“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” John 1:18

…But God has revealed Himself. He has stooped down, and in the person of His incarnate Son has embodied the spirituality of His being, with all its divine and glorious attributes.

All that we clearly, savingly know of God is just the measure of our aquaintance with this truth. Jesus brings God near. “You are near, O Lord” (Ps. 119:51). Oh, how near! “They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). The most stupendous, glorious truth which a created mind ever grasped is involved in this wondrous declaration, “Emmanuel, God with us.” With what glory does it invest the Bible! What a foundation does it lay for faith! What substance does it impart to salvation! And what a good hope does it place before the believing soul! God is with us in Christ, with us in the character of a reconciled Father, with us every step of our journey to heaven, with us to guide in perplexity, soothe in sorrow, comfort in bereavement, rescue in danger, shield in temptation, provide in want, support in death, and safely conduct to glory. My soul, fall prostrate in the dust before the majesty of this amazing, precious truth; adore the wisdom that has revealed it, and admire the grace that makes it thine!

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What an amazing God that stoops low in humility to dwell with His creature. What hope we have that His presence wasn’t limited to His incarnation, but that His promise to send the Spirit, the very Spirit of Christ, means that we are ever before, ever behind, and ever beside the very presence of Christ in our midst and in our heart. He has not left us alone as orphans but has given us not just His power, not just His promise, but Himself. How amazing it is that we are to then minister the presence of Christ as the priests of God, knowing that our High Priest not only interceedes on our behalf before the Father, but involves and invests His very presence so that the best we can give, the best we can hope for is realized; the presence of Jesus.

As planters and pastors, my prayer is that the weight and glory of the presence of Christ, revealed in the Gospel of grace by the power of the Spirit and the will of the Father, is heavier than the thick ice of shame and doubt, fear and cowardice, impatience and expectation that layer by layer seems to thicken with every sin we commit and every sin committed against us. May God’s glory in His presence break through what a better program, and slicker campaign, a funnier sermon, or a more organized family ministry can only promise but never deliver.

Father help us not be pornographers of the church where we fantasize about what is unrealistic and also never attained or experienced. Yet let us have this hope that if Christ is present in our midst, we have want we need and what the heart of the church desperately longs for. Him and Him alone is our hope.