Yahweh: A Present God

Yahweh: A Present God The Presence of God in the Old Testament - Part 1 Introduction Whose presence do you know best in life? Is it your spouse? Your best friend? Your mother or father? Your child? The imaginary friend you have had since childhood? You do know they don t exist, don t you? Whose presence is most familiar to you? Presence is an interesting word, especially if we are thinking of a person. If we think of a person s presence, we think of their nature, their personality, their disposition. Are they chatty? Are they serious? Is their presence welcome? Does it assure us? What things do they say or do? What do they look like? Are they easy to read emotionally? Or are they a bit of a closed book? The word presence leads us all kind of places. We are relational creatures as human beings, even those of us who lean towards the introversion end of the introvert-extrovert scale. We are hardwired for presence all of us. What is often used in advertising to sell products, besides the female form? Invite responses. The human face (scroll 7 slides). We are drawn to faces. Something about faces hooks us and holds our attention. We study faces as human beings. We mimic them, from a very young age, as any parent with a baby will tell you. We respond emotionally to emotion on the faces of others. We recognise the most subtle signs of pleasure and displeasure; of love and anger; of joy and sorrow. We are all experts at reading faces. And what we read in faces is presence. What makes this a Christian sermon and not just a reflection on human development and socialisation? What I m about to say next. Turn with me to Numbers chapter 6 verse 24-26 if you will. Listen carefully to one of the most familiar biblical benedictions, or blessings. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (NIV) God told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons who were Israel s priests that they were to bless the people of Israel with these words. What, above all, do these words convey? Blessing, you might say. Sure, but what kind of blessing? Protection, grace, and peace, you might say. Sure, but how is this grace imparted; this peace conveyed; this protection promised? What s the means of blessing here? According to these words of blessing what God gives Israel is far more than protection, grace, and peace. Otherwise the blessing would have simply said The Lord bless you and keep you, be gracious to you, and give you peace. But it says a bit more than that. There is that other bit in the middle that believers generally love hearing words that stir us: the Lord make his face shine on you, the Lord turn his face towards you. These are beautiful words, are they not? They are the words left echoing in our ears after this blessing has been spoken over us. Why? Because they convey presence. 1

We are made to respond to presence. The words of this beautiful promise to Israel and to all whom God love and calls his own, tell us in a way that is so evocative and familiar to us, that God gives us his presence. The one who wired us to respond to faces, because he made us relational, uses the word face to assure us of his presence. God of course has no body and no human face, but that doesn t stop him speaking of something so familiar to us to convey his love. The Hebrew word for presence and face is the same word, panim. In Hebrew God s presence is always spoken of in terms of his face. So to be in God s presence is to be before his face. And for God to turn his radiant face towards us is for him to give us his glorious presence. When God says to Moses in Exodus 33:14 My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest, the word for presence is again panim, the word for face. The same word is used in Psalm 24 when it says of those who have clean hands and pure hearts, that they, seek the face [panim] of the God of Jacob. In other words, they are those who hunger for his presence. Where God turns his face he makes his presence known. Those who seek his face become familiar with his presence. If there is one face and presence that we most need to seek and know in this earthly life of ours is the face and presence of our creator and redeemer. You may or may not have noticed that all scriptures quoted so far this morning have been from the Old Testament. This morning s sermon is the first in a series on the Presence of God in the Old Testament. The presence of God is a major theme throughout scripture from Adam walking with God in the Garden of Eden in Genesis to the glory of God filling the new heavens and earth in the book of Revelation. Our focus in this series will be from Creation to the coming of Christ. Jesus of course is God present with humanity in a profound way, but he is not God s first manifestation of his presence. God is present within creation and towards his people in many fascinating ways prior to his Incarnation, and much of Jesus life and ministry only really makes sense when we are familiar with the face of God in the Old Testament. So that s where we are heading for a while. We have studied two New Testament books over the past two years, Mark and Ephesians. By digging into the Old Testament for a bit we will remember again that it too is the Word of God, and it too unfolds the character of God and his love for us. Survey of the series Personally I think that presence is a wonderful biblical theme to follow for developing a deep appreciation of God and his dealings with people. We will be looking at how God was present to various Old Testament characters from Adam to Abraham, and from Moses to the Messiah, and others in between. The theme of God s presence leads to some distinctly Old Testament themes such as, holy places like the tabernacle and the temple, not to mention Eden and Mt Sinai. And yet God is present everywhere, so why is it that he chooses to locate his presence in certain sacred places? We will find out. The subject of God s presence confronts us with his holiness, which in fact makes God unapproachable for sinful humanity so his presence is fearsome thing, not only a comfort. How are sinners to approach the dangerously and holy presence of God? 2

