can we find god -s.m. susi jr

CAN WE FIND GOD?Copyright 2013 by Simeon M. Susi, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the Holy Bible, The New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Designed and printed in the Philippines by Church Strengthening Ministry, Inc.Parañaque City, Philippines

EAN 480652317233-2

Dedication

To my beloved wife, Tessie, now in glory with her Lord and Savior;

To my Spiritual Father, Milton D. Haack, a godly man of God;

and

To the Christian Churches in Bataanand Pampanga.

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

Preface 8

1 God is Incomprehensible 13

2 God Revealed Himself to the Honest Seeker 21

3 God Revealed Himself Thru the Medium of Words — The Bible 40

4 God is Revealed Thru the Wonders of Creation 48

5 God is Perfectly Revealed Thru the Person of Jesus Christ 53

6 The Sinner Can Approach God Thru Christ 56

7 The Tabernacle Where God Meets Man — A Picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Worshiper 64

8 The Christian Vision of God 72

7

Foreword

It is an honor to write a foreword to the book, “Can We Find God?” written by brother Simeon Susi, Jr. For many years I served

as missionary in Pampanga, and had happy fellowship with the author. Upon reading this book, I am delighted to observe the conservative, uncompromising stand our brother has toward the truth of the Word of God.

It is our sincere prayer that this book will have a wide circulation and be a blessing to many who are struggling with the question, Can We Find God?, and find the answer in a personal faith relationship in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Milton Haack

8

Preface

Today we have observed among modern converts of Christianity, the results of what conservative christians called

“easy believism.” They professed faith in Christ, and claimed to be Christians, yet as some says, “They don’t look like one.” I was reminded of a great statesman and leader who became interested in the life and teachings of Christ; kept on reading the bible, attending church meetings, and one day was asked by his colleagues if he already became a convert to Christianity. Sadly He replied, “I am still looking for Christians.” In many so called Christian countries today, like ours, where social ills is prevalent — corruptions, filthiness of the flesh, and a departure from the Word of God; many among the unsaved people are disappointed to Christianity. A bigger percentage of our young

Preface 9

people no longer believe in God. Perhaps the reason is, they don’t see a difference between the life of a non-believer and one who claimed as such. It is a sad thing, why particularly our country the Philippines, known as the only Christian nation on this part of the globe; the fruit of faith is not seen among many who professed to be believers in Christ. Does this mean Christianity failed us? I believe, it did not fail us, but as one said and I agreed, “Christianity did not fail us, but we failed Christianity.”

One of the reasons why how little the precious things of Christ are known and valued among modern professing believers, is that, our knowledge of Him is mean. Some of our preachers are always in a hurry to get converts thru a superficial preaching of the Gospel. They often forget that the salvation of a soul is a work of the Holy Spirit, and should give Him the liberty to work in the minds and hearts of the listeners; pray fervently for their enlightenment to come to a saving knowledge

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of Christ, instead of hurriedly asking them for a decision to accept Him. Paul said, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:4-5 NIV). Many “altar calls” became a routine entertainment, and the result is a nominal Christianity.

Another reason of shallow Christianity, is perhaps, what Mr. Ravenhill eloquently expressed, and I quote: “The tragedy of the late hour is that we have too many dead men in the pulpits giving out too many dead sermons to too many dead people.” He further said, “Preaching is a spiritual business… under God, a spiritual preacher will produce spiritually-minded people.”¹

Thirdly, some preach the Love of God, and ignore the truth that a holy God hates sin. We often say, “God hates sin but love the sinner,” say Jerry Bridges, “and this is blessedly true, but too often we quickly rush

Preface 11

over the first half of this statement to get to the second. We cannot escape the fact that God hates our sins.”² A holy God cannot forgive sin unless it is judged and condemned. The door of forgiveness was only opened to us after sin was condemned in the holy person of our Lord Jesus at Calvary’s cross. The pain He bore was more than what our eyes could see and imagine. What we cannot see is the excruciating pain that caused Him to perspire “like drops of blood” at Gethsemane as He anticipated the cross (Luke 22:44); and that we believers, will never come to understand the depths of that agony, because “God laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6-10).

One must be serious in seeking God to find Him (Jer. 29:13). It is the purpose of this booklet to explain a deeper search for God, and one’s awareness of the working of the Holy Spirit in leading us thru the word to know Him. While it is true that salvation is a gift from God, the recipient must come to a deeper understanding of himself and God, to

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feel the hunger for the need of this gift. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, convicting us of sin and our wretchedness, to be awakened to the call of God. There is no true conversion without conviction.

May God bless this booklet. S.M.S.

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1 God Is Incomprehensible

“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?,” asked Zophar

the Naamathite to Job (Job 11:7). In his book The Eleven Lectures on the book of Job, William Kelly commented on this question: “Nobody can” he said,” “God must reveal Himself.”¹ In our quest for God, we have admitted that in our sinful condition, He is beyond our comprehension. Like the question of Zophar to Job, we can’t find Him, until He reveals Himself to us. Our carnal minds, no matter how better educated in the secular field cannot fathom the mysteries of God. “Our minds, said John Stott, “Though

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wonderfully effective instruments in the empirical science, cannot climb up into the infinite mind of God. There is no ladder,” he said, “Only a vast immeasurable gulf.”² David, as he meditated on the omniscience and omnipresence of God, bowed in worship and said “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (Psa. 139:6-10 NIV). When Solomon determined to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, awed by His greatness, proclaimed, “The temple which I build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?” (2 Chro. 2:5-6). God is so awesome to us seeker

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that we need grace from above to be able to know Him.

The Atheist in his proud mind concluded that there is no God. The Bible gave light to that perception: “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). We cannot search God thru the empirical field, or by mere observations and reflections of the senses, like most learned men do in their search for the meaning of things and events around them. Many thinkers of this world did not find God. They thought that thru rational explanation they could explain the mysteries of God. “We may apprehend Him,” said Matthew Henry in his commentary on the book of Job, “but we cannot comprehend Him; we may know that He is, but cannot know what He is…we should be thankful for what He has revealed of Himself.”³ Another depth of his mystery is that, our God is a Triune God. The Triune God is One (Deut. 6:4), but revealed Himself as

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the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This again is beyond human comprehension, but this truth was revealed in the many pages of the Holy Scriptures, from the Old down to the New Testament, and could only be discerned by the believer’s mind when he honestly and prayerfully search the word of God thru the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit in him.

