Hope in God's Presence (Jonah 3)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:07.509 This morning we continue looking and hearing God's Word Proclaim from Jonah Chapter two. 2 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:12.349 I'm going to be focusing on one verse there and then we'll move on to 3 00:00:12.470 --> 00:00:17.710 Jonah three. Next time, one verse in Jonah Two and then we'll be 4 00:00:18.750 --> 00:00:21.940 in several other portions of scripture. One I'd like to read to you now 5 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:41.969 from Hebrews A, Hebrews chapter nine. So I'm going to start in Hebrews 6 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:48.969 nine and then I'll refer back in a moment to Jonah too. I won't 7 00:00:49.009 --> 00:00:51.039 read all of it, but you can turn there in a moment. But 8 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:56.399 let's just look at Hebrews, Hebrews nine. I'll get my page is marked. 9 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:02.240 There we go. Let's hear God's word. Now, if the First 10 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.670 Covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness for a tent for 11 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:11.950 or sorry, I read that wrong. Let me start again now. Even 12 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:17.390 the First Covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness for a 13 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:22.579 tent was prepared the First Section in which the lampstand and the table and the 14 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:26.340 bread of presence. It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain 15 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:30.620 was the second section, called the most holy place, having the Golden Altar 16 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:34.530 of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, covered on all sides with gold, 17 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:38.569 in which the golden urn holding the manna and Aaron staff that budded in 18 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:45.250 the tablets of the covenant above it, where the Cherubim of the glory overshadowing 19 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:49.280 the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These 20 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.959 preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing 21 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.159 their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and 22 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.349 he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers 23 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:07.430 for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this, the 24 00:02:07.550 --> 00:02:14.030 Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as 25 00:02:14.110 --> 00:02:19.180 long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present 26 00:02:19.219 --> 00:02:23.780 age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect 27 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:29.259 the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various 28 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:34.930 washings. Regulations of for the body imposed until the time of reformation, but 29 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:38.169 when Christ appeared as a high priest. Of the good things that have come 30 00:02:39.090 --> 00:02:44.719 then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that 31 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:51.479 is not of this creation. He entered once for all into the holy places, 32 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:55.680 not by means of the blood of goats and calves of but by means 33 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:01.629 of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood 34 00:03:01.669 --> 00:03:06.509 of goats and bowls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a 35 00:03:06.629 --> 00:03:10.949 heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood 36 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:15.979 of Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to 37 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:23.780 God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the Living God? Therefore, 38 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:28.409 he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called 39 00:03:28.530 --> 00:03:34.330 May receive the promised internal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them 40 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:38.129 from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Now I'm going to skip a 41 00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:46.560 few verses and in go to verse twenty three. Thus it was necessary for 42 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:52.400 the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights, but the 43 00:03:52.560 --> 00:04:00.349 heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into 44 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:04.349 holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but 45 00:04:04.509 --> 00:04:10.900 into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 46 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:15.579 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy 47 00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:19.699 places every year, with blood not his own, for then he would have 48 00:04:19.779 --> 00:04:25.050 to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, 49 00:04:25.290 --> 00:04:29.689 he has appeared once for all, at the end of the ages, to 50 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:34.050 put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed 51 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:39.399 for man to die once and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having 52 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:43.399 been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, 53 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:48.040 not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for 54 00:04:48.079 --> 00:05:04.829 him. Well and there for now, you may be seated. I feel 55 00:05:04.829 --> 00:05:08.980 like I have a lot to do this morning, or at least a lot 56 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.459 that I want to do, and I'm not sure if I'm going to be 57 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:15.300 able to get it all done. So I learned somewhere that I'm not supposed 58 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:20.339 to apologize before I start, but there it is. So I'm asking for 59 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:27.410 your grace and and perhaps for your prayers and your your your attentiveness, that 60 00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:31.810 you might be able to buy God's word that we have heard already. Perhaps 61 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:39.279 fill in the gaps and connect the dots where I may perhaps leave them unconnected 62 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:47.240 or unfilled. With that throat clearing out of the way, why are we 63 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:54.230 reading from Hebrews nine when we're