Before the Cross -No Indwelling God

How many sermons have you heard based upon Old Testament people of God like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, etc.? We certainly can learn things from the stories of the Old Testament, but we must be careful to remember one thing: NO ONE BEFORE THE CROSS OF CHRIST HAD GOD INDWELLING THEM AS WE DO!

In many cases, I’m afraid we have acted as if there is no difference between the saints before the Cross and the saints after the Cross. Certainly we had people of God - saints of God - before the Cross. God dealt with the Hebrew people and faith in God did exist. But all that faith brought about was to cause God to deal with them physically – supplying their physical needs, even causing miracles to aid them physically. But any connection to an external God spiritually only brought about physical blessings – they still remained spiritually dead to God internally.

What does Hebrews 11 say about the Old Testament saints? The whole chapter extols all the physical virtues of a long list of Old Testament people, but then says that “all died in faith not having received the promises…” (v. 13) and that “all having obtained a good report through faith, did not receive the promise – God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (v. 39-40).

What was the “better thing for us”? It is an INDWELLING GOD rather than an external God. The indwelling God could not happen until after the Cross. The Church, the Body of Christ, is something special and unique to the Father because it represents His Son – head and body – in its fullness. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9); “…and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church which is His body, the fullness of Him…” (Eph. 1:22-23).

Think how Galatians 2:20 would read prior to the Cross – something like this: I am not crucified with Christ, I still live, and the life I live in the flesh I live by my own faith…” Of course, this is the “old man”, spiritually dead to God, speaking.

I am led to do the same thing with other Scriptures that belong to the Church, Scriptures that Old Testament saints couldn’t claim for themselves. Romans 8:9 belongs only to the Church and how would it read before the Cross? Something like this: But you are not in the Spirit but in the flesh because the spirit of God doesn’t dwell in you.

Let’s take Romans 6:11 and read it prior to the Cross: I am alive to sin but dead to God.

If we put these Scriptures together with other ones, we must conclude that prior to the Cross, God dealt with people according to the flesh since they were dead to God spiritually. Why is this important to know?

Before the Cross, some had little faith; others had great faith; and still others were faithless. Before the Cross, there was no way any humans could be one with God because God is spirit and humans were living in the flesh. Only in Christ, in His Spirit, will you find oneness and completeness.

We all need role-model examples to carry us forward in our Christian walk. I believe that we should look to the New Testament saints after the Cross in the book of Acts and the epistles to find most of our role-models and only occasionally use the spiritually dead to God saints of the Old Testament. I know I can learn good things from Moses and others; but I can learn good things from unbelievers too, since both are spiritually dead to God. But on both occasions, the flesh is the focus. The old man in Moses and everyone before the Cross is very much alive today. There is much teaching going around today that uses Old Testament saints as examples, but from them we can only learn a few good things they did in the flesh with God’s external help! We hear this and we go home wanting to be like Moses, like Joshua, like this prophet or that saint.

What about Jesus? After I was born again, I am greater than Moses, greater than Joshua, greater than anyone in the Old Testament BECAUSE I NOW HAVE THE INDWELLING GOD IN JESUS CHRIST. Prior to this rebirth, I was already in Moses’ image (Adam) – fleshly and dead to God spiritually. The Cross did away with the old so the new could enter. A new creation was raised out of Christ’s death on the Cross so that now, in union with Christ, we may all be one.

In Christ, there are no levels of faith; there is but one faith, and it’s the faith of Christ (as the original Greek rendering in Galatians 2:20). I once had a measure of dead physical faith as Abraham had, as Moses had, and which the Holy Spirit quickened enough to believe and accept Christ, but from there I entered into the faith of Christ, this we have moved from faith to faith as recorded in Romans 1:17.

Jesus and His Cross really do make a great difference; and it’s about time we honor the work God accomplished to Christ. We must stop trying to correct the flesh to make it something. It will never be Jesus! If do’s and don’ts could have corrected the flesh, Moses’ Law would have done the job; it didn’t! God help us see this! We, the Church, must take the Scriptures that belong only to the Church and ask the Holy Spirit to brighten those Scriptures to us. We, as Paul, must put everything aside, count it as dung, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3:10).

We waste so much time and money on how to get the earthly, the temporal, and the fleshly that we don’t grow spiritually as we should. We say we preach Jesus, but a lot of it is “my faith”, “my tithe”, “my faithfulness”, “my commitment”, “my this”, my that” – all against what the Word says: “For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5).

[Back to Home]