Mention of the presence of God makes us think of the Spirit of God but the Spirit plays quite a different role in the Old Testament, than in the New. We will look at how the Holy Spirit anoints different people for different roles throughout the Old Testament, and what changes when Jesus turns up on the scene. Faith and prayer play a crucial role in seeking and responding to the presence of God, so we will learn from Abraham, a man of genuine faith, and from Daniel, a man of faithful prayer. With the presence of God comes promises, and a call to journey with God, often into the unknown so faith is an uncertain business; the only certainly being that God s presence goes with us, as we see from Israel s journey from Egypt to Canaan across the inhospitable wilderness. Presence, journey and promise will be one the messages I bring. God s presence matures us, sometimes the hard way, as we see from Joseph s life. God s presence can also disturb us. I plan to preach a sermon titled, Divine Discipline: A Disturbing Presence. Something for you to look forward to! What about the loss of presence? Israel had a crisis of faith when God s presence left the temple and they were marched off to exile. Perhaps we can learn something by considering the opposite of divine presence; divine absence. As we follow Israel s rollercoaster history of divine presence and absence, we will discover that God s presence faithfully pursues us when we have lost our way and broken faith with him. God does not readily give up on his people. He may turn his face away for a while, but he goes searching for his beloved, his unfaithful bride, as the remarkable story of Hosea reminds us. We will see how the presence of God bears witness to the nations. Although Israel was God s special elect people, they did not have exclusive access to him. The redemptive presence of God was promised to all nations, as we will learn. Finally, to conclude the series we will arrive at Jesus, whom the Old Testament anticipates and foreshadows. God is most present to humanity when he become human himself. Jesus is the fulfillment of so much Old Testament longing and promise; he is the invisible God made visible; he is the presence of God fully manifest. That s a brief rundown of what we will be looking at. Strap yourselves in for a 12 week journey into the landscape of land and temple, Sinai and Zion, fire and cloud, Eden and Canaan. God s presence with humanity for the first several thousand years, prior to the coming of Jesus and the birth of the church, is grounded in the history of one nation and their ancestors. Let s explore Yahweh s presence with Israel because God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Whole Earth or House of God? We will glance now in the remaining time at Yahweh A present God. Israel s God was not only Israel s God. Israel may have been the only nation who worshipped Yahweh and marched out to battle in his name against other nations with other gods, but the Old Testament makes it very clear that this particular and peculiar God of the Israelite people, who forbade them from casting his image, like the other nations did with their Baals etc, showed no respect for the territorial claims of other gods; Yahweh laid claim to the whole earth, and he wanted worship from all peoples. Israel did not invent their God and they could not contain him either. He was never only theirs, even though he elected them to be his covenant people for a time. 3

The first and most important thing to wrap our heads around concerning the presence of God is that God is present everywhere and he rules over everything. He is not a local deity or national god. Psalm 22:28 declares, For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. This is the God who created the heavens and the earth according to the first verse of Genesis. There are no boundaries on his presence and power. In Isaiah s prophecy God says Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is my resting place? (Isaiah 66:1). Everything in creation answers to the presence of God. The poetic words of psalm 68 says, O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel. (Psalm 68:7 8). In Psalm 97 the mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. (Psalm 97:5). God is everywhere and he commands everything. His presence pervades the whole earth. So why then is he found comfortably residing in Jerusalem, associating himself with one place and one people because that s exactly what we also find in the Old Testament? Psalm 78 tells us that Yahweh, chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. (Psalm 78:68 69). The descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew God s presence in a unique way, and Zion, in Jerusalem, is where they met with him. When God says to Israel through Moses, I will take you as my people, and I will be your God, (Exodus 6:7) he was choosing to make his presence known through covenant relationship with one nation. But, that one privileged nation was then called to be a light to all nations, so that the whole earth may be filled with the glory of the Lord. In their election Israel cannot covet the presence of God as if it belongs to them alone. The temple itself, although it located God s presence in their midst, was also a reminder to Israel that God s presence fills heaven and earth. There is a clue in the Psalm 78 passage as to how the Jerusalem temple should be understood. The sanctuary that God commissioned to locate his presence among his people was like the high heavens, and like the earth, which he has founded, says the Psalm. The temple actually represented the cosmos in miniature. The temple and its inner chamber, the holy of holies, were like a miniature heaven and earth, which as we have just seen are God s throne and footstool. His presence extends from heaven to earth; he dwells in the one and walks in the other. The holy of holies, the inner temple chamber, was a kind of heaven on earth. It was where heaven and earth met, and the surrounding temple represented all that God had made. So, the temple, though located in Israel, certainly could not contain him there. Solomon, who God appointed to build his Jerusalem temple, wisely said, But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! (1 Kings 8:27). Nevertheless he did build a house, as God instructed, to replace the tabernacle that had housed the presence of God from the time of Israel s journey across the wilderness. On that journey God had said to Moses, Have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8) 4

