Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep and guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. – Exodus 23:20, Amplified Bible (AMP)

In Exodus 23:20, God made His chosen people three wonderful promises: to guide them in the way they should go, to guard them against their enemies, and to grant them rest in the Promised Land. In order to fulfill these promises, God Himself chose to physically dwell with His people, and He continued to do so until Israel ceased of their own accord to follow God’s leadership.

God has made these same promises to His chosen people of the New Testament, and we, like the ancient Israelites, enjoy the same amazing privilege of having God dwell physically with us as He fulfills His promises.  As 1 Corinthians 6:19 (AMP) teaches:

Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,

Like the tabernacle of ancient Israel housed God Himself, the tabernacles of our bodies do the same the moment we accept Christ as Savior. But, just like God’s guidance, guardianship, and granting of rest to Israel was conditioned upon Israel submitting to His leadership, God’s fulfillment of those same promises to us is dependent upon the same condition. If we quench (extinguish, suppress, or subdue) the Holy Spirit’s leadership in our lives by sinning rebelliously, then we can expect the same thing to happen to us that happened to Israel: He’ll leave us to our own devices, and through our sin we’ll bring our own destruction upon us.

I think it safe to say that if God manifested Himself to us with the thunderings and lightnings of Exodus 20, we’d have the same reaction the Israelites did. We’d be scared to death, and we’d be awed into obedience. The fact is, that same Being took up residence in each and every true believer at the moment of salvation, and even though He speaks to us through His Word (the Bible) and through a still, small voice rather than thunderings and lightnings, ought we not still be awed into obedience?

Shop hundreds of Christian-themed products at our new store! A portion of each purchase goes to support the work of Today’s Quote From God. To visit the Today’s Quote From God Store, please click here.