God with Us

Introduction

By way of illustrations or introductions to my sermons, I often share with you memories from my childhood. Stories about me and people I knew and grew up with, my family or my friends, and I have been accused of exaggerating some of those stories, or of just kind of making them up because I admit some of them are almost unbelievable. And I probably wouldn’t believe them myself if I didn’t live them myself. And the story I’m about to tell you is absolutely true. Every part of it.

So because of this, they would schedule events for the teenagers and things that we could do, not just at my little country congregation, but many of the Christians throughout the area. And one thing, one time, they scheduled an alternative to prom. That rather than going to our high school prom, they offered this kind of get together. And so they got spread the word among Christians, all in North Alabama, that they were going to rent this hall in a hotel room, and we would get together instead of dancing and sneaking out and drinking and doing things we shouldn’t have. We would just get together. A band would perform, and we would just have a good time being around people that we knew and people that shared our same similar upbringings and faith.

And so we did that. We had to go out of town. Coleman wasn’t big enough to have any kind of facility like that when I was growing up. And so we went to a town north of us, and it was in a big hotel, and they had this banquet room in this hotel, and we all went there. And we just had a great time because there was no pressure to engage in any sinful activity. There was actually pressure to do what was good. And a band performed and they were great. I was around some of my friends and buddies, and uh, just honest, I was around some pretty girls, and that wasn’t too bad either. And so we just had a great time. And as we were leaving this place, we noticed that one of our buddies was missing.

We thought Jean was going to be there, but Gene didn’t show up. Well, maybe something happened. Maybe he or his mom or dad got sick, or maybe they had car trouble on the way. And so we were leaving this big hotel, all going out to our cars. Some of us could drive, some of us were carpooling, some of us, our parents had to come and pick us up. And there’s Gene coming out of the hotel with us. And our group wasn’t that big that we would have lost Jean in the crowd. And so I asked Gene, where were you? He said, I was in there. I said, No, you weren’t. Come to find out, Jean had spent the last hour at a wedding in the room next to where we were having our alternative prom.

And Jean had spent a whole hour in the wedding and the reception, eating cake and punch and peanuts and those little soft mints that they had at weddings back then. And never noticed that he wasn’t in with the people. A wedding, by the way, of people he had no idea who they were. And they had no idea. He’s probably still in some of those photographs, and people are scratching their head trying to figure out who he was and why he was there. But he had literally spent a whole hour at a wedding instead of this get together where we were supposed to go. And he he just missed out. Now I’ve got a lot of stories about Gene, as you might could imagine. But that one night, Gene missed out on a wonderful event because it was a good event because we were together.

And we had that togetherness and that friendship and that camaraderie. And like I said, rather than the negative pressure to engage in sinful activities, we had a positive peer pressure to do what was good and to have a good time within the parameters of our faith. And that was such a good blessing. And the blessing that we have in a setting such as this, far different from that type of setting, but yet it has some similarities of being able to be together and to feel that closeness and that fellowship and that camaraderie. But above that is the fellowship and the closeness and the camaraderie that we have with our God, who is the basis of this fellowship and the basis of our togetherness. And so I want to talk about that this morning.

1. Fellowship With God Lost in the Garden

About what it means to have fellowship with God. What it means for God to be with us. We read in our Bible reading this morning about the fact, that last Bible reading, that we are the church is described as the household of God. And that’s talking, not talking about a physical structure, not the house as a building, but the house, or we might say the home or the family of God. We are his dwelling place. What does that mean? What does it mean when the Bible talks about God being with us? Let’s examine that a little bit. To examine that, we’ve got to go all the way back to the beginning. To that fellowship. We cannot really conceive of what that was like. We live in such a flawed and damaged planet that it’s impossible for us to truly picture what the Garden of Eden in its absolute perfection was like.

It’s difficult for us to conceive what it was like for Adam and Eve to be there in the full sense in the presence of God. God would come down out of heaven and dwell with them in that paradise. Surely that’s what made it paradise. It wasn’t the beauty of the trees and the flowers and the animals of that garden that made it paradise. What made it paradise is that God was with them and dwelt with them. But we know the wicked story short-lived was that paradise because in Genesis chapter 3, they violated the law that God had given them. And so their punishment was is that they were cast out of that garden. And again, the punishment wasn’t that they were cast away from those trees and the fruit that they bore, the fruit that they were to participate in.

That wasn’t the punishment. The punishment wasn’t that they were gone from some beautiful, idyllic setting in which they were able to live. The punishment was that it was in that garden that they had perfect unabated relationship and fellowship with God. And that now ended. It wasn’t leaving the garden that hurt, it was leaving that fellowship with God. And that was lost. And so the rest of the Bible is about what is God going to do. Man can do nothing. But what is God going to do about that? What’s God going to do to seek some kind of reconciliation, some kind of remedy to that separation. And let’s make it clear here.

