Reacquainting ourselves with God

The State of Play

If someone from the past, let’s say 500 years ago, were to miraculously appear on the scene today, I’m sure they would be in jaw dropping awe. There are so many engineering wonders and modern marvels that can make us go ‘wow’:

Burj Khalifa, tallest Building in Dubai, 828 Metes or 2717 ft. Taller than mountains in some countries.

Space exploration is now venturing into Mars as our next destination, having been to the moon 50 years ago. Just a few weeks ago, Ken Branson and Jeff Bezos both ventured into ‘outer space’ in a civilian craft foreshadowing commercial flights in the near future.

In medicine, so many strides that have increased life expectancy so that one living in a first world country can reasonably expect to live well past 80. Even a Covid vaccine in what some say is record speed.

You know, they can uses Stop-gap photography from 150 years ago when the industrial revolution began to today, run at speed to dramatically reveal the startling changes that have come over a city like London for example. Looking at that would probably show us the growing understanding in humanity of the world around us.

And what about the Internet and the avialablity of so many things at the touch of a button or a click.

While this is to be admired, these last 150 years have also caused us to reconsider long held beliefs. New discoveries seemed to shatter the ‘myth’ of religion. Philosophers at the turn of the 19th C into the 20th promulgated Modernism - a philospohy that God is either dead, on vacation or non existent.

There was a dramatic drift toward empiricism and the scientific method and a greater expectation that it was all up to the individual to somehow survive against the hostile forces of nature. But that was just the beginning.

As the last century wore on, it quickly became known as the ‘century of warfare’ with 2 devastating world wars, advances in the tools of war culminating in nuclear proliferation - the ability to split the atom and create a city destroying weapon utilised on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with harrowing consequences. No wonder then that growing cynicism marked that period.

By the second half of the last century, when the notion that there is no God had really taken root, human inhibitions became more and more shredded and so, here we are today.

The world has advanced in so many ways yet in many quarters, a world devoid of God, has caused widespread darkness, despair and disdain for life. So much apathy, aimlessness and ambiguity.

Believe it or not, this is not a new phenomenon, it occured before the flood, it existed even in the promised land and even in the glory days of Israel, when King David ruled. Listen to his words:

Psalm 14:1-3. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.

There is no God, said by a man observing people who lived about 1000yrs before Jesus. That sounds so familiar doesn’t it? It seems that the tragedy of human arrogance was abundantly clear, not only in our times today, but to David as he looked on at the surrounding nations who either worshipped false gods or blasphemed by saying there is no God.

Arrogant in that they had become their own gods thinking themselves in need of no Divine assistance. A tragedy because they were perishing by living apart from God, helpless in their present circumstance and hopeless beyond this mortal coil, this human existence.

In these verses, David’s contempt, or rather sorrow over them is clear. He calls them ‘fools’ for doubting God’s existence. In their enlightenment, he says they have become corrupt - morally depraved, given in to unwholesome pleasures that should make us blush or recoil in horror.

Depravity, debauchery, idecency to each other and God. If a sick mind could conceive it…they did it.

Not content with their own immorality, they were persecuting those who held fast to morality - held fast to God. They declared war on God and righteousness and so this led to their own lives becoming more miserable....the more you have the more you want.

There is no God or we are our own Gods was a philosophy present before the flood; during David’s time as we saw; and of course in our world today. Such thinking led to the Flood, led to the exile in David’s time, and what are we noticing today? You can assess these matters for yourself. Do the Math, or read the tea leaves.

Maybe you will find that the more one ventures into evil, the more evil one becomes. When one pushes the barriers of righteousness to satisfy a lust, pretty soon, reasonable boundaries disappear leading to self destruction. Think of the example of gateway drugs. It starts on a high and ends up in devastating lows. Similarly, sinful pleasures soon become shameful sickness which inevitably leads self loathing and then self harm and harming others.

Please note that I’m not speaking about about genuine illness which require the right kind of expert help - I’m speaking about clear choices. Those who make those choices have already lost sight of the solution. Unbelief has left them devoid of the comfort available in Christ .

The fact of the matter is, “People need the Lord”. People need to acquaint or reacquaint themselves with God.

Who is God? Who is the Lord? Why not let Him reintroduce Himself through His own words when he introduced himself to Moses that great patriarch?

