Being Home
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“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” -AW Tozer
That quote from Tozer is a bit biting isn’t it. But is it true? When we show up for church on Sunday morning, or teach a class, or serve a meal, or go to a Bible study, or plan men’s ministry, or whatever are we absolutely positively dependent and desperate for the presence of God? Like “we can’t go on if you don’t show up”?
Is God here this morning?
What do we mean with that question? What do we mean by the presence of God? I mean it’s basic Christian belief that God is omnipresent—that means that he is everywhere. So when we say something like, “we pray that God’s presence is here among us today” is that all we are saying? No, I don’t think so. When you talk about the presence of God in your life, in your family, in your homes, in your work do you just mean that God is somehow present among you? Or do you mean something more? We are saying something more, aren’t we. And that’s the case in all the Bible too.
Look at the Garden of Eden. We read from the very beginning that Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the garden with the Lord. What we’re supposed to see in this story is that God dwelled amongst people in the Garden. You are going to keep hearing me say these things but the three big things present there is rest, rule, and relationship. God gave man a place to live, a purpose with which to live, and all within the context of a loving relationship. But notice what happens at the Fall. Man is kicked out of the Garden. And what happens there? The presence of God is no longer among humanity. We don’t dwell with God. God doesn’t dwell with us.
But we’re actually kicked out of the Garden for our own good. The presence of God would now be something that is not so good. It’d consume us and we’d die right there on the spot. God’s holiness, God’s wrath would swallow us up. And so he removes them from the Garden he removes His presence. From “before his face”.
Sure God is still “present” in the “God is everywhere” sense…but the presence of God is not there. And that’s the root of every horrible thing you’ve experienced.
But that’s not the end of the story, thankfully. There’s a promise in about the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. And we see a continuation of this in when a promise is made to a guy named Abraham. And in that promise is really all of those things we saw in the Garden. Rest, rule, and relationship. God is making all things new. He is working so that once again He will dwell with humanity. The Bible really is a story about God dwelling with humanity. It’s a big story about the presence of God. So, there is much that can be said in the Bible about the presence of God but I just want us to stop on a couple of places. And we’ll land pretty much at the very end in .
God’s presence is to be most desired
That’s the root of every horrible thing you’ve experienced.
One place that has been rattling around in my soul for quite some time now is . One of the most important characters in the Old Testament is Moses. God had made all those promises to Abraham about this land that they’d have—that’s the rest, the promised land, a precursor to the restored Garden of Eden. But they ended up in slavery in Egypt. That’s hardly the Promised Land. Enter a guy named Moses. He is used by God to rescue his people out of Egypt. But as they do they end up wandering in the wilderness and circling around this Mountain called Mt. Sinai. It’s the place where God gave the 10 commandments. And they’ve been there for quite some time now. And here in it’s God telling Moses that it’s time to leave. But listen to this:
The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
You guys can go into the land but I’m not going with you. Now think about this for just a moment. All the blessings of God can be yours. You can have rest. You can have rule again. You’ll have purpose. Meaning. Peace. Comfort. Joys. All that stuff. But there’s one catch…God isn’t there. Your biggest dream fulfilled but God isn’t there. Do you still want it? I think John Piper gets at this question well:
“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there? ”
Let that stick for a moment. It goes back to the Tozer quote. Are we fine with things just as they are or are we desperate for God to show up. Can we say, “if your presence stays then I don’t want to go into the promised land. And if your presence goes then I don’t want to stay here.” I want to be where YOU are. Can we say that?
That’s really the driving force of the Bible. This is where God is taking us. His presence once again with us. If that’s not our chief aim and desire then I think we’re walking contrary to what God is doing in our world.
But that’s kind of what it means to be messed up isn’t it. Part of what God’s presence is doing is it’s also restoring us and changing our taste buds because if we’re honest there is a good deal of us that would say, “yes we want God’s presence absolutely” but if we are being honest there are times when those desires get askew. And I think that’s why we see what we do in .
