Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and I will dwell

in your midst, says the Lord.

(Zechariah 2:10)

One of the unique and remarkable statements in the Holy Scriptures is that God wishes to be with His people. There is no way that we, on our

own, can possibly come to live with God. As beings that are cre- ated, we are by nature separated from God the Creator. But our God, the Lord Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible, desires to be with us. In the Old Testament, the presence of God among His people was repre- sented by the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. It was the Presence that guided the Israelites through their journey in the wilderness and finally leading them to the Promised Land. This Cloud of God’s presence filled the Tabernacle and later the Temple built by Solomon.

Later, because of Israel’s disobedience, the Cloud of God’s pres- ence left them and Jerusalem was destroyed with the people be- ing led captive into Babylon. But Zachariah prophesied that once again they would return to Jerusalem and the Cloud of God would fill the temple. But his prophecy was even a greater fore- telling of a dwelling of God among His people that would sur- pass any known before. In the person of Jesus Christ, God came and dwelt among His people not in the form of a Cloud, but rather as flesh and blood, a human being, through the mystery of the Incarnation.