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Letters of Truth - Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff LONGING FOR THE MANIFEST
PRESENCE OF GOD
by Ray Prinzing"The deer is panting for the stream, and, O God, I pant for You. I am athirst for God, the living God; when shall I reach God's presence?"
(Psalm 42:1-2, Moffatt).The Hebrew word is "arag" used three times in the Old Testament, twice it is given as "pant," in the above verse, and once as "cry" in Joel 1:20. "The beasts of the field cry also unto You." The word properly expresses the cry of the deer. It means more than to breathe quickly, for it speaks of a desperate cry-sound emitted, a prayer, as it were, from the animal. David draws from this illustration to describe his own DEEP LONGING after God-- for he, too, has a thirst which is not being satisfied. Indeed, the situations around him only aggravate his condition. Surrounded by heathen that taunted him with the insulting inquiry-- "Where is your God?" And as if that wasn't enough, his desires were quickened by the recollection of former enjoyments, when "I remembered ... I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday." (Ps. 42:4). Such blessings! Shouting and praising God all the way. But now there is nothing. No revival atmosphere to keep one hyped up. Instead of encouragement there is only a "put down," a mockery of what we believe. But all of this has served a specific plan of God-- it whetted his thirst for Divine Reality, and from deep within the cry arose-- "When shall I reach God's presence?"
"Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not." (Jer. 33:3). Call-- The Hebrew is "qara" and means: to call, to name. TO CRY OUT, we understand, but there is a precious thought in this other meaning of the same word, to name, give a name to. In this case it would be specifically addressing God, knowing He alone has the answer to our need and heart-cry. The Psalmist addressed Him as "The Living God." This was in contradistinction to all the gods of the heathen around him, made of wood or stone-- totally lifeless. So, they might taunt him, "Where is your God," for they understood not the Spirit realm, but David knew he was calling upon the "LIVING GOD," and his deep heart-cry was for entrance into the manifested presence of this Living God.
Now, in Jeremiah 33:3 we have the promise, "Call unto Me, and I will answer you," furthermore, "I will show..." SHOW-- nagad, to put, or place before you. The answer is not an illusion, God produces the goods-- to place before us the reality which our heart has been crying for-- the substance of His glory. "Show you great and mighty things." MIGHTY-- batsar, to cut off, fence, thus it bespeaks of "hidden things." It speaks of those things which are unattainable by natural man, which have been so fortified and made inaccessible to the carnal man that they are, metaphorically speaking, "hard to be understood." "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God ..." (1 Cor. 2:14).
How marvelous therefore is this promise-- that now as we call out unto the Living God, He is able to quench our thirst, and show us "great and mighty things, WHICH YOU KNOW NOT." If they were known unto us, they would not be "fenced," they would not be secret, they would not require the holy Spirit to reveal them unto us. But with Paul we cry out, "O the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out." (Rom. 11:33). Truly, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. BUT GOD HAS REVEALED THEM UNTO US BY HIS SPIRIT..." (1 Cor. 2:9-10). The thirsty man cries out, and God hears, and SHOWS, unfolds to his understanding, truth which only the Spirit of God can reveal.
So the heart PANTS-- cries out, yes, calls from deep within-- "deep calls unto deep," (Ps. 42:7). The deep of our need calls out to the deep of His sufficiency. The deep of our emptiness calls out to the deep of His fulness. But more than that, it is the DEEP OF MAN, i.e. the spirit of man, that is crying out for THE SPIRIT (DEEP) OF GOD. Out of His own substance, spirit, God "forms the spirit of man within him." (Zech.12:1). Having, come from God, who is our home, this inner cry for reality will never be satisfied until we are returned into UNION WITH HIM. We have within us a cry for God, but it is equally true that the Deep of God is calling out for us-- to return unto Him, to find our joy and peace in Him alone. His Spirit calls to our spirit, and our spirit calls (yearns) for His Spirit. It is indeed a "deep calling unto deep." And the Psalmist makes it very specific, he is PANTING-- praying-- athirst for the presence of God.
