WRideout
06-08-2017, 09:31 PM
Through the ages people have understood their relationship with God in different ways. When Moses led the Israelites in the wilderness, God called him to Mount Sinai, and spoke to him.
Genesis 24:
“The Lord replied, ‘Go down and Bring Aaron up with you, but the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or He will break out against them.’ So Moses went down to the people and told them.”
Later God tells Moses that “You cannot see my face, because no one may see me and live.” There is a separation between mankind and Holy God. Anyone coming too close might suffer death; such is the gulf between man’s sinfulness and God’s holiness. But still, we seek to be in the presence of God. And so God ordained priests to be the intermediaries for the people, to approach the most holy God.
The priests were perfect physical specimens, and required to be ritually clean, in every way. Even though they could not see the face of God, they were allowed to present the sacrifices of the people to the Lord. And they also gathered with the Israelites at the Tent of the Meeting, where the sacrifices were offered, and the people approached their God.
But God did not desire that his people, Israel, would forever be kept at a distance. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ came to fill the role of the High Priest, but more than that, to be God incarnate; God who became a man of flesh and bone. John tells us in his Gospel that Christ was the Word that existed before the beginning of the universe. The Word that was with God, and was God. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians that Christ is the image of the invisible God, by whom and for whom all things were created, visible and invisible. Jesus Christ is God come to earth to dwell among us.
Jesus knew that his purpose was to die, be resurrected, and ascend to his father. What pitiful people we would be if that were the end of the story! But he knew that God would not leave his people desolate, and so his gift to the disciples was to tell them that there would be a Counselor, a Holy Spirit, a Spirit of Truth that would be with them forever. This was no idle comment such as we are likely to make. We might say to someone we know, “I’ll come over to visit,” each knowing full well that this will never happen. God, through Christ, promised the Holy Spirit to be our comforter, and God’s promises will not fail.
Jesus said that anything we ask in his name, we shall have. This does not mean that God is giving out favors, like a good parking spot, a favorite meal, or even a healthy baby. Rather, it is recognition that Christ is our intermediary, and that through his sacrificial death and resurrection, we now are enabled to approach God, through his authority. We do not have to repeat the words, “In Jesus name, amen.” to acknowledge this truth.
Wayne
Genesis 24:
“The Lord replied, ‘Go down and Bring Aaron up with you, but the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or He will break out against them.’ So Moses went down to the people and told them.”
Later God tells Moses that “You cannot see my face, because no one may see me and live.” There is a separation between mankind and Holy God. Anyone coming too close might suffer death; such is the gulf between man’s sinfulness and God’s holiness. But still, we seek to be in the presence of God. And so God ordained priests to be the intermediaries for the people, to approach the most holy God.
The priests were perfect physical specimens, and required to be ritually clean, in every way. Even though they could not see the face of God, they were allowed to present the sacrifices of the people to the Lord. And they also gathered with the Israelites at the Tent of the Meeting, where the sacrifices were offered, and the people approached their God.
But God did not desire that his people, Israel, would forever be kept at a distance. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ came to fill the role of the High Priest, but more than that, to be God incarnate; God who became a man of flesh and bone. John tells us in his Gospel that Christ was the Word that existed before the beginning of the universe. The Word that was with God, and was God. The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians that Christ is the image of the invisible God, by whom and for whom all things were created, visible and invisible. Jesus Christ is God come to earth to dwell among us.
Jesus knew that his purpose was to die, be resurrected, and ascend to his father. What pitiful people we would be if that were the end of the story! But he knew that God would not leave his people desolate, and so his gift to the disciples was to tell them that there would be a Counselor, a Holy Spirit, a Spirit of Truth that would be with them forever. This was no idle comment such as we are likely to make. We might say to someone we know, “I’ll come over to visit,” each knowing full well that this will never happen. God, through Christ, promised the Holy Spirit to be our comforter, and God’s promises will not fail.
Jesus said that anything we ask in his name, we shall have. This does not mean that God is giving out favors, like a good parking spot, a favorite meal, or even a healthy baby. Rather, it is recognition that Christ is our intermediary, and that through his sacrificial death and resurrection, we now are enabled to approach God, through his authority. We do not have to repeat the words, “In Jesus name, amen.” to acknowledge this truth.
Wayne