still the High
God. The angels of God are called
upon to worship Him, in Hebrews 1, because He is their Creator. All men, good and evil, are subject
to Him, His servants, because He's their Creator. He dwells
and always has dwelt in the highest heaven. He rideth upon the heavens
and over all God blessed forever. Therefore, he's called the Lord
from heaven. Christ is that one who came down
from heaven to do his father's will, to accomplish his father's
purpose. And while he was on the earth
doing his father's will, he's still in heaven. So he said in
John chapter 3 verse 13, he said, he said, the one talking to you,
I'm in heaven. The son of man came down here
to do his father's will. The one I'm talking about is
he who is in heaven right now. So that though he assumed our
nature and became one of us, he never ceased to be God. Our
savior is God in the flesh. Now, this is amazing. I've read
about it and studied it for Since I was 16 years old and I don't
I don't have any clearer knowledge of it now than I had when I first
started I Jesus Christ is altogether man, and he's fully God and while
he was on this earth He's all together man, but he is fully
God lacking nothing. He didn't come down here changing
locations He didn't he didn't move from one place to another
but rather the infinite incomprehensible God came to the earth in human
flesh and in that body of flesh resides all the triune God. Jesus Christ is God incarnate. But why? Why did he come? What was the reason? Why did
God come down into that temple? Why did he come down there to
dwell? If God comes down from heaven to the earth, it must
be to do some specific thing. And Jesus Christ said, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O my God. Before the world was, Before
time was, that space called the time from before the foundation
of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ stood forth
as our surety and in covenant grace, it was proposed to him
that he should come into this world. and live as a man, fulfill
all righteousness and suffer death as a man for the punishment
of man's transgressions, being made sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And the father said
to the son, do this and I'll give you the whole earth, the
nations of the world for your inheritance. And the son said,
I'll gladly do that. And he struck hands with the
father. And he said, Lord, I call to do thy will. Oh, my God. And coming down here, our Savior
came to perform that purpose. Now, it was given by manifestation
and prophecy and type in the Old Testament scriptures repeatedly
so that in the Old Testament, the Lord frequently visited the
earth. He came down to Adam and Eve
in the garden. After the fall, he came to visit
Adam and Eve. And he killed some innocent victims
because of their sin. And he took the skins of those
victims. God! standing there like a man
in Adam's presence, slaughtered those innocent victims. Then
he skinned them out and he dried the skins and with his hands
he made clothing for the naked pair. He stripped them naked
and he put the skins of the animals on them and said, this is what's
going to happen when the seed of woman comes into the world.
I'll save my people by the sacrifice of myself and clothe them with
perfect righteousness. He came to Abraham in the plains
of Mamre. He visited Jacob again and again. He came to Moses in the burning
bush. Manoah and his wife saw him. where he came and did wondrously
in the fires. The sacrifice ascended up into
heaven and revealed his name as secret and wonderful. Isaiah saw him. He saw him sitting
on his throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. And the Lord God spoke to Isaiah
and Isaiah saw his glory. The Lord Jesus spoke. After he'd
sent one of the angels with tongs to take a coal from off the altar
and laid it on Isaiah's lips and said, your iniquity is taken
away, your sin is purged. And Isaiah heard the Lord Jesus
speak in covenant, whom shall I sin and who will go for us? And the Savior stood forth and
said, here am I, send me. Isaiah saw what Christ had said
he would do. And then the Savior came at the
fullness of time. Our Savior spoken of prophetically.
not only by these typical pre-incarnate appearances, but throughout the
prophecies. He's called the seed of the woman.
Isaiah spoke of him as a substitute. Job spoke of him as a redeemer.
David spoke of him as our salvation. He is that one whose name would
be called Emmanuel, God with us, a son given. Our Savior came
to live and die in our stead. In the fullness of time, in due
time, Christ came. Now, be sure you understand this. Our Savior, the Word, was made
flesh and dwelt among us. But I remind you, he never ceased
to be God. Wonder of wonders. He was in
the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. The wonder increases when you
consider why he came. He came here for me. He came here for you. He came
here to live in our room instead as a perfect man, to fulfill
all righteousness on our behalf, to honor God, to magnify his
law and make it honorable. He came here that in the fullness
of time at the hour appointed from eternity, he might be taken
and nailed to a cursed tree and made sin for us. God's fury being
poured out on him until all God's justice had exhausted itself
in the punishment of his son. And at last he cries, it is finished. And with his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Christ came here to bring many
sons to glory. When he finished his work, he
was risen the third day and then exalted to heaven's high throne. However, and this is my third
point, though he's gone to heaven to make intercession for us,
our Lord God still dwells on the earth. He who is God, our
Savior, The infinite incarnate God is the indwelling God. When Solomon saw God come to
the temple, he said with astonishment, will God indeed dwell on the
earth? And this too, I'm confident Solomon
understood. That temple was just a representative
structure. It was only a typical structure. People talk today who are just
so ignorant of spiritual things, ignorant of the scriptures. They
talk about God's going to, Christ's going to come again and he's
going to take his throne in Jerusalem and they're going to rebuild
the temple and they're going to reestablish the priesthood
and have Jewish sacrifices. If that wasn't so blasphemous,
David, it'd be laughable. It'd be laughable. What nonsense? I have been hearing since I was
a tadpole-sized fellow. Well, I never was a tadpole-sized
fella, since I was a little fella. I've been hearing they've already
got the stones in Israel, getting ready to rebuild that temple.
I've been hearing it all my life. Now let me tell you something.
