The Presence Driven Church
“From Glory to Glory”
Last week we heard that God has a threefold Presence and that His desire is to have a Personal Presence with people. The first Adam had the Personal Presence of God, he was filled with the “Breath”, Holy Spirit’ of God and experienced God walking and talking to him in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God amongst the trees of the garden.
Here we see God “walking” or dwelling with Adam. Surely we must say that this was the ideal place for God to dwell with us.
Eden – The Ideal Dwelling Place – meaning constant state of delight – imagine this God is self-sustaining in all things – to dwell in His Presence would mean to have the a completeness only God could provide!
Man fell and lost the Personal Presence of God in the way God intended and was banished from the Garden. God who created man has ever since wanted to dwell with man hence the Tabernacle, Temple etc
God’s Desire
Exodus 25:8 "Make for me a sanctuary that I may dwell within them.”
Israel was to be a dwelling or House for God.
Dwell, dwelt, dwelled, dwelling, and dwells means: to live as a resident; reside, to exist in a given place or state: dwell in joy, to fasten one’s attention, to speak or write at length
The Encyclopedia Judaica gives us a bit more insight into this “dwelling” meaning:
Presence Divine: The notion of the Divine Presence is expressed in the Bible in two different senses: 1) in the corporeal sense, i.e., the actual dwelling of God in His abode; 2) in the abstract sense, i.e., symbolic representation by means of calling or establishing His name upon the Sanctuary or the people.
The Bible does not say, "Make a Sanctuary for Me . . . so that I may dwell in it," but rather, "So that I may dwell among them [i.e., the People]." This is more than a nice expression. God is not primarily concerned with a temple of wood and stone; the purpose of the physical temple is to inspire us to make ourselves into temples for the God.
The reason for the Temple is “dwelling”. Adam knew that God dwelt in him because the Ruach was blown into his nose and he could hear it when he breathed. The future, however, is rooted in the past.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun.
God’s presence, according to the ancient view, is confined to the Tabernacle Sanctuary and to other visible phenomena serving as the vehicles of God, such as the Ark and the cherubim or the cloud enveloping the Godhead in its movements. That the Tabernacle was considered an indicator for God’s presence in ancient Israel may be learned from the words of Nathan the prophet to David: "... I have been moving about in a Tabernacle and tent. All the time I was moving about among the Israelites..." (II Sam. 7:6–7). "I will establish My abode in your midst... and I will be moving about [i.e, be present] in your midst: I will be your God and you shall be my people" (Lev. 26:11–12). Exodus 25:8: "Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them," and at the end of the inauguration of the Tabernacle in Exodus 29:45–46: "And I will dwell among the Israelites and I will be their God."
Before giving the Law, God explains that the Children of Israel were to be "A kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Their mission was to show the rest of society what it means to integrate God into a lifestyle. It was intended that the Children of Israel would accomplish their mission individually and collectively. It was God’s original intent that every single Jew should attain a level of understanding and integration equal to the High Priest on Yom Kippur as he entered the Holy of Holies to serve God and affect forgiveness. It was intended that this assumed sanctity would be self evident to all those who desired to see living examples of divinity translated into reality!
God made a stipulation with Israel while they were yet in Egypt that He would only bring them out from there on the understanding that they would build a Tabernacle for Him so that He might cause His Presence to dwell among them; as it says, And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them Exodus 29:46 on this condition: ’ That I may dwell among them.’ Now as soon as the Tabernacle was erected and the Shechinah descended and dwelt in their midst (all the conditions were fulfilled. Consequently it says, (AND IT CAME TO PASS), implying that what He had promised He performed). Exodus 40:34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Something that had never happened from the time the world was created until then took place on that day. From the time when the world was created until that moment the Shechinah had never dwelt in this lower world. It only did this from the moment when the Tabernacle was erected and thenceforward.
From Tabernacle to Temple to People, here in the type we simply see the desire of God to dwell in people.
Here then is the mission of Jesus to bring man to the Place of Personal Presence of God. We see in His life the pattern of God restoring Himself to live in man with the goal of revealing Himself to the world through those who receive Him.
The Pattern of Jesus
1 Corinthians 15:45-47 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
• Jesus was “Born of the Holy Spirit” Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
• Jesus was “Baptised in the Holy Spirit” Luke 3:21,22 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
• Jesus was “led by the Holy Spirit” Luke 4:1,14 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.
• Jesus displayed the “Kingdom of God” Luke 4:18, 19“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Jesus the Temple
John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Believers the Temple
Jesus reinstitutes man as the dwelling place of God through His sacrifice and atonement – redeemed man reverts back to the original design of God seen in Adam restored in the second Adam
John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
Jesus showed us how life should have been and was intended to be lived.
The Church walking in the Divine State should be displaying God! Hence “Nothing Less than His Presence” will be sufficient. Now in understanding this truth we realize within what we know as “Church” we have substituted many things for “His Presence”. If we truly walked in His Presence there would be no arguments or discussions of the reality of God. How do we get there? Simply by cultivating a Presence Lifestyle.
The Christian is literally a living, breathing Temple of Almighty God! When you get saved, God moves in! Salvation isn’t about getting man into Heaven; it is about getting God into man. It is about making dead men live.
The House of God and Corporate Church
Psalm 127:1, 5 Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; 5b But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
Genesis 28:16, 17 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
This was Bethel - House of God
The House of God refers simply to the dwelling place of God; the Gate to Heaven is the place where Heaven comes to earth – this is the individual and corporate gathering – a place where heaven is opened! What separates us from all other people on the earth? The Presence of God – should we not then seek Him?
Developing a greater desire for God
Those who have encountered God understand the desire of Moses in: Exodus 33:12-16 Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. “For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
Moses response to God in Exodus 33 is the desire for God to “Show me Your Glory” should we be any less desiring? What the Church needs is God in fact without God we have NOTHING.
2 Corinthians 3:17, 18 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
To understand this truth of becoming more glorious in the Lord and therefore displaying the Kingdom of God to others we need to see the context of the verses which are a comparison of New and Old Covenant – one lacking Personal indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit, the other with the forever abiding Presence, He who changes us. How does this happen?
By beholding - to gaze (i.e. with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable; and thus differing from simply voluntary observation; and from merely mechanical, passive or casual vision; and still more emphatically it signifies an earnest but more continued inspection.
So let us learn three simple principles from Moses life found in, Exodus 33:7-12, which convey what it requires for the believer to experience a growing life changing glory of God and so, become the very reflection of God to the unsaved peoples.
Exodus 33:7-11 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
1. Be prepared to leave the camp – you have to draw near to God by having a willingness to leave the things of this world behind
2. Be prepared to spend time with God – have a tent of meeting – your place to commune with God
3. Be prepared to pray – that means listening to God as well as speaking
What made Moses different from the people?
1. They watched but didn’t participate – we need to develop our own relationship with God and not let someone else do it for us
2. They worshipped from a distance – never getting too close to God
3. They were more comfortable by their tents than by the tent of God – our tents represent our lifestyle we have developed and our surroundings related to that