From the beginning of creation, the word “God” in the Bible is in the plural form — “ELOHIM” (Hebrew), “when it is used of the God of Israel it has a singular verb or adjective (as if it were to say, “The God is”).”4 It was further revealed that the Triune God were actively involved in the process of creation. The movement of the Holy Spirit is seen in the first two verses of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. Secondly, when God created man, He used the word, “US” and “OUR.” “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26). These words did not refer to angels, as some suggested, because creation is a sole prerogative of God, and that


angels were also created beings (Col. 1:16). However the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was with Him in creation. “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made, through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made” (Jn. 1:2-3). God was first mentioned in the first verse and first Book of the Bible as without beginning. “In the beginning God created…” (Gen. 1:1), meaning, before everything existed, God was there. The same phrase was mentioned in the first verse of the Gospel of John, and we read, “In the beginning was the word…” (Jn. 1:1), and the word referred to Christ who existed before everything begun.

Again, the Lord Jesus was distinguished from God the Father, but identified with Him in His deity. John wrote: “In the beginning was the word (Christ) and the word was with God, and the word was God” (Jn. 1:1-2). The “Word” referred to the Lord Jesus Christ, and could be read in the fourteenth verse of the same chapter: “and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as

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of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14 AV).

In the baptismal formula, quoting from the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus commanded His followers to “Go… and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). A careful reader will notice the word “name,” is in the singular form, but referred to Three distinct Persons, and in introducing them, every person was preceded by the word “The,” which means being introduced separately, they are not only distinct persons from one another, but equal in their divine standing.

In the Old Testament, the Trinity is intimated in many instances. When Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the midst of a burning bush; and as he turn aside to see the glorious sight, why the bush was burning but not consumed, he heard the voice of the One who called him (the Angel of the Lord) and


said: “I am the God of your father; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob…” (Exo. 3:6). The same Angel of the Lord spoke to Jacob in a dream and told him, He is the God of Bethel (Gen. 31:11-13).

The Angel of the Lord is distinguished in name from the Lord God, but identified with His deity. There were many instances like this in the Old Testament, and He (the Angel of the Lord) is believed to be the pre-incarnate Christ. Adam Clark had something to say on this mystery: “The Angel of the Lord is not a created angel certainly; for He is called Jehovah (v. 4), and has the most expressive attributes of the Godhead applied to Him…and who was this but Jesus…”5

Admittedly, we cannot comprehend this mystery, but was revealed in His Word, especially in the New Testament where it is more enlightening to the believers who are comfortable in believing the One God, who revealed Himself in Three Divine Persons. It is only by searching the Scriptures prayerfully that

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we could be enlightened to the awesomeness of God. Paul in ending his second epistle to the Corinthians wrote: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). The wisdom needed to know God is not found here below but from above. It is only thru the Word of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, could men be enlightened about his Creator.

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2 God Revealed Himself to the Honest Seeker

Thank God, in revealing Himself to us. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer.

29:13). If He did not reveal Himself, we will be groping in the dark. Our God did not want to be the “unknown God” to His creatures. He loves us, and has a message for us. He wanted everyone to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. This was His plan from the beginning He created man in His image and likeness. Man is a moral creature; that means he is holy, good and endowed with intellect to know God and

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to glorify Him. But sinned marred that glory in him. In the Parable of the Lost coin (Luke 15:8) man was lost and buried in the dust. The silver coin is the picture of the lost man. The image imprinted became rusty and distorted. (In some countries their currency in coins were minted with the picture of their rulers engraved in those coins ). The image of God is distorted in men — men who are lost. This truth is seen in the moral breakdown of our society. Admittedly, we have advanced in the field of secular education, like science and modern technology, but our society is morally sick. Sin is pervasive — sexual perversion, drug addictions, immorality, broken marriages and the exposure of sex through the modern style of clothing. All is seen and glamorized in the Televisions and the Print media, and sold like hot cakes in our markets. Worst still, this malady is morally accepted in many countries today. This kind of evil stemmed from man’s departure and rebellion to God; “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,

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God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness; they are whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful: who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:28-32).

The message of God is distorted by many “religious sect” today. Men are religious, but blind to the truth of God. Their Christianity is superficial, because it is adulterated by their carnal reasoning. They don’t agree that the Bible is God’s Word, but insisted that “It contains the word of God,” meaning, they do not agree with some of the sacred truths revealed in the Holy Scriptures that do not conform to their religious plans and ideas; like compromising the truths of the doctrine of separation with

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idolatrous people, for the sake of “unity.” By the way, what are the words that are not inspired in the bible (I am referring to the protestant Bible containing 66 books). One said, “who will separate the gold from the dross?” If the Bible is not totally inspired, as they claimed, who will believe what it says? The devil planned to distort the Word of God from the beginning of creation (Gen. 3:1-5), because if he will succeed in his plan, he will finally convince man to lost his confidence in God.

Another problem going on among some professing churches today is their involvement in partisan politics; taking sides in partisan political issues, rather than preaching the Gospel of Christ to many lost souls; that they may be enlightened to the grace of God, and be separated from the pollution of our unholy surroundings. Many so called “Preachers” professed to preach God, but exults themselves by preaching much about what they have learned in their secular education; including issues in politics, sports, show


(movie) business, and the man-made doctrines of their religious teachers, setting aside the message of the Bible, or trying sometimes, to equate it from their own ideas. People like to hear this kind of messages, and kept them awake in their meetings. Paul said “the time will come that men will not put up with sound doctrine, instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itchy ears want to hear, they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4 NIV). William MacDonald properly articulated this problem: ˝The Apostles foresees a time when people will show a positive distaste for health-giving teaching. They will willfully turn away from those who teach the truth of God’s Word. Their ears will itch for doctrines that are pleasing and comfortable. To satisfy their lust for novel and gratifying doctrines, they will accumulate a group of teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.”1

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The other reason why many disagree with some of the truths, stated in the Bible, is that, truth hurts. Man hates to hear the truth about himself. The flesh hates to hear his sins. Christ was hated by the religious leaders of His time, in the flesh, because He preached the truth about their hypocrisy, calling them “like whitewash tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness…” (Matt. 23:27-28).

