The Presence of God E-Book

J. Ryan Lister

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 854

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

"God is with us."  We say this in our sermons, prayers, and songs, but what does it really mean? For many Christians, the whole notion of God's presence remains vague and hard to define.   Exploring both the Old and New Testaments, professor J. Ryan Lister seeks to recover the centrality of the presence of God in the whole storyline of Scripture—a theme that is too often neglected and therefore misunderstood. In a world that longs for—yet struggles to find—intimacy with the Almighty, this book will help you discover the truth about God's presence with his people and what his drawing near means for the Christian life. 

Leseprobe

THEPRESENCE OFGOD

ITS PLACE IN THE STORYLINE OF SCRIPTURE AND THE STORY OF OUR LIVES

J. RYAN LISTER

FOREWORD BY THOMAS R. SCHREINER

The Presence of God: Its Place in the Storyline of Scripture and the Story of Our Lives

Copyright © 2015 by J. Ryan Lister

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Faceout Studio

First printing 2015Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture references marked NRSV are from The New Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Scripture references marked RSV are from The Revised Standard Version. Copyright ©1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-3915-2PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-3916-9Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-3917-6ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-3918-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lister, J. Ryan (John Ryan), 1978–

   The presence of God: its place in the storyline of Scripture and the story of our lives / J. Ryan Lister; foreword by Thomas R. Schreiner.

        1 online resource

   Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

   Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

    ISBN 978-1-4335-3916-9 (pdf) – ISBN 978-1-4335-3917-6 (mobi) – ISBN 978-1-4335-3918-3 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-4335-3915-2 (tp)

   1. Presence of God. I. Title.

BT180.P6

231.7—dc23            2014036329

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To Chase Elizabeth, one of God’s greatest testimonies to me that he is still present to bless his people

Psalm 16:11

Contents

ForewordAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations1    Introduction: A Forgotten Storyline2    Of Storyboards and Location Scouts: A Biblical and Theological Foundation for the Presence of GodPart One: Fade to Light: The Presence of God and the Goal of Redemption3    Beginning at the End: Creating and Redeeming a People and a Place for God’s Presence4    Conflict and Covenant: The Story’s Turn and the Presence of God5    The Promise of a Hero: The New Covenant, the New Adam, and the Presence of GodPart Two: Enter Stage Left: The Presence of God and the Means of Redemption in the Old Testament6    The Curtain Rises: Paradise to Patriarchs7    On Center Stage: Out of Egypt8    The Curtain Falls (on Act 1): Back to the BrinkPart Three: Standing in the Spotlight: The Presence of God and the Means of Redemption in the New Testament9    A Hero Emerges from the Ruins: God Present to Redeem in the Person of Christ10    The Hero Takes His Throne: God Present to Redeem through the Work of ChristPart Four: Curtain Call11    Finding Our Place in the Story: The Presence of God for the Christian LifeBibliographyGeneral IndexScripture Index

Foreword

The goal of theology is to get us back to the garden of Eden. Actually, the goal of theology is to bring us into the heavenly city, for the heavenly city of Revelation 21 and 22 is even better than the garden. God’s presence in the garden was lost because of the sin of Adam and Eve. But God will never abandon the New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the new heavens and new earth. John tells us that there is no night there, and there isn’t any need for the sun or the moon because the light of the city comes from the Lord and from the Lamb. What makes the New Jerusalem new, what makes it heavenly and glorious, what makes it more desirable than anything you have ever experienced is the presence of God.

Sin is so painful and terrible because it separates us from God. He is our light and salvation. He is our sun and shield. He gives us grace and glory. When we think of the tabernacle and temple in Israel, we might think of a moveable shrine or of a stunningly beautiful building. What filled the Israelites with awe when they thought of the tabernacle and the temple was not fundamentally their structure or beauty, though the second temple was beautiful indeed. Still, the tabernacle and temple were awesome because God dwelt in them, because his glory filled the tabernacle and temple. The tabernacle and temple point us to something greater, to someone greater, for ultimately God’s true temple is Jesus Christ. The apostle John tells us that in Jesus the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Paul says that the fullness of deity dwelt in Jesus bodily. Jesus said to Philip that the one who had seen him, Jesus, had seen the Father. God walked among Israel through and in Jesus Christ.

That is not the end of the story of course. The crucified and risen Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon his people. Now the people of God—the church of Jesus Christ—are the true temple. The Father has not left us as orphans and has not abandoned us. He is with us and in us. He abides in us through the Holy Spirit.

Theologians have tackled many subjects, but it is rather surprising how few have written about God’s presence with his people, especially when we realize how central and important this theme is in the Scriptures. In this illuminating work, Ryan Lister helps us see the presence of God in the storyline of the Bible. Hence, we have a better understanding about how the Bible fits together. Lister doesn’t appeal to a few proof texts. He shows us how God’s presence is stitched into the biblical narrative so that it is clearly part of the warp and woof of the story.

We have an important contribution here, then, from the standpoint of biblical theology. But as readers we don’t want to stop there, for the aim of the story is the knowledge of God. We should grow in understanding and in love, for we were created to know God, to see God, to love God, to experience God, and to enjoy his presence forever.

