GOD WITHIN US

God in the Old Testament divides people between the righteous he loves, and the wicked he hates (Psalms, Proverbs, Job). There is a perception that when one believes in Jesus Christ, God comes to dwell in him. There are two mistakes. God dwells only in the righteous believer and not the wicked believer. God does not dwell in the righteous believer after the righteous’ belief and confession that Jesus is Lord, but He has always been in him. God being inside you is not a matter of believing in God, but it is a question of whether you are a righteous person or not. The New Testament reveals in many passages, mostly in the writings of John, that the Father dwells in his children, Jesus Christ dwells in his children, and the Holy Spirit dwells in his children. The Father sits on the throne in heaven and Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. Practically speaking, what’s inside the believer or righteous person in general is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. When you have the Holy Spirit, it means that you have both the Father and the Son since you cannot separate them from their Spirit.

The Bible teaches us also the other way around, the righteous dwells in the Holy Spirit, in the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit has always been inside righteous men, from the time of Adam onwards. It means also the Father and the Son are inside the righteous person. There are verses that prove that God is within righteous people, regardless of God's work in Israel and regardless of the appearance of the church of Jesus Christ. They prove that Jesus Christ is in people, even without them knowing it and without having heard of him.

In John 8, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for not believing in Him because they do not have the word (37), love (42), truth (44) and God (47) within them. Let us remember the truth and the Word is Jesus. Jesus was basically telling them that they did not have Christ in them, therefore when they met him in the flesh, they did not believe him. So the reverse was also true, that the people whom God loved, had the word, the love, the truth and God in them. In (John 5:38,42) Jesus repeated to his enemies that they do not believe him because they do not have the word and love of God within them. He also makes the connection of the Scriptures with himself. If they do not believe in the words of the Scriptures, then they do not believe in the words of Jesus who is the Word, and this is because they do not have the Word within them (John 5:38,39,46,47).

In John 17:26 when Jesus prays, he mentions his disciples and speaks of the Father's love that is in them, just like Jesus himself is in them. In John 10 when Jesus appears as the good Shepherd and speaks of his sheep, he is not referring to the church but to the people who have God in them. This is not so much seen from the fact that Jesus' sheep hear his voice, know his voice and follow him, as from the fact that they do not know the voice of strangers, that is, the devil. The true Church knows the voice of the devil, his words, and his false teachings. So the verse does not receive this type of interpretation. Jesus is talking about people who love the truth, justice and the light, so they hear his voice. They hate the lies, the injustice and the darkness of the world, that is, they do not know the voice of strangers. It does not refer to the nominal Christians, but to the righteous.

In John 10:26 it is confirmed that Jesus does not speak of the church but of the righteous of the earth "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you". The conversation of Jesus with the Jews who did not believe him and hated him, is connected in content with the aforementioned chapters 5 and 8.

In Acts 28:2-4, we see the native inhabitants of Melita, that is, Malta, being good-natured, kind, hospitable to Paul and his companions following the shipwreck. In the Acts 28:4 they are presented as believing in the law of sowing and reaping. They said of Paul who had just been bitten by a viper, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live”. These people who were apparently not in contact with the Jewish culture, had God within them, even if no one had spoken to them about Him. They also hated crime. No wonder they later believed in Jesus, and many sick people came to Paul to be healed. In Acts 28:10 they showed their gratitude to their guests and not only to Paul, when they were leaving for another destination. This again is not taken for granted. Of the 10 lepers that Jesus healed, only one came back to thank him.

When institutionalized Christianity divides mankind into believers and unbelievers, the Church and the world, then it follows the teachings of men and does not comprehend who God is. It didn’t take long for Pontius Pilate to recognize that Jesus is the light and his accusers the darkness. He continued to believe that his judgment was right without being swayed by the crowd who argued that his judgment was wrong, and he continued to defend Jesus to the end. He handed him over to the crowd not because he was double minded, but because he had exhausted every opportunity to save him. He gave Jesus a way out by presenting an insurrectionist and a murderer next to him, for the crowd to see the contrast between light and darkness. Immediately afterwards he defended him three times before a hostile crowd in their own land.

Pontius Pilate falls under what category, is he light in the world (Matthew 5:14) or is he part of the world that lies in wickedness? (John 5:19). Did he love the world and hate God, or did he love God and hate the world? (James 4:4, 1 John 2:15). It is certainly the latter, and he did not do it because he was a Christian. He was asking Jesus who he was and He didn’t answer him. But he already knew the answer to the question he asked him. He saw before him a man with nobility in personality and behavior.

All the above solve the mystery of Jesus' sayings in Luke 4:25-27. I quote: “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” There are not Jews and Gentiles, and Christians and non-Christian men in the sight of God, but only wicked and righteous.

Jonah went to the Assyrian city of Nineveh proclaiming "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). He spoke neither of God nor of sins, neither who himself was nor who sent him. The inhabitants of Nineveh repented and God saved them. How did they believe in the true God (Jonah 3:4) when no one spoke to them about him? When they were told that Nineveh would fall, they understood that it was a judgment for their sins by a judge God. There is only one God who judges sins, and that is the true God, Yahweh. They repented by refraining from evil, they showed how seriously they took the matter by proclaiming a fast.

