Reading: John 16:5-16

Let me tell you about two different kinds of expert.

Recently we had an incident where our only garage door key got locked (you guessed it) inside our garage. We had no choice but to call a locksmith, who duly appeared, spent two minutes working to open the door, charged us an arm and a leg and left. We had a problem that we were not equipped to deal with ourselves and that required the presence of an expert. Yet his presence was only required for as long as the problem existed – once the door was open, he was on his way.

On the other hand, my father is a GP and, let me tell you, having a live-in doctor is very handy indeed: free consultations night or day, free medicines from his store of samples and so on. There were certain drawbacks – it was much harder to get away with taking a sickie, for example! – but on the whole having ready, continuous and free access to his expertise was of great benefit. And not only when I was sick; even when I was healthy I had the benefit of his wisdom, knowledge, love and friendship – in short his relationship and presence.

These two types of expert, I believe, help us to understand two ways people think of the presence of God. In the first, God shows up in the person of his Son, Jesus, to fix a problem (sin) then departs when the problem is solved. In this series we have focused on Jesus, who is given the name Emmanuel (which means ‘God with us’), and rightly so for he is the preeminent example of God’s presence amongst us. If that were all that there was of God’s presence that would be wonderful and amazing enough. But my purpose this morning is to tell you that the news is even better than that. For it is the second kind of expert that better helps us to understand God’s presence amongst us. He lives in our midst, continually offering of his love, wisdom, strength, protection, guidance and so on.

To grasp the magnitude of this, we will zoom out and look at the larger pattern of God’s presence with his people.
But first a clarification. Our God is Lord over all time and space. This means that he is, in one sense, present at all times and in all places. However, in addition to this general presence throughout (and beyond!) his creation, we shall see that God often has cause to make his presence known in specific times and places, to particular people and groups of people. I think of this latter kind of presence as God’s ‘specific’ presence and it is this specific presence that Isaiah has in mind when he speaks of Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.¹

God the Father is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’

Creation: The presence of God as blessing and judgment

Men and women were created to be in the presence of God. When we read of the Garden of Eden, we find God ‘walking in the garden’,² where he had placed Adam and Eve. He desires their company, calling out to ask where they are.³ Yet, as a result of their disobedience, they are ashamed to be in the presence of God. They are cast out of the garden and no longer able to enjoy God’s presence as they once had.

Even this early in the biblical narrative, we see the double-edged nature of God’s presence: for those who are obedient, God’s presence brings blessing; but for those operating outside of God’s commandments his presence brings about judgment. This theme extends right throughout the Bible. When the writers of Scripture talk of God ‘coming down’, or of some special experience of God’s presence, it is often in connection with either blessing or judgment. So, in Genesis 11, we are told that ‘the LORD came down to see the city and the tower [of Babel] that the men were building’ and rendered judgment on it. Similarly, in Genesis 15 we read that ‘the word of the LORD came to Abram [Abraham] in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward”‘ (15:1). The result is the well known blessing upon Abraham: descendants to carry on his name, and a land for those descendants to live in.

Exodus: God redeems his people

The presence of God is particularly prominent as we read the account of God redeeming his people out of Egypt. When Moses first encounters Yahweh at the burning bush, God tells him ‘”I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt… So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey”‘ (Ex 3:7, 8). When Moses is then told to go to Pharaoh and demand that God’s people be freed, he asks, “‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”‘ (Ex 3:11). The LORD responds: ‘”I will be with you”‘ (Ex 3:12). Did you catch that? Moses asks a question about who Moses is, but God answers ‘you are the person with whom God is’!⁴ In other words, it is the presence of God with Moses that defines and shapes who Moses is.

As we know, God himself led the people of Israel out of Egypt, going before them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to provide them light and allow them to travel by night or day.⁵ He also draws near to them at Mount Sinai, although they tremble with fear at his presence, requiring Moses to act as a mediator. See how far we have come from the garden experience of walking with God? Nevertheless, by his grace, and in spite of continued disobedience, God continues to promise his presence.⁶

Tabernacle and temple: where God’s people seek his presence

However, living in the presence of God is a serious business. God rebukes the Israelites, saying ‘”You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you”‘ (Ex 33:5). Because of his love for his people, Yahweh does not wish to see them destroyed. The simplest solution, then, is that he withdraw his presence: He proposes sending an angel ahead of the Israelites to lead them into the land. But Moses objects:

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up 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?”

