TREMBLE–A physical reaction to anxiety or fear. The word is also used symbolically to describe an emotional reaction one might experience when a situation turns negative. Whether describing a physical or an emotional reaction, the common factor found in both situations is fear.

In Isaiah 66:1 God is speaking directly to those who call themselves His people: “Thus says the Lord, ‘The heaven is My home, and the earth is my footstool: where is THE HOUSE THAT YOU BUILD FOR ME? and where is MY PLACE OF REST?'” In this combination statement and question God is reminding those who call themselves by His name that He seeks to abide within them. He is asking us if we are living in such a way that makes us fit to be His “house” or “temple.” Within this passage we find a most important Biblical fact: UNLESS GOD ABIDES IN US WE DO NOT BELONG TO HIM. In other Scriptural passages we are told that GOD DOES NOT ABIDE WHERE SIN IS PRESENT. He tells us as individuals not to have spiritual fellowship with unbelievers–church people who do not believe or obey His Word. Second Corinthians 6:14-18 is a prime example of this command. Here the Lord, through the Apostle Paul, warns true believers in the Corinthian church to: “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers (in the church), for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness … light with darkness … Christ with Satan … a believer with an infidel … the temple of God with idols …. Therefore, come out from among them (false Christians) and be separate … touch not the unclean thing.” If God prohibits His saints from having spiritual fellowship with false Christians, He most certainly does not abide in them. If God abides in “sinners saved by grace,” by separating from them His saints would be separating from Him, thereby dividing the head of the church–Jesus Christ. “Is Christ divided?” God forbids it. (1 Cor. 1:13).

The Lord commands that we check our character against His Word to see if we are “walking” in holiness, thereby making ourselves worthy to be His temple. Read 1 John 2:6. In Old Testament times God resided in the Jerusalem Temple. Within His New Covenant Church His saints are His temple as He tells us: “Know you not that you are the temple of God? The temple of God is HOLY, which temple YOU ARE” (1 Cor. 3:16,17). Note that He abides only in a HOLY TEMPLE (SAINT). “For you are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). Notice: NO HOLINESS=NO TEMPLE; NO TEMPLE=NO GOD; NO GOD=NO SAINT. Incredible as it sounds, though the Lord created the heavens and the earth, He desires to live within man in the form of His Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:20-22). See Jesus Christ: God, Man or Godman? In Isaiah 66:1 God asks who is the one in whom He can abide? He answers in verse two: “TO THIS MAN I WILL LOOK (for an abode), even to him that is poor (humble) and of a contrite (broken) spirit, who TREMBLETH AT MY WORD”–believes and obeys it out of fear of and love for Him. To defy Him by not obeying His Word shows one’s lack of fear of Him, which He condemns: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). In Luke 12:5 we are commanded to “fear Him who can kill the soul.” The messages are clear: Those who reject His Words in whole or in part are unwise and will lose their souls. Obedience toward God is the foundation for eternal life; His Word is that foundation. In Ephesians 2:20-22 we are told that the household of God–His church–has as its foundation the teachings of the prophets and apostles (the Scriptures, all of which are inspired by God-1 Tim.3:16), and that all who stand on that foundation are fitted together into one holy temple which God inhabits through (in the form of) His Holy Spirit. To be continued. L.J.