Darren Tappouras – The Power of His Presence – Class 4

1
00:00:00,040 –> 00:00:03,880
Before our brother Darren comes
up, we’ll take a reading to

2
00:00:03,880 –> 00:00:08,000
introduce this evening from
Numbers six.

3
00:00:11,440 –> 00:00:15,760
Number six.
And the Lord spake unto Moses,

4
00:00:15,760 –> 00:00:20,840
saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them,

5
00:00:22,080 –> 00:00:25,680
When either man or woman shall
separate themselves to vow a vow

6
00:00:25,680 –> 00:00:30,800
of a Nazarite to separate
themselves unto the Lord, he

7
00:00:30,800 –> 00:00:34,720
shall separate himself from wine
and strong drink, and shall

8
00:00:34,720 –> 00:00:37,960
drink no vinegar of wine, or
vinegar of strong drink.

9
00:00:39,080 –> 00:00:43,040
Neither shall he drink any
liquor of grapes, nor eat moist

10
00:00:43,040 –> 00:00:48,240
grapes, or dried all the days of
his separation shall he eat

11
00:00:48,240 –> 00:00:52,840
nothing that is made of the vine
tree from the kernels even to

12
00:00:52,840 –> 00:00:56,560
the husk.
All the days of the vow of his

13
00:00:56,560 –> 00:01:01,240
separation, there shall no razor
come upon his head until the

14
00:01:01,240 –> 00:01:04,160
days be fulfilled.
In the which he separateth

15
00:01:04,160 –> 00:01:10,200
himself unto the Lord he shall
be holy, and shall let the locks

16
00:01:10,200 –> 00:01:14,800
of the hair of his head grow.
All the days that he separateth

17
00:01:14,800 –> 00:01:18,440
himself unto the Lord, he shall
come at no dead body.

18
00:01:20,280 –> 00:01:24,720
He shall not make himself
unclean for his father or for

19
00:01:24,720 –> 00:01:28,920
his mother, for his brother, or
for his sister when they die,

20
00:01:29,920 –> 00:01:32,760
because the consecration of his
God is upon his head.

21
00:01:34,720 –> 00:01:38,000
All the days of his separation.
He is holy unto the Lord.

22
00:01:40,440 –> 00:01:45,240
And if any man die very suddenly
by him, and he has to file the

23
00:01:45,240 –> 00:01:49,000
head of his consecration, then
he shall shave his head in the

24
00:01:49,000 –> 00:01:52,760
day of his cleansing.
On the 7th day shall he shave

25
00:01:52,760 –> 00:01:57,360
it, and on the eighth day he
shall bring two turtles or two

26
00:01:57,360 –> 00:02:01,440
young pigeons to the priest to
the door of the Tabernacle of

27
00:02:01,440 –> 00:02:05,280
the congregation.
And the priest shall offer the

28
00:02:05,280 –> 00:02:10,560
one for a sin offering, and the
other for a burnt offering, and

29
00:02:10,560 –> 00:02:14,480
make an atonement for him.
For that he sinned by the dead,

30
00:02:14,480 –> 00:02:17,920
and shall hallow his head that
same day.

31
00:02:19,960 –> 00:02:23,200
And he shall consecrate unto the
Lord the days of his separation,

32
00:02:24,960 –> 00:02:28,400
and shall bring a Lamb of the
first year for a trespass

33
00:02:28,400 –> 00:02:31,640
offering.
But the days that were before

34
00:02:32,040 –> 00:02:35,080
shall be lost, because his
separation was defiled.

35
00:02:37,560 –> 00:02:39,160
And this is the law of the
Nazarite.

36
00:02:40,520 –> 00:02:43,800
When the days of his separation
are fulfilled, he shall be

37
00:02:43,800 –> 00:02:46,720
brought unto the door of the
Tabernacle of the congregation.

38
00:02:47,960 –> 00:02:50,120
He shall offer his offering unto
the Lord.

39
00:02:51,880 –> 00:02:55,400
One he lamb of the first year
without blemish for a burnt

40
00:02:55,400 –> 00:02:57,480
offering.
And one you lamb of the first

41
00:02:57,480 –> 00:03:02,400
year without blemish for a sin
offering, And one ram without

42
00:03:02,400 –> 00:03:07,480
blemish for peace Offerings, and
a basket of unleavened bread,

43
00:03:08,160 –> 00:03:12,160
cakes of fine flour mingled with
oil, and wafers of unleavened

44
00:03:12,160 –> 00:03:15,880
bread, anointed with oil, and
their meat offering, and their

45
00:03:15,880 –> 00:03:19,360
drink offerings.
And the priest shall bring them

46
00:03:19,360 –> 00:03:23,560
before the Lord, and shall offer
his sin offering and his burnt

47
00:03:23,560 –> 00:03:27,320
offering.
And he shall offer the ram for a

48
00:03:27,320 –> 00:03:31,400
sacrifice of peace offerings
unto the Lord with the basket of

49
00:03:31,440 –> 00:03:35,600
unleavened bread.
The priest shall offer also his

50
00:03:35,600 –> 00:03:37,320
meat offering and his drink
offering.

51
00:03:39,200 –> 00:03:41,720
And the Nazarite shall shave the
head of his separation.

52
00:03:41,720 –> 00:03:46,000
At the door of the Tabernacle of
the congregation shall take the

53
00:03:46,000 –> 00:03:49,560
hair of the head of his
separation and put it in the

54
00:03:49,560 –> 00:03:52,360
fire which is under the
sacrifice of the peace

55
00:03:52,360 –> 00:03:56,000
offerings.
And the priest shall take the

56
00:03:56,000 –> 00:04:00,480
sodden shoulder of the ram, and
one unleavened cake out of the

57
00:04:00,480 –> 00:04:06,760
basket, and one unleavened
wafer, and shall put them upon

58
00:04:06,760 –> 00:04:10,920
the hands of the Nazarite after
the hair of his separation is

59
00:04:10,920 –> 00:04:15,920
shaved, And the priest shall
wave them for a wave offering

60
00:04:15,920 –> 00:04:21,079
before the Lord.
This is holy for the priest with

61
00:04:21,079 –> 00:04:25,080
the wave breast and heave
shoulder, and after that the

62
00:04:25,080 –> 00:04:30,520
Nazarite may drink wine.
This is the law of the Nazarite,

63
00:04:30,520 –> 00:04:33,720
who hath vowed, and of his
offering unto the Lord for his

64
00:04:33,720 –> 00:04:38,760
separation.
Beside that that his hand shall

65
00:04:38,760 –> 00:04:43,880
get according to the vow which
he vowed, so he must do after

66
00:04:43,880 –> 00:04:48,400
the law of his separation.
And the Lord spake unto Moses,

67
00:04:48,400 –> 00:04:52,800
saying, Speak unto Aaron, and
unto his sons, saying, On this

68
00:04:52,800 –> 00:04:57,080
wise ye shall bless the children
of Israel, saying unto them, The

69
00:04:57,080 –> 00:05:02,360
Lord bless thee, and keep thee.
The Lord make his face shine

70
00:05:02,360 –> 00:05:05,120
upon thee, and be gracious unto
thee.

71
00:05:06,560 –> 00:05:10,640
The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace.

72
00:05:12,520 –> 00:05:16,240
And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I

73
00:05:16,240 –> 00:05:24,010
will bless them.
We now ask her brother Darren to

74
00:05:24,010 –> 00:05:27,050
come forward and.
Continue his study on the power

75
00:05:27,050 –> 00:05:34,250
of the presence of God.
Thanks, brother Nathan, and good

76
00:05:34,250 –> 00:05:36,610
evening, my dear brothers and
sisters in the Lord Jesus

77
00:05:36,610 –> 00:05:39,530
Christ, our dear young people.
It’s lovely to be back with you

78
00:05:39,570 –> 00:05:43,610
again to continue our thoughts
on the presence of God.

79
00:05:44,770 –> 00:05:47,130
Tonight we want to change gears
a little bit.

80
00:05:47,130 –> 00:05:49,920
We’re going to probably.
To be a little bit more

81
00:05:49,920 –> 00:05:52,440
reflective on some of the things
we’re going to talk about and

82
00:05:52,440 –> 00:05:55,920
think about, but there’s a
couple of loose ends I want to

83
00:05:55,920 –> 00:05:58,120
tie up first.
So if I can have a couple of

84
00:05:58,120 –> 00:06:01,960
minutes just to bring the
expositional part of our studies

85
00:06:02,480 –> 00:06:07,600
to a conclusion, If you want to
turn with me to Hebrews Chapter

86
00:06:07,600 –> 00:06:10,320
10, if that’s OK.
And we’ll just make a few

87
00:06:10,320 –> 00:06:15,360
closing comments on some of the
and bring some of the threads

88
00:06:15,440 –> 00:06:18,240
that we’ve been following
through together.

89
00:06:22,080 –> 00:06:26,040
Remember how we began our
series, looking at the concept

90
00:06:26,040 –> 00:06:28,760
of the presence and trying to
define it as best we could?

91
00:06:29,240 –> 00:06:31,000
And we thought the word
closeness?

92
00:06:31,000 –> 00:06:35,360
The English word close captured
the idea of the of what presence

93
00:06:35,360 –> 00:06:39,720
really is, and we thought about
the fact that closeness has a

94
00:06:39,720 –> 00:06:41,920
number of dimensions to it.
So you can be.

95
00:06:42,360 –> 00:06:45,080
Physically close or spatially
close to someone and you can

96
00:06:45,080 –> 00:06:47,560
also be relationally close to
someone.

97
00:06:47,560 –> 00:06:50,640
And as we follow the presence of
God through Scripture, we find

98
00:06:50,640 –> 00:06:56,280
those two dimensions coming
together in and they come

99
00:06:56,280 –> 00:06:59,640
together in the temple concept
of God dwelling with his people.

100
00:06:59,960 –> 00:07:06,040
So the relational closeness of
God is really emphasised and

101
00:07:06,040 –> 00:07:09,280
comes into existence by
something called the New

102
00:07:09,280 –> 00:07:12,040
Covenant we spent.
A fair bit of time looking at

103
00:07:12,040 –> 00:07:14,840
the New covenant, the concept of
the new covenant that really

104
00:07:14,840 –> 00:07:19,080
allows God in his righteousness
and allows us to have this, this

105
00:07:19,080 –> 00:07:21,120
closeness, this presence in our
life.

106
00:07:21,440 –> 00:07:26,040
And so in chapter 10, the
references there in verse 16 to

107
00:07:26,040 –> 00:07:28,480
the New Covenant, we’ve talked
about it already.

108
00:07:28,480 –> 00:07:31,240
So I don’t want to go over all
the elements of the New

109
00:07:31,240 –> 00:07:33,720
Covenant, but it’s really
spelled out clearly there in

110
00:07:33,720 –> 00:07:36,520
verse 16.
This is the covenant, the new

111
00:07:36,520 –> 00:07:39,320
covenant.
I will make with them after

112
00:07:39,320 –> 00:07:41,080
those days.
It’s talking about believers

113
00:07:41,080 –> 00:07:44,040
now, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their

114
00:07:44,040 –> 00:07:48,000
hearts and their minds, and I’ll
write them on their hearts and

115
00:07:48,000 –> 00:07:49,720
their minds and their sins and
iniquities.

116
00:07:49,720 –> 00:07:52,640
I’ll remember no more.
So this is the new covenant we

117
00:07:52,640 –> 00:07:54,640
are under.
We remember every Sunday, of

118
00:07:54,640 –> 00:07:58,320
course, as we take the wine.
This is the blood of the New

119
00:07:58,320 –> 00:08:03,040
Covenant, very powerful symbol
that reminds us of the way that

120
00:08:03,040 –> 00:08:04,960
we can have this relationship
with God.

121
00:08:05,880 –> 00:08:11,000
And also here in Hebrews 10,
we’ve got the spatial closeness

122
00:08:11,000 –> 00:08:14,640
to God that’s also emphasized.
So if you drop down to verse 20,

123
00:08:16,000 –> 00:08:20,080
we’re told the the, the results
here and what happens because of

124
00:08:20,080 –> 00:08:23,320
that relationship we have.
It says, therefore, brethren, we

125
00:08:23,320 –> 00:08:26,840
have boldness to enter into the
holiest, into the very presence

126
00:08:26,840 –> 00:08:28,880
of God.
Does that idea of holiness

127
00:08:29,320 –> 00:08:36,080
depicts the holiness by a new?
And living way again, it’s new

128
00:08:36,080 –> 00:08:38,360
just as the the covenant was
new.

129
00:08:38,799 –> 00:08:41,840
So this access to the presence
of God is something new.

130
00:08:41,840 –> 00:08:46,040
It’s this new and alive or Zoe
way this new and living way

131
00:08:48,200 –> 00:08:50,560
through that that Christ has
consecrated.

132
00:08:50,560 –> 00:08:53,040
It says they’re in the AV it
really means inaugurated.

133
00:08:53,200 –> 00:08:56,880
He opened up and started it and
and inaugurated this whole new

134
00:08:56,880 –> 00:09:00,720
and living way as depicted there
symbolically as.

135
00:09:01,200 –> 00:09:04,400
Entering through the veil into
the very presence of God.

136
00:09:05,000 –> 00:09:06,760
So we are there with him in a
sense.

137
00:09:06,760 –> 00:09:10,720
So we’ve got these two
dimensions that are caught up

138
00:09:10,720 –> 00:09:14,680
here in the in the results of
what we have in Christ.

139
00:09:14,960 –> 00:09:18,080
We have this relationship
through the new covenant which

140
00:09:18,080 –> 00:09:23,760
is just so beneficial SO1 sided.
And I hope we got that that

141
00:09:24,080 –> 00:09:26,560
reality across in our in our
thoughts on it.

142
00:09:26,880 –> 00:09:28,760
And also, we are in the very
presence of God.

143
00:09:28,760 –> 00:09:33,480
We’re connected to God in a very
unique way, very incredible way.

144
00:09:34,400 –> 00:09:36,840
We thought about believers under
the Old covenant.

145
00:09:37,000 –> 00:09:39,320
Did they have access to the the
holiest?

146
00:09:39,320 –> 00:09:40,960
Did they have access to the
presence of God?

147
00:09:40,960 –> 00:09:43,280
Did they have access beyond the
veil?

148
00:09:43,680 –> 00:09:49,560
Well, they didn’t.
In fact, the presence of God was

149
00:09:49,560 –> 00:09:54,120
very restricted.
If you remember, Psalm 15 says

150
00:09:54,640 –> 00:09:58,760
who?
Will ascend into my mountain,

151
00:09:58,760 –> 00:10:00,240
into the into the mountain of
the Lord.

