The Imperatives Of Coming Together In His Presence:
Why Christians Must Remain in the Church.
Let me begin by sharing with you, Kirsten Holmberg’s introduction to his Festivals of Worship. I cannot project my thoughts better than his words: So I quote him:
When we gather with others to worship God, we can experience more than merely the social “transformation” of a secular festival; we commune with God Himself. God’s people undoubtedly experienced that connection to Him when they gathered in Jerusalem in ancient times for their sacred festivals throughout the year. They traveled — without modern conveniences — to be present at the temple three times a year for “the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tabernacles” (Deuteronomy 16:16).
God created us to live in communities. It’s never in His plan that man should be alone. Aloneness or loneliness is an aberration. He saw it was not good for Adam to be alone; He made Eve precisely to give him company — with a command to increase, multiply, and fill the earth.
God created humankind for relationships — to relate and fellowship with Him and with one another. He created an appropriate environment — the Garden of Eden — where He came at the cool of the day, to parley with Adam and Eve.
Relationship! Relationship!! Relationship !!!
Relationship for mutual benefits — sharing, encouraging, and uplifting each other. God loves relationships with humans — with you and me.
Though broken by the fall, God did not give up on His relationship with man — He initiated the process of restoration — restoring the relationship with humans made in his image and likeness. It is why humankind is different from all other creatures of His hand.
Gathering to serve and worship is all that God demands from us — and all we can give for His providential blessings and eternal life in His presence.
Genesis 4 tells us of the first family — the first parents, Adam and Eve; and the first sons, Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve were created by God, but Cain was the first human being conceived and carried in the womb of a woman.
The first thing we learn about Cain and Abel’s relationship to the Creator was an act of worship. They were taught to present themselves to God with offerings from the fruits of their labor. The two brothers, both came with offerings to worship God — not empty-handed (vv.3–4). But something went wrong somewhere. What was it? Why did Abel’s offering find favor with God and Cain’s offering did not?
1 John 3:12 gives us an alert:
“Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.” Also, Hebrew 11:4 says: ”By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.”
Two siblings, representing the two opposing forces on the earth - one, belonged to God, the other to the evil one. Humans behold one another on the surface level, but God sees through the facade of the outward show to the innermost parts of our hearts. God rewards and blesses acts of worship that come from our hearts, not one done to conform to tradition or gain human praise.
Scripture says,
“For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16: 7).
The one thing detested by God and that has continued to separate humans from Him is disobedience and a rebellious heart — choosing to be our own god and doing things our way. It is humans’ greatest undoing.
His Presence:
The deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt marked a turning point in God’s covenant relationship with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God was taking them through uncharted territories, in the wilderness, to the land He had promised their ancestors. Moses, their leader, and prophet, doubled as God’s mouthpiece on one hand, and the representative of Israel on the other.
The children of Israel were getting to know this God who delivered them with a mighty hand and was calling them into a renewed covenant relationship.
God’s plan as seen in Eden, ensured fellowship and face-to-face encounter with humans. He came down to meet our fore-parents in the garden. But God’s overtures and pursuit of humankind were rebuffed by man — choosing to turn their back on God.
At Sinai, God offered to speak directly with the Israelites — children of Jacob. He instructed Moses saying:
“Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, “Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it….” (Exodus 19: 16–23).
After they had prepared themselves as instructed, the people still could not stand to hear the voice of the LORD; they were terrified by the rumblings heralding the coming of the LORD.
“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the feet of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.” (vv.16–23).
Take note of this:
But “as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of the LORD answered him.”
The awesomeness of God’s presence. Who can stand before Him?
Moses said to the LORD “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai because you yourself warned us “Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.”
No one in human flesh can stand before the holy and awesome God and stay alive.
The Psalmist asks,
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psalm 24:3–5 NKJV).
Put differently, he whose hands are not clean, whose hearts are impure, who has lifted his soul to an idol (whatever takes the place of God in our hearts is an idol), and who swore deceitfully, shall not receive blessing from the LORD.
These are sins that keep people from standing in God’s presence. They kept millions of Israelites from approaching the presence of God at Sinai!
Only Moses and Aaron qualified to go up and stand in His presence.
In The Pillar of Clouds
Despite their imperfections, God through Moses, set out the conditions for a covenant relationship with His chosen people: He said to Moses:
“This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:3–6).
A kingdom of Priests and a Holy nation!
These are the two qualifications that set them apart as God’s chosen people to advance His will on earth. So as God’s treasured possession, the Israelites enjoyed God’s manifest presence in a pillar of clouds during the day and a pillar of fire at night — leading and guiding them in the wilderness as they made their way to the promised land.
In like manner, the believers in Christ have these “pillars” in the indwelling Holy Spirit — the Comforter — leading and guiding them along the path of righteousness as they head to their eternal home.
The Tent of Meeting or Tabernacle of the Congregation:
In the Wilderness, Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away. It is called the ‘tent of meeting’. Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp (Exodus 33:7–11).
“And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrance of their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance of their tent. (vv.9–10).
The Tent of Meeting was the center of divine interaction in the wilderness.
Hence, believers are advised in Hebrews 10:25 to
not forsake “the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Gathering together not only impacts our moral compass but also affects our willingness to share resources with others, feeling more connected to humanity, and generosity toward friends and even total strangers. Collectively we commune and communicate with God.
From God with us to God in us, God dwells among His people.
