“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us.” (Matt. 1:22-23)

“The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (Ps 46:7).

“Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14).

The entrance of Jesus Christ into the world signifies, as Matthew reveals, that God is with us. This is the everlasting covenant of how much worth we have before God. God is with us because God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us? The ever-present reign of Christ reveals the nearness of God. He is not far from any of us, as Paul pointed out on Mars Hill, and that “not far” becomes “in us” when it is the believer under consideration.

The dwelling place of God in ancient times was in the wilderness Tabernacle, and later, in the permanent structure, the Temple. God’s desire since the foundation of the world has been to dwell in His people. God does not dwell in any literal way in “temples made by [human] hands” (Acts 7:48; 17:24). A physical structure can never contain the presence of an omnipresent God. The heart of His child is the dwelling place of God. 

God has come near in Christ; so near in fact, that He has “dwelt” among us. God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, and because of that magnificent incarnation in the flesh, and the things that He accomplished while here in human form, He lives among His people forever. Christ has come to dwell in the hearts of His people. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”  (Eph. 3:17). 

            So many Christians fail to recognize the presence of Christ within them because they go by feelings rather than by faith. How does Christ dwell in our hearts? Paul tells us: Christ dwells in our hearts “through faith.” Where there is faith, there is the presence of Christ. Should one feel that they are far away from God, or that God is far from them, they should exercise the gift of faith immediately. Those who trust Him become His dwelling place. God does not have to be coerced or persuaded to indwell us—He wants to do so. God made us so that we would seek Him, “and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). Sinful human beings do not just “hope” to find Him, we will find Him when we seek Him.

            We seek Him by faith. Salvation is “from faith to faith” and there is no one who will ever find God without it. Faith means that I cast myself upon Him and trust His promises to me. I take Him at His word. He has promised His presence with me until the end of the age. That is a promise that I will experience only by believing it. This is the operation of God. His blessings and benefits are gained only when we believe what He tells us. When I look to the cross in dependence, and walk in a state of continual dependence upon Him, He dwells in my heart. We may not understand all the dynamics of this principle, but we may still embrace it with joy and live our lives knowing it is so. Christ is in us if we have faith in Him. “For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”  (2 Cor. 6:16).