“Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Him flee from before Him. As smoke is driven away, let them be driven away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before the presence of God” (Psalm 68:1-2).
In the scriptures, fire is frequently used as a figure to describe the holy presence of God; at Pentecost the Holy Spirit manifested as fire; in the Tabernacle of Moses, the fire that glowed unceasingly above the mercy seat signified that God was present; when Moses was first apprehended by God, He appeared to Moses as a fire in a burning bush; throughout Israel’s journeyings throughout the wilderness, God’s presence was seen in the pillar of fire that accompanied them; offerings to God were burnt upon the altar, the fire of which never went out; the idolatrous golden calf that was made by the children of Israel was destroyed by fire; Isaiah’s lips were touched with a hot coal plucked from the fire; the heavenly temple in his vision was filled with smoke; fire speaks of the Shekinah, the holy presence of God.
But where is the fire in the gatherings of God’s people today? The world is suffering from a lack of the knowledge of God and that is directly attributable to the lack of the fiery presence of God amongst His people. Because there is no presence, there is no fear of God; a spiritual apathy encloses the church in its deadly embrace. A self-serving religious contentment has taken the place of that zeal for God which consumes the hungry soul; we have resigned ourselves to a religious comfort, satisfied with what is ours by judicial entitlement, such as justification, redemption and reconciliation. This is ignoble and dishonours Christ Jesus, for we are called to a higher and nobler place than this by the sufferings of our Lord, if indeed we can truly call Him our Lord as well as our Saviour.
The only prescription for this fatal illness is the flame of the presence of God; such would purge our slothfulness and unbelief as surely as smoke is driven away from the fire, because His presence will inevitably scatter His enemies!
The fact of the willingness of God to manifest His presence in the midst of His people is not just Old Testament doctrine; in the New Testament the presence of God is the central fact, not in doctrine only, but in actuality!
The most important thing that Jesus did for me was to tear down the veil so that there is restored to me that which Adam had enjoyed, but lost – God’s holy presence. No longer must we rely on prophets or teachers; God Himself will guide us and teach us. The whole work of Christ in redeeming man was to undo the tragedy that Adam had initiated in his rebellion against God and to restore to us that relationship for which man was made – fellowship with God. This is what the second Adam accomplished, a means of dealing with our sins and then, a way into the Holy of Holies where we can be restored to the enjoyment of the actual presence of God; this is the birthright that comes with the second birth.
The veil is removed – at least on His side – but we shrink from entering in, for there is still a veil in our own hearts that is not removed; this is what denies the manifestation of God’s presence; this is the veil of our Adamic nature, which is not dealt with by justification or redemption or reconciliation, which is what Jesus accomplished, but only by going further and deeper into that which we, ourselves, must undertake.
The tearing of the veil in the temple was accompanied by the tearing of Jesus’ flesh upon the cross; the one is the figure for the other. When Jesus told us that we must take up our cross and follow Him, He was saying that we can only follow Him by sharing His experience. My flesh, too, must be torn, as was His; what His cross did to Him, mine must do to me; tear down the fleshly stronghold of the natural man. To a certain extent, we are to experience something like the suffering that He endured; not necessarily unto the death of the body, but at least unto the death of the self-nature.
This is the only way we can be set free; and this is the best-kept secret in orthodox Christianity.
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