Entering the Presence of God
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If I desire to visit the Queen of England and have a one-on-one meeting with her, it would be quite impossible. Likewise an attempt to meet Mr. Trudeau.
However, the most marvelous message of our Maker is that you and I can enter into God’s very Presence.
The Ps.: “O taste and see, the Lord is good..”
He was obviously referring to an authentic experience and not making faith a mere abstract concept.
The doubters and skeptics would tell us that we have Blind faith.
They ignore the fact that we have scientific facts, historical documentation, archaeological evidence, and a body of Scripture to buttress our faith.
And in addition we have what Dr Ravi Zacharias calls Experiential relevance - meaning you and I can experience God in our lives.
This is what I find so wonderful, so amazing about following Jesus. I can touch Him. He can touch me.
“He touched me, O He touched me..”
The last few weeks, we have been examining the subject of worship.
The Father is seeking worshipers - those who will worship in Spirit and in truth.
And although worship is all about God, here again we see the love and goodness of our Father manifested. Because when we worship Him, He comes to us, we experience Him.
Worship also benefits us.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
When we worship God, it’s as if He uses it to build a throne, He comes and sits there.
What a privilege!
English Standard Version Psalm 16
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
So today, I want to speak on “Entering the Presence of God.”
How can we enter into the Presence of God?
You may say: You just told us.
It’s by worship.
Yes - but in Spirit and in truth.
Has God established a methodology to enter His Presence? Yes
we see this depicted in the OT Tabernacle.
[slide Tabernacle]
As soon as God delivered Israel out of Egypt and was working on establishing them as a nation, we know He gave them the 10 Commandments and a set of laws.
Then He gave Moses elaborate instructions detailing the construction of a tabernacle.
[MV. 25.8]
8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
Make me a sanctuary. Build a house for me. A place of worship.
I pray that this sanctuary not just be another building but a place where the Presence of God dwells.
I may dwell- I will be present there. My Presence will be there.
Exactly as I show you - stick to the pattern. Stick to the instructions. Don’t change it.
What was the tabernacle?
Basically, a tent the Israelites constructed during their wilderness wanderings. The place where God dwelt among the Israelites.
It was situated in the very center of the nation.
slide
God wants to be in very center of our lives - not outside, not at the far corners, but the center.
There were three parts to it - Outer courtyard, Holy place, Holy of Holies or Most Holy place.
dimensions are given in cubits - 1 cubit = 18 inches.
courtyard was 150 x 75 feet
Tabernacle was 45 x 15
The Holy Place was cubic 15 x 15 x 15
As we follow the path from the outer court to the Holy of Holies where the Presence of God dwelt, the Shekinah glory of God, we have insight into God’s prescription for the steps to approaching Him and entering His Presence.
The Bronze Altar - Atonement
The Bronze Altar - Atonement
1 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits.
Slide
Ex. 27
The bronze altar for sacrificial offerings stood in the outer courtyard with its poles removed.
It was a hollow wooden box, overlaid with bronze, measuring 4.5 feet high and 7.5 feet long and wide
There was a bronze grating on the top and on the sides of the altar.
Remember Joab grabbing the horns of the altar?
Sin offering, Guilt offering, peace offerings were made, blood was splashed against the side of the altar.
The first step towards the Presence of God is for sin to be atoned.
Atonement is one of the few theological terms with roots in the English language.
It is the process by which two (typically estranged) parties are made “at-one” with each other.
"At-one-ment"
The Hebrew word for atone (כָּפַר, kaphar) conveys the idea of covering, both in the sense of covering to hide and also covering for someone (i.e., not charging someone with an offense or penalty).
Why do we need Atonement?
God is holy, pure.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3.23
Your sins have separated you from me.
Anyone who dares approach this Holy God will die because He is holy and glorious.
The wages of sin is death
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
When John saw Jesus - “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Thank God, we do not need to offer sacrifices today. Jesus is our sacrifice.
Our sins must be atoned for.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Do not so presumptuous to think we can approach God without our sins being atoned for.
The next Step -
The Laver - Sanctification
The Laver - Sanctification
Slide
8 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Little information is given about the design or construction of the piece itself.
It was made of brass taken from the metal mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the tabernacle.
Basin filled with water which the priests used to wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place
Speaks of cleansing or sanctification -
After salvation, the next step or more accurately, we enter into a lifelong journey of continuous inner cleansing, inner purification, sanctification.
A cleansing after reflection
Just as when the priest approaches the Brazen laver and sees his reflection, likewise when we look into the Word of God, we see our faults.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
A Cleansing that is deep-seated.
When David sinned, he was so convicted and broken, he prayed this way
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
He wanted God to get in there by His Holy Spirit and do a work of sanctification.
Peter speaks about the Holy Spirit sanctifying the believer so we can obey the Lord Jesus Christ.
A cleansing from the Word
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Sanctify them by your word, your word is truth.
Eph. 5. 25 Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
A cleansing that is complete
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A cleansing that is a prerequisite
When God was going to reveal Himself to Israel on Mt Sinai, He gave Moses this order:
10 the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments
11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
Just as He told Moses when He appeared in the Burning Bush -
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Do not be so proud and presumptuous to think we can live anyway we like and enter the Presence of God.
Leave the sin behind!
Take another step closer:
Now we move from the Outer Court into the sanctuary - The Holy Place
The Table of Shewbread - Fellowship
The Table of Shewbread - Fellowship
23 “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.
The table was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold.
It was 36 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high.
It was to be placed in front of the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, along the north side of the tabernacle
On it were placed twelve loaves of bread arranged in two stacks of six
They were replaced weekly on the Sabbath
Table of the Shewbread = Fellowship.
God doesn’t want simply to forgive us, work on lives to purify us but He desires Fellowship.
The God of the Bible is a God who loves His people and engages with them.
He desires our fellowship.
From the time of Adam, we see His intention.
He came down in the cool of the day to meet with Adam.
Here we was, setting Himself up in the very midst of Israel.
How do we fellowship with God?
Well, the question is “Where can I find bread?”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John wrote about that powerful, ever-real fellowship with Jesus
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
You have been forgiven. Your sins atoned for.
You have been working with God to sanctify/purify your life.
What about fellowship with Him?
Do you love Him? Do you love to spend time with Him?
35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Conc.
The greatest blessing of the Christian life is to experience the wonderful Presence of God.
God’s Presence brings strength, comfort, joy, peace, reassurance, hope.
It lifts you above the turmoil and troubles of this world.
Isn’t it amazing that the God who created the heavens and the earth, the entire universe has condescended and provided a way for us to encounter Him?
I encourage us all today - let us pursue the Presence of the Living God.