God No Longer With Us

"and they shall call his name 'Emmanuel', which being interpreted is 'God with us'."
The incarnation--God breaking into history in human form--the 'miracle of Christmas' is that God is with us. Hold that thought.

Move forward 33 years to the night that Jesus was arrested, just hours before his crucifixion, he told his closest followers...

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many places to dwell (often incorrectly translated 'many mansions'); if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there (where God lives) to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
(Gotta love that Thomas guy, always questioning; always wanting proof or further explanation)

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him... Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father... Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
On the day I return you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:1-20)

Jesus said that it would no longer just be about God being with us, but now God would be in us, and we would be in God. What would make this new relationship, this new level of intimacy, possible?

I've always been taught that Jesus' "going away" was his ascension into heaven (43 days after his death and 40 days after his resurrection), and his "coming back" will be his second coming (2,000+ years and still waiting).

That last night with his disciples Jesus had been telling them he was going away as a reference of his death. He was saying, "in my going away (death) I will prepare a place for you, and I'm coming back (resurrection) so you can make your home in God and God will make his home in you."

Because of the death and resurrection, it's no longer just "God with us", but God IN us. Jesus' death and resurrection makes it possible for us to live in God and God to live in us.

God is not a person, but a spirit. Although a spirit, God does have a distinct personality. He is real, and we can know him, and be known by him... that is the best life... not reserved for the hereafter, but can be experienced in the here and now.