supposed to be reading from Jonah to one reason 64 00:05:54.350 --> 00:05:58.750 is that I am assuming at least many of you who have been with us 65 00:05:59.389 --> 00:06:03.110 we are now somewhat familiar with Jonah, chapter two. We've gone we've read 66 00:06:03.149 --> 00:06:09.699 it at least twice now in worship here. I've preached on it a couple 67 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:14.420 of times. I also think that Jonah is one of the more popular stories, 68 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:17.019 meaning one of the war wellknown stories of the Bible, and so I'm 69 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:20.850 I'm sort of banking on that a little bit, but I will take a 70 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:27.649 moment to remind you what is going on there and how it connects to Hebrews 71 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:32.399 nine. You remember that Jonah is a prophet WHO's fleeing. What he says 72 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:38.360 is the presence of the Lord. He's been given a direct command to go 73 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.759 and preach to the Ninovites and he says, I don't think so, I 74 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:46.399 don't want to do that, I'm going another direction. Well, the Lord 75 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:53.949 is not mocked and he is perhaps present in some special ways to his people, 76 00:06:53.990 --> 00:06:58.550 but he is present everywhere to all men, a particularly in his power, 77 00:06:58.990 --> 00:07:02.899 in his abilities to stop, to judge, to discipline, and Jonah 78 00:07:02.899 --> 00:07:08.899 finds that to be very true. He's fleeing on this ship and the Lord 79 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:15.050 stopped him dead in his tracks, so to speak. He throws a tempest 80 00:07:15.129 --> 00:07:20.050 upon the water and eventually Jonah ends up in the water, drowning. And 81 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:26.170 in Chapter Two we have a prayer recorded in which Jonah tells us what he 82 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:31.480 prayed both in his drowning and then eventually from the point of his salvation, 83 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.319 point which was surprising, but nevertheless the work of the Lord, and that 84 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:44.240 is from inside a fish, a fish that had come pointed by God to 85 00:07:44.910 --> 00:07:50.350 snatch him from these waters of judgment so that he might so that he might 86 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:58.980 live well. In his prayer is he calls out from the depths, using 87 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:05.579 language from the Psalm that we've just sung. He says in verse seven, 88 00:08:05.180 --> 00:08:09.220 when my life was fainting the way, a fainting a way, I remembered 89 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:18.730 the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your Holy Temple. My 90 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:24.850 prayer came to you into your Holy Temple. And then he describes those who 91 00:08:24.170 --> 00:08:31.600 seek false gods in contradiction to the temple and God who is present there. 92 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.879 And he says in Verse Eight, those who pay regard to vain idols forsake 93 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:39.559 their hope of steadfast love. But I, with a voice of Thanksgiving, 94 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.190 will sacrifice to you. That's Temple language. there. I will sacrifice to 95 00:08:43.269 --> 00:08:48.429 you, I what I have out. That's more temple language. There I 96 00:08:48.909 --> 00:08:54.309 will pay, presumably at the temple. So what I want to focus on 97 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:58.620 this morning, before we move on from Jonah Chapter Two, is this temple 98 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:05.460 language. I want you to think about this and ask yourself a maybe in 99 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:11.529 this way, two questions. One, why does Jonah pray in this way? 100 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:15.970 Why does he not just say I pray to God, right, I 101 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:20.970 pray, do you? Why does he add this my and my prayer came 102 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:26.399 to you, into Your Holy Temple? Another words, why does Jonah think 103 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.759 about his relationship with God in terms of the temple, terms of sacrifices in 104 00:09:31.799 --> 00:09:35.960 the vowels and these kinds of things? When Jonah cries out from the deep 105 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:41.389 and he lifts his voice up to God and and says save me, I'm 106 00:09:41.470 --> 00:09:45.789 dying, why is the place that his mind go? Why does it go 107 00:09:45.909 --> 00:09:50.230 to the temple? Okay, so that's the first question that we want to 108 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:54.220 ask, and we want to ask that because, as the Holy Spirit is 109 00:09:54.259 --> 00:09:58.179 recorded us, and here he's not recorded it accidentally. This isn't just Jonah's 110 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:03.419 prayer, but it's God's spirit recording this for our benefit so that we might 111 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:09.450 know and understand something. And indeed this isn't just Jonah's sort of odd way 112 00:10:09.570 --> 00:10:13.169 of expressing things. This is the way things are expressed throughout the whole testament. 113 00:10:13.889 --> 00:10:20.330 This is a major, Major, one of the most important themes in 114 00:10:20.690 --> 00:10:24.720 all of the Bible. So if you don't understand why Jonah speaks in this 115 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:31.559 way, you are missing an essential element of Biblical doctrine. Or, to 116 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.509 put it in a more personal and perhaps more a more personal way, I'll 117 00:10:35.509 --> 00:10:41.110 say it that way, you're missing an essential part of how God has revealed 118 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:46.909 himself to you. If you don't know the answer to that question, particularly 119 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:50.500 on this question, because it's not only revelation, but the temple, as 120 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:54.220 we will see, is all about the presence of God. So if you're 121 00:10:54.419 --> 00:11:00.419 not understanding this core teaching, this central teaching about the presence of God, 122 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:05.730 likely you are not understanding something about the presence of God, who he is, 123 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:11.690 what he has done, how he has revealed himself. So why does 124 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:16.850 Jonah pray in this way? How are we to understand God's teaching on this? 125 00:11:18.289 --> 00:11:22.159 The second question that I want you to lay out before yourself, then, 126 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:26.720 is this. Should I pray in this way right? Is this an 127 