152
00:10:00,240 –> 00:10:05,400
And who can stand in his holy
place and remember who could,

153
00:10:05,920 –> 00:10:08,880
Who could?
What were the conditions that

154
00:10:09,360 –> 00:10:11,760
Psalm 15 says?
Well, you had to walk uprightly.

155
00:10:12,680 –> 00:10:15,760
You had to all your works had to
be works of righteousness.

156
00:10:15,760 –> 00:10:17,920
You had to speak truth.
You had to be honest.

157
00:10:17,920 –> 00:10:20,320
You had to be someone who put
yourself out for others and

158
00:10:20,320 –> 00:10:22,680
didn’t misuse your power.
There’s a whole lot of

159
00:10:22,680 –> 00:10:25,880
conditions.
You had to be righteous to

160
00:10:25,960 –> 00:10:29,400
ascend that hill.
Anyone want to read the

161
00:10:29,400 –> 00:10:32,600
conditions there in Psalm 15 and
put their hand up and say they

162
00:10:32,600 –> 00:10:34,800
could have?
They could have walked up the

163
00:10:34,800 –> 00:10:38,040
hill into the presence of God?
Well, I couldn’t.

164
00:10:38,120 –> 00:10:41,040
I don’t think any of us could.
Psalm 24 says exactly the same

165
00:10:41,040 –> 00:10:42,000
things.
Same thing.

166
00:10:42,000 –> 00:10:45,280
Who can ascend the hill of the
Lord who can stand in His

167
00:10:45,280 –> 00:10:48,440
presence?
You had to have clean hands.

168
00:10:48,880 –> 00:10:52,080
You had to have a pure heart.
There had to be no vanity in

169
00:10:52,080 –> 00:10:54,040
you.
No, you had to have be a person

170
00:10:54,040 –> 00:10:57,760
of absolute truth without any
hint of a lie or or or

171
00:10:58,960 –> 00:11:03,040
subterfuge in your life.
When you Add all these

172
00:11:03,040 –> 00:11:06,480
characteristics together of who
could walk into the presence of

173
00:11:06,480 –> 00:11:09,920
God under the old covenant, no
one could, of course.

174
00:11:10,680 –> 00:11:12,760
And if you Add all those
conditions and all those

175
00:11:12,760 –> 00:11:16,200
qualities together, you have
something which we may call

176
00:11:16,200 –> 00:11:19,320
perfection.
So to enter into the presence of

177
00:11:19,320 –> 00:11:24,280
God required perfection.
Only one person in history has

178
00:11:24,280 –> 00:11:26,960
been able to walk to that hill
and stand in the presence of God

179
00:11:26,960 –> 00:11:30,120
in that way and meet those
conditions, of course, and

180
00:11:30,120 –> 00:11:34,280
that’s our Lord Jesus Christ.
But as a result of that, Hebrew

181
00:11:34,280 –> 00:11:39,240
says he’s opened up this new and
living way through the new

182
00:11:39,240 –> 00:11:42,920
covenant that all of us can live
in the presence of God, even

183
00:11:42,920 –> 00:11:46,840
though we’re not perfect as
described in that in those.

184
00:11:47,640 –> 00:11:52,480
Conditional Psalms.
Now what’s the result then of

185
00:11:52,480 –> 00:11:57,040
this ability for us to be able
to stand in the very presence of

186
00:11:57,040 –> 00:12:00,400
God, to have this amazing
relationship with God as

187
00:12:00,400 –> 00:12:03,360
depicted by the New Covenant and
the New and living way?

188
00:12:04,400 –> 00:12:12,000
Well, this nineteen starts with
these words having therefore.

189
00:12:12,680 –> 00:12:15,920
This is where this is the this
is the final verse we want to

190
00:12:15,920 –> 00:12:18,840
think about brothers and sisters
having therefore.

191
00:12:18,840 –> 00:12:21,960
So these two strands have come
together, these two temple

192
00:12:21,960 –> 00:12:26,200
strands of God’s presence, his
relational connection to His

193
00:12:26,200 –> 00:12:29,960
people, and the the spatial
connection that He’s with his

194
00:12:29,960 –> 00:12:32,000
people through His spirit.
These two things have come

195
00:12:32,000 –> 00:12:34,280
together.
What does it all mean?

196
00:12:34,280 –> 00:12:38,760
What What’s the take away?
And the writer of Hebrews is now

197
00:12:38,760 –> 00:12:42,160
going to tell us having
therefore.

198
00:12:42,600 –> 00:12:45,720
That word therefore, in the
Greek it’s it’s this word UN,

199
00:12:46,080 –> 00:12:50,560
which is one of these logic
words like a a progressive word.

200
00:12:50,560 –> 00:12:56,080
And therefore it’s it’s the
result, it’s now the the objects

201
00:12:56,080 –> 00:13:00,240
being met having therefore what
the right of Hebrew says, the

202
00:13:00,240 –> 00:13:05,280
number of things we have a
number of things because of the

203
00:13:05,280 –> 00:13:08,520
new covenant, because of the new
and living way, something we

204
00:13:08,520 –> 00:13:11,960
have in Christ.
We have something called

205
00:13:11,960 –> 00:13:15,480
boldness.
Just think about that.

206
00:13:15,480 –> 00:13:17,920
What does that mean?
Boldness.

207
00:13:18,360 –> 00:13:21,000
If you look up Strong’s
concordance, the definitions,

208
00:13:21,000 –> 00:13:23,800
they are outspokenness.
You can It’s something to be

209
00:13:23,800 –> 00:13:28,640
outspoken, to be frank, to be
blunt, there’s something we have

210
00:13:28,640 –> 00:13:30,440
with God.
Because of the New Covenant

211
00:13:30,600 –> 00:13:35,040
father child relationship and
the fact that God is in our life

212
00:13:35,720 –> 00:13:38,440
present with us, we can have
boldness.

213
00:13:39,240 –> 00:13:41,440
I know some of the new
translations have confidence

214
00:13:41,440 –> 00:13:44,840
there, but I think I think the
the King James has got the right

215
00:13:44,840 –> 00:13:47,200
nuance.
This word really is a has an

216
00:13:47,200 –> 00:13:49,680
external element to it.
Rather than confidence you can

217
00:13:49,680 –> 00:13:53,080
be confident.
It’s just an internal composure.

218
00:13:53,080 –> 00:13:57,400
But boldness is something even
more boisterous, more out there.

219
00:13:57,400 –> 00:14:00,320
And here it’s saying because of
their relationship with God,

220
00:14:01,080 –> 00:14:06,280
because under the law the blood
of bulls and goats couldn’t make

221
00:14:06,280 –> 00:14:08,040
you perfect, but the blood of
Christ.

222
00:14:08,960 –> 00:14:12,320
Can make us perfect.
Can allow us to walk up the holy

223
00:14:12,320 –> 00:14:14,480
hill of the Lord and stand in
his most holy place.

224
00:14:14,960 –> 00:14:17,120
It gives us something called
boldness, and I want us to think

225
00:14:17,120 –> 00:14:19,240
about that.
It’s hard for me to define what

226
00:14:19,240 –> 00:14:22,120
that means in all our individual
lives, but there’s something

227
00:14:22,120 –> 00:14:25,600
about our connection to God that
we have boldness, which is

228
00:14:26,560 –> 00:14:29,000
something we may shrink away
from, in a sense, because it’s

229
00:14:29,000 –> 00:14:31,800
the dead opposite of how we may
feel sometimes.

230
00:14:32,040 –> 00:14:34,400
It’s the opposite to how Adam
and Eve felt when they seemed

231
00:14:34,400 –> 00:14:38,120
and they felt the shame and the
and the and the horrible.

232
00:14:38,480 –> 00:14:42,360
Conscience effect that sin had
and they hid themselves from the

233
00:14:42,360 –> 00:14:46,320
presence from the the presence
of God and and mankind lost that

234
00:14:46,320 –> 00:14:50,600
connection to God.
And now in Christ it’s been

235
00:14:51,240 –> 00:14:54,800
rectified.
Man is now perfect or those in

236
00:14:54,800 –> 00:14:58,520
Christ are now made perfect.
They’re able to be in the

237
00:14:58,520 –> 00:15:01,200
presence of God.
They’re able to have boldness

238
00:15:03,120 –> 00:15:05,440
and I try and think of a
relationship that captures that

239
00:15:05,440 –> 00:15:07,560
the.
The child parent relationship, I

240
00:15:07,560 –> 00:15:11,360
think is the best way to try and
think about boldness a child

241
00:15:11,360 –> 00:15:13,080
has.
There’s a level of boldness that

242
00:15:13,080 –> 00:15:15,480
a child has with their parent,
even if their parent is the

243
00:15:15,480 –> 00:15:17,560
president of the United States
or the king.

244
00:15:17,960 –> 00:15:21,720
The child has boldness in the
presence of that August person.

245
00:15:23,000 –> 00:15:25,760
And I know with my own father, I
know, I know there’s a sense of

246
00:15:27,400 –> 00:15:29,200
I have a sense of boldness when
I talk to Dad.

247
00:15:29,200 –> 00:15:31,600
Because we we, whenever we get
together, we talk about the

248
00:15:31,600 –> 00:15:34,040
Scripture.
He’s got a lot of crazy ideas

249
00:15:34,040 –> 00:15:36,560
and I have boldness to go back
at him and say that’s rubbish.

250
00:15:36,720 –> 00:15:39,440
So there’s a sense of but but we
do it in love.

251
00:15:39,440 –> 00:15:40,720
Of course there’s a sense of
boldness.

252
00:15:40,720 –> 00:15:42,800
I have my own father because I
know he loves me and I know

253
00:15:43,200 –> 00:15:46,960
regardless of our interactions
we’re we’re we’re we’re united

254
00:15:46,960 –> 00:15:49,560
together in a in a way that can
never be separated.

255
00:15:50,440 –> 00:15:51,880
So there’s a sense of boldness
there.

256
00:15:52,160 –> 00:15:54,640
How we translate that to God is
something to think about isn’t

257
00:15:54,640 –> 00:15:56,360
it?
But it’s not.

258
00:15:56,520 –> 00:15:59,040
I haven’t made this word up,
brothers and sisters, this is

259
00:15:59,040 –> 00:16:02,280
inspired words, inspired word
that’s been given to us.

260
00:16:03,000 –> 00:16:06,240
And it means what it says, and
it’s a very strong word.

261
00:16:07,760 –> 00:16:12,680
We’re also told, therefore, as a
result of this relationship with

262
00:16:12,680 –> 00:16:18,200
God, we can draw near this, this
word Prussia Komai, which is

263
00:16:18,200 –> 00:16:20,160
used seven times in the book of
Hebrews.

264
00:16:20,160 –> 00:16:22,800
And I have an exhortation that
just runs through those seven

265
00:16:22,800 –> 00:16:25,920
times because that’s a really
powerful thing, the idea of

266
00:16:25,920 –> 00:16:29,760
drawing near to God.
And it’s it’s the theme in

267
00:16:29,760 –> 00:16:31,040
Hebrews.
You could say it’s.

268
00:16:31,440 –> 00:16:34,440
Something about the blood of
Christ and our relationship

269
00:16:34,440 –> 00:16:37,800
through the New Covenant allows
us to draw near.

270
00:16:38,240 –> 00:16:41,800
When under the Old Covenant
they’re often pushed away,

271
00:16:42,920 –> 00:16:46,360
rightly so, in the sense that
that God could not, could not

272
00:16:48,280 –> 00:16:51,560
tolerate their wickedness of
course, and and that that is,

273
00:16:52,120 –> 00:16:54,920
that was the appropriate thing.
But something has changed under

274
00:16:54,920 –> 00:16:59,080
the New Covenant that allows
even sinners to draw near.

275
00:17:01,160 –> 00:17:05,960
And there’s this other word to
Therefore, as a result of our

276
00:17:05,960 –> 00:17:10,599
relationship, we can have
something called full assurance.

277
00:17:11,240 –> 00:17:15,079
In Greek, it’s this word pleuro
thoria, plural, which means

278
00:17:15,079 –> 00:17:17,240
full.
It’s a pretty common New

279
00:17:17,240 –> 00:17:19,520
Testament word.
But this other word, thoria,

280
00:17:19,560 –> 00:17:24,760
it’s it’s an incredible word.
And building to the word is a

281
00:17:24,760 –> 00:17:28,440
metaphor.
The idea of of fullness, the

282
00:17:28,440 –> 00:17:30,680
idea of weight, is caught up in
this word.

283
00:17:31,120 –> 00:17:35,520
And the metaphor that is
depicted in this word is a ship

284
00:17:36,160 –> 00:17:39,000
that has its sails absolutely
full of wind.

285
00:17:39,000 –> 00:17:42,400
It’s like it’s caught in a Gale
and it’s just been propelled

286
00:17:42,400 –> 00:17:44,520
across the ocean and nothing can
stop it.

287
00:17:44,520 –> 00:17:48,880
It’s just full pelt across the
ocean, smashing through waves

288
00:17:48,880 –> 00:17:54,720
and spray everywhere.
It’s it’s unstoppable, it’s full

289
00:17:55,440 –> 00:17:58,720
and it’s compelled and motivated
and moved.

290
00:17:59,800 –> 00:18:01,600
And so because of this
relationship, brothers and

291
00:18:01,600 –> 00:18:06,600
sisters, I hope it’s not just
been all verses that we’ve

292
00:18:06,600 –> 00:18:09,360
looked up and and just read and
thought about it.

293
00:18:09,360 –> 00:18:12,760
Theoretically, there’s something
powerful that comes through from

294
00:18:12,760 –> 00:18:15,600
all this.
We have something called full

295
00:18:15,840 –> 00:18:20,920
assurance plurothoria, even
connected to the word euphoria.

296
00:18:20,920 –> 00:18:24,840
In a sense, there’s something
powerful and compelling about

297
00:18:24,840 –> 00:18:28,160
what we have in Christ boldness
with our Heavenly Father.

298
00:18:28,760 –> 00:18:33,520
The ability to draw near and
this full assurance in Christ,

299
00:18:33,520 –> 00:18:36,360
it’s it’s a it’s an emotional
feast, isn’t it?

300
00:18:36,360 –> 00:18:40,240
It’s so powerful and and I hope
in a little way I’ve been able

301
00:18:40,240 –> 00:18:42,600
to try and get some of that
across.

302
00:18:42,600 –> 00:18:46,840
And it’s not being based upon
good feelings or nice ideas.