Thomas R. Schreiner

Acknowledgments

I would like to begin by acknowledging that without my wife, Chase, this book would not have been written. God blesses us beyond our imaginations, and my wife is the one through whom I am consistently reminded that the grace and mercy bought at the cross overflows into all aspects of our lives. Chase, you are the one who has been with me every step of the way, from the pontoon boat (see the first chapter), to our dysfunctional basement on Springdale Road, into the teeth of Louisiana, to the Holy City of Charleston, South Carolina, and now Portland, Oregon. You finally get your A+. I know it has been quite some time since you received a report card; and I know the trauma that this can cause someone of your disposition. But please know that it has been my honor, privilege, and joy to walk—and, at times, stumble—with you on this journey. I thank you for every spreadsheet you’ve done; every tax season you’ve suffered; every budget line you’ve cut; every diaper you’ve changed, dinner you’ve made, spool of thread you’ve sewn, book on tape you’ve listened to; every “smart aleck” response to your questions you’ve endured; every anxiety you’ve prayed over; every tear you’ve shed; and every time you’ve petitioned your “Lord God Almighty” on my behalf. Though they may seem mundane, these are the true testimony of your love for me—and more importantly the testimony of God’s grace to me through his provision of you. So thank you, Chase, for all you have laid down for this little dream of mine—but, even more, for making my dreams yours.

Along with Chase, four of the greatest gifts the Lord ever gave me were my children, Jude and Silas, and Abby Kate and Asher. Books are always being published; every year more and more are churned out by much more skilled and qualified authors. But none of them are able to say they have four precious and mischievous children just like you! My prayer, as you well know, is that you would have eyes to see God’s glory, ears to hear the gospel, a heart for God to dwell in, hands to serve him and be obedient to him, and a mouth to sing his praises. May it be so. And this, too, is my hope for each of you: that you will live in the presence of God and long for an eternity where you will be with him forevermore.

There are so many others I am indebted to. To begin, I would like to thank my mom and dad, Jane and Glenn Lister. Thank you for your responsiveness to the Spirit and your God-fearing parenting. I know it was tough at times, but I appreciate your willingness to give sacrificially not only to bring me to obedience, but, more importantly, to bring me to your Lord. I pray that your love for God will continue to grow and that the unconditional love you have for your boys will be directed toward the Lord’s church and toward the families with whom you come in contact every day through your ministry of adoption. The Lord has been gracious in giving you to me as parents. Thank you for your love, attention, care for my family; the free babysitting; your support in prayer and finances; and, as always, your encouragement and cheerleading.

Next, I would like to thank my older brother, Rob, and his wife, LuWinn. For all my life, outside of the three years I was in junior high, when he would have nothing to do with me, Rob has been my closest friend. At times it is a struggle having a big brother as a best friend because the lines get a little blurred. For Rob, this manifests itself in his seeing me less as a peer and more as his oldest son (though LuWinn has helped this process quite a bit). But even in this I cannot complain; for it is this part of his nature that opened him to read and edit every single chapter of this book. Over the span of my life, Rob has always been one step before me clearing the way. And though at times I have questioned why my life has followed his so closely, the answer is, very simply, that I find it a great honor to be like my big brother in any way I can.

Like my own, Chase’s family has played a substantial role in this project. I know full well that Chase’s siblings—Taylor, with his wife, Elizabeth; Abby, with her husband Richard; and Laura Kate—have been holding me up in prayer. They have all been extremely generous in their time and care for us. Each of them has been a constant source of encouragement through their phone calls, conversations, and opening their lives to us.

Their generosity finds much of its source in the love their parents have shown them. From the time I met Charley and Kathy I knew that they would make wonderful in-laws—a difficult thing to find these days. And they have not disappointed. In fact, I have been overwhelmed by their generosity. Their love for us has expressed itself in many ways: financially, spiritually, in sharing their time, and in giving of their hearts. Kathy has proved to be invaluable to this project, for it is through her constant trips to the places where we lived to care for Jude, Silas, Abby Kate, and Asher that I have been able to finish this book (though it appears to be more a joy and less a chore for a grandmother). Charley, too, has given much to the completion of this work, as well as numerous Tennessee football tickets, dinners, and, most importantly, consistent questions about my walk with the Lord and growth in Christ. It is Charley and Kathy’s desire to know the deep things of God that I have found encouraging and, simultaneously, challenging. So, to the Lindseys, I say thank you for all that you have done but, most importantly, for loving me as one of your own.

Along with family, there are those friends who have been gracious enough to walk this journey with me. At the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and even beyond its walls, the Lord has given me great friends, but none has been greater than Oren Martin. Oren has been a help in many ways. He has been a wonderful confidant and has assisted in the formulation of my thesis in ways he probably does not even know. Our Tuesday conversations over chips, salsa, and fajitas have done wonders for my theology, worldview, and personal walk with Christ—though they have been slightly detrimental to my physical health.

I would like to offer a special thanks to my doctoral supervisor and one of my heroes, Dr. Bruce Ware. The rare combination of strength, passion, and theological tenacity, along with compassion and tenderhearted care for God’s people, is something I aspire to in my own life. Thank you, Bruce, for your kind words and kind critiques. You have been a wonderful professor, elder, teacher, example, and friend. Thank you for your faithfulness and your wisdom.

I also want to thank Tom Schreiner for interacting with this book and graciously writing the foreword. If there ever were a scholar who could take pride in his own intellect and accomplishments, it would be Tom Schreiner. But instead of boasting in himself, Tom is one of the most humble and God-centered men I know. One of his greatest strengths is his ability to uncomplicate the complicated. I have benefited from his clarity time and time again in his classroom, through his writings, and in his sermons. But of all his gifts, Tom Schreiner’s greatest gifts may be his love for God’s church and enduring friendship.

I want to show my appreciation for the great team at Crossway. Without them, this book would not have become a reality. I would especially like to recognize two members of this team who have been wonderful sources of help and encouragement. First, I would like to thank Justin Taylor for being open to this project and for being a friend during the process. Second, I need to give credit to Thom Notaro, who, with great skill, edited this volume and, with great patience and grace, treated every word as if it were his own. Thank you both for your expertise and your kindness.

