Housing God

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

We carry the Lord’s treasure. Aren’t you glad about it? Another interesting translation of this verse is the New Living Translation: “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”

2 Corinthians 4 speaks of our knowledge of the glory of God by our faith in Jesus Christ; even though its containment is in fragile vessels the Bible speaks of as jars of clay. This is referred to repeatedly as the “light” and “life” of Jesus. We see these blessings we carry recorded in the following verses:

• vs. 4 – “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”
• vs. 6 – “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
• vs. 10 – “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body”
• vs. 11 – “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh”

We carry his light and life in us. Hallelujah! As such, we can also know that we emit “rivers of living water” the Bible refers to as the Holy Spirit flowing from believers.

In John 7:38, Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” The light and life of God come from his Holy Spirit within us. We are now the temple of his Holy Spirit. Not only do we carry the Lord’s light of the knowledge of the gospel, but the life of the gospel.

When I think of a treasure, I think of the Ark of the Covenant. God’s instructions found in Exodus 25:8 were: “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them…” “Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites” (Exodus 25:21-22).

This glorious box, spoken of in the Old Testament of the Bible:

• housed God’s spirit
• had to be carried a special way by God-given instructions
• brought blessings to God’s caregivers of the Ark
• brought curses to the wrong guardians of the Ark

Now if you should wonder what the Ark of the Covenant might have to do with Christ, one vital message is: “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory” (Colossians 1:27).

We must know how much God loves and thinks of us that he would allow us to carry his enlightenment and presence. We can be confident that “…His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3).

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,” (1 Corinthians 6:19/NLT).