God Dwells Among Us
2014 • 200 pages
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Just like we do today, the writers and chief actors of the Old Testament felt a deep longing for the presence of God. It is symbolized in the temple ruins, and before it the temple itself, and before that the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle that housed it, and before that the Garden of Eden. In response to this longing, God shares his ultimate mission, in which his people play a part: the expansion of Eden, the temple of God's presence, to all peoples throughout the earth. The temple has always been a source of rich scholarship and theological reflection, but what does it mean for the church's ongoing mission in the world? G. K. Beale and Mitchell Kim take temple theology off the bookshelf and bring it to our modern-day life, where the church is instructed and exhorted in its purpose. From Eden to the new Jerusalem, we are God's temple on the earth in our day, the firstfruits of the new creation. God has always desired to dwell among us; now the church must follow its missional call to extend the borders of God's kingdom and take his presence to the ends of the earth. - Publisher.
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This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S GOD DWELLS AMONG US ABOUT?
The book opens describing Eden as the first temple on Earth—the dwelling place of God on Earth, that Israel's Tabernacle and Temple would mirror. After Adam and Eve failed their probation, their duties to the temple, by letting the serpent and sin pollute it. After establishing that, Beale and Kim show how Adam and Eve were to spread Eden—spread the worship and image of God—throughout the world.
This call is, while changed due to the Fall, reiterated to the Patriarchs, seen in the Tabernacle and Temple. The Prophets declare Eden's restoration to come, and the new Temple is established in Christ and begins expanding through the Church. This new Temple is served by a kingdom of priests who serve those around them as they worship God. Eden, then, will be completely restored in the New Earth.
That's 134 pages reduced to 136 words,* so obviously I'm leaving a lot out. But that's the gist.
* How cool would that have been if I'd accidentally got that to 134 words?
THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS
I'm pretty sure that the last time I read this, I focused on chapters 1-9, the more theoretical and exegetical portions. This time—I appreciated and learned from those chapters, but these last two grabbed me.
Chapter 10, “‘Why Haven't I Seen This Before?': Seeing the Purpose of God's Dwelling Place in Eden,” addresses an important question. How can believers who've spent years reading the Scriptures not have seen this? They sketch out some factors, like a difference in cosmology a defective understanding of the unity of the Biblical message, a weak view of typology, and a different understanding of what a “literal” fulfillment of prophecy entails. I thought this chapter and the hermeneutical ideas it put forward were very insightful.
The final chapter, “Concluding Practical Reflections: Foundational Convictions for Sacrificial Mission in the Temple” is notable not only for the practical, applicatory perspective; but also for the emphasis on missions. It's important to see that this isn't just theology, this is a call to a way of life. Too often books like this can seem to forget that (sometimes they actually do), there's no way to think that about this book.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT GOD DWELLS AMONG US?
I said something earlier about reading this book before—it was originally published in 2014, and then re-released as part of the Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series. Somewhere I got the impression that it had been revised somewhat as part of being brought into the series—I think that was an error on my part. Oh well, it was good to re-read it anyway.
As the text pre-dates the series, it has a different feel than the others—I liked that about it.
This was accessible, approachable, and beneficial to life and mind. Beal and Kim are great at both shining a light on the text and bringing it to bear on the reader. This is one of the more useful and valuable entries in this really good series and I'm glad to recommend it to you.