Truth hurts, but it heals the heart of him who accept it, and confess it to God. One must be hurt to be awakened to the truth of God’s Words. David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word...” Then he reiterated, “it is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes” (Psa. 119:67, 71). When Peter preached the Gospel on the day of the Pentecost, and accused the Jews in crucifying the Lord Christ, they were cut or “pricked” to the heart and repented and were baptized in the name of Christ (Acts 2:36-38). God’s message must prick the heart of man


to know the truth from God. Sin is temporary insanity. The prodigal son who squandered his possession in a far country with prodigal living, did not come to his senses until convicted by God, and resolved to go back to his Father and confessed his sins (Luke 15:13-20). The word of God hurts and convicts us to be awakened to the truths of ourselves; “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight; but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:12-13).

God is patient despite all these departures from the truth. He gave man a span of one hundred and twenty years during the time of Noah before the judgment — before God destroyed man by the flood (Gen. 3:5). He is patient, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). God kept searching and seeking man;

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working in him thru the Holy Spirit to come to his senses and like the owner of the coin, searching thru the lamp — (the Word of God), sweeping the dust, until the coin was found. Jesus said, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:8-10). This is the miracle of Christianity today, not seeing a “vision,” like many people claimed, but witnessing a sinner’s change life.

God kept on calling man in Christ Jesus to provide him a new life, to recreate and fashion him in His likeness. No one can provide a new heart and a new life to man except God. Secular education cannot renew the evil heart. This is evident in many of our modern youths today. Our percentage of illiteracy is much smaller than the past couple of decades, but morally everyone agrees that the problem of society today are the unruly “educated youths.” Religion, I mean a mere membership to a religious group, cannot renew the heart. We see these things in our time, many religious


organizations surfaced, religious buildings are full of people every Sundays, but sin is all around from Monday to Saturday. Only God can create a new heart in man (2 Cor. 5:17). God loves the sinner. He wanted him to come to Him, and like a physician, will provide him balm from his spiritual troubles; He came and became flesh, and dwelt among us, to offer His Holy Body on Calvary’s cross, that we may be healed; forgiven from our sins and enjoy eternal life with Him forever (Jn. 10:28-29; 17:22). But we must search Him with all our heart, mind and soul, so He will disclose Himself, even His glory.

Before we seek God, first He work a desire in us to seek and find Him — a desire in our inner being to search for Him; for it is God who work that desire before we seek Him. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Zachaeus, a publican and a chief tax collector who have enriched himself by excessive collection of taxes (Luke 19:8), came to his senses when He

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desired to “see Jesus Who He was” (Luke 19:2-3). God worked in him thru the Holy Spirit, convicted him of sin (Jn. 16:7-9) and when did that work of conviction begin, he did not know. All he knew was the time when Jesus called him on top of the sycamore tree and said: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5). All of us who responded to the Lord’s invitation to find rest (Matt. 11:28) could point a time in our life when we did heed and come to that invitation. But when did God begin to work for that desire to seek Him, we cannot tell.

In the discourse of the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus, He used nature to illustrate spiritual truths. He said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes...” (Jn. 3:8). He spoke of the new birth and like the wind; we did not know where it came from — when did God begin a work in him. A.W. Tozer wrote: “Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment


done within him, imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.”²

God, thru the Holy Spirit is preparing our heart to seek Him, convicting us of sins; of the vanities of life without God, working in us a desire for holiness, a desire to be forgiven by God, and a desire to seek the One who will provide the panacea of our spiritual illness, the cause of our restlessness. That desire will prepare our heart to find God in Jesus Christ, for He said, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Notice that He is calling those who are burdened with sin and those who are tired looking for the elusive joy and peace in this world but cannot find them. Augustine said; “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in you.”³

The working of God thru the Holy Spirit before conversion is the dawn of light in understanding Him. As He reveals Himself, without that inner desire done by the Holy Spirit, one will not find Him. This we have

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observed, that when God spoke to men to reveal Himself (2 Pet. 1:20-21), many did not believe in His Words — the Bible. “It is only the work of men, they said, “men who wanted to persuade us with their ideas...” God revealed Himself through the wonders of creation, many did not see God, but they saw creation. Finally God revealed Himself perfectly in the Person of Jesus Christ, the image of the unseen God (Col. 1:15), but He was rejected, mocked and crucified by His own people. He was “the Light that shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Light is enough to be seen by men, and yet God sent a witness to testify that the Light came shining but still many did not see Him (Jn. 1:6-10), because they were blind. But to those, whom the light shone, those who seriously responded to the working of God in them, saw God in Christ. They believed in Him and gave them the right to be called the children of God, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:12-13).


They responded to the work of God, and found Him in Christ.

To know God we must desire to obey Him, fear Him; by fear I mean, not a servile fear, but reverence, for “Holy and Reverend is His name” (Psa. 111:9, AV). We need faith to know Him, and faith like salvation is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9). Faith comes from above, and endowed by God to one who honestly desired to find Him. Faith comes by hearing the word (Rom. 10:17). It is the power to know God; to believe Him, and obey Him. The writer of Hebrew made this clear and I quote: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).

Paul said that man can be accepted righteously only through God’s message of faith, not by the deeds of the Law (Rom. 3:20-23; Gal. 2:16). The Law condemns, because man fall short of God’s standard of holiness expressed and embodied in the Law. The Law was given to us in order to know that we failed God (Rom. 3:23). Only by God’s message of faith in Christ Jesus could men be declared righteous because

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God condemned sin in Him to satisfy the holy requirements of the Law. He is merciful and just, meaning He loves us, but did not overlook sin. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). This message of faith thru Christ is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16), but could only be understood by the power of faith, “for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith...” (Rom. 1:17). And one must have faith to understand it. Thus we observe many who heard the simple gospel message — the message of salvation by grace through faith, did not agree with it. Almost majority of the world’s religion, preach salvation by works, or faith plus works except genuine Christianity. Only one who has faith can truly understand the message of God’s grace.

