To be near unto God - pagina 602

vealed in the

among

flesh,

i.

e.

in reality

he has dwelt

us.

Hence Bethlehem is the real and actual return of God to earth, in order here on earth permanently to dwell with us and among us. This is the restoration of what was real in Paradise. And does this end with Golgotha, or if you please, with the ascent into heaven? By no means. For God to dwell on earth is only possible in the fullest sense through Golgotha and the Ascension. Between Bethlehem and Golgotha there was real dwelling of God upon earth, but in the most extremely limited sense. A dwelling which was confined to one people, and which among that one people was limited to the narrow circle of those who followed Jesus. The promise, however, ran, that God would dwell on earth among all peoples, in all parts of the world, and that he would be approachable from age to age by every soul that feared him. And this full, extended, unlimited, permanent, ever continuous, and ever self-expanding dwelling of God among the children of men was only possible when Jesus was no longer seen and heard, and handled among one people, in a narrow circle, but when he was elevated to the throne of grace and glorified. From thence he could extend his working to every people and to every heart. For this reason he declares in the hearing of his disciples: "It is expedient for you that I go away," and also adds: "When I shall have gone away, I shall come again, and with the Father make my abode in you" (John 14:23). Thus there is a threefold dwelling of God on earth. First, symbolical in Israel on Zion. After

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