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:33.669 example to follow? Should I be thinking in temple terms when I think about 128 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:39.110 prayer, when I think about God? Is this something that should be such 129 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:43.549 a core part of my identity as a Christian, as one who is following 130 00:11:43.669 --> 00:11:48.019 Jesus, who's living my life after him, that when I think about my 131 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:52.419 relationship with God, that I think about it in terms of the temple, 132 00:11:52.500 --> 00:12:03.409 at least sometimes? I think you should, because what Jonah? Because the 133 00:12:03.450 --> 00:12:09.649 way Jonah prays here, it's not a private thing. The Temple of God 134 00:12:11.009 --> 00:12:15.649 and the way that Jonah is relating to it at this moment of desperation is 135 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:22.960 not just something he can cocks for himself. The temple and God's presence there 136 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:28.639 isn't a personal ceremony, a ritualized habit, a spiritual practice that Jonah has 137 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:33.669 brought into his life is something he thinks is helpful. No, Jonah is, 138 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.309 in praying this way, is entering into something that is larger than himself. 139 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:46.940 In praying to God in these sort of in this temple context, in 140 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:52.419 these temple terms, Jonah is entering into something that God himself is revealed in 141 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:56.139 this world, the God has revealed not only for Israel but for all the 142 00:12:56.179 --> 00:13:03.809 nations. He enters not only into this revelation but into the very presence of 143 00:13:03.970 --> 00:13:07.129 God. That's what I mean. It'sas more than just a personal thing for 144 00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:11.250 Jonah. He concerts into the presence of God, as God has chosen to 145 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:18.120 reveal himself in this saving way in the world. In some ways, this 146 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.519 is immediately relevant even to what you're doing this morning. Just like you today, 147 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.909 when you came to church this morning, you didn't enter into a private 148 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:33.789 ceremony, something that you've decided will help you, to benefit you spiritually. 149 00:13:33.950 --> 00:13:37.669 Maybe that's how you're thinking about it, but that's not ultimately what's actually going 150 00:13:37.789 --> 00:13:43.220 on. When we come to church, we enter into something much larger than 151 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:48.379 ourselves, something that God has established. It's not something that we just think 152 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:50.779 well, this might be helpful for me in my life. Is the place 153 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:56.610 where God has established his presence and has promised to be at work among his 154 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:01.370 people. We enter when we come to church on a Sunday morning. We 155 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:07.330 come to enter into something much bigger than our lives. Our decisions are desires, 156 00:14:07.490 --> 00:14:13.080 what we think is healthier good. We enter into the very work of 157 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.799 God in blessing and leading and protecting US and strengthening us. It was like 158 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:24.590 this with the temple. The temple was not just a place that people decided 159 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:28.070 would be a good thing to have. It was the place that God himself 160 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:33.590 directed. Even its structure, it's architecture, it's practices, it's priesthood, 161 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:41.860 the furniture, the goal on the walls, every detail minutely described and prescribed 162 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:46.779 by God. That temple was the place of his presence. Not because man 163 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:52.379 decided that this would be a good idea, but God said, I will 164 00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:58.129 be your God and you will be my people. Thinking about Jonah's prayer in 165 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:05.409 those terms helps us under understand the relationship that God has made with his people 166 00:15:05.690 --> 00:15:13.000 and the relationship that we have with him. So let's talk about the temple. 167 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:16.159 When we talk about the temple, as I've said, you have to 168 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:22.590 talk about God's presence. That's what it's all about. It's about God's presence 169 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:28.590 in the world. But in order to properly understand that you have to make 170 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:35.470 some distinctions. Perhaps you're already thinking along these ways, because how is God 171 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:43.299 present in a temple when he's present everywhere? How are we to understand that? 172 00:15:46.139 --> 00:15:50.009 One Way to think about God's presence is in two ways, and we'll 173 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:54.129 start with this using some theological terms. You can think about God in terms 174 00:15:54.169 --> 00:16:02.730 of his immensity. Immensity is the way in which God transcends all spatial limitations. 175 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:07.399 That's a definition and that Luis Berkhoff gives in his systematic theology. God, 176 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:12.720 in his immensity, transcends all spatial limitations. But in terms of his 177 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:21.149 omnipresence, his presence everywhere, Birkhoff says, though, he transcends all spatial 178 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:25.909 limitations. In other words, he's not bound by space. He exists outside 179 00:16:25.950 --> 00:16:29.309 of it, he's not constrained by it in the way we are. He 180 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:33.139 is, quote, yet present in every point of space with his whole being. 181 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:40.460 So you have both God's transcendence, that he is not contrained by space, 182 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:45.940 but also his his eminence, that he is intimately beyond even the ways 183 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:52.889 that we can really fully understand close in such a way that scripture describes it 184 00:16:52.970 --> 00:17:00.450 as him filling all and all and being all in all. The transcendent part 185 00:17:00.529 --> 00:17:07.559 of that guards us against unbiblical doctrines like pantheism. That God is not bound 186 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:14.480 by space keeps us from keeps us from thinking that God actually is creation itself. 