1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,480 My friends, let's hear the word of the Lord for us this morning 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:06,320 from John chapter 1. The true light, which gives 3 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:08,800 light to everyone, was coming into the world. 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,400 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,720 the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own 6 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,680 people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, 7 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,680 who believe in His name, He gave them the right to become 8 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,400 children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of 9 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,960 the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,840 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen 11 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:39,320 His glory, the glory as the only Father from the the only Son 12 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,280 from the Father, full of grace and truth. 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:44,360 And this is the word of the Lord. 14 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,200 Thanks be to God. Dear God, we ask as always that 15 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,520 you would grant us the ability to understand well Your Word 16 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,240 before us, to be transformed by us. 17 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,680 Shake us Lord, we pray through Christ our Lord, we ask. 18 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,040 Amen. Please be seated and if you 19 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,440 would grab your Bibles, be helpful to have them available 20 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,000 open at chapter 1 of John as we can work our way through this 21 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,640 passage together. If you, unless you were 22 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,680 absolutely sleeping by now, you have noticed that it is the 23 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,120 first Sunday of Advent. Dan mentioned that earlier. 24 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,120 We've had all of the reminders of that all the way around. 25 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,080 Lots of indications. It is the first Sunday of 26 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:24,600 Advent. Advent is that time of 27 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,280 anticipation, is that time of looking forward. 28 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,880 It's the time where we begin to anticipate the coming of our 29 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:32,840 Lord Jesus Christ. All the good things of 30 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,120 Christmas. One of the things that we 31 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,760 anticipate or one of the things that we hear around this time of 32 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,760 year that we don't often hear about is the word Emmanuel. 33 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,720 By the way, Emmanuel with an I or Emmanuel with an E, they're 34 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,000 the same thing. We're just trying to keep track 35 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:52,880 of the way in which we articulated well. 36 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,600 So Emmanuel with an I, Emmanuel with an E, it's the same thing. 37 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,800 And it's right and proper for us to remind ourselves of that at 38 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,480 this time of year because of course it occurs both in the Old 39 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:06,040 Testament and in the New Testament. 40 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,320 The prophecy that we have that the virgin will give birth to a 41 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:15,280 son and he shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. 42 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:20,480 Now lots of us know that the name Emmanuel is not necessarily 43 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,080 attached to Jesus. When we think about Jesus being 44 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,840 born in the Manger, etcetera, we don't he reference him. 45 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,640 We don't hear in the scriptures ever him reference as Emmanuel. 46 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,240 He is Emmanuel, but we don't hear people calling out, hey, 47 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,920 Emmanuel, stuff like that because the name is different. 48 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,080 If you've been involved with the worship here at heaven at any 49 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,200 point in time or if you've been involved in Bible studies, 50 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:48,680 etcetera, you will recognize that the word, the name, a name 51 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,480 means something different in the scriptures and it often means 52 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,760 for us today, for us, the name is a label. 53 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,960 I am Henry, that is Brendan over here, the leads of America from 54 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,000 etcetera, etcetera. But the names are different in 55 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,240 that they often have are rooted in a title or in an expectation 56 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,680 or in a description. That's what the names originally 57 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,000 intended to mean. And in the same way, Emmanuel is 58 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,920 not necessarily a label or an identifier. 59 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,040 It is a description. It is a description that marks 60 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,680 God with us. Brendan, incidentally, is from 61 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,520 the Celtic, the old Celtic identification. 62 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:28,920 It's not a name at all. It is a title. 63 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,120 It means the Prince. And so whenever you reference 64 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:33,520 Brendan, you're referencing Prince. 65 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,840 We've had Robert back here on the drums today, and I 66 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,280 appreciated the fact that the light was red on him, beaming 67 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:43,720 red. And then beaming green kind of 68 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,640 light lit him up because Robert is from the old German, and it 69 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,000 means the shining and brightness. 