In the end though, all credit is ultimately the Lord’s, for it is he who has brought these wonderful people into my life to minister to me, and it is he who opened my eyes to this central theme in his Word. Most significantly, it is God who has justly dealt with my sin and graciously opened up access to his presence for all eternity. My hope with this book, then, is to make much of our limitless God. To this end, I pray this work brings glory to the Lord and benefits his people. I hope that it will challenge each of us to make the presence of God our passion and our pursuit in this world and the next.

Abbreviations

BECNT

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

BSac

Bibliotheca Sacra

CBQ

Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CCT

Contours of Christian Theology

HTR

Harvard Theological Review

ICC

International Critical Commentary

JBL

Journal of Biblical Literature

JSOT

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JSOTSup

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament—Supplement Series

LXX

Septuagint

MT

Masoretic Text

NAC

New American Commentary

NICNT

New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT

New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIDOTTE

New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. 5 vols. Edited by Willem A. VanGemeren. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997.

NIVAC

NIV Application Commentary

NSBT

New Studies in Biblical Theology

PNTC

Pillar New Testament Commentary

TOTC

Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries

TynBul

Tyndale Bulletin

VT

Vestus Testamentum

WBC

Word Biblical Commentary

WTJ

Westminster Theological Journal

1

Introduction

A Forgotten Storyline

It is everywhere. We hear about it all the time. It is alluded to in the sermon. We call for it in our prayers. We sing about it in our hymns and choruses.

For Christians, it is hard to escape. As I write this paragraph, I have just returned from a Christian college’s chapel service where I counted seventeen references to it in a fifty-minute service while, of course, paying full attention to the sermon, prayers, and songs. In fact, I think you would be hard pressed to leave your own sanctuary this Sunday without at least one reference to it as well.

What is this refrain we hear over and over again in our churches, small groups, and devotionals? It is the presence of God.

Take a minute to listen to the Christian-speak and, even at times, yourself. How many of us have heard or spoken a prayer that starts like this: “Lord, we come into your presence now to lay our needs before you, asking you to be here with us as we cry out to you”?

Sound familiar?

And this is only the beginning. The vocabulary of divine presence weaves its way through our hymnals and PowerPoint slides:

I need Thy presence every passing hour.

What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?

Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.1

As I stand here in your presence,

Of your beauty I will always stand in awe,

I reach my hands out to the heavens,

And I will lift my voice to you alone, to you alone.2

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.3

This is the air I breathe

Your holy presence living in me.4

Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel? . . .

Will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall?5

These examples—along with our sermons and other Christian teaching—reveal that the language of God’s presence is, well, omnipresent in our churches and in Christendom at large.6

But there is a problem. As we constantly hear these vague references to God’s presence, the concept remains just that: vague. So as our churches sing the chorus of divine presence, many of us simply do not have ears to hear what it means. So how do we tune our ears to hear the beautiful melody of God’s presence?

To begin, we must understand the reasons for the theological dissonance surrounding this biblical reality. First, many of us are too busy or too overwhelmed to pick up on the overused references to God’s presence in our worship. We are just happy if we can get out of church with all the kids we came with, with all their limbs intact, and with the nursery or education classrooms still standing. Between keeping our son’s restless legs from kicking the seat in front of him and running to the car for a sippy cup every seven minutes, we have limited time to reflect on the sermon, much less a threadbare Christian expression touched on by the associate pastor praying between worship songs.

Second, we can easily become too passive in our worship. Granted that reading Scripture and hearing it preached is a noncontact sport, but our minds should be engaged. We should be asking questions and pursuing truth vehemently in these small windows of study and prayer. I think this is part of what Anselm was getting at with his maxim “faith seeking understanding.”7 For some of us, we stop at the first word and forgo the last two. We talk much of faith but we must also talk about pursuing the Lord in an intellectually informed and spiritually vibrant understanding of him. In other words, we must seek God. And not only that, we must seek to understand him relationally as he discloses himself to us through his Word and revelation.

Finally, and possibly the most significant concern, we have simply grown too accustomed to the jargon. Talk of God’s presence is part of the white noise of evangelicalism, a catchphrase that means as little to the one saying it as to the one hearing it. This is typical for many of us. The more we hear something, the less we tend to contemplate its meaning and significance. Unfortunately, this is quite dangerous—especially for the church.

True Christianity is by nature repetitious—and that is a good thing. It is repetitious because God knows exactly who we are and what we need. We bear God’s image and Adam’s sin. So while the gospel shows us that we are the image of God and can know him as he reveals himself, it also reminds us that, at one point, we rejected God and continue to struggle with neglecting him. For this reason, true Christianity points us to Christ and his work on the cross over and over and over again. Scripture tells us that we are broken cisterns, cracked and chipped, needing minute by minute to return to the well of the gospel to be refilled and refreshed.

As I hope to show in the pages ahead, the presence of God is more than a mere buzzword of evangelicalism; it is a strong, fresh current of living water that fills jars of clay like you and me. It is central to the hope-filled message of Scripture. This is what I want to make clear: beneath the cacophony we have made of this biblical theme is a deep, beautiful melody vital to God’s song of salvation that is there only because of the presence of God. In short, I want to show just how intrinsic this theme is to the story of Scripture and to our story.

A King’s Treasure

Part of the rationale behind this book is that it is part of my story. All the busyness, passivity, and familiarity you read about above, well, that was me. I grew up in the church, so I was well versed in Christian-speak and employed such phrases quite compellingly too—especially at church and other opportune times.