187 00:17:15.109 --> 00:17:19.789 But knowing that God fills all and is in all keeps us from Deism, 188 00:17:21.750 --> 00:17:25.430 which is the view that simply God is exists outside of these things and 189 00:17:25.509 --> 00:17:29.750 has not really anything to do with the creation that he has made. So 190 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:36.500 God is has both immense city and omnipresence. Now this is described in many, 191 00:17:36.619 --> 00:17:41.339 many, many many places. One very important places first kings chapter eight, 192 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:48.089 and you can, I'll ask you to turn there. In first kings 193 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:53.130 eight we have the ARC being brought into the temple, right, the temple 194 00:17:53.210 --> 00:18:00.880 that has been constructed according to God's design. And and in Chapter Eight, 195 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:07.359 Verse Twenty Seven, Solomon, Great King Solomon, is dedicating this temple and 196 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:14.869 when he dedicates it he says this in Verse Twenty Seven. But Will God 197 00:18:14.990 --> 00:18:18.029 indeed dwell on the Earth? Right he's asking the same question that we were 198 00:18:18.069 --> 00:18:25.069 asking at the beginning. How can God be in a temple. Right the 199 00:18:25.150 --> 00:18:27.619 scripture is a deal with this question. But Will God indeed dwell on the 200 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:36.299 Earth? Behold Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you. But how much 201 00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:41.490 are how much less this House that I have built? You see that confession 202 00:18:41.529 --> 00:18:47.490 of scripture, this sense that Solomon builds this temple based on the instruction of 203 00:18:47.569 --> 00:18:52.009 God and the promises of God that his presence will be there. And yet 204 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:56.880 Solomon recognizes, by the will of God, that God is not constrained to 205 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:00.160 a little box in the desert. He never has been and it never will 206 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.000 be. That the heaven and even the highest heaven, as far as you 207 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:10.549 can sort of think in creational terms, God is above it all. He 208 00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:18.069 is immense. His immensity is infinite. So this is what the way Solomon 209 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:22.269 confesses it, this is the way God is is teaching us about these things. 210 00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:27.900 Turning to Psalm one hundred and thirty nine, and we'll come back to 211 00:19:29.019 --> 00:19:33.859 first king's chapter eight, but in Psalm one hundred and thirty nine I'll read 212 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:41.529 versus a seven through ten. A David says, where shall I go from 213 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:45.849 Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? Right, this 214 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:48.609 is very related to Jonah. We've brought this up, I think, at 215 00:19:48.609 --> 00:19:51.769 least once. If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I 216 00:19:51.849 --> 00:19:53.279 make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings 217 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.279 of the morning and then dwell in the other most parts of the sea, 218 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:00.559 even there, your hand shall lead me in, your right hand shall hold 219 00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:04.119 me. You can't flee from God's presence, Jonah. What are you thinking? 220 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:08.150 You're trying to run away from him that it is impossible. He is 221 00:20:08.589 --> 00:20:11.230 everywhere. You can go up, down, left, right, east, 222 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:18.430 west, north, south. He's always there. So this is an important 223 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:22.859 thing to understand about God's presence. You have to start here. If you 224 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:25.779 start by thinking, okay, right, the temple, that's the place where 225 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:29.059 God lives, you know, like your friend lives at a particular house and 226 00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:30.980 you go to his house to visit him, but if you go to somebody's 227 00:20:32.019 --> 00:20:34.809 out there's some other other's house, he's not there. It doesn't work like 228 00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:41.609 that. Right, unlike your friend, God is everywhere, which is helpful 229 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:45.329 when it comes to prayer, which is helpful when it comes to salvation. 230 00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:49.440 As David says, where shall I flee from your presence? Thank God, 231 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:55.240 I can't right. That's the confession of his heart. He's he's happy. 232 00:20:55.319 --> 00:21:00.799 He's happy that he can't flee from God's presence. He's happy that he everywhere. 233 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:07.710 He is, God is but for Jonah, Jonah, who is trying 234 00:21:07.789 --> 00:21:12.349 to flee from good as presence? And it's not a hypothetical question, considering 235 00:21:12.430 --> 00:21:18.859 God's mercy. Jonah, Jonah, is trying to get away and of course 236 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:23.619 that he can't. And that reminds us of this next point about God's presence 237 00:21:25.619 --> 00:21:32.059 as we move our way towards thinking about the temple in particular. God It's 238 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:37.609 presence is not a neutral power. If you think about God's presence, is 239 00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:42.690 just sort of like this energy that's humming in the background of all things. 240 00:21:42.769 --> 00:21:48.039 You're missing the point, because you don't have a relationship with electricity, right, 241 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:55.200 your relationship with the God who provides the electricity, but you who you 242 00:21:55.359 --> 00:22:02.190 ultimately aren't in fellowship with energy, and it's the same way with God. 243 00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:10.029 God's presence everywhere is a way of saying relationship is everywhere, because there's no 244 00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:15.819 way to relate to God in any kind of neutral way where he's just a 245 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:19.140 power to be tapped into or to walk away from. Or something like that. 246 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:26.579 So when God manifests his presence in the world, though it's everywhere in 247 00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:32.730 the world, it does relate to different things and different people in different ways. 248 00:22:33.930 --> 00:22:36.930 So, for example, God is in all and all and fills all 249 00:22:36.970 --> 00:22:41.210 and all, but that is a very different kind of presence in a way, 250 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:48.519 in terms of relationship for the Cactus then it is for you or an 251 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:53.400 animal or a boat or anything like that. We wouldn't want to say that 252 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:59.990 God is only present in and with humans and has no control or presence over 253 00:23:00.190 --> 00:23:04.309 things like boats and bugs and other things. But it's also different. Right. 