303
00:18:46,840 –> 00:18:51,640
It’s been it’s very much
anchored and and and cemented

304
00:18:52,000 –> 00:18:55,520
down by the inspired word of God
and the concepts that have been

305
00:18:55,520 –> 00:19:01,200
revealed to God by God, to us.
So as I said that hopefully that

306
00:19:01,200 –> 00:19:03,800
brings together the the concept
of God’s presence from an

307
00:19:03,800 –> 00:19:06,320
expositional point of view.
And as I said, we wanted to

308
00:19:06,320 –> 00:19:09,120
change gears a little bit and be
a bit more reflective and think

309
00:19:09,120 –> 00:19:17,400
about how this all works and and
what what what, what we can take

310
00:19:17,400 –> 00:19:20,920
from it.
Personally, we’ve been talking

311
00:19:20,920 –> 00:19:24,040
about presence as a
relationship.

312
00:19:24,080 –> 00:19:26,680
There’s a relationship with God,
and that’s at the very heart of

313
00:19:26,680 –> 00:19:29,720
the presence of God.
And when there’s any

314
00:19:29,720 –> 00:19:32,440
relationship, there’s there’s
two parties to a relationship,

315
00:19:32,440 –> 00:19:34,800
isn’t there?
And we want to think about both

316
00:19:35,720 –> 00:19:39,720
parties in this relationship.
And so in this particular

317
00:19:39,720 –> 00:19:44,360
relationship, there is God and
there is His creation, there is

318
00:19:44,360 –> 00:19:46,560
man.
We want to talk about how those

319
00:19:46,560 –> 00:19:50,200
two are connected, how they are
linked together, because that’s

320
00:19:50,200 –> 00:19:53,960
really at the very heart of all
this and maybe there’s a bit of,

321
00:19:54,440 –> 00:19:58,040
bit of.
Time to recalibrate maybe our

322
00:19:58,040 –> 00:20:01,640
thinking when it comes to God
and man and and how God sees his

323
00:20:01,640 –> 00:20:05,920
creation and see if our thinking
is is exactly biblical or not.

324
00:20:09,480 –> 00:20:13,120
Sometimes our perception, how we
see things mentally and how we

325
00:20:13,120 –> 00:20:17,120
think about things can have a a
practical outworking or a

326
00:20:17,160 –> 00:20:19,200
behavioral outworking in our
life.

327
00:20:19,200 –> 00:20:22,320
And so it’s good to challenge
some of our perceptions and to

328
00:20:22,320 –> 00:20:25,160
see how.
Biblically sound they are in

329
00:20:25,160 –> 00:20:28,000
some ways because our behaviour
follows some of those mental

330
00:20:28,000 –> 00:20:32,600
perceptions we have.
Here’s an example, the one

331
00:20:32,600 –> 00:20:34,960
talent servant in the parable of
the talents.

332
00:20:34,960 –> 00:20:39,800
Remember the words he said when
he’s confronted by the Lord and

333
00:20:39,800 –> 00:20:42,440
asked what he’s done with that
talent in the Lord’s absence.

334
00:20:42,440 –> 00:20:46,640
And he says, Lord, I knew you
and I knew that you I knew.

335
00:20:46,640 –> 00:20:50,360
So he’s not saying I thought I
knew or I had this impression or

336
00:20:50,560 –> 00:20:52,800
I had this idea that someone
had.

337
00:20:52,880 –> 00:20:54,560
He said I knew he was very
confident.

338
00:20:54,560 –> 00:20:58,960
I knew you to be a hard man,
reaping where you did not sow

339
00:20:59,000 –> 00:21:02,640
and gathering where you where
you did not seed, and look at

340
00:21:02,640 –> 00:21:06,600
the the practical result that
had on him as a result of his

341
00:21:06,600 –> 00:21:09,880
so-called knowledge of the Lord,
he says.

342
00:21:09,880 –> 00:21:13,880
I was afraid and I went and hid
your talent in the ground.

343
00:21:14,320 –> 00:21:17,960
There was a paralysis that came
about because of this

344
00:21:18,600 –> 00:21:20,880
misconception of the Lord that
he had.

345
00:21:21,520 –> 00:21:24,880
And so you can see this
overwhelming fear of his Lord

346
00:21:25,160 –> 00:21:28,160
led to this inability to even
serve His Lord.

347
00:21:28,520 –> 00:21:30,200
There was something wrong in the
relationship.

348
00:21:30,200 –> 00:21:34,600
There was a misconception coming
from coming from the human end

349
00:21:35,200 –> 00:21:38,600
and we just want to think about
this a little bit tonight and

350
00:21:38,600 –> 00:21:42,080
see if our calibration needs a
little bit of tuning there.

351
00:21:43,160 –> 00:21:45,800
Let’s first think about man.
That’s that’s us, of course, and

352
00:21:45,800 –> 00:21:50,280
how how how God sees us and how
God views us.

353
00:21:51,480 –> 00:21:56,160
Because in our language there
can be sometimes a very negative

354
00:21:56,160 –> 00:21:59,120
perception of humans and humans
are evil.

355
00:21:59,120 –> 00:22:01,600
There’s no doubt about that.
And and there’s many verses in

356
00:22:01,600 –> 00:22:03,280
the Bible that talk about the
human heart.

357
00:22:04,480 –> 00:22:07,880
But we sometimes get this
picture that humans are just

358
00:22:07,880 –> 00:22:09,880
this wretched creature of the
dust.

359
00:22:09,880 –> 00:22:14,000
That’s the term we use and
there’s an appropriate place to

360
00:22:14,000 –> 00:22:16,840
use that language but we’re
going to see is that is that

361
00:22:16,840 –> 00:22:20,480
really the whole picture is is
are humans just this depraved,

362
00:22:20,880 –> 00:22:26,120
wretched horrible thing that is
so offensive to God?

363
00:22:26,120 –> 00:22:28,120
Is that is that really what what
a human is.

364
00:22:30,800 –> 00:22:35,520
There are places in the Bible
that compare us to say

365
00:22:35,520 –> 00:22:38,560
grasshoppers in God’s sight and
that we’re we’re nothing in

366
00:22:38,560 –> 00:22:41,920
God’s sight.
God’s so great above us and our

367
00:22:42,000 –> 00:22:44,400
thoughts are not his thoughts,
and they are appropriate

368
00:22:44,400 –> 00:22:47,280
comparisons because God is so
great and so holy.

369
00:22:48,120 –> 00:22:52,320
But sometimes you can extract
from that this this idea that

370
00:22:52,320 –> 00:22:56,960
man is absolutely nothing man.
Man’s a disgusting, horrible

371
00:22:56,960 –> 00:23:02,680
thing that that that has no no
way is is man connected to the

372
00:23:02,680 –> 00:23:05,640
presence of God or has any
connection to God whatsoever.

373
00:23:06,040 –> 00:23:07,800
But let’s think about man for a
moment.

374
00:23:07,800 –> 00:23:12,840
In In the big picture, God, of
course created man.

375
00:23:15,040 –> 00:23:18,200
In the creation record, of
course there’s this word good.

376
00:23:18,200 –> 00:23:21,520
When God observes his creation
as it progresses through the

377
00:23:21,520 –> 00:23:24,120
days and God sees something, he
says it was it was good.

378
00:23:24,120 –> 00:23:26,080
And he said and behold, it was
it was good.

379
00:23:26,840 –> 00:23:30,080
It’s not until man is created
that God looks at the whole of

380
00:23:30,080 –> 00:23:32,640
creation and says it was very
good.

381
00:23:33,280 –> 00:23:37,480
There was something about man
that was the pinnacle of God’s

382
00:23:37,480 –> 00:23:38,960
creation.
It was something that God was

383
00:23:38,960 –> 00:23:43,960
working towards and all the
other platforms and elements

384
00:23:43,960 –> 00:23:46,800
that were part of the creation
were, were coming together to

385
00:23:47,160 –> 00:23:52,760
provide a place where God could
put this thing called man, this,

386
00:23:52,960 –> 00:23:56,040
this this creation that he calls
man.

387
00:23:56,040 –> 00:23:59,040
And there’s something very
special and unique about man.

388
00:23:59,360 –> 00:24:02,280
And we’re told in Genesis 127,
These of course are very well

389
00:24:02,280 –> 00:24:07,680
known, very well known words
that man was made after the

390
00:24:07,720 –> 00:24:10,760
image of God, and the image and
likeness of God after his own

391
00:24:10,760 –> 00:24:13,200
image.
God created man.

392
00:24:14,280 –> 00:24:17,240
It’s hard to really define the
idea of image it’s got.

393
00:24:17,240 –> 00:24:20,280
There’s lots of different
commentators and experts talk

394
00:24:20,280 –> 00:24:23,320
about what it may mean and we
talk about the fact that we

395
00:24:23,320 –> 00:24:26,920
might reflect that we’ve got
human consciousness is a unique

396
00:24:27,160 –> 00:24:30,400
and unexplainable phenomenon
that no one can really explain.

397
00:24:30,400 –> 00:24:34,800
How this software got into our
physical being that that allows

398
00:24:34,800 –> 00:24:38,160
us to have self-awareness and
and and maybe that is how we are

399
00:24:38,600 –> 00:24:42,400
in the image of God.
The capacities we have for for

400
00:24:42,680 –> 00:24:46,760
rational thought and worship and
thinking, intelligence, the

401
00:24:47,200 –> 00:24:51,280
ability to make moral choices.
All these things are no doubt

402
00:24:51,680 –> 00:24:54,440
part and parcel of what it means
to be in the image of God.

403
00:24:55,120 –> 00:25:00,480
But ultimately the image of God
is a family thing.

404
00:25:01,120 –> 00:25:07,480
Ultimately, it’s saying we are
God’s offspring.

405
00:25:07,480 –> 00:25:11,120
We are God’s children.
Humans are not an animal.

406
00:25:11,760 –> 00:25:14,040
They are not part of the animal
world.

407
00:25:14,040 –> 00:25:15,840
In that sense, there’s something
different.

408
00:25:15,840 –> 00:25:17,720
Although there’s a lot of
features in common with the

409
00:25:17,720 –> 00:25:20,960
animals, and we eat similar food
to the animals and have similar

410
00:25:21,960 –> 00:25:26,120
morphological and and and
biological processes.

411
00:25:26,920 –> 00:25:30,360
There’s something different and
unique about humans and here’s

412
00:25:30,360 –> 00:25:33,240
this quote in Genesis 5.
Three that I’m sure many of us

413
00:25:33,240 –> 00:25:36,760
know but it shows with this
word, with this concept of

414
00:25:36,760 –> 00:25:41,240
likeness is used in connection
with a with a human child.

415
00:25:41,240 –> 00:25:45,360
So Adam lives 130 years.
He has a son in his own likeness

416
00:25:45,760 –> 00:25:50,280
and after his own image and
calls him Seth was because Seth

417
00:25:50,280 –> 00:25:53,480
was a little Adam.
Seth came from Adam.

418
00:25:53,760 –> 00:25:58,080
He was in his image and likeness
and if we wind that back then

419
00:25:58,520 –> 00:26:02,400
Adam is made in the image and
likeness of God.

420
00:26:02,400 –> 00:26:06,280
We are God’s children.
There’s something very

421
00:26:06,280 –> 00:26:10,400
incredible about being a human.
There’s something very amazing

422
00:26:10,400 –> 00:26:14,280
about it.
And sometimes we think in terms

423
00:26:14,280 –> 00:26:16,160
and and rightly so.
You know what is?

424
00:26:18,960 –> 00:26:22,160
What is man?
As Psalm 8 says, what is what is

425
00:26:22,160 –> 00:26:24,280
man?
That God’s mindful of him or the

426
00:26:24,280 –> 00:26:28,200
Son of man that God visits him.
That man seems like nothing, and

427
00:26:29,280 –> 00:26:30,760
that is right.
At one level.

428
00:26:30,760 –> 00:26:35,120
There is this gulf between us in
from a wisdom and power point of

429
00:26:35,120 –> 00:26:38,960
view, but so is there a gulf
between a father and a little

430
00:26:39,040 –> 00:26:42,000
newborn child.
But they’re still connected.

431
00:26:42,000 –> 00:26:44,520
There’s still a connection
between the two of them.

432
00:26:46,440 –> 00:26:51,240
I know it at my work.
I work, my office is in the

433
00:26:51,240 –> 00:26:54,240
western suburbs, so my my office
is like the United Nations.

434
00:26:54,240 –> 00:26:57,360
We’ve got every tongue and
kindred under heaven there,

435
00:26:57,360 –> 00:26:59,040
which is lovely.
And we all talk about

436
00:26:59,240 –> 00:27:01,320
interesting things.
But in my office I have a

437
00:27:01,320 –> 00:27:03,240
Palestinian Christian, believe
it or not.

438
00:27:03,240 –> 00:27:07,440
And he’s very pro Israel, and
he’s got cousins in the Israeli

439
00:27:07,440 –> 00:27:08,400
army.
And we have, we have good

440
00:27:08,440 –> 00:27:12,880
conversations, but he likes this
is very, very incredible.

441
00:27:12,880 –> 00:27:14,920
He’s a Palestinian Christian who
loves listening to Jewish

442
00:27:14,920 –> 00:27:17,960
rabbis.
So occasionally he’ll give me a

443
00:27:18,800 –> 00:27:21,040
a little YouTube clip or
something from a rabbi that he

444
00:27:21,040 –> 00:27:24,280
likes to listen to, and he’s got
a few favourites, but there’s

445
00:27:24,280 –> 00:27:26,160
one of them.
I was listening to it in the car

446
00:27:26,160 –> 00:27:31,160
and it was a rabbi and he was
explaining what Judaism gave the

447
00:27:31,160 –> 00:27:33,040
world.
And he says a lot of people

448
00:27:33,040 –> 00:27:37,160
think Judaism gave the world
monotheism, which is worshipping

449
00:27:37,160 –> 00:27:39,760
one God.
That was the unique gift that

450
00:27:39,760 –> 00:27:41,960
that that Judaism gave the
world, he said.

451
00:27:41,960 –> 00:27:45,480
That’s not really the case.
That’s not really what the Jews

452
00:27:45,480 –> 00:27:49,520
gave the world, he said.
We what we really gave the world

453
00:27:50,600 –> 00:27:55,840
was the fact that there is a God
who is relational, that has that

454
00:27:55,840 –> 00:27:59,800
wants a relationship, that has
personality and feelings and is

455
00:27:59,960 –> 00:28:01,680
wants to be connected to his
creation.

