January 8: THE HABITATION OF THE LORD
For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15
The word of God issues indictments, given not because He hates us but because He deeply loves us! The conviction that results in the heart of a man or woman is accompanied by an overwhelming sense of contrition and humility. To such, the LORD is opening the door to the place of His dwelling. The above words have a powerfully uplifting effect on all who have come to the place of wide-eyed recognition of their hopeless guilt before Him; an understanding that they can never work their way out of the confining walls of sin’s prison (see 42:7,22).
The word of God also issues amazing words of comfort, tenderly whispered directly into the wide-open ears of him who has a contrite and humble spirit. He is saying, in so many words, “You live with Me now. And our dwelling place is in the highest heaven.”
The LORD has first-hand knowledge of our past failures. His gentle approach is not to condemn—for the contrite one knows he was condemned already by his own unbelief (see John 3:18-19)—but to uplift and revive, bringing salvation into the sights of all who look to Him, the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity. To inhabit eternity means to dwell forever. His divine presence was expressed in the term Shekinah, manifested in a glorious light that hovered over the ark of the covenant containing His law in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle (compare Exodus 25:21-22 to Revelation 11:19). Shekinah comes from the word shakhan, meaning inhabits.
Contrition and humility encompass a spirit of sincere repentance for sin as well as the sense of one’s inability to earn salvation. Contrition prepares the way to justification. In an instant, we are looked upon as just – through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Humility allows for the ongoing process of sanctification. God cannot accomplish transformation in one without a keen sense of his own need, who does not reach out for power from above.
God’s eternal law, contained within His throne, represents His character, which is unchanging (Psalm 89:34; Malachi 3:6). It does not consider human weaknesses or take into account our infirmities or hereditary traits. It simply is. It “does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. It is enduring and eternally the same.”* But who can obey it to absolute perfection? We begin to realize the beauty of God’s law in discovering that it comes with a promise. When we give over to the control of God’s Holy Spirit, all the terrible pressure to obey in our own power evaporates. Our deliberate choice to be obedient is enabled by His power. This is the habitation of the LORD within us.
And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. Acts 5:32
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20
*Oswald Chambers