The Presence of God

At our Sunday evening gathering this last week, when the last notes of "Breathe" by Marie Barnett still lingered in the air, everyone sat silently, most of them with eyes closed. There was a palpable sense of God's presence there and no one wanted to break the atmosphere by speaking.

This is what drew me to the Vineyard over 25 years ago. And it is what, I believe, people everywhere are yearning to experience as well--the manifest Presence of God in our midst.

In Exodus 33: 15-16, Moses says to God, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Of course, God promises to go with Moses and the people. In fact, His Presence is first manifested through the cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night. In the climax of the book of Exodus, with the completion of the Tabernacle and all of the articles of worship and the consecration of Aaron and his sons--then the Presence of God filled the Tabernacle.

And with the completion and dedication of the first Temple of Solomon, we have a similar phenomenon: "When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of Yahweh (the LORD). And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh (the LORD) filled his temple" (1 Kings 8: 10-11).

But by the time Jesus arrived, the third temple (of Herod) was being built and sacrifices were continuing, yet the Presence had left. As Ezekiel described in his 10th chapter, the glory of Yahweh had departed the Temple.

And Jesus expressed his anger at the market that had been set up in the Court of the Gentiles, effectively pushing, not just people, but God Himself out of the way. Driving the merchants out and turning over their tables, he said, "Is it not written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?' But you have made it ' a den of robbers'" (Mark 11: 17).

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he left a new People, who themselves are the new Temple. "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you (all)?" (1 Cor. 3:16).

The point is this: God's Presence is the hope and the promise and should be the legacy of the People of God. Do we hunger and thirst for Him enough to set aside our agendas so that we make room for him? Let us have the same zeal for our Father's house (that's us) so that we settle for nothing less than His very Presence manifest in our midst.