God With Us
God's Eternal Desire to Dwell Among His People
“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6
A truth shouts from the sheets of Scripture: God desires to dwell with His people. What a beautiful truth. God is a relational God. It’s the beating heart of God’s story with humanity. God wants you.
The Bible isn’t just about commandments, covenants, or history. It’s about presence. It’s about a God who made us not leave but walk with us. God, not content to rule from afar, insists on impossible closeness.
Relationship is His desire from Genesis to Revelation: to be with us.
The Garden of Eden
In the Garden of Eden, God didn’t just create and leave. He walked with Adam and Eve “in the cool of the evening” Genesis 3:8. That phrase alone captures something tender. The Creator of the universe chose to spend time with the people He formed with His hands. It wasn’t a formal arrangement—it was relationship.
Enoch
Enoch walked with God and was not. Genesis 5:24. There’s something beautiful and mysterious here: a life so close to God that the boundary between earth and heaven just dissolved.
Do you see that God Almighty walked with a man? A human being and the great God of Eternity took time to walk with him, just like He had with Adam and Eve.
These moments are not independent events. They are hints of what God has always wanted.
The Tabernacle
As God led His people out of slavery and into freedom, His desire didn’t change. He made it even clearer.
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25:8.
Not above them, not beyond them, but among them.
The law and the prophets repeat this.
And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
1 Kings 6:13.
And I will set my Tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor (despise, reject, or separate) you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. Leviticus 26:11–12.
And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God. Exodus 29:45–46.
The presence of God wasn’t some bonus benefit of obedience. It was the whole point. That’s why He told them to keep the land clean, Numbers 35:34; Deuteronomy 23:14—because He intended to live there with them.
God Desires to Dwell
God promised to dwell in Jerusalem because He wanted to; it was His desire. Psalm 132:13-14. Let that sink in. God desires to dwell with us. Not just put up with us. Not just supervise us. He actually wants to be with us.
Isaiah prophesied this long before Jesus was born:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14.
It’s not just a name. It’s the entire mission of God.
Jesus: God Moves In
Fast forward to the New Testament. John opens his Gospel with a thunderclap.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” John 1:14
That word dwelt means “pitched His tent” or “tabernacled.” Jesus didn’t just show up—He moved in. He wrapped Himself in human skin and walked the dusty roads with us.
And He didn’t come alone.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23
This isn’t poetic language. It’s the same desire that burned in Eden and in the Tabernacle—now walking around in sandals.
Joseph and Mary were told to call Jesus Immanuel, God with us.
The Spirit Makes It Personal
When Jesus ascended, He didn’t leave us alone. He sent the Holy Spirit to guide, empower, and live in us. This is what Paul meant when he wrote:
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 2 Corinthians 6:16.
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22
The presence of God has moved from the Tabernacle to the Temple to the human heart. We are now the living sanctuary.
The End Is Also the Beginning
The final chapters of the Bible are not a goodbye, but a culmination. They declare the climax of all history.
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Revelation 21:3
This is what it’s all been building toward. From Eden to the New Jerusalem, God has been moving closer and closer, undoing the separation, healing the distance, and restoring the relationship.
And He’s not done.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
The word “tabernacle” appears over 130 times in the Bible, mainly during the Exodus journey. But the concept of God dwelling with us appears in over 200 passages.
This isn’t a footnote in Scripture—it’s the storyline.
So What Do We Do With This?
We often think Christianity is about trying harder or being better. But the heart of it all is this: God wants to be with you. Not just in eternity. Right now. In your messy house. In your commute. In your heartbreak. In your boredom.
The invitation is open. It’s not a summons to religion. It’s a call to relationship.
God’s presence is not a perk. It’s the point.
A Shepherd Who Stays
Psalm 23 ends with this quiet, powerful line: “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.“
This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s a confident declaration. The Shepherd who walks with you through valleys and beside still waters isn’t going anywhere. His plan has always been to dwell—not just near us, but with us. In us.
From the garden to the wilderness. From the stable in Bethlehem to the cross. From Pentecost to the final trumpet. The story never changes.
God with us. God in us. God among us.
Forever.