As I wrote in my article, “Jesus: Creator, Member and Head of A New Human Race” in the New Creation section of this blog, it is my view that Jesus Christ, the God-man, was the start of a new, third creation.  Angels and the first humanity under the headship of Adam, with their environments, were his first two creations.  In this third creation, God the Son merged his deity with the humanity he had created in the second creation.  The foundation for this merger was laid when the members of the triune God said to each other before creating human beings, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” (Genesis1:26)  In my opinion, this likeness with deity, that was built by God into the second creation’s humanity-under-the-headship-of-Adam, enabled God the Son to eventually start the third creation by becoming permanently embodied as a human being while remaining God.

When our world’s Creator merged with the highest form of life he had created during his second creation–humanity under the headship of Adam–he broke new ground:  Until then God had remained separate from his second creation.  Called “the incarnation” by theologians, this permanment merger of God the Son with a human body changed the definition of what God’s temple on earth is.  In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the Holy of Holies—a room first in the mobile Tabernacle, then in the permanent Temple building in Jerusalem.  In the New Testament, Jesus himself was God’s Temple on earth—God’s presence was now located in a human body.  He referred to his body, not to the temple building in Jerusalem, when he said, “Destroy this temple, and I was raise it up again in three days.”  (John 2:19)  The Jews didn’t understand that Jesus was calling himself the temple of God:  “They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.” (John 2:20-21)  By taking up permanent residence in a human body, God the Son not only established a new, second humanity with himself  as its first member and head, but also laid the groundwork for him to later dwell with God the Holy Spirit in the second creation bodies of his followers, making each of them a third creation temple of God.

For Jesus to indwell in the bodies of his followers, however, he had to first remove sin that had caused God to erect barriers between himself and sinful human beings in the Old Testament. The first barrier was erected against after Adam and Eve sinned:  “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

When God later established Israel as his people, he erected barriers against their direct access to his presence, lest they die. It first happened at Mount Sinai, when the people were warned they would die if they tried to approach God on the mountain  (Exodus 19:10-13, 23-24).  When Israel settled in the land of Canaan about 40 years later, God dwelt with them first in the temporary Tabernacle and later of the permanent temple in Jerusalem. Only the High Priest was allowed direct access to God, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement after he offered a sacrifice for his own sins:  “The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover…Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.” (Leviticus 16:2,6)  Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, did later die for violating strict rules about how God’s priests were to approach him (Leviticus 10:1-2).

Sin, the cause of these barriers that God had erected between himself and human beings, was removed by Jesus through his death on the cross as a sin offering for all people:  “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29)   As the God/man–deity permanently indwelling a human body–Jesus thus eliminated the gulf separating God from first humanity people under the headship of Adam, opening the way for God to indwell the bodies of his followers:  “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”(Colossians 1:19-22)  This removal of the former gulf of separation between God and sinful human beings was immediately illustrated when Jesus died, by the miraculous removal of the key barrier that separated humans from God’s presence in the Jerusalem Temple: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51)  Thanks to Jesus’s death, all members of the new humanity in Christ are are now invited and encouraged to approach God’s throne in heaven without restriction:  “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16)

Our Double Blessing:  Not only did Jesus make it possible for his followers to have direct access to God’s throne in heaven, he also made it possible for the triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to set up residence for themselves in the hearts of each member of the new humanity in Christ.  God the Son, our Creator, had broken ground by becoming permanently embodied as a human.  Now God would be able to dwell in the bodies of all second creation people under the headship of Adam who by faith in Jesus received the forgiveness for their sins he had died to make available to them.  Sure enough, just ten days after Jesus’ ascension, on the Day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit descended upon and into 120 “charter members” of the Church (the Body of Christ) as they met together. This empowering experience launched the new humanity in Christ into powerful public ministry as Jesus had promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The coming of God the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost replaced the physical presence of God the Son in our world.  “It is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you.”  (John 16:7).  Shortly before, Jesus had told his disciples that this Counselor, the Holy Spirit, would indwell them as would God the Father and Jesus himself:  “If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:15-20, 23).

