Readings for today: Exodus 29:1-30:10, Matthew 26:14-46, Psalms 31:19-24, Proverbs 8:14-26
God wants to be known. Think about that for a moment. God wants to be known. The Creator of the universe wants His creation to know Him and love Him and serve Him. The One who stands outside time and space. Infinite and glorious beyond measure. Omnipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent. Majestic. Splendid. Dwelling in unapproachable light. This same God wants a relationship with you. With me. With every single human being on the face of the earth. The billions who’ve been born and will be born.
When we read the latter part of the Exodus story and it starts talking about curtains and tableware and altars and tents, it’s easy to lose sight of the main point. When we get into Leviticus and we start reading about all these archaic laws governing what we eat and what we wear, it’s easy to get lost in the minutiae. When we find ourselves in Numbers with its talk of so many silver plates and so many sacrificial oxen and its census of each tribe, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. The main point of all this work is to prepare a place where God can actually, physically, tangibly, concretely meet with His people. Where they can approach Him. Speak with Him. Interact with Him. Receive from Him all the blessings He has stored up for His chosen people. Listen again to these words from Exodus 29:45-46, “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”
God wants to be known. He wants us to understand His heart. His character. His nature. His great desire is for us to spend eternity probing the mystery of who He is. Getting to know Him better and better with each passing age. Plumbing the depths of His being so that we can understand more fully what it means to be made in His image. To bear His likeness. This is God’s great design. This is how He set up creation. This world - this universe even - is to be His Temple. The place where His glory dwells. We will serve as His priests, exercising and extending His dominion over all He has made. This is why God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt and it is why Jesus will deliver His people from slavery to sin.
God wants to be known. It’s why He sent His Son into the world. So we could touch Him. Hear His voice. See Him with our own eyes. God now has a face. God now has a body. God has a name and it is Jesus. Jesus came to make God known. Jesus came to reveal God in all His fullness. There is no part of God that is not revealed in Christ. No hidden God behind the Christ. God is Jesus. Jesus is God. And every time we take part in the meal Jesus Himself instituted, we are reminded who this God is and what He’s all about. He is the God who dwells with us. He is the God who delivers us from evil. He is the God who saves us from our sin. He is not just a god, He is our God.
Do you know this God? I mean, really know Him? Is He your God? Is He the Lord and Savior of your life? Have you experienced His saving grace in your life? Friend, you don’t have to wait. God wants you to know Him and all He requires is for you to confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Do this and you will be saved. You will become part of God’s chosen people. He will be your God and you will be His child.
Readings for tomorrow: Exodus 30:11-31:18, Matthew 26:47-68, Psalms 32, Proverbs 8:27-32