70 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,400 And so, you know, hey, that guy who's shining in brightness, you 71 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,880 would use the term Robert. Now it eventually, of course, 72 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,200 merges into a name itself. Henry, by the way, is from the 73 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,760 old German through French, which means ruler of the household. 74 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,560 Something gets lost in translation, but there you have 75 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,200 the idea. In the same way then, Emmanuel 76 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,760 means God with us. It means God with us and that 77 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,800 you can see the appropriateness of it, say in our core verse 78 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,040 today in verse 14. And the Word became flesh and 79 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,720 dwelt among us. And for if you've been a part of 80 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,920 a Christian worship services for some time, if you understand the 81 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,640 Christian Gospel, you know that that is a reality, the core 82 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,520 understanding of the incarnation, the incarnation God 83 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,640 himself in heavens becomes in fleshed, becomes a man and 84 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,880 dwells here in this world as as a human being. 85 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,760 And so we have the dwelling with us aspect of God. 86 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,680 And so you have the Emmanuel, God with us, kind of as a 87 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,360 description of reality. But if you look carefully at the 88 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,760 text and if you read through the Scriptures, well, you understand 89 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,000 that it's not just a description of reality. 90 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,560 When we talk about Jesus coming and it's Emmanuel, God with us, 91 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,800 we don't simply mean that God is present with us. 92 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:14,200 We are actually capturing a long biblical tradition of describing 93 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:20,040 the desire of God himself. It is God's desire that he dwelt 94 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:21,920 with us. It's not just the reality that 95 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,800 God dwells with us in Jesus Christ, though God is present 96 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:29,840 and with us now, but rather the Emmanuel sense, God with us is 97 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:33,240 not just an expression of the reality of God's presence with 98 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,240 us. It's a description of God's 99 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,880 desire and passion for us. And this has been captured all 100 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,400 the way through the Scriptures from the very beginning. 101 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:49,440 It is Emmanuel, God's desire to dwell with us, that is a goal of 102 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,840 the Garden of Eden. Now for many of us, when we read 103 00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:55,280 the Garden of Eden story in the first couple chapters of 104 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:59,080 Genesis, we are struck by the beauty of it, by the majesty, by 105 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,120 the perfection of of the Garden of Eden. 106 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,000 Here is no sin, here is perfection, Here is everything 107 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,440 you could possibly want. And God has created humanity to 108 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,520 be in the Garden of Eden and to experience all that joy and all 109 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,760 that wonder. And all of that is true. 110 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,880 But the essence of that wonder, the reality of why the Garden is 111 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,640 so perfected and so marvelous, is the presence of God. 112 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,880 The Garden is where God himself intends to dwell with his 113 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:25,840 people. He created the garden. 114 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,520 He created humanity so that he would dwell with us. 115 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:34,000 And so you have Emmanuel, God with us, The very goal of the 116 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,280 Garden of Eden. It is Emmanuel, God with us. 117 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,800 It is God who desires to dwell with us that reveals the 118 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,640 consequences of our sin when Adam and Eve fell, when Adam and 119 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,400 Eve took from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 120 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,120 Of course there are huge consequences that are described 121 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,440 in the Scriptures. And so you have the discussion 122 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:56,880 of death. Of course, a major 1. 123 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,400 You have childbirth. You have a rupture of our 124 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,080 relationship with God. You have our rupture with our 125 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,720 relationship with creation itself that now work is going to 126 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,600 be late laborious. You have a rupture in our 127 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,320 relationship with one another. Husband is going to turn against 128 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,200 wife, wife against husband. You're going to have a rupture 129 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,440 in our relationship with our own selves, the way in which we feel 130 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,080 about ourselves. But the greatest rupture is 131 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,960 pictured in Genesis 324 where God drove out man from the east 132 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,080 of the garden and place a cherubim with a flaming sword, 133 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,720 turning this way and that way to guard the way of the tree of 134 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:37,360 life. You have the anti Emmanuel, the 135 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,480 upside down Emmanuel. What is sin? 136 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,520 Sin is that which has separated us from God. 137 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,200 And God actually cast out Adam and Eve from that spot which was 138 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,360 created so that God could dwell with man. 139 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:56,880 Instead, man is cast out into exile away from Emmanuel, God 140 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:00,520 with us. It is Emmanuel, God's desire to 141 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:06,040 dwell with us, which prompts the call of Abraham and the call of 142 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:08,000 Israel. Now, if you know your 143 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,280 scriptures, you know that at one point, in the midst of this 144 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:15,480 exile from God's presence, God calls out to Abraham and says to 145 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:19,040 Abraham, hey, leave where you're at right now and come to this 146 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,360 new place where you will be, and I will bless you. 147 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,080 And through you the whole world will be blessed. 