In my opinion:  Phase 1 of the new, third creation began with God the Son indwelling a human body from his conception by the God the Holy Spirit in the womb of his mother Mary, changing the definition of God’s temple on earth from a building in Jerusalem to Jesus himself.  Thanks to Jesus’ death removing the barriers erected by the holiness of God against sinful humanity,  Phase 2 of the new, third creation began on the Day of Pentecost when God the Holy Spirit replaced the physical presence of Jesus in our world, and established yet another change in definition of God’s temple on earth: with Jesus gone, the temple of God was redefined again as each member of the new humanity in Christ, in whose hearts (the new Holy of Holies) God’s presence would now dwell.  From one location on earth (only in Jesus), God’s presence in human bodies through the indwelling Holy Spirit expanded exponentially when God the Holy Spirit replaced Jesus on the Day of Pentecost:  First adding about 3,000 human bodies to the first 120 charter members in Israel on the Day of Pentecost, now, two thousand years later God indwells more than a billion members of the new humanity in Christ around the world!

The presence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit continues to be available to his people today in the two ways it manifested on the Day of Pentecost:  outside followers of Christ, and inside them.  The Holy Spirit came “upon” Christ’s followers on the Day of Pentecost, and also into them.  (Upon:  “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. (Acts 2:3)  Into:  “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  (Acts 2:4)

Regarding God’s presence coming on his people on the outside of themselves, I see a parallel in what winning football teams do to their coach as an important game is ending in victory:  They dump a large container of water over the head of their head coach.  They are celebrating victory after their work is done.  The Holy Spirit does the opposite:  He “comes on” his followers in an “impartation” or “anointing”, immersing them in his presence and power, before they begin their work, to empower them to be able to achieve victory ( 1 Corinthians 12:7). In chapter four of my autobiographical story on this blog, I tell a story of how I experienced such an impartation in 1978 three months before I began coaching Bible Quizzing, as a new youth pastor.  This impartation led to a national championship one year later for my high school Bible Quiz team.

Another way God’s presence is available on the outside of Jesus’ followers was stated by Jesus:  “Where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.”  (Matthew 18:20)   Think of the implications of that statement for husbands and wives who share faith in Christ, for children they are raising for Christ, for home groups and for congregations:  Groups of two or more of God’s people have God’s presence with them to empower, guide, teach, and protect them!

It is God’s presence on the inside of every member of the new humanity in Christ that is called the new self in the New Testament: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24. See also Colossians 3:5-11)  The New Testament has different ways of talking about this new self, starting with the temple of God’s presence: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God?”  (1 Corinthians 6:19)  God in you is your new self—a new inner being, the sinless human nature of Jesus Christ, who is himself dwelling in you!  “Righteous Father…I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:25-26)  The Apostle Paul wrote that “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints” is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:26-27)

To summarize:  The Old Testament temple was a building in Jerusalem which had an inner room known as the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God was located.  The New Testament temple began as Jesus–his human body being the new temple that housed his deity.  When he returned to the right hand of God the Father (Acts 1:9), he sent God the Holy Spirit to take his place in our world–by indwelling the heart of every follower of Jesus in what the New Testament calls “the new self.”   This new self does not exist in people who are not members of the new humanity in Christ.  They only have an “old self”—the sinful human nature of the first humanity under the sinful headship of its first member, Adam. Followers of Christ currently have both an old self in Adam and a new self in Christ.  Among the new self’s benefits are empowerment with 1. The presence of God as you walk with him daily (John 15:4-5), 2. The sinless, holy character of Christ during your gradual, progressive transformation into conformity with the character of Christ through the fruit of the Holy Spirit within and through you (Romans 8:29, Galatians 5:22-23), and 3. Spiritual gifts for serving the Lord according to his assignments for your life (1Corinthians 12:7).

What a wonderful benefit is this new inner self that is given to members of the new humanity Christ—God living in you, a temple of God!