It is so easy to take for granted this remarkable fact that God has come to make His home with us. To abide in God and for God to abide in us is no small matter.  It is an awesome thing to believe that the holy God of all creation is pleased to live in us and for us to live in Him. Neither presumption nor an easy familiarity sits well with the biblical revelation of the Holy One of Israel who came to dwell in the midst of His people. Where the gift of His presence, particularly in the form of the tabernacle, was presumed upon there was sometimes judgement – so jealous was God for the holiness of His name and the holiness of His people (2 Samuel 6).
But in spite of Israel’s sin and presumption God lovingly persisted in making known His name, demonstrating again and again His determined purpose to dwell with His redeemed people. The abiding of God with Israel through the tabernacle and later the temple in Jerusalem were wonderful shadows of a dwelling with man that was yet to come – wonderfully fulfilled in Christ and in all who are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.