Abel’s offering pleased God when he offered the first born of his flock because he knew (knowledge) what God desired — a lamb that pictured Christ death at Calvary’s cross. Why


did he know? Perhaps his parents told him and gave instructions on the law of offering, but it requires faith to understand and believe it. Cain did not understand the right offering and God did not accept it (Gen. 4:3-5). Abel’s faith look forward to Calvary’s cross. Faith is not leaping in the dark, or as some infidel says, “Faith is blind following.” Faith is based on knowledge — knowledge from the Word of God. Faith without knowledge (reflection) is fanaticism. This is the problem why many became prey of religious cults. They don’t take time to search the scriptures and ask God to enlighten their minds. They are easily carried with every wind of doctrines and fascinated with the eloquence of preaching.

Faith is the power to believe and obey God. By faith Abraham obeyed God when he was told to leave his country and go to a land he did not even know (Heb. 11:8). He left Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 11:31; 12:1-4), the metropolis of the ancient world; the center of civilization, that will provide him worldly opportunities

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to gain prominence and luxury in life. Yet he obeyed God. “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents...for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:9-10). Abraham like Moses would rather obey God than to “enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25).

Abraham believed God, and it was “accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). What did he believe in God? First, God told him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in heaven, and he believed the Lord (Gen. 15:1-6), despite humanly speaking, he knew that it was physically impossible for him to beget children; he being a hundred years old and Sarah his wife is barren (Rom. 4:17-22). Secondly, the Lord said to him that through his seed “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:18), and the Seed, that God promised to come from the fruit of his body in the flesh is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16). He believed God and look


forward to that promise by faith; though, I believe, he did not clearly see as we see it in our case today, because we have the New Testament in our possession that explicitly revealed all these truths before our eyes (1 Pet. 1:9-12). Abraham believed, looking forward to the cross daily. We believers today look backward to the cross, clearly explained to us in the scriptures, more than in Abraham’s case. But thru his faith in God’s promise, he saw the beam of light that points to the Savior and the cross further away than we see it today.

By faith Abraham obeyed God when he was asked to offer his son — his only son as a burnt offering at Mount Moriah. This I believe is the greatest test of his obedience. Isaac is the only son from Sarah and that through him God’s promise of posterity will come. How could this be fulfilled if Isaac would be offered as a burnt offering? Secondly, Abraham loves his son, and God knows this. “Take now your son Isaac,” God said, “whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering

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on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Gen. 22:2). God wanted to know if Abraham’s love for Isaac exceeds that what belongs to Him. In the words of J. Oswald Sanders: “of course it was not Isaac God wanted, but the death of Abraham of that thing which had caused him to give Isaac pre-eminence over God in his affections.”4 Abraham passed the test, did not hesitate to offer his only son, but God prevented him, and provided a lamb as a substitute for Isaac. That lamb is a picture of Christ our substitute at the cross. “Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and their behind him was a ram caught in a ticket by its horn. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead (substitute) of his son.” God commended Abraham, “now I know that you fear God, since you did not withheld your son, your only son from Me” (Gen. 22:12). Only the power of faith in God could one be able to obey. By faith the saints of old obeyed God.

God provided the seeker wisdom thru faith. This is not secular wisdom, but spiritual wisdom,


not the wisdom of this world. Paul says: “We do however speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age...No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time begun. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory...but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit...” (1 Cor. 2:6-10, NIV).

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3 God Revealed Himself Thru the Medium of Words — The Bible

God revealed Himself thru the language of man. He inspired men of old to write, and made known His mind and plans,

“for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). He inspired men as they write, yet retained their personality and style of writing. Inspiration is the proof of the accuracy and inerrancy of the Scriptures. Paul the Apostle confirmed inspiration “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is

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profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instructions in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

By inspiration, ordinary man became infallible, because God superintended them as they write. Inspiration according to Webster dictionary is the “Divine influence upon human beings as that resulting in the writing of the scriptures.”1 By inspiration the Prophets, Apostles, and other sacred writers were qualified to set forth divine truths without mixtures of errors, and exactly expressed God’s mind, and were written in the original manuscript of the Bible. Merrill Unger quotes Warfield, on this subject, “as a supernatural influence exerted on the sacred writers by the spirit of God, by virtue of which their writings are given Divine trustworthiness.”2 These men wrote individually for a span of different period of time, about forty men of different profession and probably written in a span of one thousand five hundred years, from the first book to the last, yet they have

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one progressive message — a progressive revelation of God leading us to Christ. This revelation was written in a book we were privileged to have and read — the Bible.

God desired to communicate His message clearly so that we will understand Him. Even today, He is still speaking to us. This does not mean that the Bible is not the final revelation; but when we say He is still speaking to us, He reveals the truth about Him and ourselves, as we read and meditate upon His words. He speaks to us thru His written Word — the Bible. I remember a time when I was leading a Bible Study group in one of the towns in our province; after the meeting, a man from the audience stood up and volunteered to preach and join us in our missionary work. He even offered his vehicles to be used in remote places for our convenience. I then asked what prompted him to decide on that good proposal, and he replied to our surprised, “I sensed that God told me to preach.” Amazingly, I ask, knowing that it was his first time in the meeting, “what


did God tell you to preach about?” he had no answer and remained silent and perplexed. Today God no longer speak literally, like He spoke in time past to the prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament; although He could if He wanted to. But what I am saying is that the Bible is the complete revelation of God for Our spiritual need, (present and future); and this includes His final plans at the end times. If up to at present, He still speaks literally, adding to what the Bible says as some religious group claimed, when will revelation ends? One person wrote a song, and the lyrics did not conform to the truths of the Scriptures; yet he insisted that the Holy Spirit dictated to him the lyrics of the song. The Holy Spirit was sent to enlighten us to the truths of God’s words, not to add another “truth” (Jn. 14:26; Rev. 22:16-19). As I’ve have said before God continue to speak to us, giving us particular messages as we read and meditate prayerfully upon his words, the Bible. God speaks to us deeper truth so that we