148 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,040 And of course, we get excited thinking about what it means 149 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,960 that we are blessed in God and that Abraham was blessed in God. 150 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:33,960 And then the Abraham, through Abraham that blessing pours out 151 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,559 to all of us. And all of that is very true. 152 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,360 But what marks the great blessing is not that God is 153 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,559 pouring out good things upon Abraham, not that through 154 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,840 Abraham good things pour out to us. 155 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,920 All of that is true. But what is essential, what is 156 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,240 what is central to the blessing is captured well in Genesis 26 157 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,640 where God says dwell in the land in which I shall tell you 158 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,920 sojourning this land and I will be with you and I will bless 159 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,560 you. The call, the essence of the 160 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:07,760 call of Abraham and Isaac, through which of course we get 161 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,840 the coming of Jesus Christ and the Israelite people and the 162 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,000 whole Old Testament, all of which evolves from the call of 163 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,800 Abraham. The motivation for this is 164 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,760 Emmanuel, God's desire to dwell with his people. 165 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:27,280 It is Emmanuel, God's desire to dwell with his people, that is 166 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,200 at the core imagery of the Tabernacle. 167 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,640 So after 400 years of slavery, bondage in Egypt, the Israelites 168 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,440 are released from Egypt and they wander through the wilderness. 169 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:43,000 And the central feature of wandering through the wilderness 170 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:45,680 is the Tabernacle. Now we don't, we're not familiar 171 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:47,600 with that term. So you got to flesh it out a 172 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,040 little bit. A Tabernacle is a massive tent. 173 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:53,960 It's a massive mobile worship center which you can break down 174 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,120 and and put back together fairly quickly. 175 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,160 It was this beauty. It was this most marvelous and 176 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,280 central feature of the Israelites as they wandered 177 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,240 through through the wilderness for 40 years. 178 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:07,440 They carried this glorified tent with you and it really was this 179 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:12,040 spectacular marvel and it was filled with gold and tapestries. 180 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:16,120 It was everything that you would be attracted to in life, but the 181 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,000 wonder. And wherever you set up the 182 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,520 tent, wherever they set up the Tabernacle, the Israelite people 183 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,400 would build their camps around it. 184 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,000 So at the very core was this Tabernacle. 185 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:29,880 But the beauty of the Tabernacle is not how wonderful it is or 186 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:31,880 how central it was to the Israelites. 187 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,560 It's the fact that once the Tabernacle was built in Exodus 188 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:39,680 chapter 40, then the cloud covered the temple, the tent of 189 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:43,280 meeting the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the 190 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,200 Tabernacle. Here you have the glory of God 191 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,640 himself settled down over top of this Tabernacle. 192 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,480 So you have this beautiful, wonderful tent where the 193 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,680 Israelites were to worship God. And in the midst of that, here 194 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:59,920 comes God's Shekinah glory, the physical manifestation of God's 195 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:02,760 very presence settles down over the Tabernacle. 196 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,880 And for 40 years, that physical manifestation, the pillar of 197 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,040 fire, the pillar of cloud, never left the Israelites. 