What Is Indwelling: The Old Testament Background

Worship is our response to God’s revelation of himself, and in the old covenant God revealed that he would dwell in the temple, with the result that old covenant believers were to worship God at the place he chose to make his name dwell.

Isaiah 8:16 shows that there were people regarded as disciples, whose hearts were circumcised. This is how people are saved today. We at one time had a scorn for God and for His word. Then, as the gospel is preached, God circumcises our hearts and suddenly we love Jesus.

Psalm 84

1. The distinction between Regeneration and Indwelling

When the Spirit came to the tabernacle, He did not inhabit the people, but the dwelling. If the old covenant remnant was not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, how could they be saved? What made the Holy of Holies holy was the presence of God. Nothing of death or sin could be in the presence of God.

2. Old Testament Saints and the Spirit

When the spirit came upon the OT saints, it was to enable that person to do what nobody else was able to do. (1 Peter 1:11) The pleasures of the world pulled at Israel, just as they pull at the church today. And just in the same way, the pleasures of God are filling while the pleasures of the world will leave you empty.

3. Circumcision of the Heart

Jeremiah 6:10
To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.

These were not deaf people, but their wills were to receive what they heard as an object of scorn, thus their ears were uncircumcised. This implies that there were people who who did respond positively whose ears were circumcised.

4. Worship

   a. Psalm 84:1–4, The Psalmist worships God while meditating on the beauty of God’s dwelling.

God was very specific about how His dwelling was to be built and showed His pleasure by indwelling the tabernacle. The writer of this Psalm finds the tabernacle beautiful because God is there, not for the architecture of the building. This is a response of God’s revelation of Himself.

   b. Psalm 84:5–8, The Psalmist describes the blessedness of the man whose trust is seen in his obedient pilgrimages to Zion.

The more careful we pay attention to what God has said, the better we will know Him. This section describes a person who knows the way to Zion because he has prepared himself for worship. the Valley of Baca was a deserted wasteland and those who worship the Lord will travel that path through the power of God. And why does he travel there? Because he longs to be in the presence of God.

   c. Psalm 84:9–12, The Psalmist prays that God will lift up his countenance upon his Messiah.

God promised in the OT that He would raise up a redeemer. Why is the Psalmist praying that God would bless the messiah? Because if the messiah is blessed, the worship will be good. The messiah is regarded as our shield, the protector of the nation. The leader of the people. The writer truly loved to worship in the presence of God, for one day in the presence of God is better than a thousand elsewhere.

If we know God as He is, we will want to be near Him. The psalmist here shows that his heart is circumcised. He would rather serve in the courts of God than go to the tent of the wicked. So many people look to the wicked for a taste of the “good life” but this psalmist has seen that the pursuit of God is far preferable to that. Our only hope is in Christ, not in the ways of this world.