456
00:28:01,680 –> 00:28:05,520
He said that was the real gift
that Judaism gave the world and

457
00:28:05,520 –> 00:28:09,200
and of course changed the world.
And this is this start really

458
00:28:09,200 –> 00:28:13,400
started started me thinking and
he said this.

459
00:28:13,440 –> 00:28:18,200
God is presented to us in a way
and presents himself to us in a

460
00:28:18,200 –> 00:28:22,960
way that he has feelings, he has
emotions, he gets jealous, he

461
00:28:22,960 –> 00:28:26,240
gets angry, he gets he’s
sorrowful, all these different

462
00:28:26,240 –> 00:28:28,760
things.
God is, God is connecting with

463
00:28:28,760 –> 00:28:30,400
his creation.
There’s a there’s a there’s

464
00:28:30,400 –> 00:28:36,560
similar emotional feelings that
his creation reflects and has.

465
00:28:37,600 –> 00:28:43,720
And he says God also has needs.
Now this threw me.

466
00:28:43,720 –> 00:28:46,480
I have to say I threw me when he
when he said God has needs.

467
00:28:48,120 –> 00:28:50,920
We think of God as self existing
of course and not needing

468
00:28:50,920 –> 00:28:55,280
anything and and and that is of
course he’s right.

469
00:28:55,280 –> 00:28:56,760
We’ll we’ll expand on that in a
moment.

470
00:28:57,200 –> 00:29:00,520
But it’s interesting to say that
if he is like his creation that

471
00:29:00,520 –> 00:29:03,400
he has feelings and he has
emotions.

472
00:29:05,360 –> 00:29:07,960
The rabbi went on to say why did
he even create people?

473
00:29:07,960 –> 00:29:09,760
Was it just a science
experiment?

474
00:29:09,760 –> 00:29:11,960
That God was just saying, I’m
going to make little puppets or

475
00:29:11,960 –> 00:29:15,600
I’m going to make a little Ant
and I’m just going to see how

476
00:29:15,600 –> 00:29:18,800
these things work and I’m going
to look and say no, God was

477
00:29:18,800 –> 00:29:23,840
making companions for himself.
God has needs.

478
00:29:24,680 –> 00:29:28,240
Now, you may feel uncomfortable
about using that language, and

479
00:29:28,240 –> 00:29:32,840
if if you do, you can say it’s
desires or wants, if you like

480
00:29:32,840 –> 00:29:36,000
it, that makes you feel better.
But let’s let’s just flesh this

481
00:29:36,000 –> 00:29:43,440
out for a minute.
God created Adam in his own

482
00:29:43,480 –> 00:29:47,400
image and likeness.
This is this is in in paradise.

483
00:29:47,400 –> 00:29:48,960
There’s no scene entered the
world.

484
00:29:49,480 –> 00:29:53,720
Everything says it should be and
he’s Adam made in the image and

485
00:29:53,720 –> 00:29:57,040
likeness A reflection of God.
John Thomas says the image is

486
00:29:57,040 –> 00:30:00,600
like a mirror.
His his his mirror is clean,

487
00:30:00,600 –> 00:30:02,880
very clean.
At this point of creation is the

488
00:30:02,880 –> 00:30:10,560
image and likeness of God.
And on day one, Adam, day one,

489
00:30:11,600 –> 00:30:13,520
he got some jobs to do.
He’s naming animals.

490
00:30:13,520 –> 00:30:16,160
He’s done all this.
On day one.

491
00:30:16,520 –> 00:30:21,360
He gets lonely.
Think about that.

492
00:30:22,040 –> 00:30:28,200
Day one, he gets lonely.
Does God condemn him for being

493
00:30:28,200 –> 00:30:32,400
lonely or to say you baby grow
up or, you know, get over it,

494
00:30:32,480 –> 00:30:36,640
you’ve got more work to do.
God actually says in his

495
00:30:36,640 –> 00:30:39,960
response to his loneliness.
There’s something intrinsic in

496
00:30:40,720 –> 00:30:44,040
Adam, who’s reflecting in the
very purest sense of the word,

497
00:30:44,040 –> 00:30:51,360
reflecting the Creator as a son.
God says it’s not good that you

498
00:30:51,360 –> 00:30:55,160
should be alone.
So not only did God not condemn

499
00:30:55,160 –> 00:30:57,480
the loneliness, God said it’s
not.

500
00:30:57,480 –> 00:30:59,920
Loneliness is not good.
And even though my creation is

501
00:30:59,920 –> 00:31:02,200
very good, there’s something not
good in it.

502
00:31:02,800 –> 00:31:04,040
There’s something that’s
missing.

503
00:31:04,040 –> 00:31:06,920
And so of course, Evie’s made as
a companion.

504
00:31:07,800 –> 00:31:11,560
But the very fact that Adam has
this need for a connection for a

505
00:31:11,560 –> 00:31:16,560
relationship reflecting his very
own father, who created him.

506
00:31:17,040 –> 00:31:19,120
As I said before, sin and death
entered the world.

507
00:31:20,120 –> 00:31:22,560
So I thought I might look at
this a bit more deeper.

508
00:31:22,560 –> 00:31:24,360
So I went into Genesis to have a
look at it.

509
00:31:24,920 –> 00:31:31,240
While I was sorry, I forgot to
talk about the the concept of

510
00:31:31,240 –> 00:31:33,880
being in the image of God has
very serious implications

511
00:31:33,880 –> 00:31:35,760
through the whole of human
history.

512
00:31:37,720 –> 00:31:41,440
Genesis 9 following the the
flood.

513
00:31:41,520 –> 00:31:44,000
You know, God steps into the
flood because of the violence

514
00:31:44,000 –> 00:31:46,080
and because of murder.
And so in Genesis 9 there’s a

515
00:31:46,080 –> 00:31:48,400
prohibition placed upon killing
you.

516
00:31:48,400 –> 00:31:50,200
God says you can kill all the
animals and eat them.

517
00:31:50,640 –> 00:31:53,000
Don’t kill humans.
Why?

518
00:31:53,600 –> 00:31:56,160
Because they are made in the
image of God.

519
00:31:56,160 –> 00:31:59,120
There’s something about humans.
Act 17.

520
00:31:59,120 –> 00:32:02,160
We’ve talked about this already.
Paul says we are his offspring.

521
00:32:02,160 –> 00:32:04,600
He’s not just talking about
believers in Christ, he’s

522
00:32:04,640 –> 00:32:06,760
talking about all humans.
We are his offspring.

523
00:32:07,200 –> 00:32:10,480
And there’s interesting verse in
James 3 where James says don’t

524
00:32:10,480 –> 00:32:14,800
curse humans, don’t curse men
who were made in the similitude

525
00:32:14,800 –> 00:32:16,440
or the image and likeness of
God.

526
00:32:17,520 –> 00:32:19,320
He’s not just talking about
believers there either.

527
00:32:19,760 –> 00:32:21,760
So there’s something about
humans.

528
00:32:21,760 –> 00:32:23,880
There’s a level of dignity,
there’s a, there’s a, there’s a

529
00:32:23,880 –> 00:32:28,520
level of protection they have
under the eternal divine law

530
00:32:28,520 –> 00:32:31,800
because they are God’s children.
We don’t, we can’t kill somebody

531
00:32:33,160 –> 00:32:43,880
under that.
Let’s just think about Genesis

532
00:32:44,320 –> 00:32:47,160
in the creation record to try
and get a picture of how

533
00:32:47,680 –> 00:32:51,000
important man was in this in in
the creation of the world.

534
00:32:51,000 –> 00:32:55,320
So you’ve probably heard before
how Genesis One and Genesis 2

535
00:32:55,320 –> 00:32:57,720
are significantly different in
the language and the style of

536
00:32:57,720 –> 00:32:59,960
language that he that he’s used,
even the Hebrew words that he

537
00:32:59,960 –> 00:33:02,000
used.
And some people have wrongly

538
00:33:04,000 –> 00:33:05,280
called these two creation
records.

539
00:33:05,280 –> 00:33:07,280
I don’t know if you ever heard
people say there’s two creation

540
00:33:07,280 –> 00:33:08,640
records.
There’s not two creation

541
00:33:08,640 –> 00:33:11,760
records.
Genesis 2 is an expansion or a

542
00:33:11,760 –> 00:33:15,400
drool down if you like, into the
into the 6th day in the creation

543
00:33:15,400 –> 00:33:17,920
of man.
But but it is interesting and it

544
00:33:17,920 –> 00:33:21,440
is very true that there are
significant differences in

545
00:33:21,440 –> 00:33:26,800
Genesis One and Genesis 2.
So in Genesis, One God is

546
00:33:26,800 –> 00:33:32,360
referred to by the title Elohim,
and it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s has

547
00:33:32,360 –> 00:33:34,160
an impersonal aspect to it,
isn’t it?

548
00:33:34,160 –> 00:33:38,640
Elohim is is referring to the
the ale, the power of God.

549
00:33:38,640 –> 00:33:40,920
So it’s God’s power, God’s
energy.

550
00:33:41,080 –> 00:33:44,280
And that’s how God presents
himself in those in that very

551
00:33:44,280 –> 00:33:46,440
first chapter.
And as you read through that

552
00:33:46,440 –> 00:33:52,080
first chapter, you have God in a
sense like a distant king and

553
00:33:52,080 –> 00:33:56,160
he’s he’s calling out commands.
He says let there be light and

554
00:33:56,160 –> 00:34:01,080
then bam, there’s light and let
the dry ground separate from the

555
00:34:01,080 –> 00:34:04,040
water and the waters rush back
and the and the king is making

556
00:34:04,040 –> 00:34:07,320
these these commands and his
word brings about this physical

557
00:34:07,320 –> 00:34:10,199
reality as things happen from
his commands.

558
00:34:11,400 –> 00:34:14,679
When you get to chapter 2, it’s
very, very different.

559
00:34:15,719 –> 00:34:20,000
In chapter 2, God is now called
Yahweh, His personal name.

560
00:34:20,360 –> 00:34:23,480
We know someone’s name is a very
intimate thing, isn’t it?

561
00:34:23,480 –> 00:34:26,000
When you hear your name
mentioned, you, you lynch and

562
00:34:26,000 –> 00:34:28,679
you, and you turn around your
name something close to

563
00:34:28,679 –> 00:34:31,440
something important to you.
God now presents his covenant

564
00:34:31,440 –> 00:34:34,960
name.
When we get into chapter 2, no

565
00:34:34,960 –> 00:34:40,280
longer is God creating by by
command, by just yelling

566
00:34:40,280 –> 00:34:41,480
commands.
Let there be light.

567
00:34:41,480 –> 00:34:43,800
Let the earth bring forth this
and that.

568
00:34:44,480 –> 00:34:48,320
Now God’s down and and personal
in the creation record.

569
00:34:48,520 –> 00:34:50,400
He’s right.
He’s down in the garden, as it

570
00:34:50,400 –> 00:34:55,120
were, not calling out things
from from an apparent distance.

571
00:34:56,000 –> 00:34:58,280
He makes man.
Now this is really where it gets

572
00:34:58,280 –> 00:35:00,360
interesting.
He makes him, as it were, with

573
00:35:00,360 –> 00:35:04,200
his own hands.
He forms him out of the clay,

574
00:35:04,200 –> 00:35:07,880
out of the dust of the earth.
He makes man.

575
00:35:08,800 –> 00:35:11,840
He hasn’t done that with the
animals, with the mountains,

576
00:35:11,840 –> 00:35:14,200
with the dry land, with the fish
of the sea.

577
00:35:14,200 –> 00:35:16,360
They they’ve just come into
existence from his, the power of

578
00:35:16,360 –> 00:35:21,080
his word.
Now he’s forming man like a

579
00:35:21,080 –> 00:35:22,440
Potter.
He’s making man.

580
00:35:22,760 –> 00:35:25,240
It’s very personal, very
intimate.

581
00:35:26,200 –> 00:35:31,400
And then he breathes into his
nostrils, the breath of life.

582
00:35:33,200 –> 00:35:38,280
Now, how this all played out is,
is hard to know in reality, but

583
00:35:38,520 –> 00:35:42,640
it forgot to do that to an
inanimate body.

584
00:35:42,640 –> 00:35:45,080
Got his innocence getting down
on his knees, isn’t he?

585
00:35:45,080 –> 00:35:48,560
He’s he’s coming.
He’s condescending down and he’s

586
00:35:48,560 –> 00:35:52,720
fixing his lips around the
nostrils, which is again, a very

587
00:35:52,720 –> 00:35:55,200
intimate and tender part of
one’s body.

588
00:35:55,200 –> 00:35:57,680
You don’t touch people’s
nostrils at the whole, I

589
00:35:57,680 –> 00:35:59,680
imagine.
So the nostrils are very, you

590
00:35:59,680 –> 00:36:04,840
know, intimate.
It’s now connected to God’s

591
00:36:04,840 –> 00:36:07,120
mouth, if you like.
He breathes into his nostrils,

592
00:36:07,120 –> 00:36:09,200
the breath of life.
You can see there’s a very much

593
00:36:09,200 –> 00:36:13,760
a different picture of creation
here than just commands by Fiat.

594
00:36:14,200 –> 00:36:17,440
And now God breathes that life
into man.

595
00:36:18,000 –> 00:36:19,480
God then goes on to plant the
garden.

596
00:36:19,480 –> 00:36:21,840
He puts man in the garden.
The words like, hey, you would

597
00:36:21,840 –> 00:36:25,320
place a puppy, if you like, in a
in a basket of places man the

598
00:36:25,320 –> 00:36:27,160
garden.
We know in the story.

599
00:36:27,840 –> 00:36:30,520
Later on in the narrative there
God walks, as it were, in the

600
00:36:30,520 –> 00:36:33,160
garden with adamant, even
converses with them.

601
00:36:33,160 –> 00:36:38,560
So we do have this, this
intimate connection between this

602
00:36:39,160 –> 00:36:42,840
very special part of his
creation, which is which is man.

603
00:36:43,400 –> 00:36:46,360
And this is this is something
that’s I think it’s quite

604
00:36:46,360 –> 00:36:48,520
profound when we when we think
about it.

605
00:36:50,280 –> 00:36:55,240
When I I, I went to look at this
for myself so I I said I saw

606
00:36:55,280 –> 00:37:00,040
this rabbi talking about this
concept and I thought wow this

607
00:37:00,040 –> 00:37:05,360
is this is quite amazing but you
know is is there is there some

608
00:37:05,360 –> 00:37:08,760
other is there evidence for it.
So I went and looked at Genesis

609
00:37:08,760 –> 00:37:12,560
One and I use I use Esau because
I don’t like change.