But what was lost and sought is seeking to be regained is not that God would be next to us. When it says that sin has separated us from our God, it’s not that God was setting or standing next to us, and that was moved, but that God was with us. God was in us. And that’s what God seeks to have restored. Is not a proximity to his people, but a relationship and a fellowship with his people that is described in New Testament terms as God dwelling in us and us dwelling in God. So it’s not just a proximity, it is God with us. That was lost at Eden. We see that beginning to be partially restored in Israel. Turn with me now, if you will, in your old testaments, and let’s see how that plays out.

2. Partially Restored in Israel

Exodus chapter 25. After some time has passed, God has now sought a remedy of how people can be with him, and this fellowship can at least be partially restored to him. And so we read in Exodus chapter 25, God instructing Moses for the children of Israel to build a tabernacle. And notice what was said about this tabernacle, this place of worship that was far more than just a place of worship. Exodus 25, look at verses 8 and 9. It says, and let them, God speaking to Moses, let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all of its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

Yes, the tabernacle was a place for them to go and offer their worship to God to offer their sacrifices, but it was far more an intimate setting than that. God says, make me a sanctuary where I may dwell. Turn over a few pages in Exodus chapter 40. And notice what it says of that tabernacle. Exodus chapter 40, beginning in verse 33. Now the tabernacle has been built. It’s being put together. It says in Exodus chapter 40, verse 33, he, speaking of Moses, he raised up all the cord around the tabernacle and the altar, and he hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work, the tabernacle that God said, let them build this so I may have a dwelling among them. They built it.

And notice what happens, verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. God did what he says. Build me a sanctuary so that I might come. He came and descended and dwelt among them. Well, we know that a time will come in which a king will say, Let’s build a better structure, a more permanent one. God’s living and dwelling in tents, and so let’s build him a building. And God would say to that king, Yes, but not you. Your son Solomon will build me a temple, much like that sanctuary, that tabernacle. And now look in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 5. When that temple is built, that becomes a more permanent structure for not only again God’s worship, but for God’s presence among them.

2 Chronicles chapter 5. Look at verse 1. So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in all the things which his father David had dedicated, the silver and the gold and all the furnishings, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of God. Much like his predecessor, Moses built that tabernacle, and now it’s completed. Solomon now builds the temple and it’s completed. Skip down to verse 13. Indeed, I’m still in 2 Chronicles 5, verse 13. Indeed, it came to pass when the trumpeters and the singers were as one to make one sound to be heard and praising and thanking the Lord, when they lifted up their voice and the trumpets and the cymbals and instruments of music and praise the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endures forever, that the Lord, the house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

That presence of God was separated from man in the garden. And now there is a partial restoration of that. God says, make me a place, and I’ll come and I dwell among you. We say it was partially restored because God was there, but remember God was inside, and they were not allowed to go in under the punishment of death. And so God was there, and so we might describe it this way in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel. God would say, Come unto me, but not too close. Remember at Mount Sinai when God descended and came into the mountain. They weren’t to touch the mountain. They weren’t to get close. Come unto me, but not too close. And the reason is the sin problem hadn’t really been dealt with yet.

3. Lost Again by Rebellion and Sin

So come unto me, but not too close. And I’ll come to you, but not too close. I’ll be in this sanctuary, a sanctuary where you’re not allowed to come. But he was dwelling among them. It had been partially restored what was lost in the garden. But then look in the book of Ezekiel. You might think all was well. God was dwelling among his people, that fellowship that had been lost in the garden. I’m turning to Ezekiel chapter 10. That fellowship that was lost in the garden was restored, even but partially, but but maybe that’s as good as it gets. But at least God is among his people. But because of their continual rebellion and sin, something happens. And the captivity is that which happens. And much like the expulsion from the garden centuries earlier, the captivity wasn’t just about them being vacated from the promised land and leaving their homes and the land that flowed with milk and honey.

It wasn’t just about being in captivity and the pain and the punishment that that would have entailed. It was about losing a relationship to God. Don’t forget that the expulsion from the garden wasn’t about leaving a beautiful garden. And that leaving the land of Canaan and being carried away into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity wasn’t about leaving home. It was about being separated from God. And notice what it says in Ezekiel chapter 10. We saw the tabernacle in the temple, the presence of God coming and dwelling in that temple. In Ezekiel chapter 10, it says 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.

Verses 18 and 19. 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 Lord of Israel was above them. I can’t imagine what it was like in Moses or in Solomon’s day to see the cloud, God descending and coming into the presence of the people. What a beautiful, beautiful and majestic sight. But I can’t imagine what a depressing sight Ezekiel saw when he saw the opposite of that. God’s glory leaving and escaping the presence of the people.

4. I Will Set My Sanctuary in Their Midst

He’s not with them, even in this partial sense anymore. But then skip over a few chapters. Stay in Ezekiel. Ezekiel sees not just a vision of his present day, of God’s presence vacating the temple. In Ezekiel chapter 37, beginning in verse 26, he sees a vision of the future. Ezekiel chapter 37. Start with me in verse 26. Moreover, I will make a covenant. Here’s in the future. I’ll make a covenant of peace with them, and it will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. Pause there. Remember the language of Moses’ day in Exodus? Build me a sanctuary that I may dwell. God says, I will set my sanctuary. I’ll do the building now.