254 00:23:04.470 --> 00:23:11.349 God is not pouring judgment out on in the same way on the things 255 00:23:11.390 --> 00:23:17.099 of this the the created things of this world that haven't sinned, and the 256 00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:19.740 way that he does on people that have been made in his image, I've 257 00:23:19.819 --> 00:23:23.500 called to follow him, have been made to be in a close relationship with 258 00:23:23.619 --> 00:23:30.049 him. We see this even in the garden, when God created man a 259 00:23:30.170 --> 00:23:37.130 garden, which in itself was a kind of temple. Then he creates man, 260 00:23:37.289 --> 00:23:41.680 he places him in a different places him and over the creation, but 261 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:47.960 under him. He gives a man a particular kind of relationship to God that 262 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:52.400 is different than the relationship God has with the animals, with the plants in 263 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.519 the water, in the sea. So Jonah's right. If you remember back 264 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:57.710 to Jonah when he says God created the sea in the dry land. Right, 265 00:23:59.029 --> 00:24:03.869 this creation stuff really grounds at all true. But the way that he 266 00:24:04.029 --> 00:24:07.029 relates to the creation, to the sea, the water in the dry land, 267 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:12.700 is different than the way that he is relating to Jonah. And when 268 00:24:12.900 --> 00:24:18.500 we think about God's presence in relation to human beings, if we can connuntinue 269 00:24:18.579 --> 00:24:23.609 making our distinctions finer and finer, and I'll finish with this in terms of 270 00:24:23.650 --> 00:24:30.369 our distinction making section here, when it comes to God's presence, we experience 271 00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:40.200 it in basically two ways, salvation or judgment. And that's because we come 272 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:45.240 to God not neutral either. When God reveals himself, he's not just this 273 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:52.910 MMM humming power. He is holiness and beauty and goodness and truth. He's 274 00:24:52.950 --> 00:25:00.950 everything that's wonderful and delightful and pleasurable. That's who God is. When we 275 00:25:02.269 --> 00:25:07.819 come to God, we come as people that are not holy, that are 276 00:25:07.059 --> 00:25:15.420 broken and unbeautiful and and ugly and filled with wrath and all of these kinds 277 00:25:15.420 --> 00:25:22.089 of things. And so if that's how we come to God, there's a 278 00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:29.690 kind of explosion that happens. There's a break in that you you don't have. 279 00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:37.240 Holiness is holiness, is holiness. Beauty is beauty. If you buy 280 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.960 a beautiful dress at the store and right as you're checking out the the cashier, 281 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.599 let's say, signs the receipt and then accidentally, the pain explodes on 282 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.839 your what do they say? Dress, let's go to dress. If I 283 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:51.869 didn't say that, the pain of being explodes on your dress. You buy 284 00:25:51.910 --> 00:25:55.029 this beautiful dress that explodes on your dress and you say, oh well, 285 00:25:55.029 --> 00:25:56.069 if the never mind, I I'm not going to pay for that. I 286 00:25:56.269 --> 00:26:00.069 wanted to buy a beautiful dress. The cashier says to you, still is 287 00:26:00.069 --> 00:26:03.869 a beautiful dress. Right, all the rest of its beautiful is just this 288 00:26:03.950 --> 00:26:07.700 one little spot. You wouldn't buy that, right the argument or the dress? 289 00:26:08.859 --> 00:26:11.900 It's like that with God. If that's true, for it something as 290 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:15.059 simple as a piece of clothing, how much for for the thing that the 291 00:26:15.259 --> 00:26:22.250 one that is beauty itself? What makes us think that we can go with 292 00:26:22.410 --> 00:26:30.329 our sins and our our our our ugliness and our corruption and and come into 293 00:26:30.329 --> 00:26:33.519 the presence of God and say, well, all that should be fine. 294 00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:37.920 Right, he'll still be beautiful in some way. God as beautiful, God 295 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:41.880 as good, God as holy, protects that right because he's also just. 296 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:48.150 He keeps holiness away from unholiness. That's what holy people do, that's what 297 00:26:48.349 --> 00:26:53.549 good people do. They distinguish between good and evil. So when we come 298 00:26:53.630 --> 00:27:00.829 into the glorious presence of God, we are ejected from the glorious presence of 299 00:27:00.910 --> 00:27:06.099 God. In fact, we'd never approach in Adam and his fall. We 300 00:27:06.299 --> 00:27:11.339 stand with him and Eve outside the garden with a flaming sword, rising up 301 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:17.250 an angel protecting the way and saying you don't get to come in anymore. 302 00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:25.049 You are forever separated from this kind of presence of God, walking with him, 303 00:27:25.089 --> 00:27:27.809 talking with him, communing with him, enjoying him, because your sin 304 00:27:27.930 --> 00:27:33.720 now set you outside of that place. It set you outside of the garden, 305 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.720 it set you outside of the temple, it set you outside of that 306 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.079 kind of presence and now you will have the presence of God, but only 307 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:48.509 in separation, only in judgment, only in Ath and in curse. That's 308 00:27:48.589 --> 00:27:51.990 the distinction that we have to make between the presence of God. So when 309 00:27:52.029 --> 00:27:56.589 Jonah Flees, the presence of the Lord. He's not just sort of moving 310 00:27:56.630 --> 00:28:00.819 out into some sort of neutral territory where God isn't and Jonah's King. All 311 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:03.220 of a sudden. God is still king, as he says, he is 312 00:28:03.299 --> 00:28:07.940 still the ruler of the heavens and the earth, but he is no longer 313 00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:15.450 under God's special saving presence. Now, if that's what Jonah was understanding, 314 00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:18.170 that's what Jonah should have understand and I guess we could say that's what Jonah 315 00:28:18.210 --> 00:28:23.730 was ignoring. He was not fleeing the presence of the Lord in any way 316 00:28:23.769 --> 00:28:27.359 that he would ever escape God. Where shall I flee from your presence? 