Emmanuel - God with us

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." Revelation 21.3

The whole of Scripture is about God's plan to correct the dysfunction with which humankind has infected creation, despite our mandate to fill it and look after it. Not only that, God promises to install himself in the very heart of his re-creation. In a way that is how it is now, only we don't see him because we are blind. It is true that in his first coming Jesus gave us a glimpse of God's presence among us - yet with his glory veiled. In the New Creation there will be no such veiling. We shall see him and know him as he really is. In the meantime, believers have the Holy Spirit, who is likened by the apostle Paul to a "deposit": a down payment guaranteeing what is to come. That is not to say that the Holy Spirit is temporary or inferior. In the same way that Jesus is God, so is the Holy Spirit. It's just that they draw alongside us gently because they know our weakness. But a day is coming when there will be no need for anything provisional because everything will be made new and good and strong. And God will be there!

O come, O come, Emmanuel...