God is determined to dwell with us. In the Garden, in Eden, He walked with mankind in the cool of the day. But man rejected Him and separation was the result. God brought into being a nation, and in their midst He tabernacled with them. Eventually they built a temple and the glory of God filled it and rested there in the midst of His people. But they insisted on sin, idolatry and rebellion, and separation was required; His glory departed (Ezekiel 10). If God is to live with His people, something must be done in His people, because we are such sinners and fallen from His glory.
God sent His own Son, who became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory… the great I Am. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not know him. He came to His own, and his own people did not receive Him. They did not know the time of their visitation and so they crucified Him. He rose again, and ascended into heaven—the Glory of God departed once again.
And yet God is determined to dwell with His people. Through Christ's substitutionary death—He took what we deserve—a radical relationship and change is offered to us. For God to dwell with us forever, and we with Him, He must dwell in us, cleansing us from sin. God invites us to respond to His Son in faith for the forgiveness of our sins. He invites us to leave our sins, and our efforts of self-improvement, and to claim the Blood of Christ shed on the cross for our sins, as the sacrifice made in our place. All who receive Him by faith He makes one of His own people. For then we are washed, made whiter than snow, and can be in His presence without shame or fear.
And so, He changes us inside; He makes us new creatures; He gives us a new heart and abides in us by His Spirit. He is in us, we are now the temple; He has knocked and we have opened the door. Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. We are a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. And one day, past the millennium of Christ's rule, past the judgment of the lost, past the New Heaven and New Earth, in Eternity and the fullness of the Kingdom of God:

“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 ESV)

Is God welcome in you? Or will you go it alone in your sin, with separation the inevitable result? Jesus said of Himself— “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20 ESV) Has He no home in you? If you will receive Him into your life, if your desire is for you to live with God eternally and He with you, then know this-- something must be done in you. You are a sinner. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. He will change you and dwell 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 ESV)

© Kevin Mahon
http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com