"When shall I come and appear before God?" (Ps. 42:2). This is very
interesting, for in another place David states, "Where shall I go from
Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend up
into heaven, You are there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are
there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea; even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me." (Ps. 139:7-10). Simply stated, there is no place you can go, but God IS THERE.God affirms this, in Jeremiah 23:23-24, "Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord." The omnipresence of God is a FACT! He is everywhere! "He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:27-28).
But David was athirst for far more than just the general knowledge of God's omnipresence, he yearned for HIS MANIFEST PRESENCE. This is more than just His abiding presence that fills the universe, it is a manifestation of God in increased awareness, consciousness of Him, in varying degrees, until we ultimately see Him face to face. We know that He promised, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (Heb. 13:5). And "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for YOU ARE WITH ME; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me." (Ps. 23:4). Concerning the Lord as his Shepherd being with him, he had no doubt, and for the provisions along the way, he was most grateful-- even to have "Your rod (scepter), and Your staff (holy Word)" to be his protection and support. But there is no indication of a special MANIFEST PRESENCE above and beyond the normal realm of the Lord abiding with him.
We also praise God for the undergirding of His Word-- and like David, we can "encourage ourselves in the Lord our God." (1 Sam. 30:6). We draw out of His Word those promises which strengthen and help us to walk on. We "Speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." (Eph. 5:19). We tell ourselves, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted in me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." (Ps. 42:5). We need constant reminding of the fact that HE IS WITH US! Of special personal blessing is the little chorus:
"This is holy ground, we're standing on holy ground,He is present, but we do not always feel Him there, so then we rely on His Rod and Staff to comfort us, tell us so, and in many and various ways find that He ministers to our need, and strengthens us to press on.
For the Lord is present, and where He is is holy. (repeated).We read, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col. 1:27). And having received Him into our life, being filled with His Spirit, we know He is there-- but it is far more in the REALM OF ABIDING PRESENCE, than in having a specific visitation-- making Himself known in experiential reality. Yes, we would maintain a POSITIVE CONFESSION, and we would stimulate, encourage, and urge one another to press on in this overcoming walk, but we shall not claim to have come into a new awareness of His presence, as if we possessed something beyond the "common salvation" experienced by His people today.
We do not know just how God chose to manifest His presence in the garden of Eden, but this we read, "Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Gen. 3:8). Obviously this was more than just knowing of the omnipresence of God, there was some kind of a manifestation of which they were very conscious, and from which they hoped to hide themselves. They did not escape Him, He came to them and talked with them, but now His presence had become a more awesome and fearful thing to them, because of their inward sense of guilt and condemnation.
And we read that "Cain went out from the presence of the Lord."
(Gen. 4:16)There was a level of awareness and communication which Cain left behind as he went out to pursue his own way. Paul would word it this way: "Having no hope, and without God in the world... -- Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God..." (Eph. 2:12, and 4:18). It is not God cut off from man, but in a certain sense, it is man separated from God.
Once Jacob wrestled with a man all night long, and finally prevailed, and "Jacob called the name of the place, Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Gen. 32:20). This was not the highest order of expression, of the unapproachable light of God, but it was such that Jacob knew he had been in touch with God in a very real way. Perhaps we cannot grasp the full extent of the awesomeness of that hour, when Jacob came to the realization of WHO he was wrestling with, but it was with a certainty of conviction that he names the place "Peniel", meaning: "the face of God." He felt it was a direct face-to-face confrontation with his God.
No doubt about it, the greatest manifestation to date, was when Jesus came, "EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US." Jesus said, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9). He knew He was the visible expression of the Father, though He was veiled in the creaturely form of His own creation. There were brief moments when certain individuals also came to know who He was, though for the most part, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." (John 1:10). "Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
(1 Cor. 2:8). Thus WHO HE WAS was concealed more than revealed."I am athirst for God, the living God; when shall I reach God's presence?" (Ps. 42:2, Moffatt). How this surges within us as a prayer for our Lord!
