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150927AM Sabbath Pictures HFG-17 Meet the King .docx

HFG-17

Meeting the King of the Universe

At the Doorway to Heaven

Exodus 24:14-16

After God came down from Heaven to the Earth, the mountain began quaking, a cloud of fire surrounding God was burning the top of the mountain, and a pillar of smoke rose like from a blast furnace. Our God is a Consuming Fire.

 

Point 1: Our God is a Consuming Fire

Please go back again to Exodus 19:16-20 (NKJV):

16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Each time the Scriptures portray the Holy Atmosphere of Heaven, surrounding our Holy God on the Throne, the same elements are clearly seen. Each of the elements surrounding God’s Holy Throne speak of a scene so awesome, and so massively powerful that frail creatures like we are as humans would have trouble surviving.

So our God who is like a consuming fire, and dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16), whose face shines like the Sun in its brightness (Mt. 17:2; Rev. 1:16) came down to Mt. Sinai to show Moses how to construct a Doorway to Heaven. God was offering an access point for humans to come before Him.

 

Point-2: Almighty God Invites Us To Enter His Presence

Now turn with me to Exodus 24:16, the revelation of the Tabernacle was so sacred, so powerful, so vital to God that He made Moses stand for 6 days and didn’t speak until the 7th day to him.

Exodus 24:14-16 (NKJV) And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. 16 Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

The Doorway to Heaven, called the Tabernacle, was so important to God He went though the amazing, fiery entrance, the quaking mountain, and blast furnace pillar of smoke, them had Moses wait in the waiting room for six days. Finally God begins to speak.

 

Point 3: God Explains The Doorway to Heaven

Now look at Exodus 25:1 where God showed Moses a pattern in the Heavenly Tabernacle.

Exodus 25:1-2, 8-9 (NKJV) Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

What does God reveal?

  1. God Desires To Dwell With Us.

Exodus 25:8 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

Exodus 29:45-46 “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 “And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

Now He Dwells In Us Through Jesus

Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Rev. 21:1-4 (NKJV) Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

 

  1. God Desires To Meet With Us.

Listen to the exchange between God, who came down in burning fire to the top of Mt. Sinai, and Moses who came up and waited.

Exodus 25:22 “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

Exodus 29:42-43 “This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you. 43 “And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory.

Now He Meets Us In Jesus

John 14:1-11 (NKJV) “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

 

  1. God Desires To Receive Worship From Us.

Exodus 28:38 “So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.

Now He Receives Our Worship In Jesus.

John 4:21-24 (NKJV) Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

 

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

 

  1. God Desires To Speak With Us.

Exodus 29:42 “This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you.

Leviticus 1:1 Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying,

Now He Speaks To Us Through The Word of Jesus

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 8:43 “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 47 “He who is of God hears Gods words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

Hebrews 1:2 [God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

 

  1. God Desires To Reveal Himself To Us.

Exodus 29:45-46 “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 “And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

Now HE REVEALS Himself in Jesus

John 14:7-9 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

 

  1. God Desires To Accept Us.

Leviticus 1:4 ‘Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.

Now He Accepts Us In Jesus.

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.

 

  1. God Desires To Forgive Us.

Leviticus 4:20 ‘And he shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering; thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. 26 ‘And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of the peace offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. 31 ‘He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. 35 ‘He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

Now He Forgives Us Through The Sacrifice Of Jesus.

Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

How Can we Apply these Truths:

Our God is a Consuming Fire, Almighty God Invites Us To Enter His Presence, & God Opens The Doorway to Heaven

Only what is attached to God will last forever. Anything that is not attached to God needs to be detached from our lives. As we open to Isaiah 6, think about the balance sheet of your life. As one famous missionary once said while laying on his deathbed, “Only one life, t’will soon be past; and only what’s done for Christ will last”.

That means the most important measure of life is how useful we are to God. The only enduring parts of our life will be those spent serving God.

When we look closely we see that God’s plan for preparing us to be used as His servants has not changed in thousands of years. Open with me to Isaiah 6, and the amazing call God gave to Isaiah.

God Called Isaiah to Consecration

From the Old Testament we find that our unchanging, immutable God has the same plan. To reach the godless society God called him to reach, Isaiah was told a timeless truth. More than anything you do, God is interested in who you are. The key to usefulness in life, doing what God designed us to do, is first being what God wants us to be.