610
00:37:12,560 –> 00:37:16,720
I can’t get out of my habits.
I love Esau in any sort.

611
00:37:16,720 –> 00:37:20,200
I have a Christadelphian
commentary called the Agora,

612
00:37:20,840 –> 00:37:26,560
which is a fantastic little tool
if you don’t have it, and it has

613
00:37:26,600 –> 00:37:29,840
a basically a commentary on
every every verse in the Bible

614
00:37:30,520 –> 00:37:32,840
written by brother George Booker
from the United States.

615
00:37:34,480 –> 00:37:36,480
With this idea in my mind
already.

616
00:37:36,480 –> 00:37:40,360
I went to Genesis, looked at
Genesis one verse 26, etcetera,

617
00:37:40,360 –> 00:37:44,000
trying to look at this idea.
And then I looked at, I looked

618
00:37:44,000 –> 00:37:47,080
at the Agora, looked at the
concepts, and I was, I was sort

619
00:37:47,080 –> 00:37:48,440
of blown away.
It’s one of those times when you

620
00:37:48,440 –> 00:37:51,760
get some amazing confirmation on
something you’d never thought

621
00:37:51,760 –> 00:37:54,680
about before.
And in the commentary, this is

622
00:37:54,680 –> 00:37:58,880
the Christopher commentary on
the On the Agora by the George

623
00:37:58,880 –> 00:38:00,640
asks this question.
He says, is it true?

624
00:38:00,640 –> 00:38:03,240
Also.
So it was not good for man to be

625
00:38:03,240 –> 00:38:05,080
alone, he says.
Is it true?

626
00:38:05,360 –> 00:38:10,200
Is it also true that it was not
good for God to be alone?

627
00:38:10,800 –> 00:38:12,480
Can we read something back into
this?

628
00:38:13,280 –> 00:38:16,280
If God reveals that it was not
good for Adam to be alone, but

629
00:38:16,280 –> 00:38:19,960
that he needed a companion,
surely it was patterned or

630
00:38:19,960 –> 00:38:22,760
figurative way of saying it’s
not good for me to be alone.

631
00:38:22,760 –> 00:38:26,480
I too must have a companion, he
says.

632
00:38:26,480 –> 00:38:29,920
Look at it another way.
If our own observation, our own

633
00:38:29,920 –> 00:38:33,680
experience, shows us how
unsatisfactory life can be lived

634
00:38:33,920 –> 00:38:37,040
entirely alone, with no regard
for or fellowship with others,

635
00:38:37,280 –> 00:38:40,680
and how much we need a we need
companionship, both personal and

636
00:38:40,680 –> 00:38:42,400
spiritual, and sympathetic and
loving.

637
00:38:42,880 –> 00:38:45,720
And if two, we are made in the
image and likeness of God, then

638
00:38:45,720 –> 00:38:49,040
reason backward.
It’s not good for God himself to

639
00:38:49,040 –> 00:38:51,600
be alone.
So if God made us, and we

640
00:38:51,600 –> 00:38:54,840
reflect him, and we feel the
need for companionship and

641
00:38:54,840 –> 00:38:57,960
fellowship, then wouldn’t that
tell us a little bit about God

642
00:38:57,960 –> 00:39:00,200
himself?
Then he makes this very

643
00:39:00,200 –> 00:39:06,120
interesting, practical point on
this same lesson he says on the

644
00:39:06,120 –> 00:39:07,400
same verse.
He says.

645
00:39:07,400 –> 00:39:10,240
I remember some years ago a
young sister to Bible class

646
00:39:10,880 –> 00:39:15,400
asking Why does God love me?
The questions, he said.

647
00:39:15,400 –> 00:39:18,080
The question passed with
perfunctory discussion, and I at

648
00:39:18,080 –> 00:39:20,840
first dismissed it from my mind
as no great consequence.

649
00:39:21,560 –> 00:39:23,960
But then the question came back
to me again later, and it

650
00:39:23,960 –> 00:39:25,960
suddenly seemed to be of
enormous import.

651
00:39:25,960 –> 00:39:30,080
Why does God love me?
Not just the fact that he does

652
00:39:30,080 –> 00:39:35,360
love, or that he is love, but he
needs someone, he says, but the

653
00:39:35,360 –> 00:39:38,680
rationale behind it.
I finally came to the conclusion

654
00:39:38,680 –> 00:39:43,400
that God loves me because he
needs someone to love and he

655
00:39:43,400 –> 00:39:46,480
needs someone to love him, and
that somehow even the

656
00:39:46,480 –> 00:39:49,480
omnipotence of the universe
would be incomplete without the

657
00:39:49,480 –> 00:39:52,240
love freely given of his
creation.

658
00:39:52,240 –> 00:39:56,320
And then he talks about how this
ties in with free will and he

659
00:39:56,320 –> 00:39:58,000
says this is what God is looking
for.

660
00:39:58,000 –> 00:40:00,680
And This is why he had to create
beings like Adam and Eve with

661
00:40:00,680 –> 00:40:04,360
the potential to choose having
free will and hence the

662
00:40:04,360 –> 00:40:06,640
potential to disappoint him
greatly.

663
00:40:06,960 –> 00:40:09,520
But also the potential and what
a potential.

664
00:40:10,200 –> 00:40:14,600
To actually please him, I
thought this really, this really

665
00:40:14,600 –> 00:40:17,600
changed some of my thinking in
this regard.

666
00:40:18,880 –> 00:40:21,560
God has this need.
That’s the very reason he

667
00:40:21,560 –> 00:40:24,720
created didn’t just create as a
project, as a experiment.

668
00:40:25,160 –> 00:40:31,280
He created in his plan to have
companionship with his creation.

669
00:40:33,000 –> 00:40:38,640
And if when I say need, we have
what we call existential needs,

670
00:40:38,640 –> 00:40:40,480
these are needs we could we
wouldn’t be able to live

671
00:40:40,480 –> 00:40:43,040
without.
So we have need for food and

672
00:40:43,040 –> 00:40:44,760
water.
God doesn’t have existential

673
00:40:44,760 –> 00:40:48,840
needs, but we also have needs
for companionship like Adam and

674
00:40:49,200 –> 00:40:51,480
and fellowship with each other
and interaction with people.

675
00:40:51,640 –> 00:40:54,880
These are needs that we could we
could live without them, but the

676
00:40:54,880 –> 00:40:57,920
quality of our life would be
diminished with if we didn’t

677
00:40:57,920 –> 00:41:01,520
have them.
Also, we think of needs.

678
00:41:01,520 –> 00:41:06,080
Needs reflect who we are.
Our very being, in a sense, our

679
00:41:06,120 –> 00:41:09,960
very inner person, can be
reflected in a need.

680
00:41:09,960 –> 00:41:13,240
What do I mean by that?
I’ll give you my wife, Susan.

681
00:41:13,240 –> 00:41:14,640
Many of you, of course, know her
very well.

682
00:41:15,600 –> 00:41:17,760
Susan is one of these underdog
people, right?

683
00:41:17,760 –> 00:41:21,280
So she always at the meeting.
If she thinks anyone’s ever been

684
00:41:22,120 –> 00:41:25,320
sort of either hard done by or
have been oppressed in any way,

685
00:41:25,320 –> 00:41:29,280
or anyone’s having, she just has
a need that she has to get

686
00:41:29,280 –> 00:41:31,360
involved.
It’s just drives me crazy.

687
00:41:31,680 –> 00:41:33,720
Sometimes I say just settle down
there, it’s going to be all

688
00:41:33,720 –> 00:41:34,920
right now.
It’s not our business.

689
00:41:34,920 –> 00:41:37,840
We don’t need to get involved.
But she has something built into

690
00:41:37,840 –> 00:41:40,840
her that she just has to say
something.

691
00:41:40,840 –> 00:41:43,760
She has to do something.
She feels something about the

692
00:41:43,760 –> 00:41:46,880
situation, and it’s just part of
her very essence, her very

693
00:41:46,880 –> 00:41:49,600
character.
It’s a it’s a need that I don’t

694
00:41:49,600 –> 00:41:52,760
particularly have.
I have high empathy, but not the

695
00:41:52,760 –> 00:41:58,080
need to just jump in and try and
help people who I feel have been

696
00:41:59,560 –> 00:42:01,360
badly treated or whatever the
case might be.

697
00:42:03,040 –> 00:42:04,480
Another example is my my own
dad.

698
00:42:04,840 –> 00:42:07,160
He’s a, he’s a classic, you
know, sick of talking about him,

699
00:42:07,160 –> 00:42:09,400
but he just turned 80 on
Saturday, so we just had a

700
00:42:09,400 –> 00:42:13,520
little party for him.
But dad’s a dad’s a fearless

701
00:42:13,520 –> 00:42:18,120
sort of guy and when he worked
for the state rail he used to

702
00:42:18,120 –> 00:42:21,920
work in, he worked between
Redfern and and and town hall on

703
00:42:21,920 –> 00:42:25,680
that inner city area, there on
on on maintenance and things he

704
00:42:25,680 –> 00:42:26,800
told me.
He told us once.

705
00:42:26,800 –> 00:42:29,360
He came out and told us and it
was no big deal, but I was

706
00:42:29,360 –> 00:42:31,400
impressed, he said.
He came home, it was back in the

707
00:42:31,400 –> 00:42:34,880
80s and there was a a gang of
Asians.

708
00:42:34,880 –> 00:42:38,200
It was like a triad and they’ll
kicking some guy on the

709
00:42:38,200 –> 00:42:39,880
platform.
This is like four or five in the

710
00:42:39,880 –> 00:42:42,320
morning when Dad used to work
and they’ll just laying into him

711
00:42:42,320 –> 00:42:45,800
and kicking him and and Dad
said, oh it’s horrific.

712
00:42:45,800 –> 00:42:49,320
I’ve just beating into this guy
and Dad walked over.

713
00:42:49,320 –> 00:42:52,120
So there’s commuters getting off
trains and they’re just heading

714
00:42:52,120 –> 00:42:54,920
up the stairs and no one wants
to get involved in anything like

715
00:42:54,920 –> 00:42:57,480
this.
But Dad would have a dad’s got a

716
00:42:57,480 –> 00:42:59,240
need.
He couldn’t just let that go.

717
00:42:59,240 –> 00:43:02,400
So Dad walked over and he said,
come on fellas, he’s had enough.

718
00:43:02,400 –> 00:43:03,960
He’s had enough.
Now come on, move on.

719
00:43:03,960 –> 00:43:06,560
He’s had.
And eventually the the guy’s got

720
00:43:06,560 –> 00:43:09,920
a last kick in and kept walking.
And to me that’s like dad has

721
00:43:09,920 –> 00:43:11,040
this need.
He could not.

722
00:43:11,360 –> 00:43:13,720
I I would have just bolted up
the stairs and saw, well, this

723
00:43:13,720 –> 00:43:15,280
is the police’s job.
It’s not my job.

724
00:43:15,280 –> 00:43:19,200
But he had a need that he had to
get involved at that point.

725
00:43:19,200 –> 00:43:22,560
So when I talk about needs, I’m
not talking about needing to eat

726
00:43:22,560 –> 00:43:24,160
or drink or whatever the case
might be.

727
00:43:24,560 –> 00:43:26,640
It’s something that comes from
our very essence, from our very

728
00:43:26,640 –> 00:43:30,320
being of who we are and we have,
we have those, those needs.

729
00:43:30,920 –> 00:43:35,080
Now God has a character and a
personality and he has he’s,

730
00:43:35,920 –> 00:43:38,600
he’s revealed that to us.
So what can we learn about that

731
00:43:39,040 –> 00:43:42,000
from him?
And he, I think it’s captured

732
00:43:42,000 –> 00:43:46,720
nicely in Psalm 94 that says
does he who fashioned the ear

733
00:43:46,720 –> 00:43:50,000
not hear?
Does he who form the eye not

734
00:43:50,000 –> 00:43:52,520
see?
And so based on that logic we

735
00:43:52,520 –> 00:43:57,000
could assume, does he who made
man us humans to long for

736
00:43:57,000 –> 00:43:59,600
companionship and need
companionship and need

737
00:44:00,120 –> 00:44:03,720
fellowship and interaction?
Does he also have those similar

738
00:44:03,720 –> 00:44:05,440
feelings?
It would it would logically

739
00:44:05,440 –> 00:44:07,840
follow I think, if we follow
that through.

740
00:44:09,240 –> 00:44:13,160
And as we said, God has revealed
himself to us very clearly in

741
00:44:13,160 –> 00:44:15,920
his word, hasn’t he?
And probably the most, you know,

742
00:44:16,120 –> 00:44:23,560
the famous revelations of God.
XSA, Exodus 34.

743
00:44:23,920 –> 00:44:25,440
Sorry, I’ve written numbers 14.
I’ve got that wrong.

744
00:44:25,480 –> 00:44:30,320
I think I’ve seen numbers 14.
But I think Exodus 34 captures

745
00:44:30,320 –> 00:44:33,080
it very well.
God reveals himself as abundant.

746
00:44:34,720 –> 00:44:37,880
You know, sometimes we think
about God being this balance.

747
00:44:37,880 –> 00:44:41,880
We go, oh, God’s balance is, is
a perfect balance of goodness

748
00:44:41,880 –> 00:44:44,520
and severity.
Do you reckon balance is the way

749
00:44:44,520 –> 00:44:47,840
to think about that?
It’s got balance between I mean

750
00:44:48,080 –> 00:44:50,080
if you’re a parent you say, well
I’m balanced.

751
00:44:50,520 –> 00:44:53,560
I like to build my kids 50% of
the time and be nicer than 50%

752
00:44:53,560 –> 00:44:54,760
of the time because I like to be
balanced.

753
00:44:54,800 –> 00:44:57,560
That’s not quite that’s not
quite the concept is it?

754
00:44:57,840 –> 00:45:00,480
We don’t we we’ll discipline our
children.

755
00:45:00,480 –> 00:45:02,800
We can go, we’ll go there and
then we’ve got the emotional

756
00:45:02,800 –> 00:45:04,400
intelligence to do that when
it’s needed.

757
00:45:04,400 –> 00:45:07,360
But that’s not that’s not what
we’re that’s not what not why we

758
00:45:07,360 –> 00:45:10,720
had children that’s not what
we’re take joy and pleasure in

759
00:45:10,720 –> 00:45:12,320
is it?
That’s not who we really are.

760
00:45:12,320 –> 00:45:17,280
We we know it’s necessary, and I
think the same applies to God.