I have read so often through the years, reading it to the Lord with tears, "Then shall call upon Me, and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, says the Lord..." (Jer. 29:12-14). How does one search with all their heart? Pilgrimages to a special place, a deeper-life conference, etc. have not brought answers. The Psalmist knew all about keeping "holy day" and shouts of joy and praise and jubilant celebration, but that did not answer it for him. "Deep was still calling unto deep."
We thrill to the truths of, and with all creatures wait for, "the manifestation of the sons of God." (Rom. 8:19). But on a deeper level, with a much more intense desire, we yearn for the MANIFESTED PRESENCE OF GOD HIMSELF. It is a thirst which HE has placed within us, which He alone can satisfy. The prophet Isaiah knew it-- and he prayed-- "Oh that You would rend the heavens, that You would come down, that the mountains might flow down at Your presence..." (Isa. 64:1). It is not going to take vast effort and program of religious institutions to subdue the kingdoms of this world, and cause them to become "the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ." (Rev. 11:15). All it will take is an increased awareness of His presence, and the nations will bow before Him. When He "pours out His Spirit upon all flesh," (Joel 2:28), and "all flesh shall see the salvation of God," (Luke 3:6), there will be transformations and changes which stagger the mind with their scope and victory-- for HE IS LORD!
We know He is here WITH us now-- volumes could be written on His WITHNESS, if one could coin such a word. "When you pass through the waters, I will be WITH you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour." (Isa. 43:2-3). WITH YOU! Through it all He is WITH YOU! This is the unique characteristic of our God. His with-ness with His people specifically, and yes, with all His creation generally speaking.
He said to Moses, "My presence shall go with you." (Ex. 33:14). It was such an awesome journey, leading a whole nation on a trek to their promised land, that Moses said unto the Lord, "If Your presence go not with me, carry us not up here." (v. 15). But the mark of distinction that was upon Israel was that their GOD WAS WITH THEM. A LIVING GOD that dwelt with them, and journeyed with them all the way. "Is it not in that You go with us? so shall we be separated, I and Your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." (v. 16). Moses desperately counted on this WITH-NESS of God, for without Him going before, the challenge was formidable.
And there was an on-going witness that God was WITH them, for "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light: to go by day and night." (Ex. 13:21). And while God gave them this manifestation of His presence with them, yet it was not that MANIFESTED PRESENCE of which we speak. Likewise we have seen the Lord bless, heal, provide, quicken, in so many ways, and our heart overflows with praise for all that He does/is doing, but this is not that experiential reality that our heart is longing for. Thank God for every touch of His Spirit upon mankind-- but there is more, much more.
We speak of a "hands on situation," meaning it is something wherein we are directly involved. And truly we have many times seen GOD'S HAND directly involved in working out a problem, meeting a need. etc. And yet there was no specific awareness of an increased vibration of His presence with us.
The Hebrew word for "presence" is "panim" meaning: face, countenance. This FACE-TO-FACEDNESS speaks of an intimate, personal encounter where He shines into our life of His glory and immanence. Paul experienced a measure of this, when "suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven." (Acts 9:3). It was an awesome encounter, and it transformed his life. it is with the understanding gained by Paul's experience, that the verse in Isaiah 9:2 takes on special meaning. "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined." Where the light of His presence shines, the darkness is dissipated, and death is abolished.
The prophet Habakkuk prays, and states, "God came ... His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of His hand (margin: bright beams out of His side): and there was the hiding of His power." (Hab. 3:3-4). Wow! what a manifestation-- when GOD COMES! Lights flashing, power displayed, with transformations and changes taking place beyond all that we can imagine.
Paul also confirms the same, speaking of the wicked being revealed, "Whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." (2 Thess. 2:8). Literally, the Greek word is "parousia," and means: presence, a being alongside. How often have we yearned for a deeper consciousness of His presence, and wondered where we could find-- how we could approach unto-- His presence. But it is not just our coming to Him, but HIS COMING TO US, for HIS is the presence desired.
