GOD'S TEMPLE WAS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO “SOMEWHERE IN THE DMZ. . .”

I.    The Immanuel Principle

Gen. 17:8 And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Ex. 29:45 And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.

Num. 2:17 “Then the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their standards.

Mt. 1:22-23 Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

2 Cor. 6:16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (emphasis added; see also Ex. 6:7; Lev. 26:12; Num. 5:3; 16:3; Jer. 7:23; 11:14; 24:7; 30:22; 31:1, 33; 32:38; Ezek. 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; 37:23, 26, 27; Zech. 8:8; Mt. 18:20; Lk. 24:36; Jn. 20:19, 26; Heb. 8:10; 13:14; Rev. 21:3).

In Genesis 1 and 2, God creates the cosmic temple. We can see from Genesis 3:8 that the LORD God dwelled among Adam and Eve: 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,1 and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

In Gen. 1 and 2, God the Son (Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2) and Spirit (Gen. 1:2) created the Cosmic Temple. Israel’s Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35) and Temple (1 Kgs. 8:10-11) represented the cosmos and God’s presence with His people. From the latter concept or motif, the Immanuel Principle arose in Israel. Dr. Van Groningen recalled five factors that emphasized God dwelling among His people and by which God “served to meet Israel's basic needs. The first came in a cloud that served Israel in daylight. The pillar of cloud protected Israel during their wilderness wanderings from the Egyptian army and in the Red Sea.” Umberto Cassuto suggested the twin pillars signified the LORD was Israel’s Shepherd and Guide. This pillar was the Angel of God dwelling in Israel’s midst. When Israel grumbled about the manna or bread from heaven, the LORD appeared visibly in a cloud (Ex. 16:10). The LORD also spoke to Moses in a thick cloud (Ex. 19:9, 16), and the Glory-Spirit covered the top of Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24:15-18), even as it had at the beginning (Gen. 1:2). The LORD’s glorious presence filled the completed Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-36) and, later, Solomon’s Temple (1 Kgs. 8:10-11) employing a thick cloud.

The second factor was the pillar of fire or fiery pillar that served God’s people at night. “Yahweh was, in actual demonstration, the light for Israel’s camp and pathway.” You may remember Moses’s first encounter with God in the form of “fire out of the midst of a bush” (Ex. 3:2). In Scripture, fire serves two purposes. First, judgment is associated with fire. God sent fire on the hearth, flashing in the hail before Pharaoh and all Egypt (Ex. 9:23-24), signifying God’s judgment on Egypt. Fire from God destroyed Nadab and Abihu for offering unauthorized sacrifice (Lev. 10:2), killing them. Fire was sent from heaven when Israel grumbled (Num. 11:1-2). 

Fire also represented warmth and light. Psalm 27:1 is a great encouragement to our wilderness wanderings: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?” God’s fire symbolized the divine presence, becoming the light of men (Ps. 27:1) for believers (Ps. 36:9; Isa. 2:5; Mic. 7:8; Jn. 1:4; 8:12), as well as for the Gentiles (Isa. 60:3).

The next factor, rock, often symbolized stability, immutability, and God’s faithfulness. Moses sang about God as his Rock, saying, “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and just is He . . . 31 Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock; even our enemies themselves judge this.” (Dt. 32:4, 31). God commanded Moses to strike the rock with his staff to bring water for thirsty Israel. Moses had used this same staff to strike the Nile, turning the river’s water into blood. The plain meaning of this event is Yahweh is present, and He will supply your needs. Paul preached to the Corinthian Christians about Christ being their Rock, giving the noun its spiritual significance, “and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). God led Israel during their wanderings, supplying nourishment for them. More importantly, He provided spiritual refreshment, which they refused.

The fourth component was manna. When Corporate Adam or Israel hungered in the wilderness, God fed them manna or man hu (lit. “What is it?”). He rained bread from heaven, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction’” (Ex. 16:4). When Israel arrived on Jordan’s west bank (Josh. 5:12), the man hu ceased. They repeatedly grumbled despite God’s presence and provision, indicating their rejection of Him, who supplied all their needs (Num. 11:6). Exodus 16:33 says, “And Moses said to Aaron, 'Take a jar and put a full omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept safe throughout your generations.’”

Jn. 6:31-35 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry.” (emphasis added)

Last, Jesus spoke of water as His contemporary analogy for God’s ancient provision when He discussed His true identity with the Jews. In John 4:10ff, Jesus replied to the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”. . . 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” John 6:35 adds, Jesus, said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.” (emphasis added)

II.    The Glory-Cloud’s Shelter

In Genesis 1:2, Moses described how what Meredith Kline called “the Glory-Cloud,” hovering over the waters “in the supernatural form.” Eden’s Garden provided sanctuary, security, and preservation for Adam. The prophet Isaiah predicted that the same Glory-Cloud would hang suspended over the new Jerusalem for the same purpose as it did for Adam in Eden. Isaiah declared, “then the Lord will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy 6 And there will be a shelter, (tabernacle, canopy, sheltering refuge) to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain” (Isa. 4:5). Meredith Kline also noted, “The theophanic Glory that made Eden a temple also made it a paradise where the divine sheltering canopy protected the occupants of the garden from anything that could mar their blessedness.” (See also Dt. 33:29; Job 36:29; Pss. 3:3; 18:11; 46; 84:11; 91:2, 4, 9, 11; 104:7)

God dwelt amid His people in the form of His Glory-Cloud canopy over them for shade and protection. This knowledge is comforting today and for the future, as it was in Eden and Canaan. 

