In God’s Presence
It is considered a
great honor and a rare privilege to be
received in audience at a royal court, even
though a hundred others are received at the
same time. There is considerable rivalry
among visitors to the British Isles to obtain
the much-coveted invitation to a palace
function where they are introduced to
royalty. If invited, they spend much time
preparing for the occasion. It is indeed the
event of a lifetime. They read carefully the
rules that govern their appearance, the
proper way of addressing royalty, and what
they may do or not do in the royal presence.
The occasion is never forgotten; and if
royalty addresses any remark to them, the
words are ever cherished.
We need not attempt
to compare or contrast such an occasion with
that of appearing before the most high God in
private audience. If the one is wonderful,
the other is a thousand times more so. There
can in reality be no comparison, only
contrast; for God is beyond compare.
In prayer, we enter
the presence of God, the audience chamber of
the Most High. Not, as on earth, are we
ushered into an outer reception room with
hundreds of others, but into the throne room
itself, the inmost sanctuary of God, for a
private audience with the ruler of the
universe. It is doubtful that even the
greatest of the saints fully appreciate the
honor thus bestowed. Moreover, this honor is
granted the lowliest of men! Wonder upon
wonders!
In private prayer, as
in public worship, we often engage in
communion with God as a matter of duty or
custom and repeat certain phrases without
thought as to their meaning. It is a pious
practice learned from others or remembered
from childhood. We cling to it as something
we “ought” to do. We feel that if
our prayers seem to do little good, at least
they do no harm.
Such is a far cry
from what God intends prayer to be. Prayer is
not a common occasion for which no
preparation is needed. It is an audience with
God.
God’s
Plan for Man
We need to understand
more about prayer than we do. Why does God
want us to pray? He knows what we need, so
why does He simply give us what we ought to
have? What are the conditions upon which
rests the answer? What may we expect from
prayer?
In God’s
universal plan, men were intended to occupy a
high position as co-workers with Him. To
prepare them for this work they were to be
subjected to certain tests to ascertain if
they were worthy of their future high
calling; if they stood these tests they were
eventually to take their place as members of
the household of God.
Such a plan involved
a period of instruction and training that
would demonstrate their capacity for learning
the necessary lessons. During this time they
would have the opportunity of deciding
whether or not the life promised them by God
as a reward for their work was worth the
discipline necessary to meet the standard God
has set for inclusion in His family. At any
time they would be at liberty to terminate
the agreement; and should they once more
change their minds and wish to return to
their allegiance to God, He would give them
the opportunity until they at last had
irrevocably settled the question for or
against God. If their decision was against
life, they would eventually return to the
earth whence they came. If they chose life
and passed successfully their period of
instruction and the final examination, they
would be invested with life everlasting and
be officially installed as the sons of God.
In the beginning,
there was open communication between man and
his Maker. God was one with man, and the
record states that He walked in the garden in
the cool of the day. Prayer, such as we now
know it, was unknown. Man did not fall to the
ground when he talked with God. They communed
one with the other as friends do and as Moses
did later. “The Lord spake unto Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his
friend.” Exodus 33:11. There was perfect
fellowship, as between father and son, God
talked with man, and man talked with God.
After sin came in, this close fellowship
ceased. Says God, “Your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your
sins have hid His face from you, that He will
not hear.” Isaiah 59:2.
While sin made a
separation between man and God, and no direct
communication was possible, man was not
entirely shut off from God. A way of approach
was opened through Christ, and in His name,
man could reach the ear of God. Jesus Christ
declared, “No man cometh unto the
Father, but by Me.” John 14:6.
“Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father
in My name, He may give it you.” John
15:16. According to this, the way to the
Father, and the only way, is through the Son.
Through Him, we may come, and whatever we ask
in His name, we shall receive. This is the
“new and living way, which He hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is
to say, His flesh.” Hebrews 10:20.
This new way was
first prefigured by the sacrifices to God in
Old Testament times. These sacrifices were
ordained to help man keep in mind that he was
a sinner and as such deserved death, but that
a way had been found by which he might come
back to God and find access through the death
of the sacrifice. Thus, we find that Cain and
Abel brought their sacrifices to God,
“in process of time.” Genesis
4:3,4. In thus bringing a lamb from his
flock, the sinner acknowledged his guilt and
admitted that he was worthy of death. As he
slew the animal, he demonstrated that he
understood that the wages of sin is death and
that he was not worthy of life. The sacrifice
also showed his belief that God accepted a
substitute in his stead, and that the lamb
died that he might live. Thus, the sacrifice
signified two things: man’s
acknowledgement of the justice of God in
requiring punishment, and a demonstration of
the mercy of God in providing and accepting a
substitute to die in the sinner’s place.
On the sinner’s part, it was an act of
faith for him to accept the provision and
follow precisely the rules for the offering
of the sacrifice.
