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Jesus Came As God To Dwell With Us

Devotional Banner2015
Jesus Came as God to dwell among us.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. –John 1:14a

This idea of dwelling is not a new concept in the Bible. In fact, the “dwelling” that John speaks of in John 1:14 is tabernacle language— just as God dwelled in the tent of meeting among Israel, so now the Word pitches His tent in the incarnation. Leviticus 26:11-12 gives a good picture of this dwelling: “I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”

Now, on the surface, that verse from Leviticus doesn’t seem like the warmest and most intimate of promises—“My soul shall not abhor you.” Can you imagine a marriage proposal along those lines? Imagine the young man on bended knee before his soon-to-be fiancé:

“I want to join our lives together. I want to be with you. I want to live you with you. I want to wake up with you in the mornings and lie down with you in the evenings. And my soul shall not abhor you...will you marry me?”

Obviously, that’s a horrible way to propose marriage. But it is the only way to speak of God’s dwelling among sinful people. Within us is every evil inclination. The Bible says that in our sin we are opposed to God, rebels before God, and hostile toward God. Yet this same God comes to dwell among us—to walk among us, to be our God, to make us His people. This is the wonder of Christmas and, quite simply, the point of the Bible. God comes to redeem His people and to make them His own, paying the ultimate price and delivering the ultimate blessing. Read the words—“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”—and be astounded: God came to you, even you, that you might belong to Him now and forever.