Introduction 

Where does the Creator exist? Where does His Spirit dwell? In the progress of the biblical story arc, the Spirit of God has moved from one place to another in order to to be among His chosen people. These next two blog posts will talk about the dwelling places of God on Earth.

Eden: Overlapping of Heaven and Earth

When the Supreme Spirit Being created the heavens and the Earth, He cultivated the productive mountain country of Eden. In the middle of Eden, He planted a garden the Persians called Paradise. In the middle of this garden paradise, Yahweh planted the Tree of Life and the Tree of Morality.

The Creator formed Humanity out of dust and placed them in the Paradise garden to cultivate it and to rule over all the creatures of the air, land, and sea. In the wind of every evening, the Creator walked and talked with the humans. Eden was the first place where the Supreme Spirit Being dwelt on the Earth.

Bethel: the House of God

Humanity disobeyed the Creator’s command to not eat from the Tree of Morality. They decided to determine good and bad on their own without learning from the Creator. Adam and Eve gave themselves and their descendants into slavery to rebellion, the Enemy’s lies, and Death. So, the Creator exiled them from the Paradise garden. With cherubim and a flaming sword guarding the door, the Supreme Spirit Being made Eden and its benefits unavailable to Humanity.

However, the Creator did make the benefits of Eden available to those who chose to believe and obey Him. He started with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When he fled his murderous brother for his uncle up north, Jacob spent the night on open ground with a rock under his head. Having been raised on the story of the Tower of Babylon (Genesis 10), he dreamed of heavenly messengers going up and down a ziggurat ramp. Upon waking, Jacob anointed his headstone and declared that spot was Bethel, the house of the Supreme Spirit Being. This was a place of open heavens upon the Earth.

Wilderness Tabernacle

Centuries later, Jacob’s descendants grew into twelve tribes and were enslaved in Egypt. Yahweh sent Moses to speak His word to Israel and to Pharaoh. He wanted the Israelites to journey into the Wilderness of Sinai to worship Him.

Pharaoh refused to release that labor force until Yahweh defeated and made a spectacle of the gods of Egypt. He slew the firstborn sons of the whole land, passing over the Israelites and all who put blood on their doorposts. The former slaves marched out in formation and traveled to Mt. Sinai, where Yahweh took them as His covenant people. He became their King.

Yahweh instructed Moses to commission the building of a tent patterned after the throne room of the King in the heavenlies. He poured out His Spirit on two artisans and made them the foremen for the construction of the Tent in the Wilderness.

When all was completed, Moses sprinkled special anointing oil upon the Tabernacle and all its furnishings. Then the glory cloud of Yahweh’s presence filled the Tent and Moses could not enter it. The tribes of Israel camped around the Tabernacle and marched onward when the cloud lifted and moved off. God Almighty dwelt in the midst of His people and provided them with all they needed to survive for forty years.

Temple in Jerusalem 

After the Israelites conquered the Land of Promise and took over the native’s homesteads, Yahweh continued to live among them in the Tabernacle in Shiloh. King David received the thrones of Judah and of Israel and went out to conquer the nations around them. He and his Mighty Men amassed great wealth through tributes, if not through taxation. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem in order to reap the benefits of Yahweh’s presence.

David wanted to build a house for his God to replace the Tabernacle. Yahweh left it for David’s son to complete but promised to build a house/ dynasty for His favorite King. David left enormous wealth to Solomon along with instructions to build a home for Yahweh.

With the help of the pagan King of Tyre, David’s son built the Temple in Jerusalem. When the time came for the dedication, the glory of Yahweh filled that structure so that the priests could not enter to do their duties. Yahweh dwelt with His people in their Promised Land through all the obedience and disobedience of their kings and their descendants.

Finally, the Supreme Spirit Being had enough of their disloyalty and oppression of the poor around them. He removed His protective hedge and allowed the powers of darkness over Nineveh and Babylon to bring in their conquering armies. The rulers of Assyria overwhelmed the northern tribes of Israel and dispersed them. Nebbuchednezer of Babylon overcame Jerusalem and destroyed the nation of Judah and the Temple. Yahweh had obviously abandoned His house and His people for a time.

Second Temple

The Jews returned to Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem. When completed, the prophet Haggai spoke for Yahweh.

‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.

‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.

Yahweh again dwelt among His people in this new Temple. It lasted through the reign of Darius the Mede, Alexander the Great and succeeding Greek oppressors, into the time of the Roman conquerors. The Jews were continually hard- necked subjects. They rioted against the Romans erecting statues of their gods and other signs of conquest. 

The Pharisees looked forward to the time when all the people of Israel were righteous enough to bring on the coming of Yahweh’s Anointed One/ Messiah. He would rally all the people to throw out the Roman oppressors and restore the full Kingdom of Israel. Their rebellion got so bad that in 70 A.D., the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and scattered the Jews among the nations. Obviously, the Spirit of Yahweh had departed from this Temple.