2. The presence of God is now a fearful thing ()
now a fearful ()
This is right after the 10 Commandments are given. High point for the newly rescued out of Egypt Israelites. And now listen to this.
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20:18-
The whole thing is about being in the presence of God. That’s the goal of the 10 Commandments. It’s the goal of the Promised Land. It’s where everything is driving to. And what is happening here is that God’s presence now evokes terror instead of peace. Why is that? Well, that’s what happens when we are sinful people in the presence of a holy God. How am I going to stand in God’s presence. How could I possible draw near and come boldly to such a God?
And so we need to think about that whenever we start saying, “we want God to show up on Sunday mornings”. Do you know what that means? It means you might get messed up. You might actually get broken and torn and cracked and it might hurt. It might be a fearful thing. Of course it’s for our good. It’s meant for our healing and redemption. But if you think being in the presence of God as a sinner isn’t going to hurt, then you don’t understand what it means to be redeemed.
I’m reminded of a story in the Chronicles of Narnia. Two stories actually. The first is about Eustace this awful bratty boy whose rebellion ends up turning him into a dragon. And he is a miserable dragon. He doesn’t want to be a dragon. He keeps trying to peel the scales away but it never works. I’ll let him finish the story.
"I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly toward me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it -- if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it."
"You mean it spoke?"
"I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last when we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well. . . .
"Then the lion said -- but I don't know if it spoke -- 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.
"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know -- if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy -- oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."
"I know exactly what you mean," said Edmund.
"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off -- just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt -- and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me -- I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on -- and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again."[1]
I’m reminded of a story in the Chronicles of Narnia. Two stories actually. One is when the children are set to meet Aslan the great lion King for the first time.
That’s what the presence of God does. And so it’s a fearful thing but a good thing. Which reminds me of the second story from Chronicles of Narnia. One is when the children are set to meet Aslan the great lion King for the first time.
One is when the children are set to meet Aslan the great lion King for the first time.
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
Jesus isn’t safe. The presence of God isn’t safe…not yet. But he is good.
3. It is tragic when God’s presence is lost.
God’s presence is to be desired ()
I won’t spend much time here but this point is all over the Old Testament. You see it when humanity is kicked out of the Garden. You see it in the prophet Ezekiel when the glory of God departs from the temple. You see it in David after he had sinned and he’s crying out, “oh, God, don’t let your presence depart.”
That’s why it’s really the cry of the Old Testament and even the new testament. That’s why a name like Immanuel in the prophet Isaiah would be so exciting. That’s why they could get excited about things like temples and tabernacles and feasts and celebrations and stuff like that because it meant that God was showing up. And so when you’ve got a name like Immanuel “God with us” pop on the scene they get excited again. Because when God shows up—yes it’s painful for us sinners, but it’s ultimately healing. It’s the best thing that one could hope for.
Since the garden our greatest need is to hear from God and to have a way back to God—back to the presence of God. For God to once again dwell with humanity. And we see that in the OT this great figure named Moses who was a very faithful servant. And his role really was all about that. He heard directly from God. He was different than all the other prophets.
You can read about that in . His brother and sister started hating on him. They didn’t like that Moses was in charge. And so they kind of made up a problem to complain about. You know how that goes don’t you. Something bothers you about somebody and you start building a case. Happens all the time as a leader. And Moses is dealing with this from his brother and sister. They are grumbling. Who does Moses think he is? God speaks to us too. He speaks to us just as much. God hears this and calls them altogether. You’ll note in that he calls them into his presence at the tent of meeting. And he says this:
And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.
It is tragic when God’s presence is lost (Ezekiel, David)
Numbers 12:6-9
And so Moses was really the greatest figure of the Old Testament. If anybody could have gotten the presence of God back with humanity it was Moses. But he doesn’t even get to enter the Promised Land himself. And so as the Old Testament closes with the people of God just returning form exile and rebuilding the temple and such they are hoping for brighter days ahead. Maybe someday the seed of the woman will come and once again the presence of God will be with us. And onto the scene comes a prophet named Haggai who says this:
For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”
Haggai 2:6-
That prophecy was made at about 520 BC. The glorious temple was built. But that temple was destroyed in AD70. There is no inner-sanctuary. There is no temple. No tabernacle. That house isn’t God’s home. That’s not where the presence of God is going to be dwelling. So what happened? Was Haggai wrong?