I remember the day when the games stopped and the concept of God’s presence became more than just spiritual jargon; it was now the attention-arresting theme of Scripture that God intended us to see. It was the summer of 2000, and I was sitting on a pontoon boat in the middle of the Tennessee River. And though before me was a pristine view of the countryside and the beautiful girl who would soon become my wife, I was blind to it all because of King David’s words:

You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11)

Joy and pleasure were what I was looking for—things we all want, I think it safe to say—and here David was telling me exactly where I could find them. All that I sought, all this world relentlessly pursues in all the wrong places, is found in the presence of God.

Needless to say, this was a game changer. David had handed me a biblical treasure map for life.

But mixed in with the happiness of this discovery was the nagging feeling of doubt. “Okay, so the fullness of joy and eternal pleasures are found in the presence of God; but I am no closer to that goal than I was before I was hit with all of this.” Where was I supposed to begin? To my chagrin, there was no “You Are Here” sticker in Psalm 16. All I had to go on was the virtually meaningless understanding of God’s presence I had misused and misunderstood up to this point. But I knew the best way forward was to follow David’s lead and let Scripture direct my steps.

Since that day on the Tennessee River, I have been on an expedition to understand the biblical motif of God’s presence. In the past years, as I have been blessed to examine and study it in depth, the Lord has graciously directed me to a better grasp of God’s presence and helped me see the way to the promises of Psalm 16:11.

This book, in a sense, is part travelogue and part key to David’s treasure. My desire is that it can be simultaneously the “You are Here” and “You Want to Be Here” stickers of Psalm 16. Hopefully, then, this work can help us move beyond the stagnant notions of God’s presence to the joy and everlasting delight that marks those who truly understand, biblically and experientially, the presence of God. To get us there, I hope to walk with you through the vistas and valleys of God’s mighty acts in redemptive history to show where God reveals his presence and, to the best of our ability, help us understand why he does so.

The Way Ahead

Once we step out beyond the initial overgrowth of confusion and obscurities surrounding this theme, we actually find that the biblical path ahead is well worn. Yahweh is the present God, and the biblical Canon is a beautiful and creative story of how he fulfills his promise to be in the midst of his people. Scripture’s narrative suggests that the past, present, and future realities of redemption are inextricably tied to God’s drawing near to a people.

What I hope to help impress upon us all is that the presence of God is not about mere intuitions and platitudes. It is not a mystical feeling or emotional charge. It is first and foremost a theme of Scripture; and even more, it is a theme on which the story of Scripture hinges.

To demonstrate this, I want to make one major argument in this book that rests on two very simple but very significant biblical truths. The first truth is this: the presence of God is a central goal in God’s redemptive mission. The second truth follows: the presence of God is the agent by which the Lord accomplishes his redemptive mission. God’s presence, then, is both eschatological (it is the end-of-time aim of the Lord’s mission) and instrumental (it is ultimately what fulfills the Lord’s mission). So to put our argument in its simplest terms, the presence of God is a fundamental objective in our redemption and, simultaneously, the means by which God completes this objective.

That is a lot to take in, so to consider this further, let’s think first about the eschatological (the future goal-oriented) emphasis. The restoration of God’s presence—or we could say his relational nearness—once lost in the fall is one of the most pivotal acts in the story of redemption. As John shows us, the final hope of history is that “the dwelling place of God is with man” and that God “will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3). Seen from a redemptive-historical standpoint, this text is essentially a summary of the eschatological purposes driving God’s mission of salvation.

This objective, though, is not only prevalent at the story’s end, but also woven throughout Scripture’s plotline. From the beginning, the goal of God’s presence affects the Creator-creature relationship. In Eden, God charges the first couple to expand the garden-sanctuary, the locus of God’s presence, both geographically and genealogically (Gen. 1:28–30). The temple of God’s presence found in the garden is meant to cover all of creation. From this perspective, we see that the Lord, in his divine wisdom, ties Adam’s role to the administration of his presence to the entire world.

However, as the familiar story goes, in his sin Adam breaks this bond in pursuit of arrogant self-idolatry. The much-deserved curses add up—each levied against the couple’s role in disseminating God’s presence throughout the cosmos. By God’s mercy, the story does not end here. God shines the light of his promises into the darkness of Adam’s sin. Where Adam has failed, God succeeds, for God pledges to complete his own purposes and spread his own presence to the world.

Outside the garden, the eschatological purposes of God’s presence remain front and center in God’s redemptive story. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s covenant voice calls a people to relationship, a call that reverberates throughout the Scriptures until it crescendos in John’s prophetic vision (e.g., Gen. 9:1–15; 12:1–3; 15:6ff.; 17:19; Ex. 19:1ff.; 24:3–8; 2 Sam. 7:12–13; Jer. 31:31–34; Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:6; Rev. 21–22). This covenant picks up where Adam left off, with God’s creating a people and place for the enjoyment of his presence. This divine purpose pervades every covenant ratified and culminates in the new covenant arrival of Christ, the new and better Adam, the one who accomplishes what Adam could not. These covenantal promises of God’s presence line the story of Scripture like mileposts pointing the way to the New Jerusalem, the city where God will dwell with his people forever.

As we will see, redemption moves forward. It has an objective. God is working to establish a people and a place for his presence. This is our guarantee and our hope. But this story is also our story, and regrettably, it is a story that we often forget.

