From the
previous part of this article, we have established that Sinners cannot DWELL in
the presence of the all-consuming fire, the presence of the Lord! It is a holy place, it is a holy ground. This is evidenced in verse 14 of Isaiah 33
thus:
“The sinners in Jerusalem shake with
fear. Terror seizes the godless. “Who can live with this devouring fire?” they
cry.
“Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”
“Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”
Sin is an
abomination to God – he hates sin, because He is a righteous God. God is light; and darkness (representing sin)
cannot overcome light, darkness cannot withstand light. So, sinners tremble – they fear when they consider
the presence of God where all there is, is an illumination of things as they
are. They fear the exposure that light
brings, and since in the Presence of the
Lord, the consuming (devouring) fire exposes sin, this is then not their
abode.
As we have seen
already, the Presence of the Lord is
holy. It is characterized by God and His
attributes – love, joy, peace, goodness, serenity – an environment of
Godliness. It is God’s shelter; it is
His secret place. It is where God
lives. It is His glorious
habitation. King David, noted this about
the presence of the Lord, “You will show me the path of life; In
Your Presence is fullness of joy; At Your
right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
For one to live
in the Presence of the Lord, they
have to be vulnerable. They have to acknowledge
that the presence of God is a better place than any other that they know, can
think of or even imagine. A place that
cannot be traded with any other. They
have to relinquish their own will and surrender to the will of another – the
Lord God – hence making Him the Lord of their lives.
When God
created man – Adam and Eve, He placed them in the Garden of Eden – in His Presence. Here, Adam and Eve would experience God’s
goodness through a great relationship that knew no sin – no disobedience, nor
other Lord, other than the Lord God.
But what do we see after Adam and Eve disobeyed; after they allowed the
lordship of the serpent by obeying him instead of God? “… God banished Adam and his wife
from the Garden of Eden….” (Genesis 3:23).
The Presence of
the Lord is Holy! It knows no Sin. It is
righteous. It is just. It is Godly.
Adam and his
wife’s case above is similar to Cain’s (their son) in Genesis 4. When Cain’s sacrifice was rejected by God,
Cain became angry and dejected. However,
God warned him against his anger, noting that sin was waiting to attack and
destroy him, and that he must subdue it.
He did not. Instead he schemed to
kill his brother, Abel. Thereafter, God banished
Cain from His Presence (verse 14).
So then, who can DWELL in
the Presence of the Lord?
“The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. ‘Which one of us’,
they cry, ‘can live here In the Presence of this all-consuming fire?’ “Who can
live with this devouring fire?” they cry. “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”” Isaiah
33:14 (New Living Translation).
“Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1
(New King James Version).
“Who may
worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may
enter Your Presence on your holy
hill?” Psalm 15:1 (New Living Translation).
Isaiah 33:14 is
a proclamation that the sinners cannot dwell in the presence of the Lord. It is too hot for them! Who is this then that can dwell in the
presence of the Lord? It is not left for
us to prescribe the attributes of this person, nor do we have to imagine what
he looks like – the bible, thankfully presents to us such a person – HE WHO
THAT DWELLS IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.
What does he look like? Here is
he:
i.
“Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors
or speak evil of their friends.
Those who despise flagrant
sinners, and
honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about
the innocent. Such
people will stand firm forever.” (Psalm 15:2-5)
ii.
“ Those
who are honest and fair, who refuse to
profit by fraud, who
stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder,
who shut their eyes to all
enticement to do wrong—these are the ones who will DWELL on high. (Isaiah
33:15-16)
iii.
The Godly – “Surely the godly are praising your name, for they
live in your Presence.” (Psalm 140:13. The same verse in the Amplified version reads,
“Surely the (uncompromisingly) righteous shall give thanks to your name; the
upright shall dwell In Your Presence (before your very face).
iv.
“…those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or
stand around with sinners or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)
Just looking at
the above scriptures, we see, and really confirm that the presence of God is founded
on RIGHTEOUSNESS, which essentially is, having a right standing with God.
Many people
have been kept away from the righteousness of God because they have approached
it from their “own righteousness” perspective, yet the bible tell us clearly
that our own righteousness is as filthy rags – it can’t get us to heaven, it
can’t give us a right standing with God.
It focuses on self – that is it! I
know I can do this; I am well able; I have what it takes; (the skills, the
connections, the money etc.). It is
dependent on one’s reliance on themselves, as opposed to reliance (surrender
and yielding) to God and His word.
Self-righteousness is a great limitation to God’s access to us. Yet, it is God’s righteousness that provides
a platform, an avenue; a pathway for one to be able to:
v Exchange their
will for God’s will
v Shun wickedness
v Embrace the
truth
v Be renewed in
light of the word of God
Thankfully, we
don’t work to get God’s righteousness; we just acknowledge him and allow a
renewal and a turnaround of our way of life.
The initial
step in dwelling in the presence of the Lord is allowing the Lordship of Christ
Jesus in one’s life. That way, He
overrules the self as his Lordship takes over.
“That if
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God
has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)
Acceptance of Christ and confession of His Lordship
facilitates the process of one becoming a new creation altogether, and thus
attaining the righteousness of God.
This is evidenced in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and 21 here below:
“Therefore,
if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have
become new; For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.”
And
voila, there we go – We have the ticket, the title deed to enable us access and
DWELL IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. We can
now dwell, we can abide in the presence of the Lord.
You might be a
believer; or maybe you have not yet made up your mind to believe in the Lord
Jesus. The pathway is open to us
all! Thank God. It is not for a few of us! It is for everyone
who is willing to hearken to the voice of God and become vulnerable to him.
King David,
even after having a wonderful relationship with God, got to a time when he
sinned before God. He did not only
commit adultery with Bathsheba, but he went ahead and organized for her
husband’s death. But these very acts and
the responses thereof reveal to us his heart; and really, the kind of a heart
that can dwell in the God’s presence, as revealed in this excerpt from Psalm
51.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; according
to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my
sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always
before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in
your sight… Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow. Make
me hear joy and gladness… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit within me. DO NOT CAST ME AWAY FROM YOUR
PRESENCE, and do not take your Holy
Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold
me by your generous Spirit”.
“The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not
despise.”
An open heart
to God, a heart that is willing not to cling to “self’ or hide from the
presence of God – a heart that will surrender to God in worship, in repentance
and in total reliance on Him – will dwell in His presence. Sin casts one away from the presence of
God.
So, you might
identify with David, either before the sin with Bathsheba or after he sinned
with her. Will you be vulnerable today –
open yourself to God, with a contrite heart and dwell in His presence? This, he will not despise. His hands are outstretched to receive you.
And, yes, oh
yes; there are benefits! Great benefits
of dwelling in the presence of the Lord!
Look out for
Part 3 of this article: “Dwelling in the Presence of the Lord – Are
there Benefits?”
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