You don’t have to build a tabernacle or a temple. I’m going to build my sanctuary to be among the people. My tabernacle also, verse 27, my tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. The nations will also know that I, the Lord sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever. God says, we’re going to rebuild a sanctuary, another tabernacle, a future one. And we know that he’s not talking about some physical tent that Moses constructed, not some physical building that Solomon constructed, but he’s talking about I’m going to build a permanent presence with my people, and I will dwell among them.

5. Emmanuel, God With Us

Of Matthew chapter 1. This one sent from God who was himself God. We often refer to him as Jesus or Christ or Lord. But notice the name that was given to him in Matthew chapter 1. And look at verse 23. The prophet says, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us. The expulsion from the garden, the captivity from the land of promise, was all about losing the presence and the fellowship of God. Jesus coming wasn’t just about forgiving our sins. The forgiveness of our sins was not the end of what Jesus came to do. Now, he did that, don’t mistake that. But that was the means to the end. The end was God with us.

Fellowship to God restored. Remember what Isaiah said separated us, the sins. So Jesus yes came to wash away our sins, so that we might be in his presence, so that he might dwell among us, so that we might be in him and he in us, speaks of God’s presence. For look at this in John chapter 1. Look what John says, one of those witnesses of him, of Emmanuel, of God with us. You know these verses in John chapter 1, verse 14. And the word, the word that was with God, that was God, that was eternity. The word dwelt among us. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. Now, I don’t pretend to know what happened when John, by the power of the Holy Spirit, was writing these words.

But I like to think that when he wrote those words, he had to stop. And we beheld his glory.

Don’t you imagine John at least had to pause and say, Wow. John, who, like Peter and the other apostles, didn’t fully appreciate it when it was happening that they were beholding the glory of God. But don’t you imagine in retrospect, he had to pause and say, Wow. We beheld the glory of God. The glory is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So John says he was God with us in the sense that God came and dwelt among us. And actually, actually, you know the language there when John says he dwelt among us. The literal word is he tabernacled among us. He was God with us.

And then Jesus would say of himself, stay in John’s gospel in chapter 2. This maybe helps explain what to their ears and maybe even to ours is a little bit of a strange language. In John chapter 2, look at verse 18. The Jews, John, the Gospel of John chapter 2, verse 18. The Jews answered and said to him, What sign do you show to us since you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And the Jews, scratching their heads, said, It’s taken 46 years to build this temple. We would say, to rebuild it. It had been destroyed, to rebuild this temple, and you will raise it up in three days. But the Holy Spirit explains, he was speaking of the temple of his body.

6. We Are Now the Dwelling Place of God

Does that maybe explain that strange language that he would refer to himself as the temple? Because he was God with us. God said, Build me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among you. And I’m going to build my own sanctuary so that I may dwell among you. And Jesus said, I’m that temple. I’m Emmanuel. I am God with you. And not coincidentally. The church today is referred to as the body of Christ. His body that was a temple. And we’re described as that living temple today. Look over in Ephesians chapter 2. We are now the dwelling place of God. In two senses, in an individual sense, Paul would tell the Corinthians that we are own bodies. If you’re a child of God, if you’ve been redeemed at that purchase price of his blood, that you are a dwelling place of God.

God dwells in you. So you see, this fellowship and us being separated from God is not just God being moved from my proximity. It’s been being moved from me. And this fellowship being restored, which is Paul’s ministry of reconciliation that he talked about, is not so that God can be brought back close to me, but that he may dwell within me. Look at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 18 and 19. For through him, that is Jesus Christ, that is Emmanuel, God with us, through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you’re no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. We are a part of his family, but we’re a part of his temple, of his sanctuary, that God is with us, that which was lost at the garden, that was partially restored in Israel and fully lost by the rebellion of Israel, is now reinstated fully in and through Jesus Christ.

Emmanuel, God with us. And we are his dwelling place. Now there’s some practical ramifications of that. If the church is the household, the temple of God, then this temple needs to be treated with the respect that God’s dwelling place deserves. Again, we’re not talking about the building, we understand that. But this entity, this body of people, is to be reverenced and treated with the respect and purity that it demands. Our individual lives are to be sanctified. I cannot and must not do whatever I desire in my own sinful lust with my body, because this body, Paul would remind the Corinthians, this body is a temple of God that carries with it some demands, some inexcusable conclusions.

Conclusion

It is to be treated with the reverence and the respect that a dwelling place of God deserves. But most of all, don’t we glory in the idea that God is with us? That that paradise that was lost is now restored. That we can have that fellowship with God. That He can dwell among us in every sense of that word. Would you have that fellowship with God? Would you read His Word, hear His Word, believe on it? Trust in that word, repent of your sin, saying, I’m going to live, leave that world of sin and come and turn and walk in fellowship with God. You confess that faith, not to be ashamed of who he is and that you wear his name, but confess the name of Christ and be baptized to wash away your sins so that God can be with you.

Would you do that this morning? Can we help you in your obedience to the gospel in any way? Let it be known as together we stand and as we sing.