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will grow in the knowledge of Him. “The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech,” said Tozer, “I think a new world will arise out of religious mist when we approach our bible with the idea that it is not only a book, which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking.”3

God also speaks thru His servants, in preaching and teaching the Word. He commanded us to preach. It is His desire to preach the Gospel to everyone. This was made cleared at the birth of the early church in Jerusalem. At the day of the Pentecost the disciples were endowed by the Holy Spirit the power to speak in other tongues to preach the gospel clearly in the languages of those who were gathered around them; particularly Jews who have resided in different nations and acquired different languages “Now there were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews…When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: are not all


these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?” (Acts 2:5-8 NIV). God gave them spiritual gifts to speak in the language of those people gathered around them to preach the message of salvation in clear terms by word of mouth. However today, some claimed to possess the gift of tongues, but the problem is, unlike what happened at Pentecost, what we are hearing today by these so called “tongues speakers” are not translatable words, but “gibberish and ecstatic” utterances. If ever there are still people who were endowed with the gifts of tongues nowadays, it must be a reproduction of what happened at Pentecost, meaning, the apostles spoke thru the power of the Holy Spirit, translatable languages that they did not learn from school. It is important to note that many people (Jews) who acquired different languages from different nations where present at that time, and heard the apostles spoke in their own languages, like, “Parthians and Medes and Elamites... Egypt and parts of Libya...

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Rome... Cretans and Arabs...” (Acts 2:5-11) they heard the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ preached by the Apostles. From thereon up to the present, the Bible is preached by Christians in every place of the globe. Presently it is translated in almost every language of the world, because God wanted all men to know Him and His plans.

Our language, although admittedly sometimes, fall short in explaining spiritual things, like some of the Old and New Testaments writers who use similes and metaphors in describing their visions of the awesome God; yet despite the inadequacy of our language, our need to know Him — His holiness, love, mercy and His desire for our salvation and eternal life, are explicitly clear.

Today, many professing Christians do not take time to read the Bible. No one will grow in faith without searching the Scriptures daily. It is thru searching the Scriptures that our knowledge of Christ grows deeper (Jn. 6:39; 2 Pet. 3:18). A true believer must hunger for


the Word. It is the evidence of God’s life in him. The Lord Himself exhorted us to search the Scriptures and obey Him.

Satan planned to destroy the Bible. This was evidenced by history. The Bible became a closed Book before the age of the Reformation. It was not permitted by the “professing” church to be read. Many were persecuted — burned at stake, imprisoned, and excommunicated, because of their faith in God and in the truth of His Word. The devil did not like men to know the truth of the Christian faith. He desired that they remain in the dark, and be a companion of him (Satan) in hell. Thank God that Martin Luther was enlightened to the truth of the Bible, when he read and meditated on the Book of the Romans, and discovered that Salvation is a gift of divine grace, and that men has no power to earn it. Even today many religious people in Christendom were made to believe by their religious leaders, that only those who are “leaders of their churches,” have the right to interpret the Bible. Satan planned to destroy the Bible in many subtle ways but God preserved it.

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4 God is Revealed Thru the Wonders of Creation

The power to create is a sole prerogative of God. “In the beginning God created...” (Gen. 1:1). The Bible introduced God in its

first page and first sentence, and the evidence of His Omnipotence is creation. No one can create except Him. He created something out of nothing. Men make something out of something, like building a house out of lumber and bricks. God spoke and things came to existence; “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible”

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(Heb. 11:3). Creation is the evidence of the glory of God. “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psa. 19:1). Paul says that the wonder of creation reveals to man a Living God, and man is without excuse not to acknowledge Him; “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19-20).

Too bad men worshiped the beauty of creation (nature) more than the Creator of nature. From the cradle of ancient civilization, up to the present, men worshiped nature, like the sun and stars. Men who professed to be wise refuted the truth of God’s creation. They postulated that every living things evolved from a single cell, until it became a complex one, but where that single cell came from, they could not explain. Men could have known God if he pondered and reflected seriously and

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honestly over the awesomeness of creation, for behind this beauty an intelligent and omnipotent God is seen.

Men worship and served the creature (men and beast) more than the creator (Rom. 1:25). They made their gods and became vain in their imagination. In their sinful and darkened mind they made an image of God “like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Rom. 1:23). This is idolatry and God hates idolatry because men reduced Him to a mere creature.

God commanded us not to make “carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath… you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” (Exo. 20:4-5). The natural man is futile to imagine God in his darkened mind; to make an image of Him. “A true image of God is not found in all the world.” Says Calvin, “Any image of God is Itself impious, because by their corruption, His majesty is adulterated and He is figured to

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be other than He is.”¹ Note that when Moses delayed his going down from the mountain, after God gave him instruction including the two tablets of stone — the commandments written by Himself; the people on the foot of the Mountain began making their own god. In their vain imagination they made a golden calf, out of gold and fashioned it thru their engraving tools. The image of the calf denotes strength, and God is strong, but they limited His strength with that of a calf. This is their concept of God, and said; “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Exo. 32:4). They imagine a figure representing the object they worshipped; They fashioned their concept of God for tangible image that they thought represented God.

But more than these, we have to understand the commandment of the Lord, when He said, and I repeat “You shalt not make for yourself a carve image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above and or that is in the earth beneath…” He is saying that idolatry is not

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merely the worship of strange gods but making an image of a true God, thru the imagination of men’s darkened mind. “Idolatry consist not only in the worship of false god, but also in the worship of the true God by images… In its Christian application this means that we are not to make use of visual or pictorial representation of the Triune God or of any Person of the Trinity, for the purpose of Christian worship. The commandments does deals not with the object of our worship, but with the manner of it; what it tell us is that statues and pictures of the one whom we worship are not to be used as an aid to worship Him.”² Christ said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:24). Only thru the power of the indwelling Spirit in the life of a believer could we truly know and worship the living God. Only the regenerate man can worship Him.