317 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:32.680 It's impossible. But well, he was doing is he was moving out from 318 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:37.880 the special protection, care, salvation and blessing of God. So the wrath 319 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:45.190 and curse and and and destruction of God which he experienced on the boat, 320 00:28:45.390 --> 00:28:52.430 in the waves, in his dying breaths. And so when he calls out 321 00:28:52.670 --> 00:29:00.059 to God in this place of judgment, in this place where God is pressing 322 00:29:00.339 --> 00:29:07.180 his presence down on him and in in this in this this moment of curse 323 00:29:07.619 --> 00:29:15.970 and death for sin, how does Jonah pray? He says he prays for 324 00:29:15.089 --> 00:29:22.569 Salvations. WE'VE CONSIDERED A couple sermons ago. But he prays in terms of 325 00:29:22.650 --> 00:29:29.400 the Temple. Why? Because the temple represents and is the context of that 326 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:41.829 different kind of presence. It's the context of salvation, of blessing. The 327 00:29:41.950 --> 00:29:45.349 way to see that and the context for that is back in first kings, 328 00:29:45.390 --> 00:29:49.910 Chapter Eight. So if you want to, you can turn there. We're 329 00:29:49.910 --> 00:30:02.259 going to read a little bit more of Solomon's dedication. So he prays in 330 00:30:02.380 --> 00:30:06.460 Verse Twenty Seven, what we read. But what God, what will but 331 00:30:06.619 --> 00:30:10.250 what will god? Are Sorry, but will God indeed dwell on the Earth? 332 00:30:10.809 --> 00:30:14.609 Behold Heaven, and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less 333 00:30:14.650 --> 00:30:19.369 this house that I have built. Then he says, have regard to the 334 00:30:19.529 --> 00:30:22.680 prayer of your servant and to his plea. Oh Lord, my God, 335 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:27.920 listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you This 336 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:34.480 Day, that your eyes may be open, night and day, toward this 337 00:30:34.829 --> 00:30:42.789 house, the place which you have said my name shall be there, that 338 00:30:42.910 --> 00:30:48.190 you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. So 339 00:30:48.230 --> 00:30:52.339 you understand what PSALOM's do. It Solomon is doing. He is responding to 340 00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:57.740 the revelation of God. Several things that God has revealed. One that God 341 00:30:57.859 --> 00:31:06.930 is not bound by temples, but to that he has established a temple and 342 00:31:07.289 --> 00:31:12.930 promised that his name will dwell there. Solomon Takes God's Word on both accounts, 343 00:31:14.210 --> 00:31:18.369 and so he says, when I pray toward this place, the place 344 00:31:18.529 --> 00:31:23.920 that you have promised my name shall be there, listen to my prayer and 345 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:29.319 answer my plea, and then in verse thirty and listen to the plea of 346 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:33.390 your servant, and not just Solomon, but your people, Israel, when 347 00:31:33.430 --> 00:31:37.829 they pray toward this place and listen in heaven, your dwelling place, and 348 00:31:38.109 --> 00:31:45.349 when you hear forgive. You see how Solomnon frames that and understands of the 349 00:31:45.349 --> 00:31:52.220 dwelling place of God. It seems that Jonah was understanding that very context when 350 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:56.299 he prays and asked that the Lord would hear him in his temple. He's 351 00:31:56.380 --> 00:32:00.220 taking God also at his word and what he has said here. And then 352 00:32:00.259 --> 00:32:07.609 Plomon goes on in the next sections to talk about various kinds of contexts in 353 00:32:07.690 --> 00:32:09.369 which people pray. Way. I won't read through them all because we're running 354 00:32:09.369 --> 00:32:15.329 out of time, but he talks about if there's a problem with oaths and 355 00:32:15.450 --> 00:32:20.680 neighbors. He talks about the defeat of enemies. He talks about a crops 356 00:32:20.759 --> 00:32:23.880 and rain and famine and war. In all of these situations, he says, 357 00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:29.119 whenever your people are in trouble, when they call out to the name, 358 00:32:29.640 --> 00:32:37.750 hear them from Your Holy Temple and answer. This includes, and is 359 00:32:37.829 --> 00:32:40.390 relevant for Jonah, even foreigners, because, remember, Jonah is going to 360 00:32:40.470 --> 00:32:45.900 preach to these non Israelite Ninovites, these Assyrians. He says Verse Forty One. 361 00:32:46.059 --> 00:32:51.140 Likewise, when a foreigner who is not your people, Israel, comes 362 00:32:51.220 --> 00:32:54.180 from a far country, for your namesake, for they shall hear of your 363 00:32:54.259 --> 00:32:58.650 great name, in your mighty highand and you're outstretched hard. In other words, 364 00:32:59.210 --> 00:33:01.210 why I'll stretched, I'm in other words, the Gospel will go forth. 365 00:33:01.569 --> 00:33:06.009 And when they hear of it and they come from a far country, 366 00:33:06.849 --> 00:33:10.930 when he comes and prays toward this House here in heaven, your dwelling place, 367 00:33:12.009 --> 00:33:15.839 and do all, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls 368 00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:19.720 you to, in order that all the peoples of the Earth May know your 369 00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:22.839 name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may 370 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:28.950 know that this House that I have built is called by your name. This 371 00:33:29.150 --> 00:33:31.029 goes on and continues. Again, I don't have time to read it, 372 00:33:31.630 --> 00:33:36.349 but he goes on and talks about sin. When people sin, let your 373 00:33:36.390 --> 00:33:40.349 forgiveness be here, and all of these things, these wonderful, wonderful things. 374 00:33:42.259 --> 00:33:45.579 When you hear this prayer and when you go and you read back about 375 00:33:45.579 --> 00:33:51.740 the Tabernacle and and even the garden of Eden and and things coming up as 376 00:33:51.819 --> 00:33:55.609 well, what you will find over and over again is that Solomon's prayer here 377 00:33:55.730 --> 00:34:00.650 rings true throughout all the Scriptures, that this is the place where God has 378 00:34:00.730 --> 00:34:07.289 promised to be with his people, it is the place where God answers prayers, 379 00:34:08.409 --> 00:34:15.239 it is the place where he dwells, and in the temple God signifies 380 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:21.079 to us his presence with us. I hope you can see that in Solomon's 381 00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:24.030 prayer. You can also see it in the very architecture of the temple. 