761
00:45:17,760 –> 00:45:21,400
When God reveals himself, he
says I’m abundant in certain

762
00:45:21,400 –> 00:45:24,840
qualities.
And these qualities, this idea

763
00:45:24,840 –> 00:45:30,120
of abundance as we apply it to
God, relate to these qualities

764
00:45:30,120 –> 00:45:34,920
that in the Hebrew are called
hesed and emit goodness and

765
00:45:34,920 –> 00:45:39,000
truth in the in the Authorized
version, God says he’s abundant

766
00:45:39,000 –> 00:45:41,720
in these qualities of goodness.
Of Hesed.

767
00:45:43,160 –> 00:45:46,800
Hesed is covenant love, as we’ll
see in a second.

768
00:45:46,840 –> 00:45:53,760
It’s a love for your people, for
yours, just like a parent has

769
00:45:53,760 –> 00:45:56,240
this Hesed for their own
children and their own wife and

770
00:45:56,240 –> 00:45:58,880
their own family.
It’s a connection, love, It’s a

771
00:45:59,080 –> 00:46:03,360
relationship.
Love and emit is translated

772
00:46:03,360 –> 00:46:06,720
truth, but it’s not really
propositional truth as we think

773
00:46:06,720 –> 00:46:09,600
about it.
It’s more being true, being

774
00:46:10,120 –> 00:46:13,800
faithful like a husband, being
true to their vows or and things

775
00:46:13,800 –> 00:46:16,840
like that.
So God’s it’s their relationship

776
00:46:16,840 –> 00:46:22,440
words emit and hesed.
These are relationship words,

777
00:46:22,480 –> 00:46:26,320
connection words with people and
it’s God’s not saying I I I

778
00:46:27,320 –> 00:46:29,800
display hesed and I display
emit.

779
00:46:30,200 –> 00:46:33,160
He says I am.
This is what I this is what I

780
00:46:33,160 –> 00:46:36,320
am.
My very being is is

781
00:46:36,400 –> 00:46:39,520
relationship, love and goodness
and or mercy.

782
00:46:39,880 –> 00:46:43,760
However it’s translated and this
faithfulness to my connection to

783
00:46:43,760 –> 00:46:47,680
my to my relationship.
And so there’s many verses that

784
00:46:47,680 –> 00:46:52,200
pick this up.
Micah, seven, who is a God like

785
00:46:52,200 –> 00:46:55,680
you, pardoning iniquity and
passing over transgression

786
00:46:55,680 –> 00:47:01,600
because he delights in mercy.
That’s what God delights in

787
00:47:01,600 –> 00:47:04,720
mercy.
So that’s not like a 50% on bad

788
00:47:04,720 –> 00:47:05,600
50%.
I do.

789
00:47:05,600 –> 00:47:10,640
Good God will bring judgement in
His righteousness when it’s

790
00:47:10,640 –> 00:47:12,520
necessary.
But he delights.

791
00:47:12,520 –> 00:47:17,400
That’s the the the weight of the
scale is on on mercy on his

792
00:47:17,400 –> 00:47:19,320
chest, set on his loving
kindness.

793
00:47:19,320 –> 00:47:24,720
That’s where God sits.
You think about like you know if

794
00:47:24,720 –> 00:47:29,200
your your kids ask you dad what
was the what was the what what

795
00:47:29,200 –> 00:47:30,800
memories do you have of me as a
kid.

796
00:47:31,360 –> 00:47:35,080
And you think Oh yeah.
Remember that time I builded you

797
00:47:35,520 –> 00:47:38,960
when you were like a naughty kid
at Sunday school or remember

798
00:47:38,960 –> 00:47:41,760
that time I made you sit in the
car when you were being cheeky.

799
00:47:41,760 –> 00:47:44,800
You know you don’t Remember
Remember those things do you You

800
00:47:44,840 –> 00:47:47,080
know I remember that time I
grounded you for six weeks

801
00:47:47,080 –> 00:47:49,240
because you broke the window at
home or something.

802
00:47:49,800 –> 00:47:52,440
That’s not what you that’s not
who you that’s not that’s not a

803
00:47:52,440 –> 00:47:54,920
relationship that.
Yeah it was essential at the

804
00:47:54,920 –> 00:47:57,120
time.
Those of you know Johnny of know

805
00:47:57,120 –> 00:48:04,320
of course it was essential but
it it it’s not I can’t even

806
00:48:04,320 –> 00:48:06,480
remember doing that half the
time because Susan mainly did

807
00:48:06,480 –> 00:48:10,120
that.
So I just so that’s not what

808
00:48:10,120 –> 00:48:13,920
what our relationship is made-up
of is it it’s it’s the the love

809
00:48:13,920 –> 00:48:16,920
it’s the it’s the beautiful
moments it’s the it’s the

810
00:48:17,040 –> 00:48:20,360
chesed.
The chesed that he Jews he said

811
00:48:20,480 –> 00:48:22,880
get it right from the gestural
sound there.

812
00:48:23,320 –> 00:48:25,280
God says I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked.

813
00:48:25,280 –> 00:48:26,680
Yes.
That has to happen in God’s

814
00:48:26,680 –> 00:48:29,240
righteousness.
That’s that’s not who he is.

815
00:48:29,240 –> 00:48:33,600
That’s not what he is in a sense
that it’s it’s it’s something

816
00:48:33,840 –> 00:48:37,240
that has to happen but it’s not.
God said I’d rather they turn

817
00:48:37,240 –> 00:48:40,840
from their way and lived That’s
really what what God would would

818
00:48:40,840 –> 00:48:48,320
like this idea of he said
translated often loving kindness

819
00:48:48,320 –> 00:48:52,320
in in the Old Testament emit
this idea of truth or

820
00:48:52,320 –> 00:48:54,400
faithfulness as as strong as
defines that there are

821
00:48:54,400 –> 00:48:56,840
trustworthiness it’s a
relationship would have been

822
00:48:56,880 –> 00:49:00,400
faithful to your commitments in
a relationship that’s that’s

823
00:49:00,400 –> 00:49:02,960
what God is.
He’s a Hebrew expert.

824
00:49:02,960 –> 00:49:04,520
I’m not going to.
I’m running out of time.

825
00:49:04,520 –> 00:49:08,400
So we’re dwell on all these but
he’s connecting Hesed.

826
00:49:09,400 –> 00:49:13,760
You know God loves the world,
but Hesed’s particularly

827
00:49:15,040 –> 00:49:18,200
relevant to his actual people
that he’s in relationship with.

828
00:49:18,200 –> 00:49:21,360
That’s his that’s a God and his
people word.

829
00:49:21,360 –> 00:49:23,120
I am your God and you’re my
people.

830
00:49:23,400 –> 00:49:27,840
And Hesed is God’s love word,
his kindness word compassion in

831
00:49:27,840 –> 00:49:31,400
that relationship.
And the Hebrew experts say it’s

832
00:49:31,440 –> 00:49:34,880
a covenant word.
That’s what does this writer, he

833
00:49:34,880 –> 00:49:36,560
say.
It constitutes the essence of a

834
00:49:36,560 –> 00:49:38,360
covenant.
It’s at the very base of a

835
00:49:38,360 –> 00:49:41,640
covenant.
Look at these famous words from

836
00:49:41,640 –> 00:49:44,640
Exodus 34.
The Lord passes by and he

837
00:49:44,640 –> 00:49:48,240
proclaims Yahweh, Yahweh.
Twice.

838
00:49:48,240 –> 00:49:51,280
He says that this is, this is if
you want to know me and what I’m

839
00:49:51,280 –> 00:49:54,640
what I am, this is all that I
am.

840
00:49:54,800 –> 00:49:57,160
What is God?
What is he, essentially?

841
00:49:57,160 –> 00:50:01,440
And he’s very core.
God declares himself as

842
00:50:01,440 –> 00:50:05,960
merciful, gracious,
long-suffering, abundant in

843
00:50:06,240 –> 00:50:09,640
hesed and imit.
That’s what God is.

844
00:50:10,000 –> 00:50:13,080
That’s what he is.
What does he do though?

845
00:50:13,520 –> 00:50:17,320
What does he act?
Well, he also He is hesed, but

846
00:50:17,320 –> 00:50:19,800
he also does hesed.
He’s what does God do?

847
00:50:20,000 –> 00:50:23,920
He keeps hesed for thousands,
forgiving and equity and

848
00:50:23,920 –> 00:50:29,960
transgression of sins.
He also does does things that

849
00:50:29,960 –> 00:50:33,840
are negative in a sense where he
visits iniquity on on people

850
00:50:33,840 –> 00:50:35,640
that are sinners.
That’s what he does.

851
00:50:35,720 –> 00:50:39,320
What he is his goodness and
truth.

852
00:50:39,320 –> 00:50:42,600
That is what God is at his very
core, his very essence.

853
00:50:43,880 –> 00:50:47,680
And so the idea of the he said
God’s God’s love connected to

854
00:50:47,680 –> 00:50:51,480
his faithfulness to his
relationships is is is runs all

855
00:50:51,480 –> 00:50:53,280
through scripture.
He’s Exodus 20 verse six.

856
00:50:53,280 –> 00:50:57,520
Another covenant passage.
God shows this covenant

857
00:50:57,520 –> 00:51:00,880
faithfulness is hesed as the
century Jewish Bible translates

858
00:51:00,880 –> 00:51:04,560
it to 1000 generations of those
who keep my commandments.

859
00:51:04,560 –> 00:51:08,400
And this is this is who God is.
This covenant faithfulness.

860
00:51:10,320 –> 00:51:13,440
Deuteronomy 7 another covenant
context.

861
00:51:13,440 –> 00:51:16,240
Therefore know that the Lord
your God he is God, the faithful

862
00:51:16,240 –> 00:51:19,040
God who keeps covenant and
hesed.

863
00:51:19,040 –> 00:51:23,320
See the the Covenant and Hesed
linked together for 1000

864
00:51:23,320 –> 00:51:27,360
generations as I 54 For the
mountains shall depart, and the

865
00:51:27,360 –> 00:51:30,560
hills shall be removed, but my
Hesed shall not depart from you,

866
00:51:31,080 –> 00:51:33,840
nor shall my covenant of peace
be removed.

867
00:51:34,120 –> 00:51:37,240
Connection with covenant there.
And Hesed praise Yahweh, or you

868
00:51:37,240 –> 00:51:40,680
Gentiles Lord him, or you
peoples, for his Hesed is great

869
00:51:40,680 –> 00:51:45,000
towards us, and his emit the
emit of God is faithfulness

870
00:51:45,000 –> 00:51:48,560
endures forever.
Praise the Lord, and it goes on,

871
00:51:48,560 –> 00:51:52,080
and on and on.
If that is the case, brothers

872
00:51:52,080 –> 00:51:56,920
and sisters, that God
essentially is a being of

873
00:51:56,920 –> 00:52:01,400
relation, A relational being, a
being who wants to connect to

874
00:52:01,440 –> 00:52:03,560
others.
And maybe he, he’s created us

875
00:52:03,560 –> 00:52:06,480
for that very purpose, to have a
relationship with his people,

876
00:52:06,480 –> 00:52:10,120
with his creation.
It explains why there are verses

877
00:52:10,120 –> 00:52:13,520
in the Old Testament
particularly that talks about us

878
00:52:13,520 –> 00:52:16,520
giving God pleasure.
Now I want you to think about

879
00:52:16,520 –> 00:52:18,480
that.
It’s easy to read and go, yeah,

880
00:52:18,480 –> 00:52:20,960
we give pleasure to God.
Think about this.

881
00:52:21,000 –> 00:52:27,320
You can give pleasure.
That means you can change the

882
00:52:27,320 –> 00:52:31,960
state of the emotional state of
the being that created this

883
00:52:31,960 –> 00:52:35,600
universe.
You can give pleasure to the

884
00:52:36,040 –> 00:52:38,200
architect and creator of this
universe.

885
00:52:38,640 –> 00:52:42,520
I mean, that is phenomenal.
That is almost hard to believe.

886
00:52:42,520 –> 00:52:46,480
But it’s true.
Again, it it feeds back into the

887
00:52:46,480 –> 00:52:49,040
evidence, isn’t it?
That God is a relational being

888
00:52:49,040 –> 00:52:55,080
who delights, wants, needs,
whatever words you want to use

889
00:52:55,080 –> 00:52:57,720
there.
But it’s a God of connection, a

890
00:52:57,720 –> 00:53:00,320
God of covenant.
He doesn’t take delight as

891
00:53:00,320 –> 00:53:02,760
someone for what he says in the
strength of the horse, the

892
00:53:02,760 –> 00:53:06,760
technology, the all those
things.

893
00:53:06,760 –> 00:53:10,080
He takes no pleasure in the legs
of the success of humans in that

894
00:53:10,320 –> 00:53:12,040
in in the sense of achievement
and success.

895
00:53:13,120 –> 00:53:15,840
The Lord takes pleasure in those
who fear Him, those who

896
00:53:16,560 –> 00:53:21,120
acknowledge his existence to
acknowledge him and count him as

897
00:53:21,120 –> 00:53:26,280
their God, and those who hope in
his hesed, those who are linked

898
00:53:26,280 –> 00:53:29,360
to him in a relationship.
And he’s He said God takes

899
00:53:29,360 –> 00:53:31,920
pleasure in that.
Psalm 149.

900
00:53:32,080 –> 00:53:36,880
The Lord takes pleasure in his
people, His people.

901
00:53:36,880 –> 00:53:40,880
People can give pleasure to the
creator of this incredible

902
00:53:40,880 –> 00:53:45,240
universe and that.
That’s just mind blowing when

903
00:53:45,240 –> 00:53:48,560
you think about it, but it makes
sense.

904
00:53:49,800 –> 00:53:53,600
We get pleasure from our
relationships, from connections

905
00:53:53,600 –> 00:53:58,000
to people.
Why then would not God extract

906
00:53:58,000 –> 00:54:00,080
pleasure from his relationships
with us?

907
00:54:00,880 –> 00:54:06,440
And so we are his offspring.
As Paul says in Acts 17, God

908
00:54:07,040 –> 00:54:09,000
takes pleasure from our
connection with us.