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5 God is Perfectly Revealed Thru the Person of Jesus Christ

The Lord Christ was called the “Word of God.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word

was God.” He was called the Word because He revealed God to us — His mind and plan. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ are life and light. By obeying His words we found life — eternal life. We also found the beam that lightened our paths in life’s dark and thorny roads. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn.

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1:4). His words were the best counsel we have ever heard, because they are the words of God. He was called “Wonderful, Counselor” (Isa. 9:6), because we heard from Him the truth we need. In Him was found the life of God — His moral glory. He is called the Living Word, because everything He said about God was manifested in His life — His holiness, mercy and love. The glorious glory of God was veiled in His flesh, when He came here, but a preview of that glory was seen by his disciple when He transfigured before their eyes at the mount (Matt. 17:1). Soon He will be revealed to all of us, believers, when He comes the second time. “He is the image of the invisible God... In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 1:15; 2:9).

The holiness of Christ is the holiness of God; the love of Christ is the love of God. The Bible is Christ-centered. It is full of Christ; He is woven in all the fabric of Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. A serious reader of the Bible guided by the Holy Spirit will see the

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Lord Jesus Christ in its pages. He is the Gem of the Bible. John Stott said: “The Bible is the Prism by which the light of Jesus Christ is broken into its many and beautiful colours. The Bible is the portrait of Jesus Christ. We need to gaze upon Him with such intensity of desire that (by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit) He comes to us alive...and fill us with Himself.”1 It is the Holy Spirit that illumined our minds to understand and see Christ in the Bible, but we should desire to seek Him. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (Jn. 14:26).

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6 The Sinner Can Approach God Thru Christ

1. GOD IS HOLY

In introducing God to us, John said “God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 Jn. 1:5-6). The sinner will have a problem after reading these verses: “How could a sinner like us, buried in the quagmire of sin, meet a Holy God? Holiness is one of the attributes of God. When we say He is holy, He can’t be otherwise—holiness is inherent in Him

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(1 Pet. 2:21-22; Heb. 4:15). He is impervious to sin — cannot enter His holy Person. When Christ was tempted, it was not to prove if He could sin, but He was tempted to prove that He could not sin. God is holy and in our sinful condition could not approach Him. “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness” (Hab. 1:13). The Bethsemes of old exclaimed, “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?” (1 Sam. 6:20). How can a vile sinner like us have fellowship with Him, seeing that even the “righteousness” we claim are only “filthy rags” before his purer eyes? (Isa. 64:6). The holiness of God bars men to come closer to Him as pictured by the linen fence of the tabernacle of old. The tabernacle is the place where man could meet God. But there is a fence, a linen fence that surrounded it, meaning, No Trespassing to sinners. We will discuss about the tabernacle later.

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2. GOD IS LOVE

God is Love (1 Jn. 4:8), and Love like holiness is also inherent in Him. God is Love. Love is the character of God. We can’t separate Love from God, He is Love. H. A. Ironsides said: “God is gracious, but it would not do to say God is grace; God is merciful, but I would not properly say that God is mercy. God is kind, but I cannot say God is kindness; God is just, but I cannot say God is justice, but I can say because the Scripture says so, that God is Love. This is the divine nature of God.”¹ Because He is a God of Love, He loves us though we are not lovable. This is Grace (Eph. 2:1-5, 8-9). Grace is undeserved love. Grace is God’s love bestowed to unlovable people like we are. Love that descends is Grace “In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10). It is God’s love to us sinners that sent His Son into the world to bridge the gulf between Him and us (Jn. 3:16). He loves us and wanted us to be secured in Him, though


we are sinners. He knows our frame, that we are prone to sin — to grieved Him, but God secured us believers in His arms “…and I give them eternal life… neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (Jn. 10:28-29). The truth that our loving God secured us in His hands is woven in the pages of the Bible. It conforms to the general context of the whole Scriptures. If this is not clear and settled in the mind of every believer in Christ, we will be robbed of the joy and peace brought about by the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s cross. Salvation is a free gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). It is a finish work and man has no participation in that work; neither has he any part in maintaining that salvation. While we were exhorted to do good works, as a fruit of faith, we cannot maintain to take care that great gift. Suppose I will give a new Bible to a friend as a gift; I will not charge him anything, for it is a gift, but I can say, “You take care of that Bible, cover it with plastic, so that it will not wear easily.” That is a proper advice. But in the case of

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the free gift of Salvation, we cannot maintain it as long as we are in the flesh, because we cannot guarantee perfect holiness until God will cloth us in a glorious body. It is God who kept and maintain it, otherwise it will wear. Peter said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5). Secondly, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit upon conversion (Eph. 1:13; 4:30) until redemption meaning until we are cloth with the glorious body. Sealed means we are God’s possession. We have to thank God for all this assurance, and so we can absolutely say, “We are saved.” God loves us and He wanted us to be secured in His loving arms.

In the Old Testament, a sinner cannot approach God’s altar without shedding of


blood. He offered animals; bulls, goats, and lambs as sin offering. Those offerings pictures the “Holy Body” to be offered at Calvary’s Cross. Those offerings were temporary means to atone sins “through the forbearance of God” (Rom. 3:25) until the final offering of Christ’s body as the culmination of forgiveness of sins of all ages. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when he came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body you have prepared for Me...” (Heb. 10:4-5).

Our sins were judged, before forgiven. A Holy God judged and condemned our sins in the Person of Christ on the cross (Isa. 53:5-6). The agony that Christ suffered at the cross is unbearable and insufferable. We cannot fathom in our carnal minds the pain and depths of His sufferings for our sins because God’s wrath at sin was poured upon Him (Rom. 8:3). The pain He suffered most was more than the result of the nails that pierced His hands and feet, or the crown of thorns that they plotted and buried

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in His forehead; the spear that wounded His side, and the lashes that ribboned His flesh at every stroke of the whip; all those were excruciating pain, but there is more that we could not deeply imagine thru our minds to described the pain He suffered most, because the “Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). God sent His own Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh…” (Rom. 8:3). The depth of His agony and pain is the result of our sin. He was forsaken by God at that darkest hour at Calvary’s cross, when He cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:45-46). He could have avoided the cross, but He bore it for our sake.

