2 Chronicles 6:18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you… I. REASON SAYS, NO! 1. The greatness of God forbids it. The heaven of heavens cannot contain him; how much less any house which man might build, or, even man's heart, which at the best is narrow and mean! The insignificance of man in comparison with the transcendent majesty of the Supreme has always been a difficulty in the way of accepting the religion of the Bible. 2. The sinfulness of man opposes it. Had the thing itself - the fellowship of God with man - been in reason's eyes conceivable, it would still have been negatived by the fact of man's fallen and degraded condition, with which the holiness and justice of God must have for ever, apart from an atonement, seemed impossible. II. REVELATION ANSWERS, YES! 1. God has already dwelt with man in the past. (1) Symbolically, under the Hebrew dispensation, with its ark dwelling originally in the tabernacle and latterly in the temple. (2) Historically, in the fulness of the times, in the Person of Jesus Christ, who as God's Son tabernacled in the flesh on the earth and in the midst of men. Hence it may be argued, that which has been may be. 2. God now dwells with man in the present. "Lo, I am with you alway" (Matthew 28:20), said Christ before his ascension; and again at the supper-table, "We will come and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). Christ dwells in the hearts of his people in the Person of his Spirit (John 14:16). "That which is done is that which shall be done" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). 3. God will dwell with men visibly and personally in the future. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them" (Revelation 21:3). - W. Parallel Verses KJV: But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! |
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