Psalms 15:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Abide:
Strong’s Number: H1481
Original Word: גּוּר
Transliterated Word: gûr
Phonetic Spelling: goor
Parts of Speech: Verb
Strong’s Definition
A primitive root; properly to turn aside from the road for a lodging or any other purpose that is sojourn as a guest
Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Definition:
to sojourn, abide, dwell in, dwell with, remain, inhabit, be a stranger, be continuing, surely
(Qal):
to sojourn, dwell for a time, to abide, stay, temporarily dwell
(Hithpolel):
to seek hospitality with, to assemble oneself, to stir up trouble, strife, quarrel, gather together
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Dwell:
Strong’s Number: H7931
Original Word: שׁכן
Transliterated Word: shâkan
Phonetic Spelling: shaw-kan’
Parts of Speech: Verb
Strong’s Definition:
A primitive root (apparently akin to H7901 through the idea of lodging; compare H5531 and H7925); to reside or permanently stay (literally or figuratively): – {abide} {continue} (cause {to} make to) dwell ({-er}) have {habitation} {inhabit} {lay} {place} (cause to) {remain} {rest} set (up).
Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Definition:
to settle down, abide, dwell, tabernacle, reside
(Qal):
to settle down to abide, to abide, dwell, reside
(Piel):
to make settle down, establish, to make or cause to dwell
(Hiphil):
to lay, place, set, establish, settle, fix, to cause to dwell or abide
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“LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill”?
The above scripture is a question of knowing God and where His place of residence is!
This opening question begs the more important question of does one even have an awareness of there being a God in the first place! The Psalmist opens with “Jehovah, who shall abide” the Brown-Driver-Briggs dictionary Defines this Holy name as meaning: “the existing One,” The Strong’s Concordance has it as (the) self-existent or eternal. The inference is that one must first believe that God is, the question is addressed to not to a general idea of God but to Jehovah who revealed Himself in the Old Testament to various people starting with Adam & Eve and down throughout generations until we come to the place of the beginning of Gods greater self-revelation to Moses, and finally wrapped up in the revelation of God manifested in human flesh in Christ Jesus.
Now we come to the first division of “The Who” (not the rock group of fame,) this would be people that not only believe that there is a Holy God, but have fixed their heart, mind, desire, and sight on being a permanent tenant in Gods home. The few who have heard the call of God responded in faith received His gift of salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus provided by God’s grace.
Those to whom God revealed Himself believed that He was and submitted themselves to His rule and authority through faith in the atoning shed blood of Jesus on Calvary’s cross. (I’m excluding Adam & Eve because they were in a unique circumstance that the rest of humanity cannot ever experience.) Able who offered a better sacrifice than Cain, Moses who obeyed God and built an Ark, Abraham & Sara who believed God and had a child of promise in their old age, Rahab who hid the spies and escaped death, and the many, many more who all believed God and submitted their lives to His rule and authority.
Now we come to the second division of who can abide, dwell, reside with God the Most Holy, persons who believe that God exists, but will not submit to His authority. You may ask how can someone believe in God and not abide or dwell in the presence of God. Does not scripture state that the devil believes and trembles? Yet, even though Satan trembles before a Holy and Righteous God, scripture tells us that he was cast out from heaven! Satan and the one-third of the angels who rebelled with him are permanently exiled from God’s presence; their place of residence with Holy God proved to be temporary. So one can believe in God and yet not take up permanent residence with God!
Psalms 14:1 states: “the fool has said in his heart there is no God” So there is already a self-contained division in the scriptures, of believing and non-believing peoples of the world. The unsaved are not in view here as they do not retain any thoughts of God.
Scripture answers the question of who will abide with God. In our next post, we will take a more in-depth look at how to dwell with God in our next post.
God bless