Many of us have experienced situations during our lives where the only option to endure them is faith, the substance of our hope. In Deuteronomy 31:6, Moses gives a promise to the Israelites on behalf of God, saying, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Moses repeats this to Joshua in 31:8, “The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” We can be courageous and strong because the Lord is with us. It is the Lord’s design from creation to the millennial kingdom to be with us. He desires your relationship. A connection with you.
From the beginning of creation God desired relationship with humanity, which is revealed in the imagery of the Tabernacle. Certainly, He was physically present with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when He walked among them. When they became separated from Him through sin, the LORD provided a way for Him to “dwell” among them through instruction, Torah, and the building of the Tabernacle. Moses anointed the Tabernacle and all of the contents with the holy anointing oil, called shemen Ha-mishchah. The word mishchah comes from the same root as “Messiah,” inferring that the Mishkhan/Tabernacle, which means the dwelling of the Divine Presence of God, would foreshadow the redemptive work of the Messiah.
Hebrews 9:24 says, “For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place which is not man made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, in order to appear on our behalf in the very presence of God.” Meantime, In Christ, God made a way for us to be set free from sin and for the LORD to dwell in our hearts. As Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Jesus told us in Matthew 28:20, ”I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” At the end of the age, God’s presence will be reestablished as prophesied many times in scripture, one such reference found in Isaiah 66:17, “For look! I create a new heaven and a new earth; past things will not be remembered, they will no more come to mind.”
This is similar to Revelation 21:1, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old earth had passed away… I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, God with them, will be their God.” His Presence, although invisible to the eyes today, is still among His people until that day when he will actually dwell among us in the new heaven and new earth. Paul cites the true picture of the Tabernacle/Temple of God in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you not know that you are God’s Temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” We can see that God wants to dwell with us. He is in our heart. He never leaves us. Even though we may at times leave Him. It’s all about the connection.