198 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,600 At the very center of the Israelite community was the 199 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:15,960 Tabernacle. And at the core filling the 200 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,720 Tabernacle was the God's very presence, the Emmanuel dwelling 201 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:26,920 with his people, God with us. And it is Emmanuel, God's desire 202 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,440 to dwell with us, That is the promise of Canaan land. 203 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:34,720 So after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, the 204 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,080 Israelite people then crossover into Canaan land. 205 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:39,560 Now, some of you will have remembrance of Canaan land. 206 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:42,200 What is Canaan land? Canaan land is that wonderful 207 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,240 area. It is flowing with milk and 208 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:45,680 honey. Now, I don't know how you feel 209 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:49,200 about milk and honey, but you're supposed to have this picture 210 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:52,240 that the milk and honey is representative of the wonderful 211 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,840 abundance that Canaan land has. And not just abundance, but 212 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,400 extravagance. It's this extravagant beauty of 213 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,320 the of Canaan land and you're supposed to be marvelled by it. 214 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,760 And every time the Israelites were exploring it Canaan land, 215 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,480 they came back with these massive grapes and this 216 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,640 wonderful food and this marvelous description of how 217 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:15,640 glorious Canaan land was. And Canaan Land was wonderful as 218 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,720 soon as the Israelites people for 40 years being led by the 219 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:21,680 pillar of fire and pillar of clouds, the Shekinah glory of 220 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:23,720 God. As soon as they cross going to 221 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,120 Canaan land, guess what happens? The pillar disappears. 222 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:32,080 After 40 years of having the the physical manifestation of God 223 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,400 present in the center of their community, now suddenly that 224 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,880 pillar of fire in the pillar of cloud disappears. 225 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,400 Why? Because Canaan Land is marked by 226 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,720 abundance. Canaan Land is marked by its 227 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:48,320 extravagance, not in what Canaan Land is, but in who is there. 228 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,600 It is there at that spot where God promised to meet with his 229 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:54,080 people, to dwell with his people. 230 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,000 Come to Canaan Land. It's the promised land, not 231 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,840 because of how wonderful it is, but because of who makes it 232 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,680 wonderful. It is God himself, Emmanuel, 233 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,400 God, dwelling with us. It is Emmanuel, God's desire to 234 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,360 dwell with us. It is behind the beauty and the 235 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:17,080 majesty of the temple. After 400 years or so of living 236 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,640 in Canaan land, the Israelite people conquered Jerusalem and 237 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,640 David. King David desires to build a 238 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,480 temple for God. He is ultimately prevented to do 239 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,760 so, but his son ultimately builds his temple. 240 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:32,360 Now it's impossible to describe the majesty and the beauty of 241 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,680 the temple. It was massive. 242 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:37,720 It was huge, it was gold covered all over the place. 243 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:40,080 It was everything that you could imagine is beautiful. 244 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,680 It was not one of the seven wonders of the world, but it is 245 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:45,320 often listed with the seven wonders of the world when 246 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,640 they're articulated. It was this beautiful, 247 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,600 magnificent artifice. I mean that you again, it's hard 248 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,400 to describe how beautiful and wonderful it is, but its beauty 249 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,600 doesn't come from its majestic character or how big it is or 250 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,360 how glorious it is or anything like that. 251 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:03,360 The beauty of it comes when the priest came out of that holy 252 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,720 place, the cloud filled the House of the Lord so that the 253 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,840 priest could not enter into it and minister there because of 254 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,760 the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled 255 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,280 the House of the Lord. Once again, the picture that you 256 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,040 have of the Temple of the Temple is that it is a dwelling place 257 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:21,720 of God. And so in the middle of 258 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,440 Jerusalem, in the middle of their nation, this land, Canaan 259 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:27,840 land itself, which represents the presence of God. 260 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,920 Once again you have this physical manifestation of God, 261 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:34,400 the cloud, the pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud that fills 262 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:37,160 the temple. And every time you want to see 263 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,960 and experience Emmanuel, God with us, you look at the temple 264 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,400 and you see the pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud that is 265 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:49,520 indwelling the temple and is that is present there Emmanuel, 266 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:53,480 God with us. It is Emmanuel, God's desire to 267 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:58,640 dwell with us, that is vividly portrayed in the reenacting of 268 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:03,080 the exile after 400 some years, after the creation of the temple 269 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,240 and once again God's physical manifestation and presence there 270 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,040 with the people. The people have sinned 271 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:15,000 consistently against the Lord, and after 400 years you have the 272 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,400 loss in battle, the capture of the Israelites, and they are 273 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,720 dragged away to Assyria first, and then they are the remainder 274 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,440 are captured and taken to Babylon. 