No, he was right. He was gloriously, right.
That house isn’t God’s home. That’s not where the presence of God is going to be dwelling.
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Hebrews 3:1-6
Jesus is that “latter glory of this house” that Haggai prophesied about. The Son of God would set foot in that temple that Haggai spoke of. And it was here that God would give us peace. It is here through Christ that the presence of God is restored. Let me show you that here in .
“you who share in a heavenly calling” is the authors way of pointing us to the end of the story. It’s his way of saying has been restored. Heavenly calling is his way of saying, “rest, rule, relationship.” To all of you who have as your story. Consider Jesus…fix your eyes upon Jesus. He is the apostle and high priest of our confession.
What does that mean. What’s an apostle do? An apostle is sent by God to speak God’s Word to us. What’s a high priest do? He’s the one who makes the way for us to interact with God. What was lost in the Garden? Access. Hearing from God directly. What did Moses do in the OT? He kind of did both of those things. But it’s pointing to something more in Hebrews here isn’t it. It’s saying that Jesus is the greater Moses. He’s the one who ultimately restores us. We need to hear from God and we need a way to God. This is exactly what Jesus does.
Moses was faithful in all God’s house. That came from that I read you earlier. What’s the author of Hebrews doing? He’s holding up Moses. Greatest character in the OT. If anyone could have gotten us to God it was Moses. He’s not doing this to dog on Moses or to put Moses down. Moses was faithful. But Moses was just part of the house. He was as it says in verse 5 a servant of the house. In other words he’s a guy who was appointed by God to help us hear from God and get back to God. But Jesus is so much more!
Moses is like us. A guy in the house. Faithful to what God calls him to do. But Jesus is the builder of the house. (Something here to be said for the continuity of the OT people of God and NT people of God). Jesus is building his church. Jesus built Moses.
Oh, I built all this.
He is faithful over God’s house as a son! Moses is in the house. Jesus is OVER the house.
And we are this house? Where does God dwell? The Holy Spirit within us.
“Christ in you the hope of glory”
Why does this matter?
Apostle—you can trust. High priest—you can count on.
Presence of God restored. To dragons. Do you want the presence of God more than anything else? I’m saying this to Christians as well.
The presence of God is restored now in Jesus
The presence of God is to be fully restored in Revelation 21
Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. In fact you can see the end of the story in . There we read that once again the dwelling place of God is with man. The presence of God is once again among a new and redeemed humanity. But there are lots of pages in between there.
The story of the Bible progresses and once again
And notice what happens after the fall.
Is it simply saying, “God is everywhere”
what do we mean by presence of God
garden of eden
moses
numbers 12
ezekiel glory of god departs temple
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
word from God and a way to God
apostle
high priest
Rutherford quote?
...A lot people blame a lot of things on Satan.
It's easy to deal with the reality of the fact that Satan is against you and all that stuff, and he's your problem.
But there's a whole other category and issue to let sink into you, when it's not Satan who's your problem, but God who's your problem.
Listen, if you're going to walk in the implications of the gospel then you're going to have to be marrried to the principle of brokenness.
Brokenness is the mark of a person that is qualified to be used by God.
At the end of the day people that are actually being used by God in a crazy way- in an off the meter way, are people that have been cracked up, who have been lunged at by God, and God has done something to them. Broken can mean:
Shattered,
Crushed,
Maimed,
Devoid of arrogance,
Wounded,
Contrite,
Injured,
Smashed,
Grieved,
Anxious,
Distressed,
Crippled,
Wrecked,
Demolished,
Fractured,
Handicapped,
Disabled.
Brokenness, based on the scriptures: The spiritual state by which one is disarmed of one's self-dependence and pride, therefore leaving one disabled and in desperate need of help, thereby making one a viable conduit for the glory of Christ.