In the Presence of a Holy God

Lesson 3 – In the Presence of a Holy God

In some Christian circles people will often speak of being in God’s presence during a worship service. This implies that there must be times when they are not in His presence. How is this distinction possible when we refer to the omnipresent God.

Last lesson, I asked you to consider the difference between being in the same place with someone and being in the presence.

Definitions

PRES'ENCE, n. s as z. [L. proesentia; proe, before, and esse, to be.] The existence of a person or thing in a certain place; opposed to absence. This event happened during the king's presence at the theater. In examining the patient, the presence of fever was not observed. The presence of God is not limited to any place.

1. A being in company near or before the face of another.

2. Approach face to face or nearness of a great personage.

PRES'ENT, a. s as z. [L. proesens; proe and sum, esse, to be.]

1. Being in a certain place; opposed to absent.

I can be present in the same room as a great king and never interact with him. Bring me before him, face to face, for a conversation and later I could say that I was in the presence of greatness. This applies even more so to the great God.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." He fulfills this promise every time His people gather together for prayer, worship, study, or service. He always shows up because He is true to His word. However this does not mean that we are in His presence whenever He is present. In order to be in His presence we must acknowledge that He is there and interact with Him.

So, how is this done?

It would be unfair, (and unwise) to distill this into a few steps that guarantee a successful arrival into the Presence of God. But here are a few things to consider:

1. We need to remember that God is Holy. As such, He cannot stand to have sin in His presence. In Habakkuk, the prophet is complaining to God about the sins that are going on around him. He asks God to do something about it. Chapter 1, verse 13 says,

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

Habakkuk knew the normal response from God when evil or sin were in His presence – he destroyed it. (Examples: Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron from Leviticus 10, and Uzza from 1 Chronicles 13)

Each year on the Day of Atonement the Jewish high priest would go into the Holy of Holies to make an offering on behalf of the people. Prior to this, sacrifices were made for the priest’s sins and the priest underwent a ritual bathing process to help ensure that He would not offend God. Bells were sewn into his clothing and a rope was tied to his ankle when he went before God’s presence. As he moved about performing his duties the tinkling of bells could be heard. If the bells went silent for a while it was assumed that God had struck him dead, and they would use the rope to pull him back out. This may be why the people were concerned about Zacharias being delayed in Luke chapter 1.

You don’t mess around with the holiness of God.

2. Don’t let this scare you away because you don’t feel holy enough to be with God. Waiting until you have your act together never works. You will never get to the point where you are good enough to be with God. We don’t deserve to be with God at all. The atonement that Jesus made allows us to have access to His Father. Getting what we don’t deserve – that’s grace! According to Hebrews 4 Jesus is our great high priest and this allows us access to the real Holy of Holies where God is.

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Please notice that it is the throne of grace, not judgement. We can go before God in confidence, trusting in the grace He bestows. This allows us to pray to the holy God and to draw closer to Him in worship. Still, it is always a good idea not to bring bad attitudes, fleshly motives and such before God. Deal with them before you come so that He won’t have to. (Matthew 5:23,24)

3. Coming into God’s presence in worship is often compared to entering into the Hebrew temple in the NT. The entire temple compound was considered holy, but it became increasingly more holy as one entered farther in, from east to west.

a) To get in, you had to enter through one of the gates in the wall. This brought you into the outer court, the Court of Gentiles. Non-Jews could be in this area but could not go further in.

b) The next area was the Court of Women. It was in this court that people donated their tithes and gifts. Women could not go beyond this court

c) Going through the Beautiful Gate, Hebrew laymen could enter into the Court of Israel, but no further.

d) Next came the Court of Priests. This was the innermost court and was reserved for the priests only. The first thing that was seen as you entered was the great altar of burnt offerings which was aligned with all the gates so that it could be seen from each of the outer courts.

e) Finally, we come to the temple which has two sections

· The Holy Place where priests discharged their various duties, like burning incense. The golden altar, the golden lampstand, and the golden table for the showbread were placed in here.

· The Most Holy Place (or Holy of Holies) which was separated from The Holy Place by the Veil. The presence of God dwelt here. There was no furniture at all in this place and only the High Priest could come here once a year on the Day of Atonement. When Jesus dies the Veil between these areas was torn in two from the top down. Why?

Worship is like that. You go into God’s presence in stages. Those who are not saved Christians can come to where God is being worshipped but will not be able to enter into His presence. They know that something is happening here but they don’t get it. They are in the Court of Gentiles, so to speak.

You go further in by doing things like giving thanks, and praising God (Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name ~ Psalm 100:4). This invites God to come and fellowship with you.

The more of yourself and your cares that you leave behind, the further in you can go. There comes a point when you become aware that God Is Here. It isn’t bizarre, or carnal, or man-made. It is the most natural and wonderful thing. You can’t make it happen. You can only draw near to God and He fulfills His word by drawing near to you.

So What Happens Now?

Worship is a two-way communication. We come to God, loving, adoring, and exalting Him. He responds by making Himself known via revelation, insight, joy and peace. He will reveal truth from Scripture, convict of sin, heal us in body, mind, or spirit. Basically, He does what Jesus did while He was here on Earth.

Spirit and Truth

This assumes that we are worshipping the Lord in the way the Bible says. God knows the intents of our hearts and whether we are really worshipping Him or just going through the motions.

"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers."God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." ~ John 4:23-24

Some thoughts on this passage:

· God seeks worshippers – not so much worship, per se, but He seeks for those people who will really worship Him

· To worship God in spirit means that our worship must come from the inner man. It is not to be superficial or ritualistic. Worship must be a conscious thought process which is sincere. It must be free from insincerity, distractions, and wandering thoughts.

· We should also worship in truth. In the context of this passage the Samaritans were worshipping what they didn’t know or understand. Their worship was no doubt sincere but it wasn’t based on the truth. Our worship should be based on, and directed by, the word of God.