Page 010 - Where Does God Want to Live?
*Verses from AMP
"Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him." (Amp: John 14:23)
We all know that a house is not the same as a home. Is it not amazing that the God of the universe who dwells in the heavens seeks a dwelling place which He can call home?
God Himself declares: "THUS SAYS the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house would you build for Me? And what kind can be My resting-place? For all these things My hand has made, and so all these things have come into being [by and for Me], says the Lord. But this is the man to whom I will look and have regard: he who is humble and of a broken or wounded spirit, and who trembles at My word and reveres My commands." (Amp: Isaiah 66:1-2)
We may think that it is merely a human custom for a man and woman to get married and settle down in a home together. Yet this institution comes straight from God. He alone declared, "It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper, meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him." (Amp: Genesis 2:18)
Is it no wonder that marriage is difficult? It did not originate with man. When man tries to uphold something according to the nature of God, he fails. Yet God wants to have a marriage for eternity:
"And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband; Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God." (Amp: Revelation 21:2-3)