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?” Exo 33:15-16 (NIV)
I wonder if you know that God is pleased with you? That God actually takes pleasure in his children? Most of you think that God is mad at you, or disappointed with you. You have grown up in a critical home or you have lots of sarcasm all around you - it gets into you, and you can’t believe that God could be pleased with you. I want to tell you, if you have given your life to Christ and been forgiven by him, God is very pleased with you. This Father loves his kids, and loves to be with his kids…
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)
The presence of God in the Tabernacle proved to be a sign on the road that pointed to something greater. An appetizer that came before the full course. A promise that would in the end be fulfilled.
When John wrote (John 1.14) that the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, the word he used for ‘made his dwelling’ is literally ‘tabernacled’ among us. He was thinking of Exodus 40… saying that since the coming of Jesus the Immanuel life, life with God is open - no longer just for a special family, but for any family; no longer just for a special nation, but now for anybody, any family, any nation… It is wide open, because Immanuel has now come in the flesh.
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