909
00:54:10,040 –> 00:54:12,720
And here’s the flip side, and
this is where it really is

910
00:54:12,760 –> 00:54:16,520
powerful.
It’s a win win relationship,

911
00:54:17,120 –> 00:54:20,720
very rare in our world.
In a sense only in, you know,

912
00:54:20,720 –> 00:54:23,320
marriage and in close family
connections and close

913
00:54:23,320 –> 00:54:26,440
friendships you have a win win
situation where the relationship

914
00:54:27,920 –> 00:54:32,400
benefits both parties.
In an absolute sense, God gets

915
00:54:32,400 –> 00:54:38,440
pleasure from this relationship
and we get pleasure, we get joy

916
00:54:39,400 –> 00:54:43,600
from that relationship.
And so the two, the two partners

917
00:54:44,080 –> 00:54:46,920
here, the two potential
partners, the two relational

918
00:54:47,480 –> 00:54:50,640
partners, get incredible
benefit.

919
00:54:50,640 –> 00:54:54,800
Both sides, even the more
powerful side, gets benefit from

920
00:54:55,240 –> 00:54:57,000
the connection from the kindred
spirits.

921
00:54:57,000 –> 00:54:59,200
And I’ll quickly flick when out
of time, so I’ll flick through

922
00:54:59,200 –> 00:55:03,440
these verses, but so many verses
talk about this presence of God

923
00:55:03,440 –> 00:55:05,880
and have an emotional connection
to it.

924
00:55:06,440 –> 00:55:10,080
You’ll show me the path of life
in your presence is fullness of

925
00:55:10,080 –> 00:55:12,160
joy at your right hand of
pleasures.

926
00:55:12,160 –> 00:55:15,720
Forevermore, let us come before
His presence with Thanksgiving,

927
00:55:15,880 –> 00:55:17,440
with the joyful noise, with
Psalm.

928
00:55:17,640 –> 00:55:19,640
So the Lord, with gladness
coming before his presence, with

929
00:55:19,640 –> 00:55:23,000
singing, righteousness and
justice of the foundation of

930
00:55:23,000 –> 00:55:26,320
your throne, hesed and emit, go
before your presence before your

931
00:55:26,320 –> 00:55:28,160
face.
Blessed are the people who know

932
00:55:28,160 –> 00:55:31,640
the joyful sound they walk, Oh
Lord, in the light of your

933
00:55:31,640 –> 00:55:35,000
countenance of your presence in
your name, they rejoice all the

934
00:55:35,000 –> 00:55:36,680
day long.
Look at these rejoicing

935
00:55:36,680 –> 00:55:41,160
presence, connections.
Will the Lord show us any good

936
00:55:41,160 –> 00:55:44,640
lift up, put a lot of your
countenance upon us, your

937
00:55:44,640 –> 00:55:46,760
Presence.
You’ll put gladness in our

938
00:55:46,760 –> 00:55:50,480
hearts, and so forth.
And so, just to finish up,

939
00:55:50,480 –> 00:55:55,360
brothers and sisters want us to
think about the presence of God.

940
00:55:55,360 –> 00:55:58,280
Remember, in our first session
we said the the Presence, the

941
00:55:58,280 –> 00:56:01,520
Word for Presence.
This word, pinayim, is also

942
00:56:01,520 –> 00:56:05,120
translated face and used to
describe the face of God or the

943
00:56:05,120 –> 00:56:07,160
face of a person.
So there is something in the

944
00:56:07,160 –> 00:56:11,360
Hebrew concept of the face,
somebody’s face and somebody’s

945
00:56:11,360 –> 00:56:13,000
presence.
And we we sort of use that.

946
00:56:13,000 –> 00:56:17,040
We say get out of my face or
let’s have some FaceTime, let’s

947
00:56:17,040 –> 00:56:19,440
get together face to face and
talk about this.

948
00:56:19,440 –> 00:56:22,080
So there is something special
about being in someone’s

949
00:56:22,080 –> 00:56:23,840
presence, in their in their very
face.

950
00:56:24,320 –> 00:56:26,920
Even these little things that
people have on their phone

951
00:56:26,920 –> 00:56:29,680
messages are called emojis.
There’s an emotional, there’s

952
00:56:29,680 –> 00:56:36,200
emotional emotion conveyed in
these emojis, isn’t there?

953
00:56:36,280 –> 00:56:38,280
In these faces where they’re
smiling, whether they’re sad,

954
00:56:38,280 –> 00:56:43,280
whether they’re happy.
So the face communicates a lot

955
00:56:43,280 –> 00:56:49,880
of a lot of emotion.
There’s a lot of psalms and a

956
00:56:49,880 –> 00:56:52,240
lot of references in the Old
Testament about seeking God’s

957
00:56:52,240 –> 00:56:56,360
face, about wanting to be in his
face, if you like, in God’s

958
00:56:56,360 –> 00:57:01,040
presence, he Psalm 69.
Don’t hide your face from your

959
00:57:01,040 –> 00:57:04,200
servant Psalm 27.
When I when you said seek my

960
00:57:04,200 –> 00:57:07,840
face, my heart said to you your
face, Lord, I will seek.

961
00:57:07,840 –> 00:57:10,280
Do not hide your face from me as
this.

962
00:57:10,720 –> 00:57:13,240
It reminds us of Acts 17, which
we talked about earlier on.

963
00:57:13,240 –> 00:57:17,040
Isn’t it that God says, I
created you so that you can feel

964
00:57:17,040 –> 00:57:19,320
for me and seek for me and touch
me?

965
00:57:19,920 –> 00:57:22,080
God wants that.
God wants that connection with

966
00:57:22,080 –> 00:57:24,520
his people and it just runs all
the way through the Bible.

967
00:57:25,120 –> 00:57:27,680
Listen to the people who know
the joyful sound they walk in, a

968
00:57:27,680 –> 00:57:29,120
lot of your countenance,
etcetera.

969
00:57:30,000 –> 00:57:33,560
So I might just finish up here
with a just a few minutes

970
00:57:33,560 –> 00:57:36,480
thinking about this beautiful
part of the scripture that

971
00:57:36,560 –> 00:57:39,760
Nathan read for us tonight.
Towards the end of #6, there’s

972
00:57:39,760 –> 00:57:43,560
this beautiful set of stands as
if you like this, this, this,

973
00:57:44,360 –> 00:57:47,520
this priestly benedictional
blessing that was given to the

974
00:57:47,520 –> 00:57:51,640
people, blessing them and
bringing God’s presence into

975
00:57:51,640 –> 00:57:53,640
their life.
Let’s just let’s think about

976
00:57:53,640 –> 00:57:57,480
this and just in the whole
context of God’s presence.

977
00:57:57,480 –> 00:58:02,080
Remember Hebrews 10.
The boldness we can have in

978
00:58:02,080 –> 00:58:06,360
God’s presence, the pluriphoria,
the full assurance of God’s

979
00:58:06,360 –> 00:58:11,040
presence, the ability to draw
near to God.

980
00:58:11,040 –> 00:58:15,440
And here it is in AI think lived
out in a very and expressed in a

981
00:58:15,440 –> 00:58:18,640
very practical and beautiful and
a very emotional way.

982
00:58:22,440 –> 00:58:24,720
What can we say about this
section of scripture?

983
00:58:24,720 –> 00:58:29,040
Well, let’s make a few
observations. 1 You’ll notice

984
00:58:29,040 –> 00:58:32,320
how each of the stanzas begins
with the name of God.

985
00:58:32,320 –> 00:58:35,440
Yahweh.
Yahweh Bless you.

986
00:58:35,440 –> 00:58:36,600
Yahweh.
Make his face.

987
00:58:36,600 –> 00:58:37,760
Yahweh.
Lift up his counter.

988
00:58:37,760 –> 00:58:40,120
So it’s very personal, isn’t it?
It’s God’s.

989
00:58:40,480 –> 00:58:44,720
God’s placing his own name here,
and you normally tell your name

990
00:58:44,720 –> 00:58:46,520
to people that you want a
relationship with, don’t you?

991
00:58:46,520 –> 00:58:49,080
You say my name is Darren or
whatever, and you’re now

992
00:58:49,200 –> 00:58:52,920
starting this connection.
If it’s someone you know, you’re

993
00:58:52,920 –> 00:58:55,480
not going to see someone selling
you a ticket or a sandwich.

994
00:58:55,480 –> 00:58:56,960
You don’t tell them your name
necessarily.

995
00:58:56,960 –> 00:58:59,000
Because there’s no, you’re not
going to have a relationship

996
00:58:59,000 –> 00:59:01,080
with them.
So God is saying, I want to have

997
00:59:01,080 –> 00:59:02,840
a relationship.
I’m giving you my name so we can

998
00:59:02,840 –> 00:59:06,560
talk together.
And so it’s anchored in who

999
00:59:06,560 –> 00:59:09,640
Yahweh actually is.
It’s anchored in his very person

1000
00:59:10,880 –> 00:59:14,520
Notice and particularly those of
you who have the King James

1001
00:59:14,520 –> 00:59:17,640
Bible, of course will see that
the blessing relates to thee.

1002
00:59:17,640 –> 00:59:20,280
The Lord blessed thee, which is
the singular in the the Old

1003
00:59:20,280 –> 00:59:22,560
English.
And and this is, this is a

1004
00:59:22,560 –> 00:59:26,080
singular concept which is, which
is very fascinating, isn’t it?

1005
00:59:26,520 –> 00:59:29,720
Sometimes we we shy away from
talking about ourselves in the

1006
00:59:29,720 –> 00:59:31,840
context of God’s blessing.
And we don’t.

1007
00:59:31,840 –> 00:59:36,240
We’d like to sort of make it a
more collective phrase but hear

1008
00:59:36,240 –> 00:59:41,360
the blessings, individual
personal Yahweh bless you

1009
00:59:42,040 –> 00:59:44,160
Darren, you know this is me.
Yahweh.

1010
00:59:44,160 –> 00:59:46,480
Make his face shine upon you and
be gracious to you.

1011
00:59:47,160 –> 00:59:49,880
Yahweh lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace.

1012
00:59:49,880 –> 00:59:55,120
It’s it’s a personal blessing
from Yahweh personally to you

1013
00:59:55,560 –> 01:00:00,440
personally.
Notice the repetition there of

1014
01:00:00,440 –> 01:00:02,680
the of the of the presence of
God.

1015
01:00:02,680 –> 01:00:05,120
So it’s translated in this is I
think new King James.

1016
01:00:05,120 –> 01:00:08,840
Here it’s translated his face.
This means it’s Pin AM, it’s

1017
01:00:08,840 –> 01:00:11,280
presence.
And in the third stance there,

1018
01:00:11,280 –> 01:00:14,480
it’s translated countenance.
In that translation others have

1019
01:00:14,480 –> 01:00:19,120
face again, but it’s presence,
it’s Pin AM, it’s God’s presence

1020
01:00:19,120 –> 01:00:20,960
that permeates this little
blessing.

1021
01:00:21,000 –> 01:00:24,120
It’s about God blessing you with
him.

1022
01:00:24,920 –> 01:00:29,760
He is the blessing, in a sense.
Notice that part of the

1023
01:00:29,760 –> 01:00:31,280
blessing.
The second stands, that there is

1024
01:00:31,280 –> 01:00:35,040
God being gracious to you.
This is a beautiful word, the

1025
01:00:35,040 –> 01:00:37,520
word gracious.
If you look up strong

1026
01:00:37,520 –> 01:00:41,880
concordance, it means to bend
down or stoop in kindness to an

1027
01:00:41,880 –> 01:00:44,200
inferior.
It’s like a little child has

1028
01:00:44,760 –> 01:00:47,600
fallen off their scooter or the
skateboard and they’re on the

1029
01:00:47,600 –> 01:00:48,960
ground and they’ve cut their
leg.

1030
01:00:49,200 –> 01:00:52,640
And you, as the adult kneel
down, you stoop down behind

1031
01:00:52,720 –> 01:00:55,880
beside them and you.
And that stooping brings comfort

1032
01:00:55,880 –> 01:01:00,160
into their, into their presence,
that your presence gives comfort

1033
01:01:00,160 –> 01:01:01,880
to their presence and there’s a
connection there.

1034
01:01:01,880 –> 01:01:05,720
And they, they feel thankful and
and reassured that you’re there.

1035
01:01:05,720 –> 01:01:07,800
And so God has stooped down into
our life.

1036
01:01:08,280 –> 01:01:11,880
Of course the greater in this
relationship by, you know, a

1037
01:01:11,880 –> 01:01:15,840
billion trillion in million
times is not even a you can’t

1038
01:01:15,840 –> 01:01:19,880
even define that.
But it’s still a real

1039
01:01:19,880 –> 01:01:23,560
relationship and he Stoops down
to connect with the the lesser

1040
01:01:23,560 –> 01:01:27,120
party in this relationship and
notice where it leads us.

1041
01:01:28,440 –> 01:01:35,000
Yahweh lift up his presence upon
you and give you Shalom, give

1042
01:01:35,000 –> 01:01:40,360
you peace and this word Shalom
is such a comprehensive and and

1043
01:01:41,400 –> 01:01:42,960
holistic word.
It’s so beautiful.

1044
01:01:42,960 –> 01:01:47,240
It’s not just the absence of
fighting or or just a quiet

1045
01:01:47,240 –> 01:01:50,360
time.
This Shalom has it at its very

1046
01:01:50,360 –> 01:01:55,080
core, the idea of even welfare
and and healing and tranquility

1047
01:01:55,080 –> 01:01:58,240
and contentment and peace in the
true sense.

1048
01:01:58,240 –> 01:02:02,320
So there’s a there’s an
emotional power that comes from

1049
01:02:02,320 –> 01:02:04,720
being in the presence of God.
This is the core of the

1050
01:02:04,720 –> 01:02:06,600
blessing.
The blessing isn’t just an

1051
01:02:06,600 –> 01:02:10,480
intellectual, academic thing.
There’s a power that comes from

1052
01:02:10,480 –> 01:02:12,440
being in the very presence of
God.

1053
01:02:15,840 –> 01:02:18,360
I just want us to finish up by
focusing on this phrase.

1054
01:02:18,360 –> 01:02:22,280
Shine.
Yahweh, bless you and keep you.

1055
01:02:22,920 –> 01:02:25,560
Yahweh make His face His
presence shine.

1056
01:02:26,640 –> 01:02:29,120
It’s an interesting idea in the
Hebrew.

1057
01:02:29,120 –> 01:02:32,360
In the Hebrew here, the word
shine means to light up, to be

1058
01:02:32,360 –> 01:02:34,880
lit up.
If you look at the lexicon.

1059
01:02:34,880 –> 01:02:40,080
So in some way, God shining on
you, His presence, it’s shining,

1060
01:02:40,440 –> 01:02:44,920
may not be physically
discernible to our optical

1061
01:02:44,920 –> 01:02:48,080
receptors, but there’s God is
shining, His presence upon us.

