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The Story of God’s Presence (Part 2)

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In my previous post we looked at God’s presence in the Old Testament. Let’s look at how God is moving from Eden, the Tent, and the Temple, into the New Testament.

Jesus

A new day dawned after four hundred years of silence. The presence chamber (Holy of Holies) in the Temple was vacant, but God’s presence broke into an exiled world in a new way. In John 1:14, we read that Jesus ‘tented’ among us. John intends us to recollect the Tent where God’s presence rested. The tent was an arrow pointing to something greater.[1] Jesus is described as the place of God’s presence. Jesus furthers this fulfilment in calling himself the temple saying, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again” (Joh 2:19-21). The glory of God broke into human history in a whole new way. Previously the glory was concealed in a cloud. Now the glory was veiled in flesh. Echoes of Eden resound as Immanuel, God with us (Mat 1:23), walked among us!

Adam was unable to fully enjoy and extend the presence of God on earth because of his rebellion. In the garden of perfection, under idyllic circumstances, Adam failed, rejecting God’s good Word that brings man close to God. Jesus as the incarnate Word (Joh 1:1-2), in a world at enmity with its Creator, in a hostile wilderness, keeps God’s Word. Where both Adam and Israel failed, Jesus triumphs.

However, his accomplishment does little for us if it’s not gifted to us. Jesus as the true temple, true High Priest (Heb 7:26-27), and true sacrifice (Joh 1:29) would give up his life on the cross, the tree of death, wearing a crown of thorns (echoing the curse of toiling amongst thorns (Gen 3:18)) to open the way for exiled humanity to know the Eden-like presence of God. On the cross Jesus said to the repentant thief, “Truly, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luk 23:43, see also Rev 2:7).

The true High Priest offers the true Sacrifice and invites people into the true Temple of God’s presence.

Church

Before Jesus ascended back to the Father, he promised the disciples that he would not abandon them, but would give them a Helper of the same essence as himself.[2] This Helper is God’s Holy Spirit who comes upon the church. In fact, Jesus says that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, the message of God’s presence will be extended in the world (Act 1:8). No longer confined to a garden in the Middle East, a wilderness in the Sinai desert, a city in Jerusalem, it will spread throughout the earth.

The Church becomes the physical place of God’s presence, as it’s the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 3:16-17). God’s Spirit makes God’s people God’s dwelling (Eph 2:20-22). No longer will people need to go to a place where the presence of God is. This place/temple is extending, as God’s Spirit gathers stones making them alive (1Pe 2:4-6). As glorious as this is, the place of God’s presence is still limited as the earth is full of brokenness and pain caused by sin. God’s presence in the Church reminds us of Eden, but it’s certainly not Eden.

New Jerusalem

At the end of all things we see a new city coming down from heaven (Rev 21:10). Its shape is unlike any city ever seen before. It is something new, special, and distinct. It’s a perfect cube in shape, reminding us of the cubic Holy of Holies. Its gates are always open (Rev 21:25), indicating unrestricted access to God’s presence. A river, like in Eden, flows from the centre, God’s own throne (Rev 22:1-3). All the pain of self-rule and exile is abolished and God’s loving, good, and gracious rule is present. The people of God will know the paradise of God’s presence as “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” (Rev 21:4).

[1] John 1:16-17 reveals that grace had been given in the giving of the Law of Moses (which include the building plans for the Tent), but when Jesus came, a whole new dimension of grace was given. We have received the grace of God’s presence directly in Jesus, above and beyond the grace of God’s presence in the tent.

[2] Joh 14:16, the word another here means “another of the same kind”.

The Story of God’s Presence (Part 1)

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The Bible is a story, not an encyclopaedia. To find a topic in an encyclopaedia, just turn to the letter “G” to read about God, turn to the letter “M” to learn about Messiah. The Bible doesn’t work this way. By story, I do not mean fiction, but rather an unfolding message. The Bible isn’t about God. It’s about God’s purpose and interaction with people. This grand narrative is a fabric of many threads, but lets look at one of the major threads in the Scriptures – God’s presence.

Now that we’ve threaded the needle, lets follow the stitch in the fabric as we look at Eden, the Tabernacle, the Temple, Jesus, the Church, and the New Jerusalem.

