The Presence of God, Part 1

I have decided to take a break for at least one post on detailing on how I became to be where I am today to discuss some thoughts and discoveries on entering the presence of God. Now the idea of entering the presence of God in worship is one that is usually understood thusly: as we sing worship songs to God during our time together, if all goes right, we will experience an emotional high where we "feel" the presence of God amongst us. This is accompanied by a spontaneity where we let the Spirit work in our lives.

Now is this biblical? In other words, can one find this idea emphasized in Scripture? I recently decided to take up this idea to see what the Scripture tells us regarding this issue.

With regard to singing songs to God, clearly the Scripures exhort us to do so, and to do so a lot.

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night, on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, on the harp, with harmonious sound." (Psalm 92:1-3 NKJV)

"Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the LORD with the harp; make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy." (Psalm 33:1-3 NKJV)

"...And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Ephesians 5:18-20 NKJV)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16 NKJV)

Clearly, music and singing is an integral part of Christian worship and virtually all Christians everywhere are agreed on that point.

But what about that part about the entering the presence of God and the emotional high I referred to earlier. Is there anything in Scripture on those points. I believe there is.

Firstly, entering God's presence is impossible unless sin is atoned for and forgiven. This is obvious! Secondly, prior to Christ's sacrifice on the cross, fellowshipping with God required bloody animal sacrifices which pointed to Christ's work on Calvary. Thirdly, under the Old Covenant, God would dwell among His people Israel via the Tabernacle and later the Temple. But even still, one had to go where that was and offer the appropriate sacrifices.

Not so under the New Covenant. Jesus, while on earth, spoke of a time when geography would not matter but the real important thing would worshipping in spirit and in truth (John 4:23, 24). Under the New Covenant, God has opened the way to complete fellowship with Him and has poured out His Spirit on a new Israel, the Church (Galatians 6:16; Acts 2:16-21)! Christ's death paved our way to enter the very Holy of Holies itself, which is where God manifests His presence (Hebrews 10:19-22). The Church is even described by Ezekiel as being a place where God's very presence would characterize it when he prophesied of the new temple and called it YHWH Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35)

But even under previous covenants, entering the presence of God was a key part of one's relationship with God.

Entering God's presence and remaining there was certainly important to Moses. Scripture records that God had regular fellowship with him and that Moses' face even shone from being in God's presence (Exodus 34:29-35). Moses even pleaded with God that His presence go with them: "Then he said to Him, 'If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.'" (Exodus 33:15 NKJV)

It seems to me that entering God's presence (that is, His manifest presence. Certainly God is present everywhere, but in some cases He manifests His presence in ways that the human spirit, and even on occasion the senses, can detect.) is having fellowship with Him and enjoying it to the fullest. The Psalms sometimes describe this in different ways. They describe it as going to the house of the Lord, which was the Tabernacle (Psalm 27:4), seeking God's face (Psalm 27:8,9) and dwelling in the secret place of the Most High (Psalm 91:1). This was something Old Testament saints earnestly desired - Moses (Exodus 33:15-18), David (Psalm 27:7,8); the Sons of Korah (Psalm 84:1,2,10).

More on this at a later time.

-Christian