Moses, you will recall, was born an Israelite but raised Egyptian in Pharaoh's own court. Something clicked in him when he saw the mistreatment of the Israelites at the hands of the Egyptian and he murdered an Egyptian task master whipping a Jewish slave. Good intentions but wrong execution. He ran away into the wilderness.

There God catches his attention in the burning bush. He reveals to Moses that He is God and He is now ready to deal with the crisis facing His people. Moses is to be His agent in this. God has seen the plight of the people, He has seen the desire of Moses to free them and He is going to connect the dots between the two. But Moses ‘ question is - why should they listen to me? Here is God’s response:

Exodus 3:14 - And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

The Hebrew word for God there is Yahweh - I am! ... It is rendered as the verb ‘to be’ in English which means a state of being. It is rendered in the present tense to indicate God’s eternal nature - God is. But here is the interesting part, the sense of the name, the application of that name means God’s “presence, care, concern and relationship”.

Well, as we recall Moses’ story, we see God delivers the people from bondage and Moses becomes the ‘go between guy’ relating God’s plans for the people. He gives them the Ten Commandments as a moral compass for their renewed status as His people. To teach them what sinfulness is and give them guidelines on moral conduct. That was God looking out for the people He has just freed.

God calls him up the Holy Mountain to give him the Ten Commandments - the moral law, a transcript of God’s own character - the best we can aspire to. We then see that as Moses is bringing the law to the people, they have already strayed and built a golden calf to worship. Incensed, Moses smashed the law.

But even so, God continues to meet with His people via Moses. God intends to make them His people and knows this will take time. In these meetings, Moses develops a strong relationship with God - God is God but God has become a friend also! What a wonderful way to see God’s relationship with us. Moses desires to see God face to face. He says to God, “Please show me your glory”. God replies:

“ “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:19-23 .

When God first met him, his name was used in the sense of care, concern and relationship. We see this in full display here in this interaction:

He honours Moses request by passing before him so Moses can be in His presence - a testimony to their relationship.

His concern and care for Moses that he will not be consumed by God’s glory in covering him with His hand.

God’s constant use of the word ‘compassion’ and graciousness. This is how God would like to be known among us!

ILLUSTRATION: You may have heard of transcational leadership. Transactional leadership, was made popular or unpopular depending on how you read it, by a recent former president. Transactional leadership means the reward is just for the leader, you’ll be lucky to get some of the crumbs. Other forms of leadership include Transformational leadership where the leader gets credit but brings followers along who are ‘transformed’ by the leader into a more successful person. Then there is Servant leadership where the leader works for the benefit of the workers so they can become the best version of themselves and become blessed in the process.

LINK: Which one do you think God is? God is certainly not transactional. He intends to to so much for Moses and the people. Including us.

So Moses goes up the mountain a second time with two new tablets of stone, to meet God face to face and share an intimate, relational moment with the Creator, deliverer, sustainer of people. To be in His presence and be protected by His hand! To receive anew the moral principles for a pleasing walk with God, written by God’s own hand. A direct revelation of God, and a direct revelation of God’s graciousness to humanity that He would grant us the law a second time, even after we failed the first time!

And as God promised, He protected Moses with his own hand, and passes by proclaiming His name! We read it here:

Exodus 34:5-7

5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, 34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.

So once again God introduces Himself, the text tells us by proclaiming His name. Except the text doesn’t repeat the name Yahweh as before - the text goes on to relate what the name means:

God is compassionate & gracious - in other words he sees us in our various situations and gets our sorrow or pain and feels for us. He extends His mercy to us, lifting us out of our situation as He had done with the Israelites. And this deliverance is not just from life’s situations, it is also form our sinfulness - unmerited grace from a loving compassionate God. Putting our feet on solid rock again.

God is patient, not getting angry easily - God is slow to anger with us. He does not smite us right away for our constant and continued rebellion and ignoring of Him, even though it is in His power to do so. Instead, as a patient father, He puts up with us and sends signals to us that we need to regain our relationship. Like the Israelites who worshipped a golden calf, even though He had saved them…and repeatedly forsook Him throughout history, He never lost patience with them, rather they lost patience in Him and with themselves at the first hurdle. Think of it this way: God takes a long time to get angry so we can have more time to repent, and be on His side again!

God is full of loyal love - faithful love. God explains to Moses that His love for us goes beyond our carnal instincts. Faithlessness is ditching a person when it is no longer convenient to have them around; faithfulness is sticking with a person, especially when they are down.

