God Dwelt Among Them

Q

While reading your 7 Things book I came across this statement. “For 2600 years, with the exception of one 33 year period, God will have been absent from the planet leaving man to fend for himself.” How did you arrive at the 2600 year figure? What about the other 3400 years since the Creation? Hasn’t the Holy Spirit always been here?

A

It’s true, the Holy Spirit has always been around in one way or another, but I was referring to the visible presence of God dwelling among His people. When God first came to live with the Israelites in the wilderness it was about 2400 years after the Creation. He stayed with them about 1,000 years until just before the Babylonian captivity in about 600 BC. (Ezekiel 10:18-19). With the exception of the 33 the years Jesus was on Earth, God hasn’t dwelt among His people since 600BC which was over 2600 years ago. (These are all rough estimates for the purpose of illustration only.)