And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”‘ (Ex 33:15–17)

Hear the desperation in Moses’ plea: ‘If you’re not going, don’t send us’! The promised land is of no value if God does not go with them.⁷

Yet how can an unholy people live in the presence of a holy God, without being destroyed? This is the conundrum that the book of Leviticus seeks to address.⁸ In chapter 15 of that book we read God’s instruction: “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them'” (Lev 15:31).⁹

This helps us to understand the need for the tabernacle, and later the temple. Rather than withdrawing his presence entirely, God instead chooses to localise it, to give geographical expression to his presence: he nominates a special place where he will dwell. Solomon acknowledges the incongruity here: ‘”But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”‘ (1 Ki 8:27).¹⁰ Yet, as a gracious act towards Israel, God chooses to do exactly that. At one and the same time he is both everywhere and somewhere.

In this way the Lord provides the means by which Israel may seek him and find him, albeit in a much more structured and formal way. No longer is the experience one of walking in the garden (as for Adam and Eve); nor is it of dreams and visions or visitations (as for the Patriarchs, and Moses himself). With the advent of the tabernacle and the temple, there are several barriers between the people and God, each more exclusive than the last. Gentiles could only go as far as the outer court, on pain of death; signs were posted around the temple, in several languages, warning Gentiles that to go beyond the Court of the Gentiles would mean execution. Similarly, Jewish women could only go as far as the Court of Women; Jewish men could enter the Court of Men; only priests and Levites could enter the Holy Place; and finally only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Summary: God’s personal presence

In summary, we learn from the Old Testament that:

God is not a vague abstract principle or force but a living person who fellowships with His people. He is the living and true God, as opposed to all the deaf and dumb idols of this world… God is unavoidably close to His creation. We are involved with Him all the time.¹¹

God’s modus operandi is not that of the visiting expert, who fixes a problem and leaves. He is, rather, continually present with his people. Though his presence ought to result in judgment because of the sinfulness of his people, he graciously spares them, providing them with the means to seek and return to him, to abide with him, and to worship him as they ought. God the Father is, in this sense, Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.

However, there is a remarkable trend. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked with God face to face. After their sin, the continuity of that presence with God was broken, and entering God’s presence became an intermittent experience.¹² With Moses, we find that there is only one man whom God draws into his immediate presence, with the rest of the people content (indeed, demanding) to experience God’s presence second-hand. Moses represents the people to God and God to them, acting as a mediator between the two parties. Finally, in the temple, we see that many requirements must be met in order to stand in the presence of God: you must be a Jewish male, of the tribe of Levi and the line of Aaron, chosen as a high priest, specially consecrated, on the Day of Atonement and so on. The trend is from continual, immediate experience of God’s presence (in Eden), to regular but mediated experience (through Moses), and finally to sporadic mediated experience (in the temple). Though God is continually present with his people, we sense that we have fallen a long way from the experience that God created us for.

Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’

The advent of Christ, then, is not the sudden and belated arrival of God to fix a problem. Yet the presence of ‘God with us’ in the person of Jesus of Nazareth represents a major new chapter in the story.

In the New Testament we see that the presence of Christ also brings about either blessing or judgment. Jesus says, ‘”Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”‘ (John 3:36). Similarly, as Dave reminded us on Christmas day, Jesus tells the story of a man who rented out his vineyard and went away. The tenants, however, killed each of the servants sent to collect the rent. Finally, he sends his Son, whom they also killed. Jesus concludes: ‘”What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others”‘ (Mark 12:9). In each case, it is the presence of the Son, and the response to him, that provokes the final judgment.

In the Gospel of John, the Evangelist presents Jesus as the fulfilment and replacement of all of God’s previous dwelling places. Jacob dreamed of a ladder connecting heaven and earth, and angels ascending and descending on it, and concluded ‘”How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”‘ (Gen 28:17). But Jesus says, ‘”I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending [not on a ladder, but] on the Son of Man”‘ (John 1:52). Jesus speaks of his own body as the temple of God, which must first be destroyed before it can be raised in eschatological glory.¹³ A Samaritan woman challenges Jesus about where the ‘right’ place to worship is, expecting him to point to one or other of the mountains or temples where God had previously met with his people; Jesus responds that it is not place, but Spirit and Truth that determine correct worship (John 4:23-24), and again it is the presence of Jesus that provokes the change. In chapters 5-10 he takes this message to the heart of Jewish worship, the Temple in Jerusalem, and again presents himself as the true dwelling place of God among his people and the source of God’s blessing.¹⁴

The Fourth Gospel also frequently speaks of dwelling or remaining, and this language often tells us something about the presence of God in Jesus Christ. Consider the following:

• ‘the Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us’ (John 1:14);
• The Holy Spirit came down and remained on Jesus.¹⁵ Unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus lived continually in God’s presence;
• ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”‘ (John 3:36).¹⁶ God’s presence brings only judgment (wrath) unless we believe in the Son;
  ‘”Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him”‘ (John 6:56);
• ‘”Remain in me, and I will remain in you… I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned’ (John 15:4–6). Remaining in the presence of Christ is vital if we are to have life.¹⁷

In short, even in this short survey of one book of the New Testament, we can see that Jesus adopts the language of God’s Old Testament presence to describe himself, his ministry, his relationship to his Father, and his relationship to his followers. Where God came to redeem the Israelites from Egypt in fire and smoke, he has come to redeem the whole world in the person of Jesus. It is the presence of Jesus, Emmanuel, ‘God with us’, that brings ultimate blessing or judgement. It is in Jesus Christ that we can truly seek God and worship in Spirit and in Truth the way God requires.
At the same time, we see a reversal of the trend we saw earlier. At Sinai it was death for anyone except Moses and Aaron to set foot on the mountain, and enter the presence of God; with the tabernacle and temple, anyone who sought to enter further into the presence of God than God had permitted them was to be put to death; but with Christ, it is essential that we remain in the presence of God, otherwise we will die! Matthew and Mark record Christ on the Cross crying out to ask, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34); he endured separation from God at that moment in order that we would never have to experience it!¹⁸ The barriers separating us from God’s presence have been torn down: the curtain that surrounded the Holy of Holies has been torn in two, top to bottom; and the signs around the temple declaring death have been replaced with an invitation to come and enter into the presence of God.

This is good news, this is the gospel!

Friends, this invitation remains open to you (and to people everywhere) today. Because Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’, the way is open for you to come into the presence of God: will you enter? Pilgrims once sought the presence and blessing of God by going to his temple, but now it is in Jesus that these are to be found: will you seek him there? Jesus Christ is the one who leads his people out of slavery and bondage: will you journey with him?

The Holy Spirit is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’

If this were the entire message of the Bible, it would still be wonderful news. But, by God’s grace, there is even more!

The disciples sensed a crisis was approaching. They had enjoyed God’s presence with them in Jesus, as they journeyed with him throughout Judea. But, recently, Jesus’ teaching had taken on a darker tone. He had begun to speak of leaving them, of returning to his Father. Was this presence of God thing to be a limited-time offer? Would they have to revert to their earlier existence? Jesus is quick to reassure them, and we read his words in John 16:5-15. There is a purpose to Jesus’ going, and it is for the good of the disciples (and all who would follow after them). The purpose is to ensure the coming of the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit.

Again, we see the presence of God brings both blessing and judgment: on the one hand, the Counselor will ‘convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment’ (16:8); on the other hand ‘he will guide you into all truth’ (16:13). The Apostle Paul develops this teaching about the coming of the Holy Spirit, and he also adopts the language of presence and dwelling. To the church in Corinth, he writes ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?’ (1 Cor 3:16). Just as it was the presence of God that defined who Moses was, so it is the presence of his Spirit that defines who his people are. A little later, he applies the temple imagery to individuals, arguing that the bodies of believers are temples in which the Spirit of God dwells.¹⁹ As one author puts it, ‘God not only dwells in the midst of his people by the Spirit, but has likewise taken up residence in the lives of his people individually by the same life-giving Spirit… God now dwells not in temples made by human hands, but in temples constructed by his own hands’.²⁰

The temple was the centre of Israel’s worship; whenever the Israelites gathered together at the temple, it was to worship God. Indeed, worship is the most appropriate response to the presence of God. How much more should we worship God now that he dwells in our midst, and lives in us by his Holy Spirit!

Paul consistently speaks of the Holy Spirit in personal terms, using verbs of personal action, often used elsewhere of God and Christ.²¹ In other words, the Holy Spirit is himself personal, not just infusing but dwelling amongst, living with and relating to his people. This is truly the presence of God inside of us, amongst us. No longer must we go on pilgrimage to the temple to meet with God, for he has come to meet with us where we are. Christ’s coming did not signal the beginning of God’s presence, but rather its continuation in a new and better way; neither does Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension mark the end of God’s presence but rather a new and better stage of the relationship. God is not a tradesman who comes, does his work and departs. He is a loving Father, who dwells with his people, and desires intimate relationship with them.

The Holy Spirit, too, is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.

Conclusions: Emmanuel, ‘God with us’ yesterday, today, and forever

We have seen that the presence of God is not something to be taken lightly, for it is a double-edged sword bringing both blessing and judgment. If you do not know Jesus, get to know him, for his presence transforms even the greatest trials and judgments into blessings, albeit perhaps not in ways you might expect. God personally works to redeem his people, leading them out of their current experience of bondage as he did for the Israelites, and he is eager to set you free too. On the other hand, if you reject Jesus’ presence, even the greatest of blessings – love, family, work, health and so on – may prove ultimately to be God’s judgment upon you.