So, we see a great paradox in the Old Testament when it comes to the presence of God. God locates his presence among his chosen people in places designated for worship and set apart as a meeting place between himself and his people. The divine presence goes tenting, if you like. Then it parks itself in a purpose built building at the centre of a nation. But he remains the God of the universe, of all creation, and of all nations. We will look again at this paradox next week in a sermon titled Garden and Temple: Presence and Place. Part of the mystery of why God chooses to house himself in a tabernacle and a temple goes right back to the Garden of Eden a uniquely sacred place when God met with people. The temple is not just a miniature heaven and earth, it is also another Garden of Eden, albeit an imperfect one. There are some surprising parallels between Eden and the Temple. The temple recalls the access that Adam and Eve had to the presence of God. It also anticipates, through its sacrificial system, a future temple, the sacrificial body of Jesus. And it hints at a future New Jerusalem where God s presence and glory will one day fill the whole earth. Is you God big enough but also personal enough? A way to make all this personal for us might be for me to ask: is our concept of God s presence both expansive enough and close enough to home? Or to put it another way: Is your God big enough and close enough? Do we know him as the creator and sustainer of all things; the one to whom everything in existence looks for life and purpose? Do you stare at the night sky like the Psalmist in Psalm 19 and think to yourself, The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Is your God that big? If he is, you can have confidence in his presence in the face of events that might otherwise cause you to wonder if there is a God at all. Only those who worship a God whose presence fills the universe know that if we face suffering God s face has not necessarily turned away from us. He hasn t lost his power or vanished despite our trials, or the trials of those around us. Job learned this lesson. When Satan first approached God about Job, he said to God, But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he [Job] has, and he will curse you to your face. (Job 1:11). There is our word again for face and presence, panim. Job in fact asked God from the depths of his suffering why God had hidden his face, Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy? (Job 13:24). Job also pleaded his case before God s face, I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face. (Job 13:15). So, yes, we may feel very much at times as if God has turned his face away, and withdrawn his presence. However, God reminded Job of his sovereignty as creator and source of all life, and in the end Job declares, I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2). His God is a big God. Perhaps your God is big also. Maybe you have no difficulty conceiving of God as sovereign over all he has made, and filling the world with his presence. But is your God also intimate and personal? Is he close to home? Is there a tabernacle where you meet him face to face? Do you know his indwelling presence? Of Moses scripture says, Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. (Exodus 33:11). Face to face; presence to presence; God to man; God to woman. Do you know that personal dimension of God s presence? 5

The paradox of presence is that the one who fills the universe also resides within us. There is an intimacy that God offers humanity that transcends all other intimacy. Do you know it? Can you say with the psalmist, You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11). The God who fills the universe wants to meet with you face to face as he did with Moses. He wants to lead you personally on the path of life, as the psalmist says, and give you fullness of joy, as the psalmist and Jesus both speak of. That path, the way, is the way of Jesus. And that fullness of joy is found in him. The psalmist had a foretaste of what was to come. The divine presence is yours and mine in a way that the people of Israel could not have even dreamt of. They trekked to the temple to meet with God, and only the high priest could enter his presence once a year. We have direct access to the presence of God in all paces at all times through Jesus Christ our eternal high priest. Treasure the presence of God. If your God is close and personal, but you doubt his hand on all creation, read Psalm 19, or the last chapters of Job and grasp a bigger picture of God and his presence. If your God fills the universe but is not near to you, pitch a tent through prayer and ask God to meet you face to face and make his presence known to you personally. Let s pray. 6