III.    The Glory-Cloud Was Directly Connected to “Somewhere in the DMZ”

The eternal, redemptive covenant between the Father and the Son is explicit in John 17. Because God chose me “in Christ” before the foundation of the world that I should be holy and blameless in Christ (Eph. 1:3-4), He spread His canopy of protection over me and set me above the danger on that day. No amount of shrapnel could touch me because nothing harmed me. Psalm 27:5 brings two symbols of Corporate Adam’s (Israel) protection forward so that they applied God’s great beneficent glory to me on that great and terrible day. For on the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; He will hide me in the secret place of His tent; He will lift me up on a rock. And so He did (emphasis added).

If God had not done for me what He swore by Himself or already had not done for His chosen servants throughout redemptive history, God would prove Himself a liar. If God had lied, I might have died that day or the next. If God had chosen me from all eternity past but not delivered me so I could trust in Him four years later, then no one should trust this God. I would have indeed died, not living until 1972 when God "found" me wallowing in my sin and broken marriage. Then if I escaped from all harm on that day in the DMZ, it would have been by pure luck. God doesn’t choose people from every tribe, race, and nation, and thus speak from both sides of His mouth. 

If, on the other hand, God had chosen me from all eternity past to inherit salvation, He would deliver me through the Gospel before that day in the DMZ. If, however, the Lord’s pleasure had been that I would die on that day, His deliverance would come in the form of Him taking me to be with Him in heaven. Either way, God would have been proven true, and redemption would come in the Gospel or death. But as the Apostle Paul stated his desire to the Philippians, “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Phil. 1:23).

But the fact is, God can’t lie, as Paul declared to Titus (1:2). He did choose me from all eternity (Eph. 1:4), and therefore God pavilioned His canopy of protection over me, shielding me for the day of my death when He would reveal His Son to and in me. 

God could have chosen to save me from His wrath on the previous day or brought about my death on the day in question. Regardless, God is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9). He is saving me to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). The Lord is not far off, but near (Jer. 23:23-24). He is Immanuel (Mt. 1:23), the God who dwells amid His people.

If you have been abused, are a First Responder, a combat veteran, or a spouse of any of these folks, you could not have died before this present moment. You are not in control of your life and never have been. What I'm not saying is take the lemons of your life and make lemonade. Your life is bitter because it pleased the Lord to make it so. Isaiah described Jesus as despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief. Jesus has tasted life's bitterest and done so for sinners like us. We can never honestly say, "No one knows how I feel." Jesus does, infinitely more.

What does all this suffering and grief mean for you? “. . . and with his stripes we are (spiritually) healed.” Mark wrote, 33 And Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. 34 And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” 35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. 36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will” (Mk. 14). 

All these things Jesus suffered for those of us who have “seen the elephant.”2 His work is covenantal in nature for it works toward fulfilling God’s eternal covenant. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”

13 And again,

“I will put My trust in Him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Heb. 2).

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1 J. J. Niehaus (God at Sinai [SOTBT], 155-57) offers a different interpretation of the phrase, relating יוֹם (yom, usually understood as “day”) to an Akkadian cognate umu (“storm”) and translates the phrase “in the wind of the storm.” If Niehaus is correct, then God is not pictured as taking an afternoon stroll through the orchard, but as coming in a powerful windstorm to confront the man and woman with their rebellion. In this case קוֹל יְהוָה (qol ÿhvah, “sound of the Lord”) may refer to God’s thunderous roar, which typically accompanies his appearance in the storm to do battle or render judgment (e.g., see Ps 29).

2 "Later this term took on an additional connotation, as it became more appropriate for the true experience of the Gold Rush. Similar to seeing a real-life elephant, the anticipation would often prove overhyped, resulting in a disappointment. This fit with the Gold Rush perfectly, as once the majority of travelers reached California, they found neither gold nor wonder." Burns, John F. Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003), 1; "As America was thrown into its great civil war the expression then came to mean “Have you met the enemy? Have you experienced true combat? Have you seen the trauma of mangled corpses, and wreathing wounded men, screaming in pain and suffering? Have you seen lines of men mowed down like so much standing corn before the plow? Have you been put through long dusty forced marches only to die of exhaustion and thirst? Have you participated in face to face death struggles against tens of thousands or your own brothers? Have you seen the elephant?"; from an internet article, "I Saw The Elephant."