Remarkably, though, the presence of God is not only a future promise awaiting fulfillment; it is also the way God will fulfill his future promise of being with his people. Just as the waters of the rivers and tributaries flow into and fill the waters of the ocean, the presence of God is what brings humanity to the final source of God’s eschatological presence. Our first point—God’s goal to bring his people into his presence eternally—therefore, actuates our second point—God is present to redeem. And, of course, the reverse is true as well. They feed one another in a great collaborative act rooted in God’s glory. So while the presence of God is an end of redemption, it is simultaneously the means by which the Lord reaches this end. The presence of God, then, is eschatological and instrumental: the Lord becomes present in redemption to direct his people to his eschatological presence.

As you can imagine, this theme floods the pages of Scripture. It ties together all of the major plot points found in redemptive history. As we see at the beginning, God walks with Adam in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). He stoops low to care for Adam, speak with him, and simply relate to him. He draws near to judge and discipline him as well. Likewise, God confronts Abraham and his offspring. He reveals himself to Israel. God becomes manifest to deliver his people (marked by his presence) from exile, to display his glory atop Sinai, and direct them to the Land of Promise. He is present to orchestrate Israel’s history, bringing the nation to its pinnacle in David’s reign and to its depths in the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. Into the darkness of this dispersion God shines the light of Jesus Christ, the true Immanuel, the ultimate expression of “God with us.” And now, in the time between Christ’s first and second comings, the presence of God comes in the Holy Spirit to indwell and prepare his people for that treasure David heralds in Psalm 16. Even in such a brief catalog as this, Scripture makes it abundantly clear that the Lord is manifest in history. He is the active agent of salvation. He is the one who brings his people to enjoy his presence in redemption now and forever in glorification.

Who Needs This Trip?

Unfortunately, many have forgotten this storyline, and this has had massive consequences. First it steals glory from God. It should be clear from the outset that the story of Scripture is first and foremost about the author of that story. God speaks a drama of suspense, intrigue, wonder, hope, tension, and anticipation all the while the main character is God himself. This is his autobiography, not ours.

Second, forgetting this storyline has given us delusions of grandeur. We are not the lead actor and certainly not the author. Instead our bit parts in this drama are about God as well. What the theme of God’s presence shows us is that this is God’s story, and we are simply a part of a grand narrative that surpasses anything we can imagine on our own. In his grace he includes us in his story through his drawing near. Because divine presence is integral to the theological message of Scripture, the presence of God helps us understand our world, our own lives, and our relationship with the God who draws near. Know the author, know the story. Know the story, know your place in the story.

Third, neglecting this part of the story has kept the church from speaking boldly to the world’s ultimate issues. Contemporary society—whether it knows it or not—needs to hear about God’s presence. Though our world scorns and scoffs at any hints of a self-sufficient, holy God who manifests himself to save sinners, this same world constantly asks questions that only this God can answer and has answered in his Holy Word.

For example, today’s postmodern is restless in his search for “meaningful” community.8 Even while living, breathing, and participating in a world rampant with religious cynicism, the postmodernist remains fascinated with the prospect of some type of spiritual community (one obviously defined by the individual). As Stanley Grenz observes, people today have become increasingly aware of “the spiritual dimensions of life” as they have “grown dissatisfied with what they consider to be the truncated, materialist focus indicative of the modern world.”9 Out of the ashes of the modernist’s isolated individualism arises the postmodernist’s ubiquitous pursuit for true, relevant, and spiritual community. It seems to follow that today’s Christian should be able to answer the question, What—if anything—can provide the telos of the spiritual quest for the postmodernist, and all others for that matter?10 It is only the story of Scripture, with its emphasis on the presence of God, that can answer these concerns.

Unfortunately, many scholars and pastors have exchanged a biblically responsible model of God’s relational fellowship for models that are more culturally palatable.11 To appease the masses, some theologians attempt to pull the Lord down and make him look like the rest of the world. They exploit the doctrine of God’s immanence (nearness),12portraying him as not only intimately related to the world but partially—and for some even fully—reliant on the world.13

At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who push God beyond the reaches of knowledge, revelation, and relationship. These theologians contend that God, in his transcendence (separation), is too distant and distinct from creation to be known in any true or significant way.14 And so it goes in our world’s understanding of God and our relationship to him. We continue to sacrifice good theology for cultural vacillations when what we need is a biblically grounded theology to stabilize us and our culture, and to conform us to the image of God.

This is where the biblical drama of God’s presence helps. On the face of it, biblical Christianity seemingly provides a vibrant and thoughtful countercultural answer to these large existential questions.15 It tells the true story of the God who covenants with his people and overcomes sin for the purposes of his glory and their relational closeness to him. In a society longing for relational and spiritual closeness, a sound and scripturally mature analysis of the presence of God can help answer this world’s deep-seated spiritual desires.16

I am convinced that it is only through God’s drawing near—on his own terms and for his own glory—that the demands of this lonely world can be met in full. To appropriately answer the world’s ultimate concerns, we need not rewrite the script of Scripture to accommodate the philosophical assumptions, desires, and commitments of sinners. Instead, we need a biblically formed theology emphasizing the Lord’s relational nearness as it is progressively revealed in the Christian plotline.17 As we do this, we mitigate many of the aforementioned concerns, both practical and theological. A clearer grasp of the presence of God sheds light on the mystical and cultural misconceptions often affiliated with this critical theme, while also underscoring its significance for our theology and, subsequently, our lives.

Fourth, knowing the presence of God as it is expressed across the pages of the biblical script transforms the way we understand and live our Christian lives. The presence of God is more than theoretical; it lives. It enriches, expands, and even emends our faith at times.