God may, in his judgment, bring that to pass. And those Jews
may rebuild a temple. And they may reestablish some
kind of priesthood. And they may build some kind
of an altar in a mercy seat. And they may revert to their
Old Testament law in full, sacrificing animals on a literal altar. They
may do that. But God ain't in it! Why would God revert to that?
Solomon understood this temple is just a temporary representative
structure of something far greater. This temple represents the church
and the people of God. This is God not dwelling in a
physical structure alone, but God portrayed here as dwelling
in his people, his Israel. And so our text refers to the
indwelling of God among his people in grace. This is what the old
Puritans used to call the divine presence. Turn to John again,
John's gospel chapter 14, chapter 14. Here's what our savior says about
this. Verse 16, I will pray the father. And he shall give you another
comforter. That word another, you remember when Galatians Paul
said, who's bewitched you that you should be turned from the
gospel to another gospel? That word means another that's
not even like it. This is a different word translated another. It means
another exactly like me. another of exactly the same kind.
I'll pray the father. This comforter, this, this man
is going to be taken away from you. It's expedient for you.
I go away. If I don't go away, the comforter
will not come, but I'm going to pray the father and he'll
send you another comforter just like me. One with me that he
may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive because it see if you're not neither
knoweth him, but you know him. For he dwelleth in you, and shall
be in you, and I will not leave you comfortless. I will come
to you yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but
you shall see me, because I live, you shall live also. At that
day you shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me,
and I in you. Look at chapter 17, verse 22. The Savior says, The glory which
thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one, even
as we are one. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now
look at verse 25. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. And I declared unto them thy
name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast
loved me may be in them, and I in them." God comes to dwell
in his people in the new birth. What happens when God saves a
sinner? Many things happen. Many things happen. We're born
again. We're made new creatures in Christ. We're given His righteousness. We're given faith in Christ. We're converted. We repent. We're
devoted to Him. But it all begins with this,
Bobby. The Son of God comes and takes up residence in you forever. Forever. He comes by omnipotent
mercy and takes up residence in His people. Christ dwells
in His church. He dwells in all his church. I spoke to Brother Angus Fisher
Friday. He was getting ready to preach
in just a few hours. Sunday's already gone down there.
And down in Sydney, Australia, down below Sydney, Australia.
And some of God's church is down there. Some of God's church is
down there. I regularly hear from Evelyn
Wang over in Taiwan. Some of God's church is over
there. The whole host of believers scattered through all the earth,
in heaven and on earth, are his church. His church. That's what
we mean by the term universal church. The whole of God's elect
are his church. And he dwells in them. All of
them. Everywhere. All the time. All
the time. And he dwells with his local
church. Local churches we meet together gathered in the name
of Christ by his spirit in grace in his name. He promises to be
in our midst particularly the Lord God in the person of his
spirit dwells in the hearts of all true believers The father
comes and makes his abode with us The spirit comes and dwells
with us and the son dwells in our hearts by faith One of his
disciples, Judas, not Iscariot, when the Lord talked about this
in John, he said, how is it that you're going to show yourself
to us and not show yourself to the world? How is it that we're
going to be able to see you? And other folks say, see him
right here, right now, right here. Some of you see him, and
you know him, and you hear his voice, and you walk with him.
And you said, how is it that you're going to make yourself
known to us and we'll see you? But some of you sitting here
don't see him. And you don't hear his voice.
And you don't walk with him. And you don't know him. What's
the difference? Is I'll come to you and dwell in you. I'll
come to you and dwell in you. Imagine that. What an astonishing
fact. The Lord Jesus dwells. He lives
in his saints upon the earth. He dwells in our hearts, not
in our heads, but in our hearts, not in our lips, but in our hearts.
Where does he dwell? Bobby dwells where sin dwells
in your heart. Frank, he dwells where you most
grieve him in your heart. Where does He dwell? He dwells
where He is most slighted, in our hearts. Oh, our God, the
Lord Jesus, dwells in our hearts permanently. No wonder Solomon
said, will God indeed dwell on the earth? He came and took up
His abode in us, David. And he'll never leave. He'll
never leave. One more thing. There is a day coming when God
will dwell with his people upon the earth in the immaculate perfection
of everlasting glory and bliss. Come back to the book of Job.
Let's look at this earliest prophecy of our Redeemer. Chapter 19, Job 19, verse 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God, my Redeemer. He speaks of his Redeemer, and
he calls him God. Don't tell me he didn't know
what he's talking about. I'll see God. How you gonna see God? In the flesh! You can't see God
any other way. See God in the person of his
Son, whom I shall see for myself. And mine eyes shall behold, and
not another, though my reins be consumed with envy. Soon, God's going to dissolve
this ball of clay. Our Lord will descend from heaven,
He will descend in judgment upon all men to the everlasting salvation
of his elect. And he'll destroy this world
and make all things new and dwell on the earth. He'll dwell on
the earth. I've said this to you so many
times, I don't know. There's not a whole lot revealed
about our eternal state. There's a lot revealed, but there's
a whole lot more that's not revealed. What things going to be like?
I don't know. I don't know. But this is my suspicion. All right,
if I give you what I think is going to happen. He's going to
make all things new, raise these bodies in resurrection glory,
and make a new heaven and a new earth. And Lindsay, we will forever
live with God in our midst, knowingly. tabernacling with God, God dwelling
in His temple on this earth without sin. We'll serve Him and serve
one another forever without sin. I suspect life in eternity will
be much like life is now for God's elect when sin is gone,
when there are no more briars, nothing else to prick my finger
and no more pain and no more sorrow and no more death and
the tabernacle of God is with me and God dwells on the earth
with his people to the full satisfaction of the triune God and to the
full satisfaction of our souls. Amen.