Sanctuary: God’s Holy Dwelling Place and His People

The sanctuary invites us to withdraw from the hustle and clamour of the world around us, into a place of peace and calm where God draws near to His people as they also connect with Him (Mt 18:20; 1 Cor 6:19).

God’s Dwelling Among His People

In the Old Testament, sanctuary centred on the tabernacle, the portable tent where Israel met with Yahweh. God instructed Moses, “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex 25:8).

Access was guarded and holy. Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, and then only once a year with sacrificial blood (Lev 16:2). This arrangement foreshadowed a deeper access that would come through a greater priest (Jesus), as later writers looked back to the tabernacle’s rituals (Heb 9:7).

Christ, the True Sanctuary

Jesus is the true tabernacle, the Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). In Him the fullness of deity lives bodily (Col 2:9).

At the cross the temple curtain tore, opening the way into God’s presence (Mt 27:51; Heb 10:19-22). Believers no longer need a physical sanctuary to approach God, because Christ Himself is our meeting place.

The Church as Sanctuary

Because the Spirit lives in believers, the church itself becomes a living sanctuary. Where two or three gather in Jesus’ name, He promises to be present (Mt 18:20; 1 Cor 6:19).

Peter calls believers living stones being built into a spiritual house (Eph 2:20-22; 1 Pet 2:5). Every local congregation and every Christian heart is a place set apart for worship, witness, and the presence of God.

It is common today to speak of the sanctuary as the church auditorium or meeting place—the room set apart for worship and for meeting with God. Yet this familiar usage can quietly narrow the biblical picture if we begin to imagine that God is confined to a particular building. Scripturally, the sanctuary is wherever God dwells with His people: gathered under one roof, certainly, but also scattered as living stones indwelt by the Spirit (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19). The building may serve and remind us of His presence, but the true sanctuary is the assembly of the redeemed, carrying God’s presence into the ordinary places of life.

In the relentless activity of modern life, it is easy to try to do things in our own strength, spiritually running on empty, with no streams of living water flowing from within (Jn 7:38) to minister to a hurting world. So it is essential to come apart and rest (Mk 6:31), and to build ourselves up in faith (Jude 1:20).

Reflection and Application:

Come intentionally into one-to-one togetherness with God, because unless we do, the enemy will see to it that we do not; from that connection we are better fitted to live and interact with others.
Approach Jesus boldly as your true sanctuary and great high priest.
Gather with other believers, knowing you together form God’s dwelling.
Live as a holy space where others can meet God.