This is important for all of us because to know salvation is to know God’s presence. God’s presence practically influences the way we live out our salvation, assemble with fellow believers, and hope in God’s future promises. In our salvation we need to see that our atonement (the work of Christ on the cross that clears the rebel to enter into relationship with the holy God) demands the presence of God. Christ came into this world, into human history, in order to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). The substitutionary death of God’s Son is inextricably tied to the divine being present with and for man. For salvation to be efficacious, God must be with us; God must be one of us. Immanuel came to dwell among his people and substitute himself for the lost. In his atoning work on the cross, Christ reconciled us to God by being present with man. He became man in this world to reopen access to the Lord so that those exiled from Eden may draw near to God once again (Heb. 4:16; 7:19, 25; 10:1, 19, 22; 11:6). Christ’s presence in this world is a strong indicator that the vicarious nature of Jesus’s work—that which leads to his becoming manifest in human history—is at the heart of the atonement and the heart of our salvation.

The presence of God also has implications for the way we understand the community of believers. The New Testament shows us that the church is the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 2 Cor. 6:14–7:1; Eph. 2:13–22). The church, according to Paul, is where God dwells. This is a formative work of the Holy Spirit.18 The community of Christ, therefore, is—in this time of waiting for Christ’s return—the institution the Lord creates and uses to represent and perpetuate his divine presence in a lost and sinful world. In a lesser way, the church plays a role in bringing about God’s redemptive mission. It tells others about God’s presence to save and helps prepare believers to enter into God’s presence once and for all in the new heaven and new earth.

This should change our understanding of the church’s role in the world and in our lives. Think about what would happen if the church understood herself to be the reflection of God’s presence to a lost world. How would this affect the way the body of Christ does ministry and views the other working parts of that body?

Finally, neglecting the presence of God impairs our thinking about eschatology. Some have been caught up in the seemingly endless debates swirling around the interpretation of Daniel, Revelation, and other end-time prophetic passages. And though many of these discussions are important and helpful (and some not so helpful), the eschatological nature of God’s purposes has often been lost in the details of our apocalyptic flow charts and diagrams. The discussion of the presence of God helps us see that eschatology is not only the last chapter in our systematic theology textbooks or even the last few chapters of our Bibles. Instead, eschatology pervades the whole message of Scripture. Like our own circulatory system, eschatology helps the promises, plans, and purposes of God flow throughout the body of Scripture. What biblical theology helps us see is that God has Revelation 21–22 in his divine mind before breathing out Genesis 1:1, and he paints Genesis 1:1 with the same palette he uses in Revelation 21–22. The beginning is rooted in the end, and vice versa. And this helps our faith. The eschatological vein pervading Scripture reinforces our assurance in things hoped for and our conviction of things unseen (Heb. 11:1). The Lord will accomplish his purposes no matter how hard spiritual and fleshly powers work against him. All of the promises and purposes of God that fall between these bookends of redemptive history express his perfect will. The end is his purpose and it will be accomplished. For God, there is no “Plan B.” There are no “audibles.” God’s story works out the end from the beginning, and we are the beneficiaries of this providential power, control, and authority.19

Clearing the Way

Seeing the redemptive-historical story of this magnitude is no easy undertaking, though it is a necessary one. Covering a biblical theme in a comprehensive manner while seeing its implications for our lives is a big project, hence our need for parameters. Accordingly, I want to acknowledge from the outset that it is not feasible to evaluate every text of Scripture that touches on the concept of divine presence (there are so many!). The principal purpose of this project is to bring glory to God by seeing the presence of God within a redemptive-historical perspective. As a consequence, I will address all theological issues within this context, thereby limiting the extent of Scripture and doctrinal reflection to how it informs the biblical emphasis on the presence of God as means and ends of God’s redemptive activity.

Before we set out, let me also speak to the theological assumptions undergirding this project. There is no neutral approach to theology; there never was and there never will be. Understanding this helps us be honest, and it also helps us with what is essential. Instead of demanding neutrality, we need to be aware of our presuppositions and constantly evaluate them in light of the biblical text. To be sure, this project is not void of theological assumptions; and again, to try and defend each one is itself beyond the scope of this particular work. Yet, by no means are these presuppositions unjustifiable. These broader theological assumptions include my commitment to the authoritative, inspired, inerrant, and infallible Scripture as divine revelation;20 human and divine authorship of the biblical Canon;21 the possibility of “whole Bible” theology;22 the unity and continuity of Scripture within the Bible’s textual diversity;23 Nicene Trinitarianism and Chalcedonian christology;24 the epistemic ability to truly know God, in a finite sense, through his revelation;25 and Christ’s penal-substitutionary atonement as the Christian’s point of access to reconciliation and God’s eternal relational presence.26

Setting Out

With this in mind, the following chapters will seek to demonstrate that the presence of God is essential to understanding Scripture’s theological message and our lives as Christians. To prepare the way for our discussion, I will use chapter 2 to set the theological context for our discussion while also defining a relational understanding of God and his presence. Chapter 3 will begin the first of two major sections that form the core of this book. It is here that I will work out my thesis through a biblical-theological assessment. With this in mind, I will use part 1 (chaps. 3–5) to show how the presence of the Lord is a central eschatological purpose in the Lord’s redemptive mission. It will follow then that parts 2 and 3 (chaps. 6–10) will address the presence of God as the means of the divine mission. Here, we will trace the importance and impact of the Lord’s redemptive presence through both the Old and New Testaments, revealing that God accomplishes his promises, first and foremost, by becoming present. The last chapter will show how such an understanding of the presence of God really changes the way we understand and live the Christian life. Here we will see just how important this theme is not only to Scripture’s story but also to our own. In the concluding part we will look specifically at how God’s presence informs the way we think about our redemption, the covenant community of the church, and God’s eschatological promises. I will try to show just how the presence of God transforms the way we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28).

