- The Presence of God
Psalm 15.1, 2
Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly….
Abiding and dwelling in the Presence of God (His tabernacle, His holy hill) is a coveted prize and treasure that one would sell all that he has to obtain it. Heaven on earth is what we want, and it is what God promised. God dwells on earth in a particular location: on the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle (later, the Temple). This is where God could be found, invisible, with no idol or graven image to represent Him. This was His dwelling place; this was heaven on earth. The coveted promise was that human beings who loved and feared the Lord could dwell Him in His earthly Presence.
Psalm 27:4: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” To be in the presence of God is still a wonderful blessing and fulfilled promise, but the presence of God since Jesus came to earth, died and rose from the dead is in the hearts of those who believe in Him. There God dwells and we live in Him. The promise is that I may dwell and abide in the presence of God at all times and that I can enter into His dwelling place when in need. Can I go to heaven? Yes, I can “go to heaven” any time I need to. That is my hope; that is God’s promise.
But, as a conditional promise, the entrance qualifications are very stringent: it is given to the one who: 1) walks with integrity, 2) speaks the truth from the heart, 3) does not trip over his tongue, 4) does no wrong to his fellowman, 5) casts no slur on his neighbor, 6) despises a vile person, 7) honors those who fear the Lord, 8) swears to his own hurt and wavers not, 9) does not lend his money at interest, 10) does not accept a bribe against the innocent. The positive and negative aspects of thee commands completes a life characterized by active goodness and by the absence of evil.
Those who keep these 10 commandments may come into God’s presence and dwell with the Lord while living on the earth. But, as with all the Laws of Moses, the requirements are impossible for sinners to meet. Therefore, all are excluded. Ah, but One entered into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled his own innocent blood on the mercy seat of the Presence; by doing so, He gave to all who believe in Him the power to enter into the very Presence of God: in heaven after death, or in heaven on earth during this life. This Man, Jesus Christ, fulfilled all these 10 requirements in our place, took our disobedience upon Himself, declared us in complete compliance and obedience (he who is saved is one who has holiness). “Without holiness no man shall see God,” but with holiness he may see God. I may lay claim to imputed obedience and thus He opened the way into the Holy of Holies, the very Presence of God in heaven, both in the heaven in heaven and in the heaven on earth.