The theme of the presence of God being with His people starts early.
During the patriarchal era, God assures Jacob and Isaac, "I will be with you" in Genesis 26:3-4 and 31:3, respectively. The patriarchs have God's assurance that He will continue to be with them and bless them as they followed his will. However, this promise is merely a precursor to God's dwelling with the whole nation of Israel.
The first hint of this theme is found in Exodus 4:22 during the Mosaic era. As God is preparing Moses to stand before Pharaoh, He refers to Israel as "My son, My first born".
Later in Exodus 29:43-46 we find the clearest reference to this theme in the Old Testament. God commits to tabernacle, or dwell, with His people. An incredible theme! The God of the universe dwelt among His chosen people, completing a three-part promise to Israel.
1. "I will be your God" Genesis 17:7-8
2. "You will be My people" Exodus 4:22; 6:7
3. "I will dwell among you" Exodus 29:43-46
This theme continues into the ninth century, when the prophet Joel looks forward to a day when again God will dwell with His people during the millennial kingdom (Joel 3:21). In the eighth century, Isaiah refers to a time when God again will dwell with His people at the first coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14).
While God dwelling with His people is an incredible theme the ultimate provision is that of His Spirit indwelling the heart of the individual believer. Ezekiel introduces this theme during the seventh century (Ezek. 37:14 “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live...”).
In the Old Testament period, God's people didn’t have direct access to his presence after it was lost in the Garden of Eden. His personal presence was localized to a certain place (TABERNACLE – Tent of meeting) which was accessible on only one day a year (DAY OF ATONEMENT), and even then they had to approach him through a human mediator (HIGH PRIEST).
When Jesus came, this changed dramatically. That’s why the Apostle John says:
"The Word became flesh and tabernacled (lived or dwelt) among us, and we beheld his glory . . . full of grace and truth." John 1:14
In Jesus, God had become far more accessible to his people. His presence was openly available to anyone who would come to him. But Jesus says we have the possibility of an even more personal relationship with God than did his disciples! Jesus comforting his disciples as he prepares to endure the Cross and leave them promises that he will:
“...ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
Even the disciples had to be in the physical presence of Jesus to have access to God's personal presence. That's why they were so sad about his departure. But Jesus promises that this access will be permanent because the Holy Spirit will be "in" us forever.
John 3:16-18 (The Message) “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
A promise was placed in every human being... because he said “anyone can have a whole and lasting life” – everlasting fellowship with God. The presence of God dwelling amongst his people is a theme running through the scriptures that progresses from the Old Testament promise of:
1. "I will be your God" Genesis 17:7-8
2. "You will be My people" Exodus 4:22; 6:7
3. "I will dwell among you" Exodus 29:43-46
But the advent of Christ and his victory on the Cross adds a fourth New Testament addition of:
4. “I will live in you” John 14: 16-17
It’s like we are a people who are pregnant with promise. A people who progress from an external knowledge, even an annual encounter with the presence of God that has manifested itself in the Tabernacle – the place of meeting – which for the common man was an observed relationship not a personal experience – to a promise from Christ himself that the very manifest presence of the Creator of the Universe would come and reside within you.
We would become carriers of the presence of God. Not just in the tabernacle when God would descend. Not just when we come to church and ignite something because we came to worship. Not only when we go to a Christian conference and get all fired up.
The presence of God through the person of the Holy Spirit resides in you all the time.
· When you go to work
· When you are asleep
· When you are studying
· When you are driving
· When you feel like him being there
· When you don’t feel like him being there
As a believer you have received the promise of the Father - the Holy Spirit – taking residence in your life and wherever you go you are a carrier of His presence which brings healing, wholeness, deliverance, freedom, peace, joy, and liberation to those whom you take his presence to.
That’s why the Apostle Paul got so excited about the truth of this when he declares:
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. Romans 8:11 (King James Version)
There’s a rich word amongst these sentences. A word I never really understood until recently. It’s the word – quicken. As a youngster singing this song I knew the Holy Spirit lived within me but this quickening was a mystery. Did it mean I would read my bible faster? Give me the ability to speed pray? Make the sermon go quicker so we could go home? What did it mean?
Quicken - In pregnancy terms, or the moment of quickening - refers to the initial motion of the forming baby in the womb as it is perceived or felt by the pregnant mum. (Butterflies – feels like something fluttering). According to the Oxford English Dictionary to "quicken" means "to reach the stage of pregnancy at which the child shows signs of life."
In fact as recent as the 18th century it was used as one of the measures to define a legally created human life. When signs of life were felt by the mother new life was recognised.
When I came to Christ the promise I carried within me leapt – I was pregnant with promise – that promise that Jesus stated that if anyone draws near to him he will draw near to them – that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The message of Christ affected my life – a quickening occurred. Life stirred within me and my life has never been the same since that day.
But the message didn’t just fall onto my ears from heaven. It came through a carrier of Christ, a carrier of his presence – a messenger. Someone just like you came and brought Christ to my life and the promise leapt within me and I was filled with the Holy Spirit.
We have a biblical example of this in an account in the book of Luke.
Luke 1: 39-44 “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”
· Mary was the carrier of Jesus as she comes to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
o She is carrying the presence of Christ
· Elizabeth was past child bearing age and was barren but God had promised her and her husband a child.
o Elizabeth had a promise and when the presence of Christ came near her it leapt within her and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
o A quickening has just occurred – Life is declared
I want to ask you a question today friends. Are you a carrier of the presence of God? Here’s how we tell if he is active and alive and resident in our lives...
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. Romans 8:11 (King James Version)
Remember: In the Old Testament people didn’t have direct access to the presence of God. When Jesus walked the earth you needed to physically be with him to be in his presence but today every one of us has become the temple of the Holy Spirit who is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (ever present) and omnipotent (all powerful) yet he chooses to fill your life with his presence.
You are a carrier of the presence of God with the responsibility to take his presence to those awaiting an encounter with Him. Those people who have yet to respond to the promise that awaits awakening. What are you getting close to?
Do you want to encounter the presence of God more in your life?
1. I want so much more of the presence of God in my world. The reality is He has already provided it. So maybe I need re-awakening with a fresh understanding of what he has done and a quickening needs to occur. If you identify with that today and my words have stirred something within you then that’s the Holy Spirit fluttering your spirit to life and action.
2. If you’re a person who is reading this today having never heard a message like this before and something feels like it’s leaping inside of you then you need to respond to that and allow Jesus to fulfil the promise to you in giving you a new life and the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of that promises effect will fill every part of your being.