Now the door of forgiveness was open to all, who by faith will come to Him, acknowledging our sins and thanking Him for what He did on the cross; asking Him to open our hearts, and poured our life to Him, accepting Him


as our Lord and Saviour. He is alive today and because He was raised from the dead, the sinner who comes to Him by faith is declared righteous by the Father, forgiven, justified, and at peace with God (Rom. 5:1).

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7 The Tabernacle Where God Meets Man — A Picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Worshiper

The Tabernacle of old is a picture of Christ. Every detail of it points to the Person and Work of Christ. It is also a

picture of God’s plan for Man’s salvation and the way to worship Him. Its blueprint and specification was committed to Moses, while he was at the Mount Sinai. It is a rectangular

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plot of ground, One hundred fifty feet long and seventy five feet wide (Exo. 27:9-13, Living Bible). It is enclosed by a linen fence measured seven and a half feet high (Exo. 27:17-18, Living Bible). The linen fence signifies that God is Holy and the sinner is barred from entering within. It has however a door, a symbol of Christ as the only Door and the only Way to Heaven (Jn. 10:9; 14:6). One who would enter must first pass to the brazen altar, which pictured the cross — The Cross where Christ gave His life as a ransom for our sins. This is the starting point of salvation. Then you will see the wash basin with water, for the cleansing of the worshipper, before entering the Tabernacle proper.

The Tabernacle proper is a tent like structure measuring forty five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high. It is divided into two compartment or rooms. The first room is called the Holy Place where the priest ministered daily in this sanctuary. Inside are the Table of Showbread, a picture of Christ as the Bread

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of Life (Jn. 6:35), the bread that gave life and strength to the Israelite as they journeyed into the wilderness up to the Promised Land. Today, we believers feed upon Christ thru the Word and as we rely on Him daily, meditating on His Person, we are strengthened in our spiritual life. The Lamps or the Golden Candlesticks points to Christ as the Light of the world (Jn. 8:12). Notice that inside the Tabernacle, there is only One source of Light — The Lamp. It means that the Church today have only one source of Light, one basis for truth-Christ and His Words. The next furniture is the Altar of Incense; it is the type of the glorified Christ interceding for us (Heb. 7:24-25). The incense also shows the fragrance of His Person. He is pure and without sin.

The second compartment is known as the Holy of Holiest. It is separated from the first room by a thick veil. The veil is the picture of Christ’s body that must be rent (death) so that we believers can enter the holiest place where God is. This heavy curtain forbids anyone to


enter that room except the high priest once a year with blood taken from the altar of the burnt offerings. “But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance:” (Heb. 9:7). This veil was rent from top to the bottom at Christ’s death signifying that the way to God’s presence was opened to the forgiven sinner (Matt. 27:50-51). Then in the same room was placed the Ark of the Covenant, a rectangular box shaped furniture made of wood and pure gold. We will find inside the ark two tablets of stone, and the Ten Commandments written on top by the finger of God; also the rod of Aaron that budded and blossomed, and the golden jar of manna. On top of the ark is a solid gold covering known as the Mercy seat, and over the ark are Cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat. This is the place where God meets man. It is only by God’s mercy that man can meet God, thru the work of Christ on the cross. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of

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His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:4-5). The Mercy seat is a picture of Christ so that the sinner washed by His blood can come and approach the Throne of Grace.

I will not discuss further its detail in this writing. What I wanted to clarify is that it was planned in the mind of God even before the law was given to Moses on the mount. The Law demanded obedience. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine” (Exo. 19:5). Moses announced God’s desire embodied in the Law, and the people without being aware of their inability to obey it, in unison replied to Moses; “Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do...’” (Exo. 19:8) — In their ignorance of God’s holiness, they thought they could be saved by obeying the law, not being aware that it was given to know their sinfulness. “Therefore


by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). They could not obey the holy standard of the law. God’s standard is so high that man falls short of it. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The Law says we are sinners and points us to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing. It is “like a mirror” that clearly shows the dirt of our face (our sins) and points us to the water for cleansing (blood of Christ). “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:24).

The Law is holy, just and perfect. It demanded death to the transgressor. If that was the final covenant of God to us, we will all be doomed to hell. We need grace and mercy from Him, so Moses sprinkled on the altar blood and the people did not understand this, but kept on shouting, “we will keep the law” (Exo. 24:6-8). Paul said, “for they (the Jews) being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish

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their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:4-5).

The attitude of the people during that time is the same today. The flesh desire to go to heaven on its own merits; that they could enter heaven by their good works. They could not accept what the apostle Paul said “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7:1) because, deeply embedded in the sinner’s heart is a spiritual cancer called “Pride.” Only a heart convicted by the Holy Spirit of its true condition could one be awakened to God.

The Tabernacle is a figure of the cross; a picture of God’s mercy to us sinners. We will notice that after Moses came down from the mount, the people already corrupted themselves by making a golden calf — an idol abominable to God (Exo. 32:1-6). Without God’s mercy, they would have been destroyed right away. So the Tabernacle was already in the mind of God, shadowed by His mercy on us thru Christ’s suffering on the cross for our sins. This was


illustrated by the door at the entrance of the fence, a wide door, and as one enters you will come face to face with the brazen altar where animals will be offered, the blood poured, just as Christ the true figure, shed his blood to offer forgiveness to us sinners, and a way to heaven. God had provided a way to sinners, to find Him. Jesus said “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (Jn. 10:9).

So God provided a way for us to find Him. The Way is Jesus Christ: “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6). We could find God, as He revealed the Way, and we must come by that way, for there is no other way — Only One Way — Jesus Christ. We must come to Him as a repentant sinner and He will not cast us out. “...This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He sent” (Jn. 6:29). “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (Jn. 6:37).

