When God came to live among us

It’s Christmas 2024. What is Christmas? Did you know that the Israelite tabernacle is close to the real meaning of Christmas?

This article comes from Kees Fieggen and Duane Caldwell.

Jewish tabernacle and temple

God told Moses “have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8NIV). God wanted this special tent to be built so He could live amongst His people (the Israelites). And they had to build it themselves. Everything in the tabernacle symbolized God’s presence. God came to live there and the inner room was filled with His presence, with His shekinah glory (see Appendix). Nobody could stay in the inner room. God visibly lived among His people, and He guided them through the desert from Egypt to Canaan. It was a mobile sanctuary.

And God’s shekinah glory happened again after the temple was built by king Solomon. Solomon realized that even the glorious temple he had built was too small for God to live there. He prayed, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Ki. 8:27). Although the temple was too small for such a great God, God choose to live close to the people He had created. This was also true in the Garden of Eden, but something happened that broke this wonderful communion between God and humanity and they were expelled from the garden.

And it was true in the tabernacle and the temple that God wanted to live among His people. It wasn’t easy because God is glorious and we are sinful. The people of Israel weren’t better than us, but He still chose them and He wanted to live among them to show who He was – everything in the tabernacle symbolized God. The temple of Solomon was destroyed later on because God’s people had deserted Him. So, He couldn’t live among them anymore. About 600 years after God’s glory left the temple, the glory of God descended anew (Ezek. 10). And there was a temple at the time built after the Jewish captivity and enlarged and made more beautiful by Herod, but God never descended there. God’s Shekinah glory had never come. God seemed to be absent!

Mary

Now the glory of the Lord overshadowed (episkiazó Strongs #1982) a young woman (Lk. 1:35). This is a reference to God’s glorious presence at work (Ex. 40:34-35). Then the Creator of the universe descended to the earth. He didn’t come in power and majesty, but into a humble young woman. That’s a miracle: she became pregnant without natural or in vitro fertilization! It happened this way because she was to deliver and raise God’s own Son. Mary was overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit. At Christmas we celebrate that Jesus came as a baby boy.

The same Greek word (episkiazó) is used to describe the cloud of God’s presence at the transfiguration (Mt. 17:5; Mk. 9:7; Lk. 9:34). So, God was present with Mary when she conceived.

Later Paul wrote, “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). Here is a man who at the same time is God Himself! That’s a great miracle!

Why did God want to do it like this? Paul wrote, “For God was pleased to have all His [God’s] fullness dwell in Him [Jesus Christ], and through Him [Jesus Christ] to reconcile to Himself [God] all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His [Jesus Christ’s] blood, shed on the cross.” (Col. 1:19-20). This is a wonderful thing that happened at Christmas. It pleased God to do it this way. He wanted to reconcile people with Him and He came Himself. You could say that He enjoyed reconciling us and the whole of creation by coming Himself to solve the huge problem that we created. He did this all by Himself – to end the rebellion against God. To make peace. That’s why the angels sang about peace on earth (Lk. 2:14). We don’t see that yet, but it is the goal that God has. It’s not by negotiations between Russia and Ukraine for example, or whatever people could think of to make peace.

This Christmas child, Jesus, grew up to become a man and although He chased the sellers and the money changes and the cattle out of the temple with a whip and He called the religious leaders blind and hypocrites – in the end He let Himself be bound, be sentenced to death, and led to the cross. The Christmas child became the Man of Sorrows, receiving – unjustly – the death penalty. On that cross reconciliation took place. God stretched out His hands, opened His arms, and ensured that peace can be made between us, rebels, and our Heavenly Creator. The Son brings us close to the heart of the Father. That’s miraculous, but it’s true. That’s what He did. So, if we desire to have peace on earth at Christmas, and we see what became of it, and we see that we are not very nice, we should realize that peace can only come by the Prince of Peace [Jesus Christ]. He has already made reconciliation and peace through His death. But we are reconciled and brought close to the Father. And I’m looking forward to Him to bring real lasting peace – and He will return. He will be the king of Peace as He promised. I hope it will happen soon. Only then a real righteous reign is possible.

The shepherds

The Christmas birth was announced to the shepherds, “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified” (Lk. 2:8-9).

I always assumed that the glory of the Lord – the radiance that was shining – was around the angels. That’s how it’s typically depicted. Clearly the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds, not the angels. And we know that the glory of the Lord is the manifestation of the very presence of the Lord. It was not just an angel followed by many angels who were there at the annunciation by the angel, but God himself, the King of heaven, was also there in the midst of the shepherds confirming the message of the angel.

Now God has given another sign to confirm that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem. He Himself was there during the announcement.

Conclusion

At Christmas we remember when God came to live with us on earth as Jesus Christ. One of His names was Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Mt. 1:23). There were two instances of radiant light (indicating God’s presence) associated with this event. First, the glory of the Lord overshadowed a young women named Mary when she conceived Jesus Christ. Second, the glory of the Lord shone around Jewish shepherds when they were told about the birth of Jesus.

Mary and the shepherds were ordinary people. They were not important or wealthy. Through their obedience to the divine revelation, they appear in the New Testament. Through our obedience to the divine revelation in the Bible, we can be with God in heaven.

I wish you a very blessed Christmas as you appreciate the impact of Jesus coming to live amongst us.

Appendix: Shekinah glory

Shekhinah is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “dwelling” or “settling” and denotes the presence of God in a place. The root word, shakan (Strongs #7931) means “to dwell, to abide, to reside, to inhabit”.

The Jews use the term “shekinah glory” to describe when God was present on earth in the visible form of a pillar of cloud at daytime and a pillar of fire at nighttime (Ex, 13:21-22).

One of the main manifestations of the glory of the Lord is a radiant light, which indicates the very presence of God Himself.

Acknowledgements

This article comes from Kees Fieggen and Duane Caldwell. They blog as Kees shares the Word and Rational faith.

Posted, December 2024