God Dwells Among His Gathered People

God Dwells Among His Gathered People

As those who live in a society increasingly formed around secularism, it’s easy to lose sight of the spiritual realities that influence the world we inhabit.  As we watch the nations rage, the polarization of our society, and face our own difficult circumstances and trials of many kinds, even as Christians, we often only see these through the lenses of the material or coincidence.  However, the churches in and around Ephesus lived under no such illusions. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians that, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”  (6:12).

The culture surrounding them was marked by all manner of pagan worship of false gods, which involved cultic rituals, temple prostitution, and various sorceries infused with the deception of real demonic powers.  Though perhaps we’d prefer to think otherwise, our own culture’s pagan gods of secularism and self-fulfillment are empowered by the same personal powers of darkness. Powers that are not merely impersonal forces, but demonic beings with wicked intents.   One only needs look at the look at the LGBTQ+ movement, the abortion mills, miscarriages of justice, as well as the marriages, families, and legacies that have been sacrificed on the altars of self-fulfillment to see that these forces are all too active in wielding their dark power against the advance of God’s purposes through the gospel.  

Hope in Fraught Times 

What encouragement does God’s word give to Christians tempted to despair and shrink back in fraught and disordered times?  The answer is at once both simple and profound.  The answer that Paul gives to the Ephesians is the same that holds fast for us today.  It is God’s presence in the gatherings of his churches, local churches that are unified by the gospel, which are built on Christ, and regularly assemble for worship in His presence.  See Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesian churches:

“So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” – Eph. 2:19-22

These words were given to be read in regular gatherings of self-consciously assembled and covenantally committed Christians to encourage and strengthen them together as distinct congregations by reminding them of who they are in Christ.

Unified in His Care

Having just reminded the Ephesian believers of the unity they have in the gospel, Paul presses on in verse nineteen to remind them of the incomprehensible glory of the new reality in which they live.  They, who were once far from God, without hope in the world, have now been brought near, into his strong care as members of his household and into the security of his kingdom under his unthwartable sovereign reign.  No longer strangers to God or each other, now people of every ethnicity, background, and class are unified by God, in Christ, to one another for a glorious purpose against which the gates of Hell will not prevail.  

Steadfast on a Sure Foundation 

You do not have to look hard at the next verse to see the natural progression as Paul paints the picture for us.  He is taking a people now unified and building them together into something that will bear a weight of glory far surpassing that of any powers of darkness. In fact, he says later in this same letter, that “through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (3:1). However, before a building is built, a foundation must be laid. We see in the verses that follow that the foundation for Christ’s church is sure. The foundation is God’s unbreakable Word through the prophets and the apostles, and even more significantly, it is laid around the cornerstone, which is Christ himself.  The church’s foundation is the supremacy of Christ and his Gospel. The second Jewish temple, which has a 570-ton cornerstone, and the enormous pagan Temple of Artemis cannot be compared.  God’s purposes for and through his people will not be thwarted.

Satisfied in His Sanctifying Presence 

Finally, these purposes become even clearer in verses 21-22.  Again, we see the progression from a people, unified and built on a sure foundation, being fitted together as building blocks into a dwelling place for God. Paul is certainly drawing on Old Testament imagery here.  During Israel’s time in the Wilderness after their exodus from Egypt, God sought to make his dwelling with his people in the Tabernacle, on which the later Temples in Israel were modeled.  We ultimately see and understand that the Temple was where God specially made accommodations to manifest his presence relationally and restore fellowship with a sinful people whom he chose to set his love upon.  

Even when studying the instructions for the temple décor as given in the Law, we see glimpses of Eden and foreshadowing of the New Heavens and Earth in Revelation, where God’s people are perfectly satisfied in his presence.  Here, Paul is teaching the Ephesian believers the truth that, as they regularly assemble themselves for worship, they are individually being perfectly formed together, stone by stone, into a dwelling place for God.  Now, God’s glorious presence in the holy places of the Temple made visible through dense clouds of smoke and only approachable through ritual and animal sacrifice, is realized by faith in the local church gatherings of God’s redeemed people.  In short, God is especially present with his people for their satisfaction and sanctification as they draw near to him through faith in Christ each and every Lord’s Day.

Conclusion

Let us not overlook the incredible significance of these realities and what they mean for the church gathered.  We do not merely go to church but come together as the church, week by week, that God might especially dwell among us.  As we acknowledge Him together as our ultimate source of life and satisfaction, he sanctifies, builds, equips, comforts, and strengthens us into a kingdom and household against which the wicked forces of our evil days cannot prevail.  

This is why a self-conscious covenantal commitment to a local body of believers (i.e., church membership) and regularly gathering with the church is so vital.  We are made in Christ to be built together, individually formed and fitted together, so that as a people, we might be formed on the truth into a thick community of unified people that stand fast in fraught times and endure with joy.  So next Lord’s Day, go, assemble yourselves in the presence of God with your local church.  In each of our gatherings, let us make known together his manifold wisdom to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, rejoicing in the unshakable hope that comes with knowing that he dwells with us.