Pathway to the Presence of God
Notes
Transcript
Handout
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
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Sermon:
Pathway to the Presence of God
Pathway to the Presence of God
You and I are invited to enter the presence of God
You and I are welcome there.
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Even in Rev we read-
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Yes, today we have a grand, glorious invitation to enter into the very Presence of God - a God who is full of love, grace, power, majesty, beauty, glory, just awesome.
A God whose presence brings healing, fulfillment, hope, strength, peace.
How do we enter?
He gave us the steps, formula, protocol in the OT as we see in the Tabernacle.
Text:
Turn to Ex. 25
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.
English Standard Version Chapter 25
10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood.
11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it.
16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.
17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.
18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.
20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.
21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.
22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
Picture of Tabernacle
In the OT, God gave Israel, His people, a divine pathway into His very Presence.
That pathway enlightens us today and is fulfilled in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Review:
1. The Brazen Altar
1. The Brazen Altar
a wooden box, covered with bronze where various sacrifices were offered
blood was shed
place of Atonement - sin is covered
without the shedding of blood
The first step is our sins need to be forgiven -
- ask God to forgive you today!
2. The Brazen Laver
2. The Brazen Laver
A large basin made from metal mirrors,
Filled with water. Priests will wash hands and feet before entering the Holy Place.
Speaks of sanctification - cleansing
Have you been cleansing your life?
3. The Table of Shewbread
3. The Table of Shewbread
A wooden table overlaid with gold.
In the Holy Place
12 loaves of bread, replaced every Sabbath.
Fellowship - Jesus is the Bread of heaven. We must have fellowship with God daily.
The great sin of the church is our lack of fellowship with God.
Are you in continuous fellowship with the Lord?
4. The Golden Lampstand
4. The Golden Lampstand
a lampstand with a base, a stem and three branches on either side.
was to be kept burning day and night
The only source of light in the Tabernacle
Speaks to spiritual enlightenment/illumination which comes from
Jesus [the light of the world]
Word [Thy word is a lamp unto my feet]
Holy Spirit [Spirit of wisdom of wisdom and revelation]
Our world today is in darkness, continuously and copiously fed by lies, lies and more lies, deception, fabrication, propaganda
Religious, political, social, scientific, medical
We should not be surprised because Satan is the deceiver of the whole world -Rev. 12.9
1 John 5.19 - the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Many believers, so-called Christians are being swallowed up by the darkness because:
they don’t know the Word
They don’t have fellowship with God
They don’t have fellowship with the church
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
5. The Golden Altar of Incense
5. The Golden Altar of Incense
A box overlaid with gold where incense was offered to God.
Represented the prayer, praise, worship and intercession of the saints.
There we have the steps so far:
Sins are forgiven
Inner cleansing
Fellowship with God
Enlightenment
Prayer and worship
Yet between the ark of the covenant and the Holy Place was a thick veil.
31 “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
English Standard Version Chapter 26
And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 34
They were separated from the Most Holy Place.
Only the HP could enter, only once a year, and only with a blood sacrifice.
But all of that changed when Jesus died:
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
So the Holy Spirit says to us:
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
What do we see in the Holy of Holies?
6. The Ark of the Covenant.
6. The Ark of the Covenant.
picture of ark
It was the most important piece of furniture in the tabernacle
not to be mixed up with Noah’s ark.
It was an rectangular chest made of acacia wood, 2.5 c x 1.5 c [45 by 27 inches]
overlaid inside and out with gold.
It was fitted with two pairs of rings through which poles were slid to make it portable.
Inside the ark:
the two tablets of the Law that were given to Moses
A pot of manna
Aaron’s rod that had budded
Let’s dig a little deeper
The Law - God’s standard
The tablets
Think for a moment, in the HOH, where the Presence and glory of God was, there was a copy of God’s law.
So oftentimes, the ark was referred to as the “ark of the testimony.”
Why this nexus between God’s Presence and God’s Law?
God’s righteous laws under-girds any authentic and meaningful relationship with Him.
It protects us from dishonoring Him, making ourselves God.
In the church, we can have two categories of people
One- emphasize law. Dry. Straight-jacket. Tendency towards legalism.
One emphasize grace. All about love, God’s grace and mercy to you. Tendency to live loosely without any accountability.
Here we see the Mercy Seat covering the Law, under-girded by the law.
So it is the law and grace!
The law explicitly states God’s moral requirements, documents an objective moral standard, reveals our sinfulness, and after repentance, shows us the way to live to please God.
and we have God’s mercy, love and grace extended to us when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and now as children, when we sin, If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Manna - God’s provision
Manna was the bread from heaven, God meeting the needs of His people in the wilderness.
He provided food for them when it impossible for them to be fed.
The same Jesus who multiplied the fish and bread and fed 5000 is able to feed us also.
He is still Jehovah Jireh - you may not need manna today, but whatever your need is “He is more than enough.”
Aaron’s rod - Authority
What’s this all about?
There’s a story behind it. In Num 16
Korah, Dathan and Abiram rose up against Moses.
Korah was the cousin of Moses and Aaron.
They accused Moses and Aaron of going too far, assuming too much authority over the people.
“You have gone too far. Why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly? Everyone is holy.”
Moses: You have gone too far!
He knew what they were after - the priesthood.
AS these men rose up in rebellion, the earth opened up and swallowed them alive and fire came from the Lord and consumed the 250 who were rebelling with them.
God then had the chief of each tribe take a staff, write his name on it and place them before the ark.
“ The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout”
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
God was clearly demonstrating - I chose Aaron, I appointed Aaron.
When we are compliant with God’s authority, He will bring success, prosperity.
Our world is in trouble because we have lost respect for authority.
God was saying, let this rod be in the ark for a permanent record - I have selected Aaron as priest.
No one decides that he will make himself a priest.
we rebel against authority without considering the consequences.
Children rebel against parents.
Students against teachers
Workers against employers
Citizens against government
seeds of rebellion are sown with impunity
people are celebrating rebellion without considering the consequences
as if anarchy brings utopia.
Anything that begins by rebellion will destroy itself.
The lid of the ark was called the “mercy seat”
It was a slab of gold fitting over the top of the ark
On the mercy seat were two cherubim positioned opposite each other
Once a year the high priest was to make atonement for the people of Israel by sprinkling the mercy seat with blood
The lid was called a “seat” because the Lord was considered as enthroned between two cherubim
22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
Moses completed all of God’s instructions in setting up the Tabernacle.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Conclusion:
We must desire and value the Presence of God.
It’s the only thing that matters.
We must say like Moses
15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.
It’s the Presence of God that makes a difference in our lives and the church.
Without it, we are a religious organization.
But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!
In the Presence of the Lord, there is fullness of joy!