Month: April 2018

An expression that has become fairly well known in some church circles is, “He hides things for us, not from us.” It is spoken with some variations but the concept is the same. The source is in Proverbs.

²  It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 (NKJV)

Why would Yahweh hide things from us? Is not salvation a free gift? Yes it is. Yet there is also the truth, ‘Age is inevitable, maturity is optional.’ While we will inevitably grow chronologically in our time as a believer, spiritual growth is optional. The Holy Spirit will arrange opportunity after opportunity for our growth but will not force maturity upon us. I think He does it because He is wise! In the same way He knows that many things of value that are connected to our maturity need to be sought. He are some things we are called to in the realm of seeking.

⁹  “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NKJV)

¹³  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)

⁶  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)

³³  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

So we know we are called to seek, yet Proverbs 25:2 would seem to be reserved for kings, those who carry authority and leadership. Yet who are you? What do the scriptures say? Do you carry authority and leadership? Apparently all believers do.

⁶  and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:6 (NKJV)

¹⁰  And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5:10 (NKJV)

If we think this is a calling or designation available only to a special few, look at what Yahweh has always desired for His people.

⁵  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19:5-6 (NKJV)

⁹  But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV)

His plan has always been that His people would be a set apart people who know the secrets of His heart. So, let us spend time in His presence seeking to find the things He has hidden for us.

When we sit and gaze upon Him we are looking for and to something. Which is a good thing. However, what is He looking for in us?

¹  Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? ²  For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the LORD. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.” Isaiah 66:1-2 (NKJV)

⁴⁹  ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?’ Acts 7:49 (NKJV)

¹⁵  For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV)

Although Yahweh needs nothing, do we ever think that He desires something from us? He doesn’t just want us to learn to rest in Him, He wants our hearts to be at place where He can rest in us! Sitting with and before Him is a synergistic transformative process that affects our spirit, soul and body. He wants us to know the reality of what Jesus spoke about.

²⁰  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20 (NKJV)

Meditate on this. Jesus is in the Father and we are called to be found in Jesus and at the same time Jesus is in us! There is a dynamic eternal interchange happening as the Father gazes on the Son and the Spirit, the Son on the Spirit and the Father, and the Spirit on the Father and Son. We are invited to enter in and partake and be part of this divine exchange. Us resting in Jesus and as our heart is changed by resting in Him Jesus is then able to rest in us.

I think Brain Doerksen captured this well in song.

Resting Place by Brian Doerkson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ZY88AMa4Q

A scripture I imagine most of us are familiar with is in Hebrews where we are exhorted to come boldly to the throne of grace.

¹⁶  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)

However, as we come do we recognize that this is the same throne described in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation? When we think of the throne of grace do we think of encountering this fiery divine being? His throne is His throne. We know from the Psalms that the foundation of His throne is righteousness and justice.

¹⁴  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Psalm 89:14 (NKJV)

We also know that God is a consuming fire.

²⁸  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹  For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29 (NKJV)

It is all one throne. The throne where we come to seek grace, find mercy and know righteousness and justice is to be approached with reverence and godly fear. The fiery burning One is seated upon it. Fire, thunder and lightning issue forth from His throne but are wrapped up in incredible mercy, truth, righteousness and justice. Yahweh contains all within Himself and desires that we truly know and encounter Him, the One to whom we will all give account (Heb. 4:13).

So, let us sit before Him and consider all these aspects as we behold Him and come away from these encounters reflecting His glory.

¹⁸  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)

 

I began this series talking about what a sanctuary meant and referenced Exodus 25:8

⁸  And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25:8 (NKJV)

I also referenced the two verses below.

¹  O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. ²  So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Psalm 63:1-2 (NKJV)

⁴  One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4 (NKJV)

We know from scripture that we can behold Him and in fact are called to do so (2 Cor. 3:18, 4:6). I am not suggesting we will all be taken up to heaven and have an experience like Paul or John. What I am suggesting is that we can choose to gaze upon Him in His sanctuary. There is a reason Revelation 4 is in the scriptures. He wants us to know what we are gazing into when we sit before Him and that it is not just on Old Testament (OT) prophetic experience.

While descriptions of the throne are not confined to the OT, what can we learn from some of them? For example Psalm 63. David wrote this in the wilderness when the temple of Solomon did not yet exist and David was not near the tabernacle of Moses. David had to be speaking of gazing into the real sanctuary in the eternal realm. Another example is what Ezekiel saw.

²⁶  And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. ²⁷  Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. ²⁸  Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. Ezekiel 1:26-28 (NKJV)

²  Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire–from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber. ³  He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. ⁴  And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain. Ezekiel 8:2-4 (NKJV)

In the Ezekiel 1 passage above Ezekiel says what he saw was the glory of Yahweh. In the chapter 8 passage we have an almost identical description but Ezekiel says it is the Spirit. This is the only description I can find in scripture that describes the Holy Spirit in any detail.

What is my point in all of this? I don’t believe we should try to manufacture anything as we sit with Him. Yet whether or not we see or are aware of anything as we sit and by faith gaze upon Him we are entering into an encounter with this glorious One who is a consuming fire. If we faithfully chose to do so how can we not be changed?