The First Recorded Offering
In the first
sacrificial scene mentioned in the Bible
(Genesis 4:3-15), “Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by
which he obtained witness that he was
righteous” (Hebrews 11:4). “Unto
Cain and to his offering He [God] had not
respect.” Genesis 4:5. The difference
between the offerings of Abel and Cain lay in
the nature of their sacrifices. “Cain
brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord;” Abel likewise
brought an offering of the fruit of the
ground; but in addition “he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat
thereof.” Verses 3,4. In bringing a lamb
from his flock, Abel confessed that he had
sinned and was worthy of death. He brought
the lamb as a sin offering and asked God to
forgive him and accept the lamb in his stead.
Thus, he showed his faith in the true Lamb of
God. The Bible declares that “the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
but unto Cain and to his offering He had not
respect.” Verses 4,5.
In their simplest
form, sacrifices were embodied prayers. It
was at the altar that men met God, and here
He accepted or rejected their prayers as they
were symbolized by the offerings brought.
Each offering had in itself the elements of
prayer: confession of sin symbolized by the
sacrifice; acceptance of the sinner’s
prayer and repentance; and man’s faith
in both God’s justice and His mercy.
Sacrifices accepted meant sins forgiven. In
each case where a sacrifice was brought and
accepted, the record says, “It shall be
forgiven him.” Leviticus 4:26,31,35;
5:10,13, 16, 18.
The offering of the
sacrifices brought vividly to mind the
seriousness of sin and the great cost of
transgression; and the slaying of the victim
by the sinner was intended to bring him to
the decision, “Go, and sin no
more.” If this was the result of the
offering, the aim of the sacrifice and the
sacrificial system had been accomplished.
The True Meaning of Sacrifice
To the informed
Israelite it must early have become clear
that the sacrifice of an animal could not
take away sin, but that it was only an object
lesson to make more vivid to the mind that
sin meant death, and that what counted was
the sinner’s attitude of repentance and
confession. David understood this clearly
when he said, “I acknowledge my
transgressions: and my sin is ever before
me.” “Thou desirest not sacrifice;
else would I give it: Thou delightest not in
burnt offering.” Psalm 51:3,16. He then
states God’s real desire: “The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a
broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt
not despise.” Verse 17. “The Lord
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
and saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit.” Psalm 34:18. To this the
prophets agreed. See Micah 6:6-8; Isaiah
1:10-20; Jeremiah 6:20; 7:21-23; Amos
5:21-24.
When Israel came to
regard sacrifices in themselves as
efficacious and forget that what God demanded
was a humble and contrite heart, God
abolished the sacrifices. He still retained,
however, the vital elements – prayer, a
humbling of the heart before God, a broken
spirit, a contrite heart, and an intense
desire to go and sin no more.
These are God’s
requirements today. Not all believers in the
Old Testament times confined their prayers to
the occasions when they brought their
offerings. They prayed as we do now, and God
heard their prayers. The prophets understood
clearly that sacrifices were only a temporary
arrangement, one that could safely be ignored
when further light came. Hence, we find
prophets speaking lightly of sacrificial
offerings while stressing spiritual
attainments. Christ did not Himself bring any
offering to the temple and He ignored all the
temple ceremonies.
In the Old Testament
times, it appears that prayer was more
natural and unaffected than now. Men of old
talked with God, and He answered them
directly. Their prayers took the form of a
conversion rather than of a formal petition.
The prophets particularly appear to have been
on speaking terms with God, generally getting
their orders in dreams and visions, but also
at times by word of mouth. While in some
respects we may know more about religion than
did the men of old, they knew far more about
how to approach God. It is high time that we
come back to communion with God and learn to
“practice His presence.”
“The Lord spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend.” Exodus 33:11. From one
such interview with God, Moses came down from
the mount and was not aware that “the
skin of his face shone” while he talked
with God. Exodus 34:29. This reflection of
the glory of God was so strong that Aaron and
the people “were afraid to come nigh
him.” Verse 30. Therefore, Moses
“put a veil on his face But when Moses
went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he
took the veil off, until he came out. And he
came out, and spake unto the children of
Israel that which he was commanded. And the
children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and
Moses put the veil upon his face again, until
he went in to speak with Him.” Verses
33-35.
That God spoke with
Moses face to face became so well known that
even the Egyptians heard of it. Said Moses,
“They have heard that Thou Lord art
among this people, that Thou Lord art seen
face to face, and that Thy cloud standeth
over them, and that Thou goest before them,
by daytime in a pillar of cloud, and in a
pillar of fire by night.” Numbers 14:14.
It would be well if God’s people at this
time would come so close to God that men and
nations would hear of it. The work would then
be finished speedily.
Memory
Verse:
“No man
cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
John 14:6
Questions:
- Why does God want us
to pray?
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- In our lesson, what
are the elements of prayer?
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