by: Tamra Richardt
October 20, 2026
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Growing up in a spirit-filled church, I had the privilege of witnessing the move of God in powerful ways! I saw people come into services in wheelchairs or crutches and leave without them, and I witnessed people set free from addictions and all sorts of illnesses. It was rather familiar to witness these things and nothing out of the ordinary in the church I grew up in. Remembering these events, I’ve been studying about the power of the Holy Spirit lately and discovering things I never really knew or understood about Him.
The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit is part of the Triune Godhead, and many of us understand His power and have seen His miracles as I did growing up in my home church. But I’m fascinated by His journey of human habitation.
Exodus 25:8-9, (NLT) “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.”
God spoke to Moses in the above scripture and expressed His desire to live among the people of Israel. He was very specific about the Ark of the Covenant which would be placed in the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle. The Ark carried the tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant between God and men. Exodus chapters 25-30 reveals God’s plan for the Tabernacle in great detail.
So, the Holy Spirit’s first appearance is Exodus 40:34-35, after all the preparations for this moving tabernacle or tent was completed. He was referred to not as the Holy Spirit but rather as the Glory of the Lord, the Shekinah presence.
“Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.”
The Holy Spirit presented as a cloud by day and fire by night, leading the children of Israel on their quest to the promised land. (Seems to me that the Holy Spirit is doing the same today. Leading us to our promised land..Heaven!).
The next and more personal and intimate inhabitation of the Holy Spirit is in the New Testament, when Jesus became the tabernacle for the Holy Spirit.
John 1:14 states, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
The Greek word here for the word “dwelt” is Skenoo, which means tabernacle, or pitched tent. Jesus actually became the tabernacle, the physical tent for the indwelling of God’s holy presence.
At His baptism, the Holy Spirit visibly descended and remained on Him (John 1:32, ESV).
Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him.”
Also, Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit coming upon Him to launch His mission when He entered the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth and began to read from the book of Isaiah (Luke 4:18-10, ESV).
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1, 2.)
Jesus then further confirmed that He was the temple of God in John 2:19-21, (ESV). Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
So the Holy Spirit went from inhabiting a temple made with human hands, built by Moses, to inhabiting human flesh in the body of Jesus Christ!
And finally, Jesus speaks about Holy Spirit coming to us in John 16:7, (ESV).
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send Him to you.”
And now, the great miracle of the Holy Spirit indwelling us takes place in Acts chapter 2:1-4, (ESV).
Jesus instructed His disciples and other followers to go to the Upper Room and wait for the Holy Spirit to come to them. This was the same room where Jesus and His disciples ate the Last Supper. This is located in Jerusalem, the launchpad for the global church.
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance.”
Why the day of Pentecost? As always, God’s plan is never random, but strategic. In the Jewish calendar Pentecost was already an established holy day mandated by God in Leviticus 23.
Pentecost was one of Israel’s great pilgrimage feasts, and Jewish men and women from all over the known world were required by Jewish law to travel to Jerusalem. The city was literally packed with international people speaking dozens of languages! When the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to speak in foreign tongues, literally thousands of visitors were hearing the Gospel in their native languages simultaneously! Incredible.
This occurred exactly 50 days after Passover. Why?
Because of the prophetic parallel of the Harvest.
Old Testament Pentecost was primarily an agricultural festival celebrating the Feast of First Fruits or Feast of Harvest, which is the gathering of the wheat crop. I bet you see where God is going with this...
Passover celebration marked the passing over of the death angel in Egypt, through the protection of the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the doors. Now, the Christian parallel of the Passover is the death of Jesus, the sacrificial lamb shedding His perfect blood, applied to the doorposts of our hearts by faith saving us from death, leading us to life everlasting.
Resurrection Sunday marked Jesus rising as the “first fruits” of the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:20, (ESV), “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.”
Pentecost marked the spiritual harvest. By sending the Holy Spirit on that specific day that Israel celebrated gathering grain, God harvested 3000 souls into the newly born Church in one single day! Isn’t God’s plan amazing?
So now today, we are the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. By our faith in the life, death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God, we are accepted into the family of God. And by request, the Holy Spirit will INDWELL our human bodies, making us the last tabernacle of God on this earth, an unparalleled, intimate connection between God and man - His final dwelling place, before the second coming of Christ! Just to think a Holy God would choose to inhabit flawed human vessels is more than I can comprehend. But this was His loving and grace-filled plan all along. What a revelation. What a gift! WE the Tabernacle. Hallelujah!
Prayer
Father God, we thank You for the precious and incomparable gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell us, to guide us, to comfort us, to advocate for us, and to move through us, enabling us to become the heart and the hands of Jesus. Let this light shine among men that God is glorified in us through the Holy Spirit and may many be brought to the Cross of Christ.
Worship: Holy Spirit Reign Down- Hillsong Worship
Further Study
John 14:15–17; John 16:13; John 14:26; Romans 8:26; Ephesians 1:13–14
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The Holy Spirit presented as a cloud by day and fire by night, leading the children of Israel on their quest to the promised land. Seems to me that the Holy Spirit is doing the same today. Leading us to our promised land..Heaven!