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PRINCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST SERIES
THE
PRESENCE OF GOD
Matthew 1,these words of prophecy is spoken
to Mary. Verse 21-23, “She will bring
forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, (the word Jesus means God
is my salvation) for He will save His people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Behold, the
virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name
Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us.’”
If there is one key principle that we
could point to in Jesus life, it is His desire to always be God with His people. We know that He left His glory above in
heaven. Phil.2 tells us in the Greek it
call that the kerusso of Christ, the emptying of Himself. Kerusso is the preaching but here it’s
a Greek word in Phil.2 that talks about Him.
He emptied Himself of all His Godhead and He come down as a man. While He was a man in order to be God with us
He need the presence of God in His life.
He had to learn how to enter into God’s presence, maintain God’s
presence and flow in God’s presence. To
Jesus the presence of God was of great important in His life. It’s the key principle in His life. He practices the presence of God in His
life. One day in the God’s presence is
better than one thousand days. The
presence of God is what He came to bring.
If we were to be able to travel through time and be with Jesus where He
was, when He walked the shores of
So
this morning we look at the presence of God in Jesus life and how the presence
is precious to Him. As we consider that,
lets consider how once upon a time the presence of God was with man. When God created us, He created us to be holy
temple to be filled with His presence.
Adam and Eve was created to know God and to enjoy God’s presence. When God created all of the creation, and every
animal He said, it was good. But when
created man, He said, it was very good because that is where He can place His
presence. When Adam and Eve had
fellowship with God, they could see God when God comes. They could talk with God; like the old hymn says,
My God and I, we walk the field together.
God and I talking in the garden.
Just like Adam and Eve before they fell.
Now we know that the fall of man was the result of sin and we know that
after sin came death, sickness and suffering came into man’s history. Before that it was not present. But of all the things that Adam lost, it was
not his health that was most precious.
It was not his wealth that was most precious. It was not even the garden that he lost. Of all the things that Adam lost, I believe
the most precious possession he ever lost was the presence of God.
In
Genesis 3: 8 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God.”
They were no more looking for the presence of God. They were no more comfortable in that
presence. Something of their nature
changed so that they could not stand that presence and they ran away from the
presence. They hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. That caused God to look for Adam because Adam
had never ran away from His presence before.
The sad story is that God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and
placed a flaming sword. From that time
onwards man was hungry for the presence of God.
How God loves to be with man but there is no way God can come to man
because of his nature. God brought forth
a way which man could have His presence.
The presence of God and man were meant to be one but suddenly in Genesis
3 you could hear the cry and the agony that was in God’s heart. When He said, Adam! Where art thou? God knew where he was but it was a cry of
anguish. If God could cry, I wonder if
there were tears drops that formed when God had to send man and woman out of
the garden because now God could not have fellowship with us. He cannot come to us and man can’t go to
God. There was a separation but there is
one way in which God allows His presence to come. We were made to be temples of God. We were made for God’s only pleasure and to
be vessels to contain His glory. God
brought forth the blood covenant. In
every animal that was killed, that has its blood shed upon the ground, points
forward to the day when the Lamb of God will come and shed His blood once and
for all. All the animals’ blood that had
been shed; thousands upon thousands of them pointing to the day when once and
for all the blood of the Son of God and the Son of man will be shed for
us. Through the Blood Covenant God can
put His presence among His people. Every
time you see God’s presence comes, immediately there must be blood because
without that blood His presence cannot come.
In
Exodus, we know the story of Abraham.
How God dealt with Abraham and began to talk about people whom He
prepared. I want you to see this longing
in God’s heart and the panorama of the history of mankind from God’s
prospective. In the book of Exodus, when
God met with His people as they come out of the
In chapter 19 of the book of Exodus verse 3
onwards, “And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the
mountain, saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
children of Israel: You have seen what I
did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to
Myself.”
God wanted them for Himself.
God wants to hold His people in His presence. Verse 5, “Now therefore, if you will
indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure
to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation. These are the words
which you shall speak to the children of
What are priests? Priests are those who can come into God’s
presence. God says, every single one of
you, I want to bring into My presence and I want My presence to come to
you. We are told about the blood that
was shed in chapter 20, when the people saw flashing clouds and thunder. You see them coming into God’s presence was
one thing but God longs and wants to dwell among His people. That is what He made man for - to be pillars
in His temple. Sadly the Israelites did
not fulfill God’s plan. When Moses went
up later to receive the Ten Commandments from God, a great number of them went
astray and worshiped the golden calf.