We do all this to provide a biblically based conception of the presence of God—demonstrating it to be both a means and a goal of God’s redemptive activity—in order to show its central place within the storyline of Scripture and in our lives as those redeemed by the God who draws near.

So with our destination set and our itinerary ready, let us begin our journey. Let us discover what God’s presence means. Let us see the story of Scripture and our Christian life in light of the presence of God. May we follow that story to its promises of fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore—and may we be wise enough not only to know that story, but to enter into it as well.

______________________

1 Henry F. Lyte, “Abide with Me,” 1847.

2 Jeremy Camp, “In Your Presence,” 2002.

3 Ancient Irish Poem, “Be Thou My Vision,” trans. Eleanor Hull, 1912.

4 Michael W. Smith, “Breathe,” 2001.

5 MercyMe, “I Can Only Imagine,” 2002.

6 The notion of divine presence has even leaked into the culture at large. Take the stirring song of guitar icon Eric Clapton, “Presence of the Lord.” Through the gospel roots of the blues, Clapton, unbeknownst to himself, penned a refrain that marks the future trajectory of many people when he sings: “I have finally found a place to live just like I never could before. / . . . I have finally found a way to live in the presence of the Lord—in the presence of the Lord.”

7 Anselm’s petition is extremely helpful here as it helps us see that our intellectual life and our spiritual life are connected, not at odds with one another. He writes: “I acknowledge, O Lord, with thanksgiving, that thou hast created this thy image in me, so that, remembering thee, I may think of thee, may love thee. But this image is so effaced and worn away by my faults, it is so obscured by the smoke of my sins, that it cannot do what it was made to do, unless thou renew and reform it. I am not trying, O Lord, to penetrate thy loftiness, for I cannot begin to match my understanding with it, but I desire in some measure to understand thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this too I believe, that ‘unless I believe, I shall not understand.’” Anselm, “Proslogion,” in A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham, ed. Eugene R. Fairweather (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961), 73.

8 It should be noted that I am not advocating postmodernism as the best approach to apologetics or evangelism. All I intend to maintain is that the desire for relationship with peers and, more specifically, with the divine is God-given, and it is also God-answered. My appeal is that a biblically based evaluation of the presence of God should be a more definitive theme within evangelicalism in order to contend with an inappropriate theological embrace of this philosophical climate and address the shortcomings of the church in dealing with the culture at large.

9 Grenz argues that at the center of modernism coming out of the Enlightenment was the idea that “what it means to be human is reason and rationality.” Furthermore, this rationality was tied to “the ability to disengage from one’s own natural environment and social context so as to be able to objectify the world . . . forming the Modernist ideal: individual autonomy, understood as the ability to choose one’s own purposes from within oneself apart from the controlling influence of natural and social forces.” As a result, the world became an assortment of independent selves. In response, postmodernism is the rejection of this modernistic position of autonomy and independence and replaces it with the desire for community. Stanley J. Grenz, “Belonging to God: The Quest for Communal Spirituality in the Postmodern World,” Asbury Theological Journal 54 (1999): 43.

10 Ibid., 45.

11 The desire for community and relationship has caused the recent influx of spiritual pursuits among postmodernists. Evangelicals as a whole, however, have been caught off guard. That is why the reality of the presence of God is important. If the world is captured by the truth of God’s being with and for his people as it is presented biblically, then the longings of postmodern thinkers can be answered appropriately.

12 In order to answer the desires of the world, the advocates of process theism replace the God of Scripture, who is separate but involved in creation, with one who is progressing with, learning through, and obtaining from the world. It is also important to see that the influence of process thought not only is felt outside orthodox Christianity but affects evangelicalism as well. For examples of process text, see, e.g., Charles Hartshorne and W. L. Reese, Philosophers Speak of God (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953); John B. Cobb and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976); Alfred N. Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: Macmillan, 1929); Charles Hartshorne, The Divine Relativity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1948). For examples of modern theological approaches utilizing process theology, see, e.g., Michael Vertin, “Is God in Process?,” in Religion and Culture: Essays in Honor of Bernard Lonergan, ed. Timothy Fallon and Philip Riley (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987), 45–62; William Dean, “Deconstruction and Process Theology,” Journal of Religion 64 (1984): 1–19; John B. Cobb Jr., “Two Types of Postmodernism: Deconstruction and Process,” Theology Today 47 (1990): 149–58; Nancy R. Howell, “Feminism and Process Thought,” Process Studies 22 (1993): 69–106. For an explanation of the influence of process theology on contemporary evangelicalism, see Randall Basinger, “Evangelicals and Process Theism: Seeking a Middle Ground,” Christian Scholar’s Review 15 (December 1986): 157–67. Cf. Greg Boyd, Trinity and Process: A Critical Evaluation and Reconstruction of Hartshorne’s Di-Polar Theism Towards a Trinitarian Metaphysics (New York: Peter Lang, 1992); R. A. McGrath and A. Galloway, The Science of Theology, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996); Hans Frei, Types of Christian Theology (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992); Collin Gunton, “A Rose by Any Other Name? From Christian Doctrine to Systematic Theology,” International Journal of Systematic Theology 1 (1999): 4–23.

