NT Framework - God wants to dwell with you

The infinite God wants to dwell with man, with each of us, that is a mind boggling idea when you start to think about that; among all His other creations, He wants to be with us.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
The most fundamental idea in the Bible is this
concept that God wants to dwellwith man.
So I'm going to talk aboutthree streams of evidence.
One is dwelling, this conceptof dwelling.
The other one is going to beGod and the other one will be
man.
But you put them all together,this concept that God wants to

(00:33):
dwell with man, and these arethree stories that are going on
in the Old Testament.
You will see these stories veryquickly.
Even if you've not been aChristian very long, you'll be
able to catch these ideas.
So the first one if you look atGenesis 2, verse 6 and 7, we
have the creation of man.
Verse 6 and 7, a mist used torise from the earth and water

(01:02):
the whole surface of the ground.
We're talking about the earth.
Right Then, the Lord God formedman of dust from the ground and
breathed into his nostrils thebreath of life, and man became a
living being or soul.
And this being, this soul, ismade in the image of God.
Right, for what purpose?

(01:22):
Well, obviously, to have arelationship with God, the one
whose image he bears.
Now, if you look in verse 15,it says the Lord God took the
man and put him into the Gardenof Eden to cultivate and keep it
.
So question was the man made,created inside the Garden of
Eden or was he created outsidethe Garden of Eden, outside?

(01:45):
Now you have to start to thinkwith me, okay, about the Garden
of Eden itself, what it musthave been like.
So it's definitely within aspace and there's space outside
that garden.
Right, we know that, because hemade Adam outside, he put him
in it, okay, and the questionbecomes what is this garden
really?
Is this not where God wants todwell with man?

(02:11):
In this garden, I'm going tocall it a garden temple.
In the ancient world they hadthe hanging gardens of Babylon.
It was basically a garden park.
Many kings of the ancient worldhad these to go and to relax in
, to enjoy times of respite.
They were gorgeous.

(02:31):
I mean, you can imagine.
What do you think the Garden ofEden is?
It's one of these pleasureparks.
It's a place where you coulddwell with God.
It's where you communed withGod.
In fact, chapter 3, verse 8 sayswhat?
Chapter 3, verse 8.
After the fall, they sowedtheir fig leaves.
It says they heard the sound ofthe Lord God walking in the

(02:54):
garden in the cool of the day.
They heard the sound of theLord God walking the word for
movement like to and fro.
We have a question what is this?
Is this a force?
Is this the person of God inpre-incarnate form, as the

(03:17):
Messiah who would come daily tocommune with him, to walk with
him inside this garden, to dwellwith man?
No, it tempts us to think thisway.
Verses 22 to 24, 322,.
What happened after the cursesare given to the serpent, to the
woman, to the man, it says.

(03:38):
Then the Lord God said behold,the man has become like one of
us, knowing good and evil.
Now he might stretch out hishand and take also from the tree
of life and eat and liveforever.
And you see usually a dashedline there, which is what?
Also from the tree of life andeat and live forever.
And you see usually a dashedline there, which is what?
There's three indications of themeaning in Hebrew, one of which
is that the sentence does notcomplete, which is basically my

(04:04):
perspective.
It's like saying something andyou stop mid-sentence because
everybody knows the rest of thesentence.
You don't need to say it, butit's a very horrible thing, so
just don't say it.
In other words, the veryhorrible thing is that if man
could eat from this tree andlive forever in a sinful body.
How terrible would that be,that we would always go on
living in these sinful bodies.
How terrible would the worldbecome as we just acted on our

(04:27):
sinful impulses?
So it's just kind of left off.
And so what did he do?
Verse 24, so he drove the manout Out of what, out of the
garden right and at the east ofthe Garden of Eden he stationed
the cherry bee angels and theflaming sword which turned every
direction to guard the way tothe tree of life.
So in other words, no access.

(04:48):
But isn't it interesting?
East, he drove them out east,when you get to the end of the
story with Cain and Abel, cainmurders his brother Abel.
He goes east to the land of Nod.
Throughout the Bible, if youstudy east, well, let's say more
about east the tabernacle thatis later set up by Israelites in

(05:13):
the wilderness and later thetemple that was built in
Jerusalem.
How many entrances were thereto the tabernacle and the temple
?
Just one.
And you entered from the eastand you were going west.
Moving west was moving towardGod in the most holy place.
But if you moved East, you weregoing which way?
Away from God, away from God.

(05:34):
He put them out of the garden,away to the East.
Cain went East to the land,away from God.
Where did the Gentileastronomers come from?
They come from the East, butthey went which way West, toward
God.
This is significant in biblicalideas and the idea here is that

(06:01):
now you've got a garden templewhere God dwelled with man,
communed with man, and now he isremoved from that garden area,
that garden temple, and hecannot come in to enter to
commune with God there.
Right, because there's theseangels that are stationed there
with a flaming sword, which is asign for capital punishment.

(06:23):
Try to come in here and that'sit.
You're dead, right, they'reguarding the way to the tree of
life.
It, you're dead, right, they'reguarding the way to the tree of
life.
So there's this concept thatGod wants to dwell with man from
the very beginning of thescripture.
Now go to Exodus chapter.
I'm sorry, Genesis 12.
Genesis 12.

(06:44):
I'm trying, but probably notsucceeding, at enlarging your
views of ideas in the Bible.
One of the things God promisedIsrael?
Well, three of the things I'llgive you a land, a seed, and
I'll make you a worldwideblessing.
Right, these aren't justpromises that are put into a
covenant, verse 1,.

(07:04):
Now the Lord said to Abram Goforth from your country, from
your relatives, from yourfather's house, to the land.
I will show you why does hewant him to go to a land, to
dwell with him in that land, inwhat will eventually be the
tabernacle.
Isn't that the whole purpose ofthe land?

(07:27):
Isn't it like he's almostsetting up another garden?
Let's go to Exodus 3, verse 8.
Exodus 3, verse 8.
To see a little bit about thisland.
It's described this way Exodus3, verse 8, the story of Moses.

(07:47):
Moses has already fled Egyptand he's down in the Sinai
tending his father-in-law'ssheep.
In Exodus 3.8.
In the story of the burningbush, it says in verse 8, so I
have come down to deliver themfrom the power of the Egyptians
and bring them up from that landto a good and spacious land, to

(08:10):
a land flowing with what?
Milk and honey.
Don't you get the sense thatthis is like a restored Eden?
Don't you get the sense thatthis is like a restored Eden?
It's a place for Israel todwell that is full of abundance
of fruits and goodness right,and cows and goats for milk and
all these bees to make honey.

(08:31):
Okay, don't you see that thisland is a little different from
all the other land on the earth,kind of like the Garden of Eden
was different from every otherplace outside of it.
That God is setting up a space.
He calls it a spacious land, aplace to dwell with man.
That's what's going on with theland thing.
It's not incidental.
And then Exodus 25, verse 8,what are they supposed to

(08:56):
construct?
Exodus 25, verse 8, they'resupposed to construct.
Exodus 25, verse 8.
They're supposed to construct asanctuary, a tabernacle, right.
Exodus 25, verse 8.
Let them construct a sanctuaryfor me that I may.
What Dwell among them this isone of the most basic themes of

(09:18):
the Bible is God's desire todwell among men and the way that
he eventually makes thatpossible.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(09:47):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
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next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.