Month: April 2017

Robert Rajamani

I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject nor separate itself from you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people – Leviticus 26:11-12

God has always wanted to dwell with His children. He longs to be with His own. Even though man rejected Him in the garden of Eden and went his own way of independence from God. God always pursued man and wanted to be with him.

God wanted to be with the Israelites. He wanted to dwell in their midst. He instructed them to have a tabernacle made where His Presence can dwell in their midst (Exodus 25:8). God did not want to dwell among them so that He can rule and control the Israelites. The reason He wanted to be with His people was because He knew that His people needed Him, even though they did not realize that. He knew His presence is what will give them victory and protection from the enemies they are going to face. He wanted to be with them to help them and show them the way. He cared for them.

The Israelites built the tabernacle, in which was the Most Holy Place. In the Holy of Holies the Presence of God dwelled.  For a Holy God do be able to dwell with His sinful people there had to be an animal sacrifice which covered their sin and the glory of God could remain among them. God made a way where there was no way. He made the way of animal sacrifice, so that He can dwell among His children.

God was not satisfied just by the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle where God came and dwelled among His children, He wanted more. He wanted to be more intimate with His children and dwell in them instead of among them.  He wanted to come and dwell in the heart and spirit of His children. Man is the tabernacle and the spirit of man is the Holy of Holies and God wanted to dwell in the spirit of man and lead and guide Him (1 Corinthians 3:16). For this to happen, God had to pay the price of becoming a sacrifice Himself and allow Jesus to die on the cross just like the animal sacrifice in the old covenant with the Israelites. He willingly paid the price and became the sacrifice and experienced death for the joy of being able to dwell in the Holy of Holies, in the spirit of His children.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross now God can come and dwell in our spirit. We can enter into the Holy of Holies and spend time with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit when we pray in the Spirit and are led by the Spirit. We can enter into this Holy of Holies any time we want unlike in the old covenant where the High Priest could enter only once a year (Hebrews 9:7). The veil is torn and we have free access to this throne room of God the Most Holy Place and spend time with Him whenever we want (Hebrews 10:19-20). It is His Joy and Pleasure to spend time with His kids. After all, it is He who willingly paid the heavy price to make this possible for us to be able to freely enter His Most Holy Presence and have intimate conversation with Him.

Now God dwells among us and in us. We are His tabernacle. He loves to be with His children.

Scripture Reference:

• 1 Corinthians 3:16
• Leviticus 26:11-12
• Exodus 25:8
• Hebrews 9:7
• Hebrews 10:19-20

Robert Rajamani

Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness – Romans 10:3

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Gold is not made. It is created. Nothing can replace it. It just exists, you take it and use it. Human efforts cannot make gold. Iron or any other element cannot be transformed to gold.

Righteousness of God is the standard of the realm of God. It is the essence and nature of His Kingdom. It is the law by which His Kingdom operates. Anything unrighteous cannot enter the realm of God, just like darkness cannot enter light.
His Righteousness cannot be attained by human efforts. Man is aware of his state and strives to attain it by his efforts, to get right with God. He tries religion, good deeds etc. Righteousness is not a product of human efforts. Like gold it has to be just received, it cannot be made. Just receive and wear it like a robe. Bible calls it the Robe of Righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10 )

All human attempts to come up to this Righteous Standard of God are vain attempts. It’s like Adam and Even attempting to cover their sin with leaves (Genesis 3:7 ). God had to intervene and clothe them with the skin of a sacrificed lamb (Genesis 3:21 ), which represents His way of making things right. Our human efforts to attain this Righteousness does not just show our ignorance but also our arrogance, and God calls it filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6 ). Our self-righteous garment is like the man who was invited to the wedding banquet but did not have the wedding garment and was thrown out by the king. (Matthew 22:11)

Jesus, is the price God paid to make this kind of Righteousness available to sinful men. He is the sacrificed lamb who was stripped off of His Righteousness on the Cross when He was de-robed and hung naked and became sin (John 19:23 ). The Righteousness stripped off of Him is the same Righteousness we receive when we put our trust in Him. There was no other way for this Righteousness of God to be made available to man, other than by the sacrifice of Jesus – the Lamb.

Because of what Jesus has done, now we have His Righteousness as a free gift. We just receive it and put on as a Robe and not rely on our self-effort. Now we are eligible to enter into the realm of God, to be called His children. We are citizens of His Kingdom with right standing with God. We are the children of light and there is no darkness in us. We have full access to Him. All because of Him who loved us so much to find a way to make us worthy to be called His children, even though it cost Him Jesus, His Son.

You cannot make gold, you just take and wear it. You cannot attain His Righteousness by self-effort. You just receive it and put it on and live as a child of God boldly.

Scripture Reference

• Romans 10:3
• Isaiah 61:10
• Leviticus 1:6
• Genesis 3:7
• Genesis 3:21
• Isaiah 64:6
• John 19:23
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• 1 Peter 2:24
• Matthew 22:11