275 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,160 And you have the Babylonian in exile. 276 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,760 And this is a disaster for the Israelite people. 277 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,280 But the disaster is not simply being separated from the land. 278 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,880 The disaster is not simply the loss of militarily what takes 279 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,160 place. The disaster comes when the 280 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,680 glory of the Lord, this is Ezekiel has this vision and what 281 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,480 he sees is the glory of the Lord that it inhabited the temple, 282 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:53,080 rises up and leaves the temple and instead settles in judgment 283 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,880 over the Israelite people. Instead of God dwelling with the 284 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,440 people now, because of their sin and brokenness, the dwelling, 285 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,320 the very physical manifestation of God, gets up and leaves the 286 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,280 temple and leaves the Israelite people bereft. 287 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:14,080 Emmanuel, God's with us. It is Emmanuel, God's desire to 288 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,600 dwell with us, that finds its yearning in the second temple. 289 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,840 This is the text that Dan read for us early, earlier. 290 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,680 So about 50 years later or so, the Israelite people are 291 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,640 released. 70 years later, the Israelite people are released 292 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:33,280 from their Babylonian captivity and they come back to Canaan 293 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:34,680 land. They come back to Jerusalem. 294 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,480 They rebuild Jerusalem. And of course their intent is to 295 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:40,080 rebuild the temple. So they build up the temple once 296 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,080 again. They build the temple and you 297 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,720 have people gathered around it. When they dedicate the temple, 298 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:47,760 you have all the Israelites gathered there to celebrate the 299 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,200 forming of the temple. And all the young people are 300 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,760 excited and they're all cheering and all the old people are sad 301 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,120 and mourning because they remember the old temple, the 302 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,760 former temple. And this new temple is a small 303 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,040 shell. It's, it's a small bit of the 304 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,240 former glory of the glorious temple. 305 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,160 And so Haggai and the other prophets say you're sad. 306 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,680 You're sad because this temple isn't as majestic as the other 307 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,760 one, but its majesty is not in its size, its majesty is not in 308 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,400 its beauty. Its majesty is in the the first 309 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,880 temple. God's presence came and dwelt 310 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:23,599 it. And here we have dedicated the 311 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,359 second temple and there is no presence of God. 312 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,800 And so there's a yearning, a desire that the Israelite people 313 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,440 are saying, no matter how big the building, no matter what, 314 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,120 how wonderful the building, what we're really looking for is the 315 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:39,120 presence of God, Emmanuel, God with us. 316 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,240 And the fact that God didn't indwell the Second Temple 317 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:46,000 creates that yearning, that moving forward for Emmanuel, God 318 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,040 with us. And it is Emmanuel, God's desire 319 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:54,720 to dwell with us that finds its culmination in the coming of 320 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,800 Jesus Christ. Look again at our text here. 321 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,520 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen 322 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:07,240 his glory, the glory as of the Son of the of the Father, full 323 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,840 of grace and truth. And we have seen his flesh. 324 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,080 The word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. 325 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:18,080 That word dwelt there. It's actually a noun that the 326 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,080 author uses as a verb. And we do this sometimes, you 327 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,880 know, when you say I'm going to Google you or, or let me, let me 328 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,000 friend you on Facebook. And, and for us who are old, you 329 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,240 sit there and say, that's a noun. 330 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,680 Quit using it as a verb kind of a thing. 331 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:36,360 And so here what we have is, is the Word became flesh and 332 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:39,720 tabernacled amongst us. Tabernacled. 333 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,880 He he built. He built his Tabernacle there. 334 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:47,000 His expression of the desire, not just the reality of God's 335 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,280 presence, but the desire of God to be present with his people. 336 00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:55,320 He tabernacled with us, He tented with us. 337 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,720 And here you have the the culmination of all of the 338 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:02,120 passion and all the desires of the Old Testament, all of from 339 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,920 gardening, even the Eden, all the way through where God's 340 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:07,800 passion is to dwell with his people. 