God says His love for us is loyal. He has made His covenant of faith with us and He will always be true to that. He is there for us and with us always, emphasized by the fact that He is like this for thousands of generations - a long long time! It is the perfect love for us - a love that never forsakes. His presence is always with us even though we may not see or acknowledge Him.

I’m reminded of John’s description of God - God is love. 1 John 4:16.

God forgives sin. Notice that God, in speaking about Himself , God separates being merciful from forgiving sins - the earlier reference is His presence with our lives in moments of trials, but in speaking of forgiving sin, God is speaking about eternal life!

His desire is to have be made righteous in His sigh through Jesus ultimately leading to our eternal life. God is speaking about poor helpless sinners pardoned from their sins. It is the restoration of faltering, failing and at times flailing humanity back to favour.

God will deal with the unrighteous in a righteous manner - meaning that those who continue in their sinful ways and refusing to acknowledge His Kingship and authority cannot expect to be treated with the same graciousness for they have picked the opposite of His graciousness.

“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” [Ezekiel 33:11.]

God takes no pleasure in destroying anyone, He wants to erdaicate sin and evil from the universe, so God’s judgement has two sides based on His righteousness:

Those that will accept His Sovereingty will receive His mercy. God’s desire is to forgive and restore according to His mercy for those who will clam it.

On the other side, those who do not will seek His mercy, they will receive righteous justice. This is the required wages for sin (Romans 6:23).

But note, that justice comes to them swiftly - 3rd or 4th generation, meaning God will deal with them quickly- compared with those on the right side of His judgement - those who accept His grace - their reward lasts for thousands!

And even in justice coming to the evil unrepentant, God shows his mercy there by dealing with them swiftly while protecting the innocent.

As we look at God’s self revelation, we see that God was, is and always will be - proclaimed in His name Yahweh or I am. We see God holding true to His word to Moses being present with Him while protecting Him. We see Him then spell out what His character is like - His moral excellence in these 5 points he raises. God is truly Great and Good.

The Bible says God does not change: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? Numbers 23:19.

If God described Himself like that back then, shall He be different now? Did He not say His name is “I am”, so we can expect the same presence, personality and perspective from Him now? The answer is yes.

Today, God has made Himself known in the person of Jesus. Jesus, by the way, called Himself “I am” at various times. The Bible tells us that today God still speaks to us through Jesus, the exact imprint of God the Father (Hebrews 1:2-3). Those who are called by His name - Christian, can expect the same rewards that God spelt out to Moses so long ago. Jesus to is the same yesterday, today and forever - Hebrews 13:8.

Those that claim His name, who are found in Him can expect His abounding, loyal love, forgiveness, and presence leading on to everlasting life. Those that enter into that true relationship that Moses enjoyed with God can have the rewards of faith, remembering that Moses was taken to heaven, even though he died. We too can claim that promise at the second coming.

ILLUSTRATION: Common Sense and Book Sesne

LINK: They are not mutually exclusive.

I started by marvelling a the strides humanity has made but mourned the spiritual regression that has reigned parallel to knowledge. It is regrettable but not irrevocable. We may still come to know God. He says the wisdom of this world will pass away but God is forever!

God still wants to have a relationship with us and impress upon our lives His moral character, obtained when abide in Him. He would love us to get to know Him and take His name to heart. The reward of that we saw lasts for thousands. His salvation is worth everything.

God does not force the will or judgment of any. He takes no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires that the creatures of his hands shall love him because he is worthy of love. He would have them obey him because they have an intelligent appreciation of his wisdom, justice, and benevolence. And all who have a just conception of these qualities will love him because they are drawn toward him in admiration of his attributes. GC 88.

Moses’ experience of God in these moments shed clear light on God’s love and righteousness. Moses went up with empty stone tablets but came down with a transcript of God’s moral character written in words on stone tablets; demonstrated in the actual words of God. God said and so it was written and so experienced.

Our hearts are like tablets of cold stone that God would write His law of love in, enlivened by His presence. He says - Ezekiel 36:26 - And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. (NLT).

God knows us, God is present with us, God cares for us and He wants to have a lasting relationship with us. And today, in our time in this place and in this moment, He has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus - the name above all names.

APPEAL:

Do you know the name Jesus? Won’t you acquaint yourself with Him?