Experiencing Gods presence on earth is training for our days as glorified sons of God. Everything in heaven is like the sense of His presence on earth – just much, much, much greater. The difference between God’s presence in heaven versus God’s presence on earth is the level of intensity. His presence in heaven is unhindered. There is no flesh in heaven to hinder His presence.
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Numbers 14:20–24
20 Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, 22 none of the men who have se
en my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
Why do we need to learn about God’s presence?
1 Corinthians 15:50 (ESV)
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
- There is no enemy in heaven
- There is no unbelief or unforgiveness in heaven.
- No lack of unity or irreverence in heaven
- These are just some of the things that hinder His manifest presence. If you did not have these things on earth – His presence would always be manifest.
Unbelief Hinders His Glory
God has a ‘Higher’ Plan
Numbers 13:1–3 (ESV)
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
- The Lord instructed Israel to send men to spy out the land and to bring back a report of the land.
- They were supposed to look at the land through the eyes of their awesome overcoming God. They were supposed to see the enemies in the land through God’s Word to them which promised the land to all Israel and their descendants.
Numbers 13:27–33 (ESV)
27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
- Instead of coming back with a report showing the greatness of their God, the spies came back with a report showing the greatness of the enemy in the land. The problem with the report was that it contradicted the report that God gave of the land. God said, you are well able to overcome it. They said, ‘No, we cannot’.
- The Lord was not happy with their failure to believe Him.
Acts 2:15–21 (ESV)
15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
- Do you see the Great Demonstration?
- God has been after this since the beginning – since the days of Numbers 14 and before that! – 6000 years He has been planning for the last stop on the track!
- Do you see the Glory elements and the end result?
The Road to Emmaus: Demonstrating a Different Covenant
- Let us tie-up a loose end.
- I do not know if you are like me but I have been in services where the Spirit of God was moving and the man of God told the crowd, ‘I see the glory rolling in – I see the cloud.’ Many times, I would hear that and yearn to see what that man of God was seeing. You want to see the cloud. You want to see demonstrations of God and you may have had this thought – ‘How come Israel got to see the glory so outwardly and we don’t?’
- The answer lies in understanding the different covenants.
- Israel was under the Old Covenant. People under the Old Covenant were dead spiritually. They did not have the life of God in them. They were not born again.
- God had to manifest His glory physically because they were dead spiritually. He had no other way to demonstrate to them. He had no other way to prove His Word to them.
- This account in Luke explains covenant differences better than I can say it.
Luke 24:13–16, 28-31 (ESV)
13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him… 28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
- Notice in this account that the two disciples traveling on the Road to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus (vs. 16). They continued to walk together so long as this condition existed. But, just as soon as they recognized Jesus, He disappeared from their sight. We must ask the question, why?
- The answer is realized when we understand the differences between the two covenants. In The New Covenant, everything is by faith not by sight. In the Old Covenant, everything was reversed; it was by sight not by faith. In the Old Covenant, they saw physically; in the New Covenant, we see spiritually.
- As soon as the disciples recognized Jesus physically, He disappeared because we are required to walk by faith and not by sight.
- Never think that Israel had a better covenant because they saw physical manifestations of the glory. Our Covenant is vastly superior to theirs, just look at how Israel ended up if you doubt that. The Lord has not given you an inferior covenant but a better one established on better promises (Heb. 8:6).
- Your life is a Holy Ghost train track and the last stop on the track is ‘all the earth will be full of the glory of God!’
Call to Action
Learn about the Glory of God. To get you started here are some verses that you can look at here Glory of God [Scripture List]. Just hover over each reference with your mouse and build these verses into your heart.
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Question: In what way do you think the Glory of God needs to be demonstrated on planet earth? Please share that below.