With you, #3

Let's review: In the first post, the basic point was made that the state of relationship between two parties is illustrated by the degree of separation between them.

In the second post, this principle was shown to be as true of our relationship with God as it is of our relationship with people.

In this post, I hope to show that it has always been God's desire to restore the closeness humans once enjoyed with Him. This can be seen in a brief look at God's deeds in history.

In Genesis 6:18 (Noah), God establishes a covenant of protection with Noah: "I will establish my covenant with you". A similar statement is repeated in 9:9.

In Genesis 12:1-3 God establishes a covenant of blessing with Abraham, and follows up on it with promises such as "I am a shield to you" (Ge 15:1). "I will be God to you" (Ge 17:7). God begins to tell Isaac, then Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel in Ge 32:28), and his sons, "I will be with you" (Ge 26:3; 31:3).

In Exodus, God "remembered His covenant" with Israel (Exodus 2:24), and delivered them by the hand of Moses. At Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were handed down, God speaks of Israel as "My own possession" (Exodus 19:5). He then instructs Moses to have the people construct a portable worship center (known as the tabernacle, Ex 25 ff), in which He begins to dwell among His people with a manifest presence (a cloud of smoke by day, a pillar of fire by night). A system of worship is delivered to the people, whereby the sins that separate them from God might be atoned through the blood of a sacrificial animal (Leviticus 17:11).

And yet there was still great separation between God and His people. Only the priests could enter the Holy Place, and only the High Priest was able to enter the Most Holy Place, and then only at certain times of the year. Even the construction of the tabernacle (and later, the temple), and the accompanying instructions for worship emphasized the separation necessary for the Holy God to dwell in the midst of a sinful people. Wrongfully coming into contact with God's holy things meant instant death.

During the reign of Solomon, the portable worship center is rebuilt as a fixed, glorious temple, and God's presence indwells the temple. The consecration of the temple was one of the high-water marks of the nation (read about the construction and consecration of Solomon's temple in 2 Chronicles 1-7).

All of these events, from Genesis through the construction of Solomon's temple, took place at God's own initiative. He was the actor, the initiator, providing a means whereby His people could repent and return to Him. Why? First, because it was God's desire to be near His people and to bless them. Second, because man will not seek reconciliation on his own, nor can he.

Unfortunately, God's people continued to rebel and sin against Him. Ultimately they forsook Him and followed false gods. Their rebellion against God was not only demonstrated in their sins against Him, but in their relationships with one another, particularly in their injustice against the most helpless of their society, the poor, the widows, and the orphans.

One of the saddest parts of Scripture, in my opinion, is when God abandons His defiled temple by stages, in Ezekiel 8-11, because of the increasingly gross sin of His people. Ultimately, Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed by the Babylonians, and God's rebellious people are captives once more, this time in Babylon. They are separated from God and separated from the land God gave them. Notice the geographical aspect of separation, which illustrates the spiritual aspect?

So what's the point in this post? God desires to be with His people, and demonstrates that desire throughout the history of Israel, by covenant, by deliverance, and by His manifest presence. At every turn, however, man's sin manifests itself, creating separation between sinful man and Holy God. Clearly, a solution superior to a building (the temple) and a system of worship (the sacrifice of bulls and goats and lambs) and sinful human mediators (the priestly tribe of Levi, and the high-priestly clan of Aaron) is needed.