"Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here” (Ex. 33:15).
God responded to Moses’ prayer of intercession by promising to remain with Moses, but not with the people as a whole: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Henry points out that the emphasis was not lost on Moses, and that he did not hesitate to insist that God abide with all the people, not only with their leader: “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Why was this so important? Why was it not enough for the Lord to be with Moses, to empower him to lead the people, and to give him the confidence and strength to enter the Promised Land. The answer has to do with grace: “For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?”
What makes the church different from everyone else on earth is the presence of the Lord. God does not dwell among the people of the world, for the arrogant and the wicked cannot come into His presence. Such privilege is reserved only for His people, for those whom He has graciously called to be His own. The misconception that God loves and abides with all people is a great error that masks one of the most glorious truths of the Christian religion. While God certainly cares for all His creatures and shows a benevolent love to everyone, He does not love the unbeliever with an abiding, intimate, and special love. This is reserved for His adopted children, for the ones He has graciously chosen out of the world. Only these experience the joy of God’s presence, of a relationship with Him that is closer than anything we could ever imagine. The world does not enjoy the abiding presence of the Lord because He does not dwell in the hearts of the unregenerate.
When Jesus Christ came to earth, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger, He was called Immanuel. This means “God with us.” The ultimate blessing of being a part of the family of God, the glorious hope of all Christians, is Immanuel, God with us. Without Immanuel, we cannot come into the presence of God, but through the grace of our Lord, manifested in the person of Christ, we can know what it is like to have God with us, to live in intimate communion with the Lord. Though we deserve to be cut off from His life-giving presence forever, He shows us grace by dwelling with us in love.
God loves His children. He has promised never to leave them or forsake them. He has promised that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ, and He has promised to walk with them through the valley of the shadow death. What does this mean for you today?
