We are as close to God as we want to be.
I can’t remember where I first saw or heard that statement, but there is a lot of truth in it. It is quite convicting. God is always present. He doesn’t change positions on us. We are the variable, not him. Our coming closer to God, is much like the Israelites coming to Mount Sinai with Moses.
On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up…..Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. – Exo. 19:16-20, 20:18-21
Much like the Israelites, we stand a comfortable distance away from the mountain of God’s presence when he invites us forward to reveal himself to us. We would rather hear his message from others through the safety of books, then to approach him alone by ourselves. Very few come forward to approach God in close proximity. Our God is a consuming fire, Deut. 4:24, 9:3, Isa. 33:14 Heb. 12:29. To come closer to God, to come closer to his light may sound wonderful and romantic but in application it’s extremely painful. It’s humiliating to have your sins exposed the closer you come. His light is so pure and bright as we approach him, it makes us transparent to him and to those around us exposing all the dirty sinful secrets of our heart. We are refined by His fire. Psa. 66:10, Isa. 48:10 1 Ptr.1:7 It’s extremely painful and without Christ, it’s completely impossible.
Because of Christ, we don’t approach the fearful smoking and quaking Mount Sinai as the Israelites did when Moses led them to it to receive the law. Instead Christ brings us directly to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. – Heb. 12:18-24
Sometimes it may seem as if the Israelites had the greater benefit because they had so many physical representation of God with them. They came to a physical mountain that could be touched. Of course, it would immediately kill them if they did touch it. But they could physically see the awesome presence of God descend upon the mountain in billows of fire and dark burning smoke. In the desert, they had the physical cloud to lead them by day and the burning fire to lead them by night. They had God’s messengers, angels physically appear before them delivering God’s messages. They had great prophets, anointed by God to speak on his behalf. They physically heard heard the thunder of God’s voice from the thick darkness. They had the tabernacles, the temples, the sacrifices, the physical symbols and rituals representing heavenly realities. They even had Jesus, the living Christ, walk among them in their time period. This is how God communicated and related to them and how they communicated and related back to God in physical representations of heavenly realities. They served at a sanctuary that was a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. That is why God warned Moses when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Because of Jesus, this is not how we communicate with or relate to God today. The cross changed everything on the other side of it. We have not come to the foot of Mount Sinai, a physical symbol of a heavenly reality. Christ has brought us to Mount Zion: the heavenly reality itself. We now enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body. Heb. 10:19-20
God no longer speaks to us from a voice booming from a blazing, smoking, trembling mountain that is fearful to approach. He speaks to us directly from his throne in Heaven. We have no need to go in search of a prophet or a priest to find out his will, we can boldly approach his throne ourselves, we can read his word ourselves. The Israelites could only approach God at set times, at designated places, through designated people, the priests. The priests alone could go behind the veil, into the holy of holies once a year. Now, we are all High Priests with free access to approach him at any time, at any place. Not only are we able to communicate and relate to him anytime and anyplace, our relationship to him is constant without interruption. It’s a relationship of constant union. His presence never leaves us. Ours is not a temporary visit or meeting – which would be fantastic enough in itself – he not only calls us to come to him, but he insists that we stay – abide and dwell with him in his holy presence in the the heavenly realms. Eph. 2:6-7 Col. 3:1-4 We are to be never parted again from him – now in this present life. Our heart becomes his sacred temple, his sacred dwelling place, his holy of holies which he fiercely protects and jealously calls his very own. His is such a rich, pure and genuine love, it ruins our hearts for any other love that does not flow directly from him. We can love no other but him and those who resemble him. His is a beauty that redefines beauty and we soon begin to compare all to him. He ruins our tastes for this world once we have seen and tasted him. We can’t help but forsake and sell all we have collected and once treasured because of our growing desire to know more of him. His is a holy love, above and beyond the rest, most pure and excellent, a cut above the rest. It ruins us from all dilutions and imitations this world has to offer.
We do not fall on our knees from fear before a mountain that smokes, billows with darkness and thunders; instead we fall on our knees before a mountain that weakens and breaks us by it’s overwhelming mercy and overflowing love that anoints and consecrates us, the greatest of sinners, as beloved, children of God.
What an awesome truth that greatly alters our prayer life. When we come before His throne in prayer, Christ brings us to Mount Zion, the heavenly reality itself instead of physical shadows and copies of heavenly things. Heb. 8:5-6
There are two mountains, two ways we can approach God. One Mountain is before Christ and the other is after him. One is with Christ and the other is without him. One creates awe made of fear and the other creates an awe made of a fearsome love. One will destroy us if we come to close to touch it, the other will embrace us and never let us go.
25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[e] 27The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”– Heb. 12:18-
