Although God is God, the marvelous fact is that He desires to dwell among men. God commanded Moses to build Him a sanctuary, saying clearly, “...that I may dwell among them” (Exo. 25:8). Again He said, “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Jehovah their God (Exo. 29:45-46). God wanted Moses to tell the children of Israel plainly that He was Jehovah their God who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt to give them the land of Canaan and to be their God (Lev. 25:38). Leviticus 26:12 is clearer still: “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” God is God! He is very high and very great! Yet He comes to dwell among men to be their God.
When the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14), this Word of life which was from the beginning was heard and seen and touched by man (1 John 1:1). “No one has ever seen God”; but now “the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). This is Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23).
When the church was built as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5), it became God’s dwelling place in spirit (Eph. 2:22). This is a very mysterious and glorious matter. When the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, He was limited by space and time; but when God dwells in the church in spirit, He is limited by neither time nor space. Hallelujah!
Although in the old covenant time the people of Israel forsook God, in the future God will make a new covenant with them. In the future He will impart His laws into their minds and inscribe them upon their hearts so that He may be their God (Heb. 8:10).
One day the tabernacle of God will be with men: “And He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them” (Rev. 21:3). This is most wonderful! “And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain—they shall be no more; for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). At that time God and man, man and God, will never be separated again. Hallelujah!
On the resurrection day Jesus told Mary Magdalene: “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). This verse tells us that we have not only a Father but also a God. The difference between God as Father and God as God as shown in the Scripture is that God as the Father indicates His relation to individuals, while God as God indicates His relation to the whole universe. God as our Father is a matter of life, showing that we are related to Him as a son is related to a father; while God as God is a matter of position, showing that He is the Creator.
When we know God as the Father, we will dare to throw ourselves upon His bosom. And when we know God as God, we must bow down and worship Him. We are God’s children, living in His love and gladly enjoying all that He gives us. We are also His people, standing upon the position of a man, worshipping and praising Him. Because God is God we need to worship Him in holy array (Psa. 29:2) and in fear (Psa. 5:7). Anyone who knows God as God in all things cannot but fear Him and pay attention to such things as his clothing and behavior. Anyone who is loose, careless, haughty, doing whatever he will, and allowing sin to remain, is one who does not know God as God.
We know that “there is no creature that is not manifest before Him, but all things are naked and laid bare to the eyes of Him to Whom we are accountable” (Heb. 4:13). Therefore, “Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them; for the things which are done by them in secret it is shameful even to speak of” (Eph. 5:11-12).
If a man is afraid to open up anything to God, that is called darkness. Anything which a man dares not open to God is a shame. Paul said, “Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11). We dare not but fear the Lord and entreat men, telling them that unless they are non-repentant or unsaved they must know that “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). If man does not deal seriously with all the sins which should be dealt with, he will fall, one day, into the hands of the living God. This will be a terrible experience (Heb. 10:31).
Do you think that God is sleeping because He temporarily hides Himself? God is patient and tolerant, waiting for you to repent. Do you think that He can be mocked? The Scriptures tell us “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7). Brothers and sisters, we must fear God.
If you know that God is God, you will want to be a man. The fall infected us with the desire to be God, but salvation once again instills in us the willing desire to be man. The principle of the Garden of Eden is that after eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we will be like God (Gen. 3:5), but the principle of Golgotha is the restoration of our position as man. Thus, if we know God as God, we will stand in our position as man. Our Lord was born as a man in the house of a carpenter (Matt. 13:55). As a man He submitted Himself to the baptism of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:13-16). Three times as a man He rejected the temptation of the Devil (Matt. 4:1-10). Also as a man He suffered and was tried (Heb. 2:18). As a man He was mocked upon the cross and did not come down (Matt. 27:42-44). If the Lord took His position as a man, what about us?
The twenty-four elders of Revelation 4:4 are the elders of the whole universe. (The twenty-four elders already have the crowns, are already sitting upon the thrones, and have the number “twenty-four,” which is not the number of the church; therefore, they must be the elders of the whole universe, representing the angels whom God created and being the elders among the angels.) Because they know God as the God of creation, they worship Him and say: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for You have created all things, and because of Your will they were and have been created” (Rev. 4:11). When eventually they come to the wedding feast of the Lamb, they will still bow down and worship God, who sits upon the throne (Rev. 19:4).
When the angel flew in the air, preaching the eternal gospel to the people upon the earth, he said, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him Who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and springs of waters” (Rev. 14:6-7). This indicates that when we know God as God and the Creator we will worship Him.
Anyone who knows God as God and takes the position of a slave will worship Him (Rev. 22:9). Surely he who “sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God,” is the one who opposes the Lord (2 Thes. 2:4). He who is able to do signs and deceive people upon the earth, telling them to worship the beast (Rev. 13:14-15) is surely the false Christ (Matt. 24:23-24). Anyone who knows God as God will worship Him. This is what glorifies God.
Now we must see that God has imparted His law into our mind and inscribed it upon our heart for the purpose that He may be our God in the law of life and that we may be His people in the law of life. The second half of Hebrews 8:10 immediately follows what has gone before. It does not say here that God wants to be our God upon the throne. Rather it says that God wants to be our God in the law of life and that He wants us to be His people in the law of life. We and God, God and we, both have our relationships in the law of life. If we are not in the law of life, we cannot touch God. If we live in the law of life, we shall be God’s people and God will be our God. The only way to draw near to Him, serve Him, and worship Him is by touching God in the law of life.
Why is it that God becomes our God and we become His people in the law of life? To explain this we need once again to consider man’s creation and new birth. Because God is Spirit, anyone who desires to have fellowship with Him must have a spirit. When God made Adam, there was an element in him which was the same as God’s. That element in man was the spirit. When Adam fell and became alienated from God’s life, his spirit was dead to God. However, due to God’s redemption, when man repents and believes, not only does his spirit become alive, but he also receives God’s uncreated life. Through the Holy Spirit, God enters into us and dwells in us, and from that point on we can worship God in spirit and in reality. John 4:23-24 is very clear. Verse 24 says that “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality.” This means that only the element in man which is the same as God can worship God. Only the spirit can worship Spirit. Only worship which is in the spirit is true worship. This kind of worship is not something in which one uses his mind; neither is it something in which one uses his emotions or will. This worship is in spirit and in reality. Verse 23 says, “The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and reality; for the Father seeks such to worship Him.” This is very meaningful. When we read this with what follows, we see that if a man desires to worship God, he must first know how to worship the Father. If a person does not have the relationship of Father and son with God, he does not yet have life and his spirit is still dead; he cannot worship God. When a person is born again, his spirit is made alive, he becomes a child of God, and he can have fellowship with God. It is such that the Father wants to worship Him. Therefore, before we can be God’s people, we must first become God’s children. For this reason we say that God becomes our God in the law of life, and we are God’s people in the law of life.
Titus 2:14 says, “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.” As God’s peculiar people we become His acquired possession (Eph. 1:14). The reason we can become God’s peculiar people is because He is our God in the law of life, and we are His people in the law of life.
Revelation 21:7 says, “He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he shall be a son to Me.” In eternity, as far as the relationship of life and the individual relationship are concerned, we will be sons to God; but as far as God’s position and our knowledge of Him as God are concerned, He shall be our God. How glorious this is!
Finally, we must speak to ourselves the same words that were spoken to the Apostle John: “Worship God” (Rev. 22:9).