Friends, we have also seen that God has always been present with his people at every stage of history. Perhaps your current circumstances tempt you to doubt that. There is a famous poem that tells of a man looking back over his life, represented as two sets of footprints along the sand: one set is his, the other set of footprints belonging to the Lord. He is troubled to note that, at the points representing the deepest, darkest, most troubled portions of his life, there are only one set of footprints. He challenges the Lord, asking why, when he was needed the most, he was not there?

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints,
is when I carried you.”²²

If you doubt God’s presence in your life, I urge you to seek him out. When his people seek him, they will inevitably find him. Read his word. Pray to him. Meet with other believers (as God dwells amongst them also!). Our God is rightly called Emmanuel, “God with us.”

The new heaven and earth: Emmanuel, ‘God with us’ forever!

Finally, no sketch of God’s presence with his people would be complete without considering our eternal dwelling. Paul writes to the Philippians that at the coming of Christ, ‘every knee [will] bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Phil 2:10-11). As always, the presence of God will result in both blessing and judgment: for those who believe in Christ, his return will be a blessing, and they will bow their knees in reverent awe, joyful submission, and grateful acceptance of the blessings of God in Christ; those who are not servants of Christ will also bow, but in fearful expectation of judgment rather than blessing.

When he comes, will his presence bring blessing or judgment for you?

For those in Christ, here is how it will be, as recorded in Revelation 21:

‘I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God”‘ (Rev 21:2–3).

‘I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp’ (Rev 21:22–23).

Consider the wonder of a city lit only and always by the glory of the presence of God! Neither temple built by human hands nor temple built by God are needed, for God himself will be our temple! How can we respond to such an amazing vision, except to echo the prayer found at the very end of the Bible: ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ (Rev 22:20).

Bibliography

Carson, D. A. Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2010.

Fee, Gordon D. Paul, the Spirit and the People of God. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.

Frame, John M. The Doctrine of God, A Theology of Lordship. Phillipsburg, N.J.,: P&R, 2002.

Frame, John M. The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, A Theology of Lordship. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R, 1987.

Jeffery, S., Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach. Pierced for Our Transgressions : Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution. Nottingham: Inter-Varsity, 2007.

Köstenberger, Andreas J., and Scott R. Swain. Father, Son, and Spirit : The Trinity and John’s Gospel, New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

Endnotes

1. Isa 7:14; cf. Matt 1:23
2. Gen 3:8
3. Gen 3:9
4. John M. Frame, The Doctrine of God, A Theology of Lordship (Phillipsburg, N.J.,: P&R, 2002), 95.
5. Ex 13:21
6. Though some of these promises are given to individuals, such as Abraham (Gen 12:1-3); Isaac (Gen 26:3); Jacob (Gen 28:15; 31:3; 46:4); Moses (Ex 3:12); and Joshua (Deut 31:7, 23; Josh 1:6, 7, 9, 18), the vast majority are promises made to Israel (e.g. Ex 29:45; 33:14; Num 35:34; Lev 26:11; Deut 31:6, 8; Isa 43:2).
7. ‘The chief blessing of the covenant is fellowship with the Lord himself.’ Ibid., 100.
8. S. Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach, Pierced for Our Transgressions : Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity, 2007), 42.
9. Similarly, Isaiah describes the fear of the people: ‘The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”‘ (Isa 33:14).
10. cf. 2 Chr 6:18
11. John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, A Theology of Lordship (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R, 1987), 17.
12. In fact, ‘entering’ is probably not the right word, as the initiative is always and only with God. It is he that invites people into his presence.
13. John 2:19-21
14. This is particularly poignant at the festivals of Passover (John 6) and Booths (John 7), which commemorate events of the Exodus when God was present to rescue and redeem his people. Andreas J. Köstenberger and Scott R. Swain, Father, Son, and Spirit : The Trinity and John’s Gospel, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 138-9.
15. John 1:32
16. cf. 9:41
17. Indeed, Jesus goes on to use this same language of ‘remaining’ in his (and the Father’s) love suggesting some connection between his presence and his love (John 15:9–10).
18. D. A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2010), 35.
19. 1 Cor 6:19-20
20. Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 20.
21. Ibid., 181.
22. “Footprints in the sand” by Mary Stevenson. I recently saw a cartoon update, which has the Lord saying, “That long groove over there is where I dragged you for a while!” (http://chainsawsuit.com/2012/08/08/footprints-in-the-sand-part-1/