When Moses came down judgment came and only one tribe could be
priest. God brought them out of
There’s another time and I wondered whether
God cried if He could. If the angels
could weep, the many ten thousands angels who were assigned to help them in
their priestly work, suddenly had no more ministry for them in that area. Of all the twelve tribes only one could be
priest. God only had to deal with one. That was not what God really wanted. He could have a sample of what He wanted and
yet He went on with His plan because even if He could find one individual from
the ten thousands, if He could just find one, heaven is My throne and earth is
My footstool, where shall I dwell but on him who has a humble and contrite
spirit. If He can find one, just one, He
will still come. He will bypass the ten
thousands because He wants His presence to be with man and man to be with His
presence.
The Israelites has to prepare all kinds of
special instruments and furniture as part of Moses Tabernacle for one
purpose. For one year they were in the
wilderness building according to the pattern of the tabernacle that Moses had
seen. I want you to know that what Moses
built was a shadow of what was up there.
Moses had a glimpse of it during his forty days and forty nights in the
mountain with God. They built it
according to the pattern that Moses saw.
There is only one reason for building the tabernacle. Not because each of those little parts were
lovely to behold. Not just because each
part had a representative of a truth although that was a truth. Each part had a representative of the truth,
an important truth to God. But that
tabernacle with the brazen altar, the laver in the outer court, the lampstand,
table of showbread, the altar of incense in the inner court and the ark in the
most holy place. All these furniture
with the entire special scheme that they had to dye and all the ropes and all
the nails, all were specially made right to the smallest nail it had to be the
way God wanted it. They were made for
one purpose. One year of hard labor for
one purpose, that purpose is Emmanuel God with us. That God could bring His glory down to this
planet and place it in the tabernacle that He asked the Israelites to build.
Exodus
40 we read about how Moses finally put all the pieces of furniture together and
when all the pieces of furniture were placed in order and Moses had anointed
them with oil and blood, I could hear the heaven move. I mean Exodus 40 was what he wanted to
do. When he created Adam and Eve that
Adam and Ever lost. All heaven was
excited that day. Finally once again the
glory could come and Emmanuel could take place.
Verse 34-35, “Then the crowd covered the tabernacle of
meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the
tabernacle of meeting, because the crowd rested above it and the glory of the
Lord filled the tabernacle.”
We are told about that special presence in the Ark of Covenant,
between the wings of the cherubim above the mercy seat, there lays the presence
of God. We thought that we human would
learn a lesson but no, after Moses died, after Joshua died, when they saw what
the presence of God did. Understand that
the presence of God was everything. If
the presence of God is there, there is health.
If the presence of God is there, there is wealth. When you look at Isaiah 61, it says arise and
shine or Your light has come and the glory of God is risen upon you. You look lower down it talks about favor. It talks about multiplication. It talks about wealth. All these will come because the glory of God
is upon you. Without the glory of God
the tabernacle of Moses was nothing. It
was the presence of God. The presence
and it’s because of the presence that when they took the Ark of Covenant and
marched round
In I Samuel 4, Eli was a priest. They had a high priest. They had priesthood. They had a form of religion. They had a creed. They had a scroll. They had the writing of Moses and they even
had the tabernacle there. They had the
ark. They had the brazen altar. They had the lampstand. They had the table of showbread but they
don’t understand or appreciate the presence of God. All they thought was the religion. They thought lets use the ark for
victory. But unless you live in God’s
presence, you cannot demonstrate His presence.
They had failed to live with God and now they expect God to live among
them. In chapter 4, the saddest moment
in
In verse 18, “When he made mention of the ark of God, that
Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken
and he died, for the man was old and heavy.
