Solomon built the Lord a temple and said, “But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever” (2 Chr. 6:1). But later said, “But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!” (2 Chr. 6:18; Acts 17:24). He knew the temple wouldn’t truly be God’s house of habitation. Just as it was with Solomon’s temple, so it is now. God only inhabited temples/tabernacles on earth in a figurative way. “Then said Solomon, The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness” (2 Chr. 6:2). When the Lord spoke to Moses face to face at the door of the tabernacle/tent it was thru the agency of the cloudy pillar (Ex. 33:9-11; cf. Lev. 16:2). Moses didn’t literally speak face to face with God because humans cannot (Ex. 33:20; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12,20).
In a similar way, we don’t literally stand before God’s throne in heaven in the sense that we are actually/physically there (Heb. 4:16; 8:1). Because no humans can stand before God (1 Cor. 15:50), and no humans have (John 3:13). This is the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit who is also God (Acts 5:3-4). He does not, cannot, and will not go against his holy nature and literally/physically abide inside human flesh that transgresses (Rom. 7:15-25; 1 John 1:8). Furthermore, we are not the true place of his habitation. “Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?” (Is. 66:1).
Do we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit/God? Absolutely (1 Cor. 6:19)! But how does he inhabit us? Not by literally/physically living in our bodies. However, he is in us thru the agency of the word of God. Just as Christ was in the prophets thru his message they preached (1 Pet. 1:10-11; 3:18-19), even so the Holy Spirit lives in us thru the word he gave when we obey (Rom. 6:17-18; 8:1; 1 Pet. 1:22-23). Solomon even understood where God’s true place of habitation was when he prayed, “Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place…” (2 Chr. 6:30).