Listen to God’s voice as He tells us the story of His call and preparation of Isaiah. In this chapter we’ll read we see 5 keys to a life that is useful to God. In the end, that is all that will matter.

Isaiah 6:1-13 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away; And your sin purged.” 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “ Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘ Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 “ Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “ Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, 12 The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.”

Simply stated we can conclude from a careful study of the Bible that:

 

God’s Desire for Each of us is Consecration

There are 3 stages that are keys to usefulness for God. There is a pathway for each of us who want to follow that leads us into daily, monthly, and life-long usefulness to God.

Here are the stages. Let me tell you what they are and then show them as they are described in these verses. God wants you and me to:

Remember God’s Holiness

Realize my Sinfulness

Receive God’s Cleansing

Now trace these truths into your Bibles with me. Write them down so that you can come back often and remind yourself of these simple truths that have been repeatedly taught and explained to God servants for all of the 2,700 years since God spoke them to Isaiah.

First, to be useful to God we must always:

 

Remember God’s Holiness

That is the message of Isaiah 6:1-4. God is by nature holy. He is separate from sin, perfect, sinless, flawless and pure. So no matter how compassionate He is, no matter how full of grace and overflowing with mercy: God is still Holy, Holy, Holy. In the realm of eternity, around the Throne at the center of the Universe there is one word that is repeated regularly, over and over again. Holy, Holy, Holy is our God.

For many of us, just saying or hearing those words begins a song playing in our hearts and minds. Do you know that song? With just our voices, lift these truths to God, from each voice and heart, agree with what God wants us to do: Remember God’s Holiness.

Holy, holy, holy!  Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.

Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty,

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

 

The first key to any usefulness for eternity is: Remembering God’s holiness.

Repeat that with me all together: Remember God’s Holiness.

Say it again, louder and confidently so it stays on our hearts: Remember God’s Holiness.

Thinking about His Holy Presence and standing before His Throne, and falling on our faces before Him, leads us to the second key. Being useful to God means thinking long and deeply upon how far we fall short of His Glory, and how much we need His gracious, forgiving, and cleansing touch.

Second, to be useful to God I must always:

 

Realize my Sinfulness

That is the message of Isaiah 6:5. The closer we get to the Light, the more of our sinfulness we can see. When Job came to understand the Almighty El-Shaddai he confessed (Job 42:5-6). When Peter saw the power of God the Son displayed he cried out (Luke 5:8) “depart from me, I am a sinful man”. And when John the Beloved Apostle, saw Christ in his unveiled glory on Patmos, he fell at His feet as if dead (Revelation 1:17). The theme of those who stand around the Throne is that the Lamb who was slain, was slain for their sin. He gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20) was Paul’s testimony. The closer we are to God’s Holiness the more I Realize my own personal Sinfulness.

Again, the testimony of saints who have walked this path before us can help us frame fitting words to express our need of the Redeeming Lamb’s precious shed blood. In our hymn book turn to # ____ There is a Fountain” and join me again with just your voices declaring that though we are great sinners, our Savior is greater and He washes ALL my sins away.

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

 

Thirdly, to be useful to God we need to:

Receive God’s Cleansing

That is the message of Isaiah 6:6-7. When we Remember God’s Holiness, the Light of our Holy God makes us Realize our Sinfulness. That leads us to the work of the Cross, to the sacrifice Christ offered once perfectly and completely to pay the penalty of sin for all who come by faith. Usefulness comes to those who will be cleansed and who will walk in the light and stay full of God’s Spirit.

The most useful servant is a humble believer who readily confesses the complete cleansing that the gracious work of Jesus accomplished. Once we are assured of His cleansing the evil one can’t find a place to plant seeds of doubt and despair. We can affirm that God will never condemn me (Romans 8:1); and that though my sins were as deeply staining me as crimson I am white as snow in God’s sight. That truth makes us full of His hope, welling up with the joy of the Spirit, and kept by His Peace.

To the end of our lives, whether in weakness, sickness, or even dementia (as the great hymn writer John Newton suffered at the last years of his life) we can confidently express our conviction that though we were great sinners, Jesus is a Great Savior. Why not practice stating your testimony aloud with me right now, through his words you know so well:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

 

Meeting the King of the Universe

At the Doorway to Heaven

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