382 00:34:24.110 --> 00:34:30.110 I won't read to you passages about that, but if you just bring to 383 00:34:30.190 --> 00:34:34.349 your mind perhaps things you have heard, things that we read, and Hebrews 384 00:34:34.389 --> 00:34:39.739 nine about the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, this Gold Box and 385 00:34:39.860 --> 00:34:45.539 the most holy place in which is just made of Acacia wood covered with gold, 386 00:34:45.699 --> 00:34:51.019 with these two chair of them. Angels are reaching out over the arc 387 00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:54.849 where there is no god in the middle of it, though, unlike all 388 00:34:54.929 --> 00:35:00.769 the other temples of man in which some sort of idol stood there, amazingly, 389 00:35:00.969 --> 00:35:06.210 in the temple of Yahway it's empty, the place where God says he 390 00:35:06.250 --> 00:35:10.840 will fill and bring his presence. Why? Because it's symbolic that he dwells 391 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:15.519 outside of this place, though he puts his name there. In fact, 392 00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:20.719 this this Throne Room of God, as it's called, the most holy place 393 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:23.590 or the holy of holies in the in the center or the deepest part of 394 00:35:23.670 --> 00:35:30.389 the temple, is in other places like Isaiah Sixty six, is actually called 395 00:35:30.750 --> 00:35:37.579 the footstool of the throne. So the image is that this grand, beautiful 396 00:35:37.619 --> 00:35:39.539 temple that, if you were to walk into, you would look up wow, 397 00:35:40.539 --> 00:35:45.500 look at this place, the engravings and the embellishment, the Gold and 398 00:35:45.619 --> 00:35:51.010 the curtains and the furniture, all of the ceremony and the priests and the 399 00:35:51.130 --> 00:35:57.210 animals and the blood. It would be amazing. And yet it's just the 400 00:35:58.090 --> 00:36:04.800 footstool we're God sort of relaxes his feet, so to speak, from the 401 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:13.159 place where he dwells, not bound by this insignificant but significant temple, but 402 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:16.480 even above the Heaven and the highest heavens. This is our God who dwells 403 00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:23.269 with his people and rules the gold and the glory and the priests and all 404 00:36:23.309 --> 00:36:28.510 of this signify many things which I won't get into now. I'll just list 405 00:36:28.630 --> 00:36:35.139 for you. Holiness, we've heard that word beauty, goodness, glory, 406 00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:43.019 wealth, transcendence, Eminence and, of course, grace. Because what is 407 00:36:43.099 --> 00:36:49.210 Hebrews nine tell us was happening in the temple? Every year, high priest 408 00:36:49.849 --> 00:36:53.809 goes in with the blood. Why? Blood? Because a sacrifice for sin 409 00:36:54.010 --> 00:36:59.090 had to be made. The people had to be purified so that they could 410 00:36:59.090 --> 00:37:02.719 dwell in the presence of the Lord. This representative, high priest, would 411 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:07.840 walk into that holy of holies, would go into that place. Why? 412 00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:12.920 So that the people could dwell with God, so that the promise could happen. 413 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:17.630 That's what the temple signified. That's what Jonah is praying toward. He's 414 00:37:17.710 --> 00:37:22.110 not just praying towards the power and the glory of God, he's praying towards 415 00:37:22.190 --> 00:37:28.309 the presence of God, as God comes not only in glory and power and 416 00:37:28.469 --> 00:37:31.980 wealth, is signified in the temple, but he comes into the presence of 417 00:37:32.340 --> 00:37:38.380 the glory of God, which also comes to us in grace in the sacrifice 418 00:37:38.659 --> 00:37:44.849 of these animals to make us holy, to cleanse us of our sin. 419 00:37:49.409 --> 00:37:54.489 So knowing this teaches us a lot of important things about God and Jonah's conception 420 00:37:54.610 --> 00:38:00.920 of God and of how we should conceive of God. The temple is a 421 00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:05.360 kind of object lesson. The teaches us who god is and how he is 422 00:38:06.039 --> 00:38:08.960 among his people. It teaches us what we can expect of him and what 423 00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:14.789 he expects of us. But I have to tell you that they temple is 424 00:38:14.909 --> 00:38:21.269 not just a just an object lesson. You like Sunday school teachers sometimes will, 425 00:38:21.429 --> 00:38:24.389 you know, bring in a little object or something and make an illustration 426 00:38:24.550 --> 00:38:30.139 with it. We can't just pick up the temple and say, look at 427 00:38:30.179 --> 00:38:34.139 what the shows. It certainly does that and we've seen that, but it 428 00:38:34.300 --> 00:38:38.500 does more than that, and that's because this temple that Jonah is praying towards, 429 00:38:38.820 --> 00:38:44.769 this physical, earthly temple, is, as we read in Hebrews Nine, 430 00:38:45.610 --> 00:38:52.570 a copy of something. That's what he says. It's a copy of 431 00:38:52.409 --> 00:38:58.239 something. What's it a copy of? What does he say? He says 432 00:38:58.280 --> 00:39:06.119 it's a copy of a heavenly one. The earthly thing represents something that is 433 00:39:06.480 --> 00:39:13.309 true in heaven, a spiritual reality, not it's not just a metaphor for 434 00:39:13.670 --> 00:39:22.989 certain things. It actually represents actual things, the dwelling place of God. 435 00:39:24.579 --> 00:39:29.900 Now there are important distinctions to make there, but you have to understand this, 436 00:39:30.059 --> 00:39:35.420 because the truth is that the temple isn't just something that's past. Oh 437 00:39:35.579 --> 00:39:38.090 okay, now I see why Jonah was reaching out to God in this Old 438 00:39:38.210 --> 00:39:45.050 Testament e kind of way, because the temple still exists. The temple is 439 00:39:45.090 --> 00:39:51.690 still present, even though every last block of Solomon's Temple, and indeed the 440 00:39:52.050 --> 00:39:55.639 next one that was constructed after that, has been was torn to the ground. 441 00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:04.840 The reason is is because, as he says in Hebrews Nine, Jesus, 442 00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:10.469 the better high priest, has entered into the tent. He's using that 443 00:40:10.590 --> 00:40:15.110 language because he's talking about the Tabernacle, which was a precursor of the temple, 444 00:40:16.630 --> 00:40:21.070 but this ten, to this temple which Jesus entered into, was a 445 00:40:21.269 --> 00:40:27.099 different one. It was one made, he says, without human hands. 