This is the sign of Jonah, understand who God is behind the narrow definition of a person, and love what God is and how is expressed in the lives of people, and not to just look for a person called Jesus or the God of Abraham to be saved (Matthew 12:39, Luke 11:29,30). The queen of the south was saved because she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon which is the wisdom of God (Matthew 12:42, Luke 11:31). “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). If you love all these, it means that you are a righteous person, you love God and God loves you.

The question is, since God is within the righteous people through his Spirit, why should one become a Christian and study the Bible. First of all, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross was necessary to save man from sin and so that the righteous who have died may be resurrected at the second coming of Jesus and be with Jesus and his Father in heaven eternally. Aside from the redemption of men through the blood of Jesus Christ, the righteous man may have a sense of justice and injustice, and truth and falsehood, loving the former and hating the latter, but he is not totally safe. His soul is still under the influence of the devil who is the ruler of this world, and the temptations to fall and lose his soul are great. As long as man is alive, there is a war for his soul from the devil, referred to in Ephesians 6:12.

The righteous who is saved because he loves God, but does not make his spiritual journey toward the Kingdom of God, wears the armour of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, but he lacks the preparation of the gospel of peace at the feet, the shield of faith (not the faith that saved him but the faith that rests on the knowledge of the gospel) and the sword of the Word. He is not reprehensible by God but is vulnerable to the devil. The righteous will have a hard time standing unmoved against the darkness of the world, if he is not aware that God is with him and he has no knowledge of God. In Ephesians 4:17-19 we are shown how much damage the devil can do to the soul of man “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”

When Paul warns not to walk like them, he means that the danger of becoming like them is real. He then says that the way of life you were taught in Christ helps you to stay away from evil. In Ephesians 6:13 Paul says that the believer's armor is necessary to be able to withstand the evil day. In Ephesians 2:2 he says that in the past believers walked according to the way of the world and according to the spirit of the devil. He implies that the gospel of salvation helped them to be freed. John 8:32, the well-known verse gives us the message that you are freed when you know the truth, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. The mission that Jesus gave to Paul in a vision is very enlightening “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18).

The knowledge that will save the righteous man is not only the belief that Jesus is the Son of God, but his sanctification. The sanctification through the Holy Spirit will come only when you follow Jesus to the kingdom of God. In Colossians 1:13 Paul talks about the Father, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son”. Here he does not refer to deliverance from the devil through repentance and faith in Jesus, but by being born with spirit and water.

The soul of man is still under the yoke of the devil after accepting Jesus as a savior. Christianity is wrong in this matter in contrast to reality as anyone with open eyes can see. The desire of the flesh still exists after confessing faith in Jesus Christ. God helps man to save his soul from the bondage of the devil (not from sin through faith) through teaching and through the work of the Holy Spirit in his soul. Not only that, but when the believer knows the God of righteousness and prays to him, as a child to a Father, he has hope and is relieved in his soul. 2 Peter 1:3-10 shows how important the knowledge of the Lord is to escape from the corruption of the world. I quote 2 Peter 1:4 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

In Psalm 119 we are reminded how important it is to study the Bible in order to learn obedience to God. I quote another Psalm, 78:5-7 “For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

2 Peter 1:10 says “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall”. The things you have to do are mentioned in 2 Peter 1:3-9. Peter warns us about the danger of the believer losing his salvation. Hebrews 4:11 says “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”. The rest is the kingdom of God.

Two of Paul's prayers for believers are for an increase in the knowledge of God and understanding of the teaching, so that they may walk worthy of the Lord in his way (Colossians 1:9-14, Ephesians 1:16-23).

The fall of the believer and the loss of his soul is not difficult, as seen in the parable of the ten virgins. Five of them were lost, even by believing in Jesus, even when their virginity was a symbol of superficial purity (Matthew 25:1-13). Jesus warns the believers to be careful, lest he come suddenly and find them loving only the things that their eyes see and fall asleep spiritually, because then they will perish (Matthew 24:36-51, Mark 13:32-37, Luke 21:34-36). I quote Luke 21:36 “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

The good news is that people who love truth and justice and have mercy on their neighbor will not be allowed by God to perish in their ignorance. God chooses people and not people choose God. God attracts people to Jesus and it is not a matter of chance to find God (John 6:37,44,65). Jesus saves through faith because of his own sacrifice and not the sacrifice of men (John 3:15,18,36, 5:24, 6:40,47, 20:31). Jesus seeks to find the lost sheep and bring them to Him, it is not in the hand of the sheep to find his Shepherd (Matthew 18:11-14). Jesus gives his life for his sheep (John 10:15) which as I mentioned are the righteous and not necessarily those who are Christians. In Matthew 18:14 and especially in John 10:28,29 Jesus says that no man is able to pluck the sheep out of his Father's hand. The question is whether a man is a sheep and not a goat.