1062
01:02:48,560 –> 01:02:52,240
And of course, building to this
word, shine is an idiom.

1063
01:02:54,360 –> 01:03:00,160
God isn’t literally shining in
that sense, but He’s shining

1064
01:03:00,160 –> 01:03:01,800
something.
There’s something coming from

1065
01:03:01,800 –> 01:03:08,200
God into our into our presence.
And the idiom and how it’s using

1066
01:03:08,800 –> 01:03:10,320
Hebrew and other parts of the
Bible.

1067
01:03:10,320 –> 01:03:13,840
The idiom here of shine is the
idea of smiling.

1068
01:03:14,880 –> 01:03:19,960
God is smiling upon you.
His face is smiling.

1069
01:03:20,480 –> 01:03:23,760
And we we use this idiom even in
our own life today.

1070
01:03:23,760 –> 01:03:25,920
We talk about someone having a
beaming smile.

1071
01:03:26,680 –> 01:03:29,680
Well, there’s not really light
beaming from someone’s face, but

1072
01:03:29,960 –> 01:03:32,760
we we use that idiom.
Someone has a glowing smile.

1073
01:03:33,080 –> 01:03:35,120
Someone has a radiant smile.
It’s the same idea.

1074
01:03:35,120 –> 01:03:38,240
There’s some radiate something
radiating from the face.

1075
01:03:38,720 –> 01:03:41,120
Her smile lights up the room.
You know, you’ve got a little

1076
01:03:41,400 –> 01:03:45,280
gorgeous little granddaughter
and her smile just lights up the

1077
01:03:45,280 –> 01:03:48,160
room or lights up the place.
We use that idiom ourselves.

1078
01:03:48,160 –> 01:03:52,680
So it’s it’s it’s quite
understandable in that sense.

1079
01:03:53,840 –> 01:03:56,000
There’s something amazing about
a smile.

1080
01:03:56,000 –> 01:03:59,680
When you think about it.
The smile is a dynamic

1081
01:03:59,680 –> 01:04:02,760
phenomenon that is hard to
describe because what actually

1082
01:04:02,760 –> 01:04:04,640
is it?
What is a smile?

1083
01:04:04,640 –> 01:04:08,920
It’s just muscles.
It’s just my face now and my

1084
01:04:08,920 –> 01:04:09,960
face now.
My face.

1085
01:04:10,360 –> 01:04:12,240
It’s just the movement of some
muscles.

1086
01:04:12,520 –> 01:04:15,520
That’s all that’s happening.
Muscles moving the eyes don’t

1087
01:04:15,520 –> 01:04:17,920
really shine anymore.
They seem to.

1088
01:04:18,000 –> 01:04:21,560
But something magical happens in
your eyes.

1089
01:04:22,960 –> 01:04:25,600
But it’s just muscle movement.
It’s a it’s a little miracle,

1090
01:04:25,600 –> 01:04:26,800
isn’t it?
A smile’s a little miracle, a

1091
01:04:26,800 –> 01:04:30,600
little reflection of God.
But think about what the smile

1092
01:04:30,600 –> 01:04:33,440
does.
It it draws people to you.

1093
01:04:33,440 –> 01:04:37,040
When someone smiles and you’re
in a crowd and they smile,

1094
01:04:37,480 –> 01:04:39,520
there’s an attraction, there’s
you’re drawn to that person.

1095
01:04:39,520 –> 01:04:41,840
There’s something lovely about a
smile.

1096
01:04:42,520 –> 01:04:45,000
It’s also contagious.
When someone smiles at you, you,

1097
01:04:45,480 –> 01:04:48,400
you, you smile back.
Usually it makes you smile.

1098
01:04:48,400 –> 01:04:52,480
Even if you’re not feeling the
best you, you smile and you know

1099
01:04:52,480 –> 01:04:55,680
our capitalist world knows that.
And they train the McDonald’s

1100
01:04:55,680 –> 01:04:58,960
girls to smile at you.
I’m happy for other reasons, but

1101
01:04:58,960 –> 01:05:01,400
but also the smile’s nice.
The smile’s nice as well.

1102
01:05:03,040 –> 01:05:05,160
Smile is a gift as well.
When you smile at someone,

1103
01:05:05,160 –> 01:05:06,640
you’re giving.
It’s a giving.

1104
01:05:06,640 –> 01:05:09,000
It’s a beautiful thing and
you’re giving something to

1105
01:05:09,000 –> 01:05:13,440
somebody and it’s also
transformative.

1106
01:05:13,840 –> 01:05:18,000
A smile transforms the
atmosphere, the situation.

1107
01:05:18,360 –> 01:05:22,040
It can make a tense situation,
awkward situation better.

1108
01:05:22,040 –> 01:05:26,880
A smile transforms and changes
the your state of mind and those

1109
01:05:27,120 –> 01:05:30,520
with you as well.
It lifts your emotions.

1110
01:05:31,200 –> 01:05:36,080
It can give you a dopamine hit
and raise your spirit.

1111
01:05:36,080 –> 01:05:39,360
It can spark off endorphins in
your in your brain.

1112
01:05:39,360 –> 01:05:42,520
A smile is a very powerful thing
and yet it’s just muscles on

1113
01:05:42,520 –> 01:05:45,560
your face that are that are that
are moving and a positive smile

1114
01:05:45,560 –> 01:05:49,840
can surge through your body.
Some of the some of the dynamic

1115
01:05:49,840 –> 01:05:52,760
Bible translations have picked
up the idiom and translated it.

1116
01:05:52,760 –> 01:05:55,840
Not not being literally they’re
picking up the the idiom behind

1117
01:05:55,840 –> 01:05:57,920
the word.
So the the New Living

1118
01:05:57,920 –> 01:06:01,440
translations got May the Lord
smile on you, the Nirv says may

1119
01:06:01,440 –> 01:06:05,360
the Lord smile on you, good word
Bible, the Lord smile on you,

1120
01:06:05,360 –> 01:06:06,960
the message got God smile on you
as well.

1121
01:06:06,960 –> 01:06:08,800
And they’re not wrong.
They’re not technically

1122
01:06:09,400 –> 01:06:11,840
translating the word, but
they’re not wrong in the sense

1123
01:06:11,840 –> 01:06:17,960
of the idiom is a smile.
So what do we what do we what do

1124
01:06:17,960 –> 01:06:19,680
we got here?
What have we been told?

1125
01:06:20,800 –> 01:06:24,200
The blessing of the blessing,
the priestly blessing that we

1126
01:06:24,200 –> 01:06:28,200
have, particularly now under the
new covenant, this blessing

1127
01:06:28,520 –> 01:06:33,880
ramps up big time, doesn’t it?
Our high priest is so superior

1128
01:06:34,000 –> 01:06:36,800
than the priest giving these
blessings under the old

1129
01:06:36,800 –> 01:06:42,160
covenant.
The blessing says, Yahweh, be

1130
01:06:42,160 –> 01:06:44,640
with you.
And we’ve seen through our study

1131
01:06:44,640 –> 01:06:46,440
that he actually is with us,
isn’t he?

1132
01:06:46,440 –> 01:06:49,880
He’s with us.
I think we laid out the evidence

1133
01:06:49,880 –> 01:06:53,760
for that reasonably strongly.
He’s with us regardless of the

1134
01:06:53,760 –> 01:06:55,960
circumstances.
Yahweh is with us, the Lord be

1135
01:06:55,960 –> 01:06:59,080
with us.
He’s gracious unto us in the way

1136
01:06:59,080 –> 01:07:02,200
He’s forgiven us our sins,
deemed us righteous, all those

1137
01:07:02,200 –> 01:07:05,680
things that we’ve talked about.
He’s blessed us, brothers and

1138
01:07:05,680 –> 01:07:10,480
sisters, with his presence in a
relational sense through the New

1139
01:07:10,480 –> 01:07:14,560
Covenant, but also in the sense
that He’s spatially with us in

1140
01:07:14,560 –> 01:07:19,000
our life and that should, if we
think about the reality of that

1141
01:07:19,000 –> 01:07:23,360
and make that real, brings
peace, brings Shalom.

1142
01:07:23,800 –> 01:07:26,480
I can’t put it any better than
number six.

1143
01:07:26,600 –> 01:07:30,920
It’s Shalom that comes from the
presence of God in its absolute

1144
01:07:31,240 –> 01:07:36,120
sense.
So there’s a connection to the

1145
01:07:36,120 –> 01:07:39,080
smile of God and his face
shining in salvation.

1146
01:07:39,200 –> 01:07:41,200
Haven’t got time to flesh all
these out now, but I just want

1147
01:07:41,200 –> 01:07:43,520
to take us to the end of the
story, which of course is

1148
01:07:43,520 –> 01:07:47,200
Revelation 22.
And there’s some interesting

1149
01:07:47,200 –> 01:07:53,520
little verses in chapter 22 and
one of them is is here in verses

1150
01:07:53,560 –> 01:07:56,600
verse four it says, and we don’t
quite know.

1151
01:07:56,600 –> 01:07:58,720
This of course is still the
apocalypse.

1152
01:07:58,720 –> 01:08:02,720
So the literal nature of how
this all works itself out is is

1153
01:08:02,720 –> 01:08:05,160
gonna remains to be seen in its
ultimate sense.

1154
01:08:05,160 –> 01:08:09,320
But you can see what the
inspiration is telling us.

1155
01:08:09,520 –> 01:08:11,760
If we link it back to the Old
Testament and to the blessings

1156
01:08:11,760 –> 01:08:14,560
of God under the under the old
covenant we’ve got some

1157
01:08:14,560 –> 01:08:16,200
incredible things to look
forward to.

1158
01:08:16,560 –> 01:08:20,640
Revelation 22 says those who are
in this new heaven, new earth,

1159
01:08:21,240 –> 01:08:27,720
shall see his face, his
presence, It was lost back in

1160
01:08:27,720 –> 01:08:31,160
Eden.
God knew it was going to be lost

1161
01:08:31,640 –> 01:08:34,479
in the full knowledge of God.
He knew that already.

1162
01:08:34,760 –> 01:08:39,720
It wasn’t a plan that went awry
in that sense, as we sometimes

1163
01:08:40,040 –> 01:08:45,479
may but sort of portray it.
God knew Jesus Christ was going

1164
01:08:45,479 –> 01:08:51,399
to come, but the narrative tells
us what happens because of sin

1165
01:08:51,399 –> 01:08:54,680
and what the results were.
And we we’re told that we God’s

1166
01:08:54,680 –> 01:08:58,040
presence was lost and Adam may
hid themselves from the presence

1167
01:08:58,040 –> 01:09:01,359
of the Lord.
We’ve been restored under the

1168
01:09:01,359 –> 01:09:04,680
new creation that has happened
now in our life.

1169
01:09:04,680 –> 01:09:07,080
The new creation came into
effect when Jesus was

1170
01:09:07,080 –> 01:09:09,520
resurrected.
He’s the first born of the new

1171
01:09:09,520 –> 01:09:11,399
creation.
We are part of this new

1172
01:09:11,399 –> 01:09:14,880
creation, the connection that
God’s been repaired.

1173
01:09:15,520 –> 01:09:18,800
We have boldness to come into
His presence, into His face.

1174
01:09:19,680 –> 01:09:23,279
But of course the completion of
that, the fulfillment of that is

1175
01:09:23,279 –> 01:09:24,920
not till we get to the very end
of the Bible.

1176
01:09:24,920 –> 01:09:28,240
They shall see his face, His
name shall be on their forehead

1177
01:09:28,479 –> 01:09:30,680
heads.
And it’s expressed in such a way

1178
01:09:30,680 –> 01:09:34,520
that because of God’s face
there’ll be no night there.

1179
01:09:35,279 –> 01:09:38,640
There’ll be no lamp or light or
even the sun.

1180
01:09:39,960 –> 01:09:42,240
As I said, how this practically
works out, we don’t know.

1181
01:09:42,240 –> 01:09:44,279
But think of the the concept
here.

1182
01:09:44,279 –> 01:09:47,279
The Lord shining his face and
giving us Shalom.

1183
01:09:48,120 –> 01:09:50,160
He’s the ultimate expression of
Shalom.

1184
01:09:50,880 –> 01:09:55,640
God’s face will be our light.
He will shine his smile, as it

1185
01:09:55,640 –> 01:09:58,960
were, into our, into our hearts
and into our lives.

1186
01:09:59,640 –> 01:10:02,880
And So what we experience now of
the presence of God and the

1187
01:10:02,880 –> 01:10:07,760
smile of God in our lives is
really a flickering reality.

1188
01:10:07,760 –> 01:10:11,240
It’s true and it’s a reality,
but it’s a flickering reality of

1189
01:10:11,760 –> 01:10:17,080
in comparison to what awaits us
all when God is All in all.

1190
01:10:17,880 –> 01:10:20,400
So let’s finish on the verse We
started with brothers and

1191
01:10:20,400 –> 01:10:24,200
sisters just to again re anchor
ourselves in the reality of this

1192
01:10:25,200 –> 01:10:28,120
Paul’s preaching Acts 17.
He’s talking to Pagan

1193
01:10:28,320 –> 01:10:32,280
philosophers in the Pagan city
of Athens and what does he tell

1194
01:10:32,280 –> 01:10:33,720
them?
He says God made the world and

1195
01:10:33,720 –> 01:10:36,480
everything in it.
He gave breath and life to all

1196
01:10:36,480 –> 01:10:40,240
mankind and set the bounds of
their habitation for a reason.

1197
01:10:40,560 –> 01:10:43,640
That you want to know what his
reason was?

1198
01:10:43,640 –> 01:10:48,000
That these humans that he
created with his, as it were his

1199
01:10:48,000 –> 01:10:51,040
hands in the clay, getting his
hands dirty, getting down and

1200
01:10:51,040 –> 01:10:53,680
dirty in the creation, breathing
with his own mouth into the

1201
01:10:54,120 –> 01:10:57,760
nostrils.
He did that for a reason that

1202
01:10:57,760 –> 01:11:01,440
these creatures created in his
image and likeness.

1203
01:11:01,440 –> 01:11:05,600
His children, his offspring,
should seek him and feel their

1204
01:11:05,600 –> 01:11:09,840
way towards him and actually
find him ’cause he’s actually

1205
01:11:09,840 –> 01:11:12,000
not far from everyone of us or
in him.

1206
01:11:12,360 –> 01:11:14,840
We live and move and have our
very being.

1207
01:11:15,440 –> 01:11:15,880
Thanks.