Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

5 November 2024

Reading From Mark 13

“And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

 –Mark 13:1

     As we have read the Scriptures of the Old Covenant and are now on our journey through the New, we have witnessed how Yahweh is continually finding ways of fulfilling His dream of dwelling with His people.  He wants to be as close as possible to them.  This kind of loving and strong community can only come from our Creator.  No one else knows us better than He does, because He made us.  From the words of Jesus, we know that every hair is numbered.  He loves and cares for His people more than anyone else can. 

     Part of the original temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden was that Satan convinced them that God was somehow hiding the good life from them and that they could find fulfillment and satisfaction by going their own way and doing life on their terms rather than God’s.  Satan is the deceiver.  He masquerades as an angel of light and it is his business to try to fool human beings.  All he says are lies.  What he says looks good and seems good but in the end his broad path leads to loneliness and destruction.  This loneliness will eventually be permanent as hell is eternal separation from the Presence of God. 

     God does not want that for us.  He wants us to surrender our will and authority to Him so that we can enjoy community with Him.  In the Garden of Eden, He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.  As the children of Israel wandered through the desert, He guided them with His Presence in the form of a pilar of fire by night and a cloud by day.  Their encampment was circled around His tent, the Tabernacle so that He could be right there in the middle of them.  He predicted the New Covenant through His prophets that not only would He know them from afar, and dwell among them, but that He would live within their very hearts.  The physical temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the first century.  Today, God makes His dwelling in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls through their acceptance of His atonement. 

     Our holy God would never make a sinful and unclean place His dwelling, and so His new temples must be cleansed first.  This is accomplished whenever a human being makes the decision to believe and trust in Jesus.  As we take Him at His Word, He cleanses us with His blood, the blood of the New Covenant, and fills us with His Holy Spirit.  His abode is literally within us.  By His Spirit we are connected to Him and to every one of His sons and daughters through time and space.  As we are brought along in the journey and process of becoming more and more like Him, we have greater unity of faith.  Each of these little temples are being brought together to make one massive Temple which will be the dwelling place of the Almighty for all eternity. The universal Church is the Temple of God.

     This is the deepest, greatest community the world has ever known.  Because the eternal family of God is a spiritual one, no earthly power can break it up.  From the moment we are born again, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit to Himself and we are seated with Christ in God in the heavenly places.  Much like His Word is sealed in Heaven, we are sealed there too and no one can snatch us from His hand.  In Christ we discover our identity, sense of belonging, and eternal destiny.  We are sons and daughters of the Most High God, we belong to His eternal family, and we will live and reign with Him in the New Heaven and the New Earth.  All things are possible with God and perfect harmony and unity with Him in glorious community will be our forever home. 

“Lord Jesus, I pray that we would focus on You and the extraordinary adventure of life with You.  Empower us to resist the lies and temptations of the evil one.  Thank You for providing the victory for us on the cross and the empty tomb.  Strengthen us to walk with You every day.  Fill us to overflowing with Your love and the power of Your Spirit that we mighty love and minister Your grace to others in the hopes that they will join this wonderful community that is Your eternal family.  In the Name of the One who makes all of this possible for us, even Jesus Christ our Lord I pray, Amen.”

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

 –II Corinthians 2:16-18

“God blessed David greatly, and David asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually built it. However, God doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. ‘The heaven is my throne,’ says the Lord through his prophets, ‘and earth is my footstool. What kind of home could you build?’ asks the Lord. ‘Would I stay in it? Didn’t I make both heaven and earth?’”

 –Acts 7:46-50

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

 –Ephesians 2:21-22