341 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,960 And finally here the culmination, the fullness of it, 342 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,280 the completeness of it comes in Jesus Christ as Christ comes to 343 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,840 dwell with his people. But as many of you know, Christ 344 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,440 ascended to the Father and so you have Emmanuel, God with us. 345 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,680 And it is a manual, God's desire to dwell with us that is 346 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,400 continually expressed in the corporate filling of the body of 347 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,160 Christ with the Holy Spirit. Here, of course, we are 348 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,360 referencing the Pentecost moment where the body of Christ, the 349 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:43,760 disciples all gathered together and the Holy Spirit fell upon 350 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,000 them when the Holy Spirit came down upon the body of believers. 351 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,840 And in the same exact way, the Holy Spirit is present here with 352 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,920 us today. And we have a manual with us 353 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,560 right now, God with us, because of the presence of the Holy 354 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,600 Spirit filling this place just as He filled that place in Acts 355 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,240 chapter 2, the tongues of divided fire appeared before. 356 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,120 For them and rested on each one of them, and they were all 357 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:13,400 filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a manual God with us that 358 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,000 we sense in God's presence here among us. 359 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:21,320 And it is a manual God's desire to dwell with us that is 360 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,040 expressed personally too individually. 361 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,520 It's not just His corporate presence with us here, it is his 362 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,720 individual presence with us. It is a marvel of the New 363 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,680 Testament that tells us that when the Jesus want to be with 364 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,200 the Father that he promises disciples that he would not 365 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,560 leave us as orphans, but rather that he would come with us, that 366 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,960 He would come to us as the Holy Spirit. 367 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,720 And so the Holy Spirit comes and indwells every believer. 368 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,200 Paul captures this when he says, do you not know that your body 369 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,440 is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from 370 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,400 God? You are not your own, for you've 371 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,040 been brought with a price. So glorify God with your body. 372 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:04,360 It is our very bodies individually that are the temple 373 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:08,120 of the Holy Spirit. Individually we have that 374 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:11,040 expression of the Emmanuel God with us. 375 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,880 But of course, the culmination of this, the ultimate expression 376 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:20,600 of this is in the new heavens and the new earth, John writes. 377 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,240 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the 378 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:24,960 dwelling place of God is with men. 379 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,720 He will dwell with them. They will be his people and God 380 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:34,320 himself will be there with them, as is God, heaven, the new 381 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,320 heavens, the new earth, that which we are all shaping for the 382 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,800 fulfillment of God's desire in the Garden of Eden throughout 383 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:46,520 Israel's history, finding its culmination, its pinnacle in the 384 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,720 in Jesus Christ, the the incarnation of Jesus Christ and 385 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,280 then expressed in each one of us individually comes to its 386 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:58,560 fullness in heaven where we dwell in the presence of God. 387 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,160 There will need to be no more sun. 388 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,680 There will be need to be no more moon. 389 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,400 But I didn't say that very clearly. 390 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,560 There is no sun. There is no moon in heaven 391 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,120 because God himself gives us his light. 392 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:16,200 God is present continually and forever in that moment. 393 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,240 When we talk about Emmanuel, when we talk about Christmas, we 394 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,600 are often talking about the great things that God gives us, 395 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,360 the presence of God and the presence of God is fulfilled 396 00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:30,640 completely to us through Emmanuel, God with us. 397 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,880 And it's not just the reality of God presence that's wonderful. 398 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,880 Think about how glorious it is that God is present here with 399 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:38,560 us. That's a marvel and it's a 400 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,080 beauty. But realize this, that from the 401 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,120 beginning of scriptures to its at the very end, it captures not 402 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:49,680 the reality of God's presence with us, but the desire of God 403 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:57,200 to be present with us In your brokenness, in your joy, in your 404 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:03,920 sorrow, in your love, in your care, in your sin, God desires 405 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,280 to be with you. Emmanuel, God with us. 406 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,640 Dear Father in Heaven, we do pray again that You would 407 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,760 strengthen us and bless us with the fulfillment of Your 408 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,840 presence. Now and forevermore. 409 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:19,320 We pray. Amen.