13 Such a view is open theism, in which God’s foreknowledge and immutability have been questioned and, in many cases, rejected or redefined. According to the open view, God knows all things that can be possibly known, which thereby prohibits his knowledge of his free creatures’ actions and decisions. Thus, the Lord does not have an exhaustive understanding of the future and is reliant upon and, in particular, related to his creation. See, e.g., Gregory A. Boyd, God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000); John B. Cobb Jr. and Clark H. Pinnock, Searching for an Adequate God: A Dialogue between Process and Free Will Theists (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000); Clark Pinnock et al., The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1994); John Sanders, The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998).

14 See, e.g., Rudolf Otto, Das Heilige, trans. J. Harvey (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950); John Whitaker, “Literal and Figurative Language of God,” Religious Studies 17 (1981): 39–54. For a helpful summary and critique of the ineffability of God, see Harold Netland, Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 133–41.

15 Christianity can speak to the postmodernist without succumbing to the postmodernist’s disdain for metanarrative (the big-picture story that attempts to explain everything). After all, Christianity is the greatest and one true metanarrative.

16 I would argue that responding to the pertinent issues in contemporary culture is one of the major purposes of systematic theology. As Frame contends, we should “define theology as the application of the Word of God to all areas of life.” John M. Frame, The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1987), 81. Wayne Grudem also asserts, “Systematic theology focuses on summarizing each doctrine as it should be understood by present-day Christians”; systematic theology as “‘what the whole Bible teaches us today’ implies that application to life is a necessary part of the proper pursuit of systematic theology. Thus a doctrine under consideration is seen in terms of its practical value for living the Christian life.” Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 23. Furthermore, as John Franke concludes, “The unending task of theology is to find ways of expressing and communicating the biblical story in terms that make use of the intellectual and conceptual tools of a particular culture without being controlled by them.” John R. Franke, The Character of Theology: A Postconservative Evangelical Approach (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 119.

17 Unfortunately, the significant role God’s presence plays in and for redemptive history has historically been largely overlooked or been relegated to some ethereal form of “mysticism” or numinous “experience.” For examples of works that do highlight the importance of the biblical theological motif of God’s presence, see John M. Frame, The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2002); Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence: Toward a New Biblical Theology (New York: Harper and Row, 1978); J. Lanier Burns, The Nearness of God: His Presence with His People (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2009). For examples of the emphasis on the mystical, see Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, trans. John J. Delaney (New York: Doubleday, 1977); Richard Woods, Christian Spirituality: God’s Presence through the Ages (Chicago: Thomas More, 1989). Woods argues that the divine presence is spirituality, and there is, therefore, “in the depths of all experience, a sense of God as the compassionate origin, unfailing guide, and infinite destiny of the whole human tribe.” Woods, Christian Spirituality, 1. For a historical survey of this experiential emphasis, see also Bernard McGinn, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism, 3 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1991–1998).

18 Please note that I do not intend to state that the Holy Spirit dwells at a physical address or in a certain building. Often the church is assumed merely to be a place where people gather on Sundays. Though this can be an aspect of the church, the reality of this institution should not be limited to this type of expression. Instead, the notion of the church is connected to what these metaphors reveal about it, namely, that it is a relational community. Thus, I agree with Everett Ferguson, who states, “The New Testament puts no emphasis on the place of worship—house, synagogue, or temple—because wherever the community is gathered that is the place of worship.” Everett Ferguson, Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 219.

19 As J. V. Fesko summarizes: “Eschatology has an irrefragable connection to the beginning, or protology. This connection becomes even clearer when one considers that the categories of the beginning are embedded in eschatology, the creation of the heavens and earth become the new heavens and earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22) and the garden of Eden reappears in the book of Revelation (2:7; cf. Isa. 51:3; Zech. 1:17).” J. V. Fesko, Last Things First: Unlocking Genesis 1–3 with the Christ of Eschatology (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Mentor, 2007), 34–35.

20 See, e.g., James M. Boice, ed., The Foundations of Biblical Authority (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983); D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, eds., Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986); Paul Feinberg, “Bible, Inerrancy and Infallibility of,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 141–45. Norman Geisler, ed., Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980); John D. Woodbridge, Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982).

21 See, e.g., D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, eds., Scripture and Truth (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992); E. J. Schnabel, “Scripture,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. T. Desmond Alexander et al. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 34–43.

22 See chap. 2 for further description of “whole-Bible” theology.

23 See, e.g., Craig L. Blomberg, “The Unity and Diversity of Scripture,” in Alexander et al., New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, 64–72; D. A. Carson, “Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: The Possibility of Systematic Theology,” in Carson and Woodbridge, Scripture and Truth, 65–95.

24 See, e.g., Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2, God and Creation, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 256–334; Robert Letham, TheHoly Trinity in Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2004).

25 See, e.g., John S. Feinberg, No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 37–80; Frame, Doctrine of God, 199–207; Frame, Doctrine of the Knowledge of God; Ronald H. Nash, The Word of God and the Mind of Man (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982).

26 See, e.g., Steve Jeffrey, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sachs, eds., Pierced for Our Transgressions: Recovering the Glory of Penal Substitution (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007); Thomas Schreiner, “Penal Substitution View,” in The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views, ed. James Beilby and Paul Eddy (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006), 67–98.

2

Of Storyboards and Location Scouts

A Biblical and Theological Foundation for the Presence of God

We know that good stories do not begin at the theater or on the bookshelves. Instead they begin with the difficult (often tedious) yet necessary jobs of research, location scouting, and storyboard preparation. Likewise, a proper grasp of the biblical drama demands comparable legwork—though theological in nature and never tedious! This is what we will set out to do in this chapter. We want to do that ground-level work that will provide the theological parameters and