O Be Careful Little Feet Where You Go

Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.  Exodus 40:34,35

At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple of God.  2 Chronicles 5:13,14

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.  Romans 8:11 

The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, appeared as a cloud during the time of Moses and again during the time of Solomon to dwell in the Tabernacle in the desert and later in the Temple. These two structures were assembled with painstaking intricacy according to the detailed instructions of God himself. Everything had to be just so if it was going to be fit for God himself, the One who breathed the universe into existence, to inhabit it.

Humanity was so extraordinarily unfit to even be in the remote vicinity of this Almighty God, and in order for Him to dwell among them, there was a dedicated process of sanctification that first needed to take place. From the time of Moses, this is how the Israelites approached God, only in a designated place, and only through the appropriately sanctified priests.

But all of that changed the day Jesus showed up on the scene. This same holy God came as a humble servant and dwelt among men. Throughout his ministry, Jesus defied the religious leaders of the time, not abolishing those laws that were their foundation, but fulfilling and revolutionizing them in his very life and death (Matthew 5:17).

God would no longer dwell in a Temple of brick and stone. One day, Jesus himself will return to rule and reign and will physically sit on the throne in a newly constructed Temple in Jerusalem. But until that day comes, the Spirit of God has a new home: you and me!

Think about that! Think about the gravity of what that means. Previously, there was only one place where God could rightly dwell, and it required unimaginable levels of sanctification and purification in order to make it fit for him. And when the cloud, the spirit of God, actually entered the Tabernacle, Moses could no longer go in because of the overwhelming power of God's glory. And now, that exact same Spirit that filled the Tabernacle and the Temple is living inside of you if you are a child of God! What a privilege!

What do we even do with that information? We are free to come before the throne of God, and we are not bound to the law, but we also need to remember that this body is the very Temple of God. We need to use it as such!

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Matthew 5:18-19

We need to remember that in everything we expose our eyes, our ears, our minds, our bodies to, everything we say, everything we do, and everything we lead others to do is a reflection of the One living within us. We are his Temple! May everything in us shout, "Glory to the Lord!"