And he had judged
What
a sad moment. People just don’t
appreciate the presence of God. If you
don’t appreciate the presence of God you can lose it. If you don’t treasure the most precious
possession, you can lose it. Finally it
was God who had to defend His own presence and He has to protect His own
ark. In Samuel’s time the ark came back
to the Israelites. The people again had
the semblance of the presence of God, a small manifestation of Emmanuel God
with us. God still patiently work among
His people because He desired His presence to be among His people and He raised
a man who knew God’s presence and who understand the value of God’s
presence. His name was David. Of all the judges before him and of all the
kings before him, he was the only one who understood. It’s not by might, not by power but by the
Spirit of God. You can’t have the Spirit
of God without the presence of God. He
was the one who understood. That is not
the weapons of war, the arm of flesh or human intellect that works. He was a small boy. He had conquered Goliath. He knew it is important to have God with
him. When God made him king, one of the
first things that he did was, he said lets put the presence of God where it
should be. The center of our lives. He brought the ark into the capital city and
there was a huge celebration because the presence of God was recognized and not
just put aside. It was the prime thing
in their lives. Together with his son
they finally brought
God
gave David the plan of the temple.
Although he didn’t have a hand in building it, he had a plan. What was God after? The same thing that He was after in Genesis.
The same thing that He was after in Exodus in the tabernacle of Moses. He was trying to bring His presence to
man. After Solomon took seven years of
hard work to build the temple and finally the day came that Solomon dedicated
the temple to God. We read about it in
II Chron.5, how as the musicians sang and worshiped God. The presence of God came once again. Heaven must be rejoicing when the presence of
God came back into the temple. How God
had longed for that moment. Once again
it was like the Garden of Eden. Once
again it was like Exodus chapter 40 when the presence of God came. Because of that presence they had
health. They had wealth and they
rejoiced. But over and over again people
don’t appreciate Emmanuel, God with us.
It’s as if we don’t want to have God with us. We want God to be a compartment in our life
but not as Lord and ruler and King. God
only had a small room in the attic. We
have the main hall and all the best room.
He sought to dwell among His people on and on again. If He could find any good thing, He will stir
them up to restore the temple.
You
notice throughout the time of the kings, every time the temple was restored,
the people were blessed. You can’t see
the connection but every time the temple was restored, the people were
triumphant over the enemy. The people
had health and the people had wealth. No
matter how poor the nation was, when the next king took over because sometimes
the king was bad and sometimes the king was good. In the northern kingdom all the kings were
bad. In the southern kingdom sometimes
it was good, sometimes it was bad and sometimes a good king takes over from a
bad king who had bankrupted the nation and turned the nation into sin and
idolatry and into crime and impoverished the whole nation. The new king started with nothing but
God. Whenever a king came and restored
the temple. Restored the worship of God. Restored the glory of God and the
presence of God, Isaiah 61 took place.
Arise and shine for Your light has come.
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. It says and the Gentiles will come to your
life. All the wealth of the Gentiles
will come to you. When the glory of God
is upon you, health and wealth are there.
But one day people began to do things that God could not tolerate
anymore. Heaven had a decision to
make. King after king, God strove to
work among His people, to make Emmanuel God with us true. One day among the last prophets who prophesy
in that land, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, finally God said, I am taking My glory
back. I could see the same Father, the
same God, who had to send Adam and Eve out because they could not stand His
presence. That same loving God now stood
in the book of Ezekiel and He says, I want to take back My glory because the
people don’t appreciate My presence. The
people don’t understand that I want to be with them but they don’t want to be
with Me.
In the book of Ezekiel 10: 1 “Ezekiel
looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim,
there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the
likeness of a throne. Then he spoke to
the man clothed with linen, and said, ‘Go in among the wheels, under the
cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter
them over the city. And he went in as I
watched. Now the cherubim were standing
on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the
inner court. Then the glory of the Lord
went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple.”
It was
like the prodigal son’s father who probably gave everything he wanted to the
prodigal son when the prodigal son wanted everything. If only the prodigal son knew that being with
the father would be everything. He
wanted wealth. He wanted fame. I could see the prodigal son’s father gave
the son one last hug, knowing that if his son doesn’t come to his senses he may
never see his son again. Yet his son
doesn’t appreciate the presence of the father and goes out seeking the things
of this life. Until one day the son
realize that to be with the father was everything. He had lost everything yet the father wants
him back. I am sure when the son was
going away from the house, for a moment the father may have called him, like
all loving father words, my son, my son, won’t you please change your mind for
the last time. Don’t think that the
father didn’t persuade the son. Don’t
tell me that the prodigal son’s father didn’t cry. He did.
