The divine presence in the Most Holy Place !

1 Kings 8 : 10-11, ‘And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.’

David had an eager desire to build the house of the Lord. But as he was a man of war, the Lord chose his son, Solomon for the fulfilment of his desire. David contributed much, in terms of material and prayers for this divine vision, while the Lord fulfilled His Word through the hands of King Solomon. On the dedication day, the priests who ministered experienced an extraordinary presence of God, where they could not continue ministering. This presence was accessible only in the most holy place of the temple.

Before the temple of God was built, Moses experienced this presence in mount Sinai, where God called him. Moses spent 40 days & nights on this mount, in the midst of the cloud like heavy presence of God. Ex.24:17-18, “ The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. ¹⁸ So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”

It was God’s desire that man should experience His presence in a mighty way. Hence, when the Son of God left the glory of heaven, and came to earth as man to be offered as sacrifice, the veil in the temple of God which had always separated the holy place from the most holy place was torn from top to bottom.  Mt.27:50-51, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,………”. Before this sacrifice, the people of God had access to the courtyard and the holy place of temple of God. But to have access to this deeper presence of God, to enter into the most Holy place of the temple, this sacrifice was inevitable. Its awesome to realise that the Lord gave Himself as a sacrifice just to give us this experience. And we need to realise that this experience is of utmost importance. We need to have a consistent desire to have this presence, for which the cost was paid by heaven.

Let’s go through those aspects which we note as a result of experiencing a deeper presence of God.

Moses received the ten commandments while he was in this presence of the Lord. God’s presence causes one to receive from the Lord. Its easy to pray and let our desires  known. But when it comes to hearing from Him, we need a deeper sanctified and focused heart. God asked Moses to come up to the mount Sinai, whereby He separated them from the congregation so that he could be more focused on the Lord. There He spoke to him. To be more focused on Him, its important to be disconnected from many things that might distract us. Only a focused heart hears His voice clearly and specifically.

Ex.25:22, ‘ And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.’ While giving instructions to Moses about the construction of the tabernacle, the Lord said that in the most holy place, where the testimony would be kept in the ark, above which would be the mercy seat and cherubims, the Lord would meet Moses and there, He would speak to him. In order to have a constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit, experiencing this kind of presence of the Lord is important. Constantly dwelling in His Word and having a thirst for His presence blesses us with the Lord’s presence of the most Holy place and fellowship with Him which steers our lives.

Ex.20:19-21, “Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”²⁰ And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” ²¹ So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire. The Israelites feared when they saw the thunderings and lightenings. And they feared to go near this presence of God. Moses assured the people that this realization of His presence was important to resist sin. To realise that the holiness of God does not allow one to have a casual attitude towards spiritual life, having a deeper experience of His presence is essential. Hebr. 10:31 says that ‘it’s a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God.’ Each time we move closer to Him, we are convicted of those sins, of which we were earlier  not convicted of earlier. Purification is a continuous and step by step process. It’s important to grow in His presence in order to grow in purification.

1 Jn.1:1-2, ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—’ Peter, James and John had the blessing of beholding the glory of Jesus, on the mount of transfiguration (Mt.17:1-9). Later, when John wrote the epistle, he assures the readers of his faith in Christ. He was persecuted for his faith. He was put in boiling oil, but God rescued him. He was sent to Patmos island, an abandoned place full of wild animals, but there too the Lord protected him. When John  wrote in the epistle, ‘….which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes….’. The deep and extraordinary presence of God deepened his faith to such a level that  no level of persecution could uproot it. As the world is slowly and steadily moving towards its end, persecution is raising in alarming rate across all nations. Only an extraordinary faith can sustain persecution.

Stagnancy in spiritual life is a dangerous state, which can be marked as initial steps of backsliding. It’s important to yearn to grow spiritually. Only a seeking heart can find His deeper presence. Only a knocking heart can see the doors being opened into richer and nourishing presence of God which communes with us constantly and keeps us on the right tracks. Only an asking heart shall be given the blessed divine presence which makes our faith firm and steadfast. Lk.11:9-10, 13 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

GOD bless us all.