There are several Greek words that have all been translated as "coming" or appearing, and each has its own facet of meaning. We have neither time nor space to do a broader study on this, we briefly share these definitions.
Paul writes of "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:13). Appearing-epiphaneia, from the Greek verb epiphaino, meaning, to shine upon, bring to light, become visible to the sight, thus, to appear.
Then we also read, "Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 1:7-8). Here the Greek word for "coming" is apokalupsis, from the verb apokalupto, meaning, to uncover or unveil, hence, revelation.
And, in 1 Thess. 5:23, "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." And now we have the Greek word "parousia," meaning: presence, a being alongside.
A close study of all the usage of these words in Bible passages readily bears out the fact that they do not infer any mystical, invisible, secret coming for the purpose of a "rapturing away." Nor is there any limitation to "spiritual realms" which would exclude visible bodily manifestations of our Lord. Nor must we limit all comings to literal body manifestations. Far better to be prepared to receive Him however He should come unto us, be it as a shining Light, or a revelation of Him in His glorious body. However, the point at hand is that we GREATLY LONG FOR EXPERIENTIAL REALITY AS HE MANIFESTS HIS PRESENCE TO US. And there is promise that HE SHALL COME.
John writes, "Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." (Rev. 1:4). Which is to come, literally, the Greek text reads, "He who is coming, or, The Coming One." That He has come, we know, that in Spirit He is here now, we know, but there is also promise for more-- for HE IS "The Coming One." There shall be the manifestation of His presence-- enriching, satisfying our thirst, filling up the vast empty spaces within, until we overflow with His life and victory.
David endured the insults and taunting of the heathen, "Where is your God." And Peter writes of how in our day they shall ask, "Where is the promise of His presence?" (2 Peter 3:4, Young's Literal).
For a wise and glorious purpose He has hid as it were His face from us. We are not without His benevolent care-- His abiding omnipresence is with us, but what processings are needed so that we might be fully purged and ready to receive Him. "That no flesh should glory in His presence." (1 Cor. 1:29) Indeed, that is why the whole inworking of our redemption is by the GRACE of God, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:9). But, "He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." (Eph. 1:4), and it is to this end that He continues to discipline and cleanse us. And, thank God, "He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." (Jude 24).
So we have it, not only is HE COMING TO US, but He is also preparing us to COME TO HIM. "How blessed is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the valley of weeping they make it a place of springs; - They go from strength to strength increasing in victorious power; each one of them appears before God in Zion." (Psalm 84:5-7). Some journey! Right on down through the valley of weeping, but it is a purifying, cleansing time, and as the song goes, "He washed my eyes with tears that I might see .... But it is also a silent miracle time, for HE takes all the weeping/tears and gathers them up to become a place of springs. And when all the inworkings of grace have met HIS specifications, "they appear before God in Zion." They have come to Him, He has come to them-- a joyous "nevertheless afterwards" which "yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness." (Heb. 12:11).
Then shall we bear witness to the reality that "You will show me the path of life: IN YOUR PRESENCE is fulness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Ps. 16:11).
With Paul we pray, for you, and for ourselves, "That you may be filled (through all your being) unto all the fulness of God - that is, may have the richest measure of THE DIVINE PRESENCE, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself." (Eph. 3:19, Amplified). Thank God for the vision set before us, in His time we shall be fully satisfied. Amen!
"I thirst," said He upon the cross, what awesome words are these That He the Living Fountain cried, His Father's will to please.
For tested in all points, as we, He shared our deep desire--
To be restored from whence He came, yet agonies transpire.His thirst was fully satisfied, travail birthed victories rare,
And now His life He freely gives, that we His joy might share.So pants my soul for Thee, O God, Thy presence to embrace,
Athirst for that which man can't give, inworkings of Thy grace.When shall I come into the place where fulness is revealed?
Experience Thy reality, Thy face no more concealed?I thirst, I drink, and find in Thee sufficient for my day,
But how I long for You to come and "presence" all my way.