Dwelling with the Lord in the Land of the Living
By Deidre Braley
Bible Reading:
One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple. - Psalm 27:4
The ancient Israelites had a far different understanding of eternity than we do today; the concept of Heaven and Hell as two distinctly different eternal dwelling places would have been a foreign idea to them.
I learned about this as a seminary student in my Master of Divinity program, where this semester I’ve had the privilege of taking a class that explores the Torah—that is, the first five books in the Hebrew Bible (also sometimes called the Pentateuch). And when I reached this startling understanding that the ancient peoples believed they would all someday go to a somewhat damp and gray place called sheol, I asked my professor in horror, “But how did they live with this idea? Where was their hope? How did they not all die of existential crises?”
What he said, though, was beautiful. He explained that what was most important to the ancient Israelites in their death was that they were remembered by their families, but also that their bones were buried in their land, because they believed that God dwelt in Israel, and they wanted to be wherever he was. But what struck me even more was what he said next:
“For the Israelites, the torah—that is, their teachings—offered a way to dwell in God’s presence every day of their lives. They were focused on being with God and enjoying him in the present.”
And when we look at Scripture like Psalm 27, we see evidence that it’s true: the ancient authors weren’t waiting for some faraway day after they’d died to be with God; they believed it was possible to spend every day of their lives in the presence of God, and to enjoy it immensely. The psalmist wrote, “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (v.4, emphasis added).
Intersecting Faith & Life:
As modern-day followers of Christ who do have beliefs about the existence of a very real Heaven and Hell, it can be easy to focus on our eternal destination; in fact, that is the focus of many sermons and the basis of many arguments for the Gospel. But to focus entirely on where we’ll go after we die is to miss out on a major (and incredibly beautiful) part of the good news that is the Gospel: We don’t have to wait to enjoy God’s presence. We get to dwell with him right here, right now—every day of our lives.
In this sense, we have a lot to learn from the ancient Israelites. There is an invitation to walk in the Kingdom of God even while we walk on Earth. Will we wait for some future day, or will we start to dwell with the Lord in the land of the living—today?
Further Reading:
Luke 17:20-21
Matthew 6:10
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Photo Credit: Unsplash/Leohoho
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