446 00:40:29.099 --> 00:40:30.980 Well, now we know where that we're talking about something on a Matt Order 447 00:40:31.059 --> 00:40:38.650 of magnitude that is quite different than the old temple of Israel and the way 448 00:40:38.849 --> 00:40:44.090 that it's described to us. The physical way in which it's described to us 449 00:40:44.090 --> 00:40:47.610 is found in revelation twenty one, which will turn to and finish with. 450 00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:55.679 Jesus enters just as you're turning there. I'll remind you what he brews nine 451 00:40:55.719 --> 00:41:05.670 says. Jesus enters into this new temple to be the mediator of a new 452 00:41:05.989 --> 00:41:10.590 and better covenant, where he will offer not the blood of Bulls and goats, 453 00:41:10.630 --> 00:41:15.510 which cleansed flesh and only temporarily and had to be done year after year, 454 00:41:15.590 --> 00:41:22.699 but he went once and for all, offering what a sacrifice of himself 455 00:41:23.539 --> 00:41:30.340 that forever all sin would be cleansed, so that when God comes among his 456 00:41:30.579 --> 00:41:37.329 people, he would do so in a final and permanent way. Well, 457 00:41:37.369 --> 00:41:44.409 that way is described in its consummated form in revelations Chapter A, revelation chapter 458 00:41:44.570 --> 00:41:52.840 twenty one. First I'll read verses one through three. Then I saw a 459 00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:57.440 new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven in the first Earth 460 00:41:57.480 --> 00:42:00.880 had passed away, in the sea was no more, and I saw the 461 00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:06.829 holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared 462 00:42:06.909 --> 00:42:15.980 as a bride adorned for her husband. Now let me give you just a 463 00:42:15.019 --> 00:42:17.980 little preview for tonight, which is you can think of it as part two. 464 00:42:21.340 --> 00:42:25.659 The temple is connected to a people. You see that in that word 465 00:42:25.739 --> 00:42:30.969 there, bride, and tonight, when we look at effusions chapter two, 466 00:42:34.570 --> 00:42:39.090 God will talk about us in this way as his bride. is a people 467 00:42:39.250 --> 00:42:44.170 being built up in him. You'll have to come back for that. For 468 00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:49.079 now, I want you to notice what is happening here. Something new creation, 469 00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:52.679 a new city, a new Jerusalem, but that is connected a to 470 00:42:54.480 --> 00:43:00.030 to something different. What he sees coming down out of this city. It's 471 00:43:00.110 --> 00:43:08.789 described and versus nine and following. All start in Verse Fifteen, and the 472 00:43:08.869 --> 00:43:13.460 one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city 473 00:43:13.699 --> 00:43:19.699 and its gates and its walls. The city lies four square, its length 474 00:43:20.300 --> 00:43:22.579 the same as it's width, and he measures the city with its rod one 475 00:43:22.619 --> 00:43:28.610 hundred stadia. It's length and width and height are equal. He also measured 476 00:43:28.650 --> 00:43:31.809 its wall a hundred forty four cubits by human measure, which is also an 477 00:43:31.849 --> 00:43:37.250 angels measurement. The wall was built of Jasper, while the city was pure 478 00:43:37.570 --> 00:43:44.480 gold, as clear as glass. The foundations of the wall in the city 479 00:43:44.519 --> 00:43:47.320 were adorned with every kind of jewel and then he lists the jewels. I 480 00:43:47.400 --> 00:43:52.320 want so desperately to read that, but I'm not. Then, in Verse 481 00:43:52.360 --> 00:44:00.150 Twenty Two, I saw no temple in the city, for it's Temple is 482 00:44:00.309 --> 00:44:04.869 the Lord, God, the Almighty and the lamb. And the city has 483 00:44:04.909 --> 00:44:07.269 no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of 484 00:44:07.349 --> 00:44:12.739 God gives its light and it's lamp is the lamb. By its light the 485 00:44:12.860 --> 00:44:16.219 nation's will walk and the Kings will bring their glory into it and the gates 486 00:44:17.139 --> 00:44:21.860 will never be shut and there will be no night there. They will bring 487 00:44:21.940 --> 00:44:27.409 into the bring into it the glory and honor of the nation's but nothing unclean 488 00:44:27.610 --> 00:44:31.170 will ever enter it, and no nor anyone who does what is detestable or 489 00:44:31.250 --> 00:44:36.130 false, but only those who are written in the lamb's book of life. 490 00:44:37.969 --> 00:44:45.159 What you see in this passage is that most holy place, that cube of 491 00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:51.239 a room that's covered in gold in the back of the temple comes down out 492 00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:55.269 of heaven in its final form. But at this time it's not a cube 493 00:44:55.309 --> 00:45:01.110 of a room in the back of the temple in Israel, it is everything. 494 00:45:01.750 --> 00:45:06.829 It is itself, the new heavens and the new Earth, the command 495 00:45:07.030 --> 00:45:12.460 that God gave Adam to fill the earth, to expand the glory of God 496 00:45:12.739 --> 00:45:16.019 to all the ends. Has now been done through the lamb, through Jesus 497 00:45:16.019 --> 00:45:22.289 Christ, who is everything, and now God's presence will not just be a 498 00:45:22.570 --> 00:45:30.650 specially placed on earth, in this one place, but will literally fill everything, 499 00:45:31.929 --> 00:45:38.159 that his judgments will be outside of the new heavens and the new earth. 500 00:45:38.960 --> 00:45:45.239 That The holiness that is bound up in the temple now, or bound 501 00:45:45.400 --> 00:45:47.239 or that is, I don't want to put it that way. The holiness 502 00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:53.230 that is expressed in the temple in Jonah's Day is revealed on the last day 503 00:45:53.630 --> 00:46:04.860 to consume and consummate everything. The city is the temple. I saw no 504 00:46:05.059 --> 00:46:08.699 temple because there's was no need of the temple for God to place his special 505 00:46:08.739 --> 00:46:15.059 saving presence and spread it throughout the world, because the entire world now is 506 00:46:15.340 --> 00:46:22.130 filled with the saving presence and glory of God. That's why I say when 507 00:46:22.170 --> 00:46:28.289 we pray to God, we have to pray in light of the temple, 508 00:46:29.050 --> 00:46:34.280 because God still sits and dwells in his temple. Jesus Christ has entered that 509 00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:38.239 temple, this place made not with human hands, and has given his own 510 00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:44.840 life. He is a high priest interceding for us, and we belong to 511 00:46:45.159 --> 00:46:50.269 that. We belong to him. The all the images that we have in 512 00:46:50.309 --> 00:46:53.710 the Old Testament, we don't just say well, that was interesting and leave 513 00:46:53.750 --> 00:47:00.550 it alone. Know, we allow it to inform our sense of what is 514 00:47:00.670 --> 00:47:06.380 going on right now and what God will give in the new heavens and the 515 00:47:06.500 --> 00:47:12.219 new earth. The old temple isn't merely an object lesson, something to or 516 00:47:12.380 --> 00:47:16.329 something even to return to. It's a foreshadowing of the things that God is 517 00:47:16.449 --> 00:47:22.050 doing even now. Get a sense for this, a sense for the greatness 518 00:47:22.090 --> 00:47:25.849 and the glory of God, and when you lift your prayers up to him 519 00:47:25.969 --> 00:47:31.480 in Jesus name, know that this is what is happening. What is happening 520 00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:37.280 that your presence goes to God, not unmediated, with you standing there and 521 00:47:37.400 --> 00:47:43.880 all of your sins and and in judgment, but you coming before the Lord, 522 00:47:44.039 --> 00:47:47.190 in the name of the son of God, into the temple, into 523 00:47:47.309 --> 00:47:53.150 the most holy place. And, as we'll see tonight, indeed we even 524 00:47:53.469 --> 00:47:59.260 are that temple, that his presence is so close to us, that he's 525 00:47:59.300 --> 00:48:05.059 said to dwell in us, and that the temple is even his people. 526 00:48:06.940 --> 00:48:10.380 That is more than enough to reflect on. Let's close in Prayer