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8 The Christian Vision of God

Can we see God? Paul said: “God, Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see...”

(1 Tim. 6:16). It is true that no mortal eye can see God, who is a spirit, although we read that some Old Testament saints saw Him in various forms, but “They were merely temporary appearances by which He chose to speak to His people.”¹ but in His essential Being, no man has seen God. Moses saw God’s glory, he saw His back parts (Exo. 33:18-23), Isaiah saw Him seated on the throne (Isa. 6:1-4), Ezekiel saw God in awesome form and lacked words to described His splendor, using similes, likened

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Him to things, he previously saw, but cannot described Him fully (Ezek. 1:26-28). Paul saw Him as light brighter than the sun (Acts 26:13) and finally John saw Him and likened Him to jasper and sardine stone (Rev. 4:3).

Only the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us clearly the nature of God, in order to know Him perfectly. John said “no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (Jn. 1:18). “Christ is the image of the invisible God.” In Him we saw the moral glory of God; His love, holiness, mercy and compassion; His Words that gave life and strength; His justice, His pure and perfect life.

His shining glory is veiled in the flesh, but a few of His disciples, had seen a preview of that glory, when He transfigured at the mount (Matt. 17:1-2).

Today, we who have not seen Him with our carnal eyes, yet believed in Him, are “blessed” said the Lord Jesus to Thomas (Jn. 20:29). We are blessed, because we see Him clearly by the

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power of faith today. The natural man want to see anything before believing; but to God, it is the other way around, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Peter reiterated this in his epistle: “whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith; the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:8-9). We love Him and believe Him. But more than that we are blessed, because as we meditate upon His Words, we see Him clearly than the saints of old, who were with Him, when He was in the flesh, because the Holy Spirit is with us to glorify Him, and enlighten us about Him. Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive … but you know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you… He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (Jn. 14:16-17, 26). This was the blessing — the privilege we have now


that even the saints in the Old Testament, including those with Him in the flesh did not have, before His resurrection. There were many things that they did not understand in His Words, until He was raised from the dead. Today, He is alive, glorified with the glory He had, before everything existed — He is God. We who believe, enjoy fellowship with Him daily. Soon we shall be with Him. He promised to come again, and that sure promise is our blessed hope (Titus 2:13). “Let not your heart be troubled,” He said, “you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn. 14:1-3).

These truths are like cold water to our tired and troubled hearts in this dark world where we are temporarily settled. We believers rely on His promises and live by them. It also strengthens our faith in Him, when He said, “You

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believe in God, believe also in Me,” meaning, if we can trust and rely in the God of the old testament, we can also rely in Him, for He Himself is God. “I and my Father are one,” He said (Jn. 10:30). We can trust Him daily for our spiritual and physical needs.

Secondly, He is assuring us a place in heaven — The “many mansions” or “dwelling places,” where “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying… nor pain” (Rev. 21:4), because there is no more sin that caused all these troubles in our earthly life.

Thirdly, He will be with us there. His presence will be with us, “where I am,” He said, “there you may be also.” Heaven is a beautiful place and we look forward to that, and anticipates the joy that awaits us in that awesome place (Rev. 21:18-23), but, however glorious that place is, what thrills us most is the Occupant of heaven — that August body Who sat on the throne like a “jasper and a sardine stone” — God, the Lord Jesus Christ; the One whom we owe everything. The One


who redeemed us through His blood, and loved us, and gave Himself for us. “We shall see His face” (Rev. 22:4), and again John reiterated in his first epistle: “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2).

Anyone reading this booklet, and have not found God, will find Him in Jesus Christ. He came here on earth more than two thousand years ago, as pictured by the Good Samaritan, Who came where we are, wounded by the devil, leaving us half dead, naked, and saw us with compassion, “bandaged our wounds, pouring oil and wine”… and took care of us (Luke 10:33). We cannot approach God in that condition, because He is holy. But He loved us, and came “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” to wash us through His blood that we may be healed, forgiven for our sins, and enjoy fellowship with Him. Today he is calling us, to come to Him, confessing our sins that we may be cleansed, believing that He died for us and now He is alive and ready to accept us just as we are. A blessed hope indeed.

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Notes

Preface1 Ravenhill, Leonard, Why Revival Tarries, (Send the

Light Trust, 1972, p.2)2 Jerry Bridges, Pursuit of Holiness, (Navpress, 1978,

p.32)

chaPter 11 Kelly, William, Eleven Lectures on the Book of Job,

(Wilson Foundation, 1919, p.92)2 Stott, John, Basic Christianity, (OMF Literature Inc.

1989, p.12)3 Henry Mathew, The Bethany Parallel Commentary on

the Old Testament, (Zondervan, p.896)4 Macleod Donald – Shared Life, The Trinity and the

fellowship of God’s People (Christian focus publication, 2002 p.12)

5 Clarke Adam, The Bethany Parralel Commentary of the Old Testament, Bethany House Publishers, 1985, p.134

chaPter 21 McDonald, William, Believer’s Bible Commentary,

(Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990, p.2125)2 Tozer A.W. Pursuit of God, (Christian Publication Inc.,

1982, p.11)

notes 79

3 Confession of St. Augustine, (Whitaker House, 1996, p.11)

4 Sanders, J.O. Men from God’s School, (Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1965, p.24)

chaPter 31 The New Webster Dictionary, (Simon and Schuster,

1980)2 Unger, Merrill – The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary

– (Moody Press, 1988, p.620)3 Tozer A.W. Pursuit of God, (Christian Publications Inc.,

1982, p.82)

chaPter 41 Calvin quoted by J.I. Packer, Knowing God, (Intervarsity

Press, 1973, p.45)2 Ibid., p.44

chaPter 51 Stott, John Understanding the Bible – (Zondervan, 1980,

p.89)

chaPter 61 Ironside, H.A. – Epistle of John, (Loizeaeux Brothers,

Inc., 1971, p.138-139)

chaPter 81 Mcdonald, William, Believer’s Bible Commentary,

(Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1990, p.1469)

can we find god -s.m. susi jr

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