Here is the presence of God, for one last moment, one last
look, one last time. Hoping the people
may understand but they did not. He had
to call back that presence into heaven in verse 4, “Then the glory of the
Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and
the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness
of the Lord’s glory. And the sound of
the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like the voice of
Almighty God when He speaks.” O,
God was grieved. Finally God reluctantly
left the temple.
Verse 17-19, “When the cherubim stood still, the wheels
stood still, and when one was lifted up, the other lifted itself up, for the
spirit of the living creature was in them.
Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and
stood over the cherubim. And the
cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside
them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the
glory of the God of
God’s glory reluctantly and slowly left the temple. We saw the coming of the glory in II Chron,
5. My friends, there should never be a
going away of the glory. We see in
Ezekiel 10 the very opposite of II Chron.5 when the glory departed.
Finally God said I need to show man how to keep My glory
because every time I send My glory they don’t understand My presence. I need to show them and tell them that My
glory is to abide in their lives forever.
Not just for a moment. Not just
for a time but permanently. God had a
conference and the second person of the Godhead his name is the Word. He decided to come. He took upon Himself the name of Jesus so
that if any man thirst; in that thirsty cry that raged through the
generations. The cry for God. The cry from the spirit of man for the
presence of God. For man was created for
His presence. If any man thirst they can
come to the Son of God Emmanuel and they can drink of the living water and they
will thirst no more.
Jesus spoke to the woman at the well and said, if you drink
from this water, you will thirst again, but the water that I can give to you,
if you ask for a drink and He will give you living water, water full of life
and you will never thirst again. That
woman had been seeking religion. She
said, the Jews worship in
Finally God sent His Son and it prophesied
that His name is to be called Emmanuel God with us. To show us the way to live in that presence
and all the miracles, all the signs and wonders were glorious. I want you to know one thing. The miracles were there because the presence
of God was there and all the works of Jesus which the bible only recorded a few
for our edification. Book of John tells
us if everything that Jesus did was recorded, the whole world couldn’t contain. This same Lord Jesus Christ said, when He
talked with the disciples, He said that the Father would send them the Holy
Spirit to be with them. In the book of
John, the same Jesus He did not come to live and die to live without God’s
presence. He came with the expressed
purpose so that once and for all in the
He says in John 14: 17-20,
“the Spirit of truth from the Father whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be with you. I will not
leave you orphans; I will come to you. A
little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see
Me. Because I live, you will live
also. And that day, ”The day when My
presence come permanently on your life.
“You will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in
you. He who has My commandments and
keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And
he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest
Myself to him.”
He tells us in the gospel of John 14: 11 “Believe Me that I am
in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the
works themselves.” Verse 10, “Do
you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak
on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”
He says I am able to do all those things
because of the Father, the presence of the Father, the glory of God in My
life. And the same glory He wants to
share with us. In the book of Ephesians
chapter 1,2 and 3 right at the end of it, it says that He is building the
church as a holy temple, a holy habitation of God that God’s presence can come
and live among us. He failed with Adam
and Eve. He failed with Moses’
generation. He failed with David’
generation. Will He fail in our
generation? God forbid, there are many
times He looks like He is failing but God forbid because as long as there is
one little spark somewhere with God’s presence, one little child of God
somewhere who has a contrite spirit, it only takes a spark and that fire will
again burn the way it should burn. God
is hungry and so desirous of His presence come into our lives. That when in the book of Revelation His
presence finally come upon our lives, there was great rejoicing and it was
announced in the heaven, behold the tabernacle of God is with man and He will dwell
with them. We are part way in that
story. We are in this move of God when
God wants to bring His transforming presence into our lives so that the glory
of God that has begun in our lives as a little spark and a little flame can
grow bigger and bigger until Isaiah 61 takes place. The glory of God that began in your spirit as
a peace when the presence of God came will begin to grow and grow until finally
it’s upon us.
The glory of God shall be seen upon His
church once again. But for this glory to
come upon our lives to be upon our lives, we need to know and appreciate His
glory like Jesus live inside His glory.
I can tell you that even though Jesus Christ left His glory in heaven to
live as a man on this earth, from the day He was born until the day He died on
the cross, He always treasured that presence.
