Interlude: Old Versus New Testament

Before we go on, let us pause and take in, at a single glance, how much has changed between the Old Testament and the New—how the God who once revealed Himself from a distance has now come to dwell within His people. Consider these three great contrasts.

• In the Old Testament, He was chiefly known as God Almighty—majestic, holy, dwelling in unapproachable light. In the New Testament, we who believe call Him our Father—drawing near to Him as beloved children (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).

• In the Old Testament, He spoke through prophets—Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the rest—mediators who carried His word to the people. In the New Testament, He speaks directly to everyone who believes in Him and is filled with His Spirit, the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 1:1–2; John 16:13).

• In the Old Testament, He directed Moses to build a tent of meeting, and Solomon to build a temple, where He met with the priests and spoke concerning the people. In the New Testament, our bodies become the temple of God; He dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19).

In the New Testament, our bodies become the temple of God—God dwelling in us. This is a mystery. The following verses show that the body of a believer, a child of God, is called the temple of God, the temple of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit—showing that it is the one God, revealing Himself to us in these three ways:

• “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17).

• “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

• “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Yahweh—Elohim—the Lord God—the I AM—Jesus Christ—the Holy Spirit: He is not a committee, nor a mere union of separate beings, but one:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD (Deuteronomy 6:4).

I and my Father are one (John 10:30).

This has been the great confession running through the whole of this book: that the God we meet on every page—Creator, Redeemer, Indweller—is one God, revealing His one divine character through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is one in being, three in the persons by whom He makes Himself known; and this one God, who once thundered from Sinai and dwelt behind the veil, has now come near, taken away the barrier by the blood of His Son, and made His home in the hearts of His people. From “God Almighty” at a distance to “our Father” within—that is the journey of redemption, and it is our unspeakable privilege to have been brought into it.³⁴⁸