Eden

The Bible begins with an idyllic description of the world we all desire. It’s a place of incomparable beauty, peace, and blessing – the place of God’s presence. God created man to be in relationship with him. In fact, God walked with Adam in Eden (Genesis 3:8). Adam, being in harmony with his Creator, wasn’t laden down with fears; his relationship with his Maker was free from inhibitions. There was no pain or death, simply the joyful pleasure of life lived in God’s presence.  Something as wonderful as this ought to be shared, and so God blessed Adam with the joy of extending the Garden through fruitful expansion (Gen 1:26-28). He called Adam to work and keep the Garden (Gen 2:15-17). The very nature of the Garden itself yearned to cover the earth as a river flowed outward from it dividing into four other rivers (Gen 2:5-9). God’s purpose was to multiply this place of his presence throughout the earth.

This wonderful relationship between man and his God is the joyful life that everyone longs for, but like us, Adam began looking for a way to have the fruit of God’s presence without God himself. Adam and his wife ate from the tree that actualized life lived under self-rule. Choosing to distrust God and God’s Word, man could no longer enjoy the very presence of God. Man became an exile, and lest Adam try to re-enter the Garden, the Lord set cherubim, heavenly beings, with a flaming sword to guard the entrance (Gen 3:23-24).

Tent

God’s purposes hadn’t changed. He still wanted his creature to enjoy and know his presence, but sin now stood in the way between God’s blazing glory and man’s now frail existence. Although Eden, the place of God’s presence, was sealed off from people who rejected God’s goodness, God’s mission hadn’t changed. God called a man named Moses to establish a place of God’s presence that people could come near (Exo 25:8-10). God would meet with Moses and speak with him “face to face” in this tent often called the Tent of Meeting (Exo 33:7-11).

But man’s sin still stood in the way. Although Moses was graciously allowed to enter into God’s presence, God’s glory was veiled in a cloud (Exo 34:5). Moses was unable to actually see God. Reminding us of Eden, the tent’s inner chamber, known as the Holy of Holies, was separated by a veil, and on it were embroidered cherubim (Exo 26:31-33), reminding us of the certain death of sinners standing before a holy God. Access was restricted. There was an occasion in which one man could enter into the Holy of Holies. The high priest, on the annual Day of Atonement, was permitted entry after he offered a sin sacrifice for himself (Lev 16:2-3). His entry was granted only to make atonement for the sin of the people. The high priest did this with great fear, fully aware of his own sin. As with Moses, a cloud covered the presence of God to shield the high priest from death.

God created man to enjoy his presence, but the bitter fruit of sin beckons people to rule their own life in opposition to God. The message of this Holy of Holies is that God is still in pursuit of us. In spite of our rejecting him to be self-made gods, our Maker still pursues us. God had Moses make this tent seeking to multiply his divine presence on the earth. Why a tent? A tent is mobile (Exo 40:24-28). God was moving. He was extending his presence.

Temple

Later in Israel’s history, to show the permanence of his presence, a temple was established in Jerusalem, which God called the place of his Name (1Ki 8:29). The Temple was the epicenter from which the message of God’s presence could echo forth throughout the world. The Temple extended the presence of God, which he said would be a place for all nations to communicate with him (Isa 56:7, 1Ki 8:41-43). Like the tent, access into the thirty-foot cube of the Holy of Holies was only permitted on the Day of Atonement and only by the high priest. Sin still prohibited people from being able to enter in and enjoy God’s Eden-like presence.

The people of Israel didn’t keep God’s good Word, even though they had the reminder of God’s presence in temple form. Ultimately, the Babylonians, as a judgment of God on his people, would destroy this Temple (2 Chr 36:18). The article of furniture symbolizing God’s presence (the Ark) would also go missing. The new temple to be built seventy years later would be a ‘presence-less’ shell, housing a hollow Holy of Holies. Had God ceased from his mission? No. God’s mission is still active.

God is at work in the world. His mission of making himself known is always underway. This is what we see God doing in the Old Testament, but it doesn’t end there. The New Testament brings yet more clarity to God’s purpose and presence. We will look at this in my next post.

 

[1] John 1:16-17 reveals that grace had been given in the giving of the Law of Moses (which include the building plans for the Tent), but when Jesus came, a whole new dimension of grace was given. We have received the grace of God’s presence directly in Jesus, above and beyond the grace of God’s presence in the tent.

[2] Joh 14:16, the word another here means “another of the same kind”.