Not for a single moment did He go without that presence. There will be many times He would be tired
physically from the ministry but yet at night you will find Him climbing the
mountain. Why, because He desires the
presence of God. There were many times
when He gets up early in the morning and if you think that He didn’t get tired,
look at John 4, you will understand why was He sitting at the well, because He
was tired from the long journey. He was
thirsty. He was hungry but when the
disciples brought food back, He said, I had meat, which you do not know
of. His meat was to do the Father’s will
and to be in the Father’s presence because one day in the presence of God is
better than one thousand days. He lived
in that presence so much. Everyday; for
thirty years even as He lived as a carpenter.
Some of you may say, how can I have the
presence of God as an engineer? How can
I have the presence of God as a carpenter?
How can I have the presence of God in my work? Jesus for thirty years had the presence of
God in His life even though He was only a carpenter. He came to show us how it was possible once
again to live with God’s presence. It is
possible if we will long and desire for that presence like He did.
There was an increase of that presence in
those three years of His ministry when the Holy Spirit came on Him. It was a greater presence and the Father
declared when the Holy Spirit came on Him as a dove, “This is My son in whom I
am well pleased.” Everyday of His life
He was pleasing God. He lived in that
presence. I want you to know there was
only one moment, just one moment in His life, when that presence had to go from
His life because of what you and I did.
Jesus is not afraid of physical suffering. He is not afraid of the nails going through
His hands. Physical suffering is nothing
to Him. When He struggle in
My friends, what about you and I? Do you think being criticized is suffering? It’s nothing compared with the losing of that
presence because if you have the presence, you can take all criticism. Do you think all the hardship in your life is
difficult? No, because if the presence
of God is there it’s not suffering.
There is joy that fills your heart and a peace that fills your
life. Do you think all the difficulties
of this life are difficult? All the
pains, the wounds are difficult? They
are not when you have the presence of God.
My friends, going without the presence of God is the greatest suffering
that man could ever have and the greatest suffering that God has to endure for
man, because He knew man was made for God’s presence to dwell in.
If
you want that presence of God in your life to be restored, there is one key to
focus on and that’s on the mercy of God.
No one can receive that presence of God by works. Remember the song they sang in II Chron.5
“Our Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.” Remember what that seat was called between
the cherubim. It was called the Mercy
Seat. No one can enter that presence by
works, by religion, by our achievement.
But the presence of God is available when you throw yourself to the
mercy of God. Like David though he had
failed many times in numbering the Israelites, he threw himself at the mercy of
God and God brought a greater presence into his life.
In Hebrew 4, the Mercy Seat is called the
throne of grace. Do you know why? In the Old Testament, you read about how Noah
found grace in the eyes of God by his walk and his righteousness. But in the New Testament, grace has already
been given in Jesus Christ. While we
were still sinners he died on the cross for us. While we were in enmity with God, enemies
of God, He shed His blood for us. God
took that first move and initiated fellowship with us. Now through the blood of His eternal Son we
can have fellowship forever more. This
is the grace of God. He says in Hebrew
4, come go into the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace in
time of need the mercy of God. Which is
why in Isaiah 61: 1 “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My
footstool. Where is the house that you
will build Me?” I will dwell on him
who has a humble and contrite spirit who would tremble at My word. Who will come not by their works of
righteousness but who will come by the blood of Jesus, by the mercy of God, in
the grace of God given so freely.
The presence of God that was so hard to have
and so hard to achieve is now so freely given to us. Will we take it for granted? May we take gratitude in this great grace of
God, this great presence that is made available for us. Like Paul in II Cor.3, we are told that if
the administration of the law be glorious, how much more glorious will the
ministering of grace be. We have a grace
greater than Moses saw. We have a glory
greater than Adam and Eve saw. We have a
glory greater than David saw. We have
the glory like never before. The mercy,
God says, I will restore to you to show mercy of David and that’s the presence
of God. We have a greater glory than
David ever had. We have the glory that
Jesus had and it says the works that I do, you will do also and greater works. If the works of Jesus came from His glory,
the greater works will come from a greater manifestation of glory like it had
never been before. Something that
reserved only after Jesus was raised from the dead, ascended on high and seated
at the right hand of God. Then only God
can release in John 17 the glory of God among His people like never
before.
Will you take advantage of that glory? Will you take gratitude and respond to that
presence of God in your life? The glory
of God, how precious it is to your life.
Is it suffering to be without glory?
If it’s not you have not known the glory and the presence of God like
Jesus knew it.
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