Jesus is to me the access to God and every blessing of His covenant.
Have you ever been locked out? I remember one time I was downtown in Jefferson City, Missouri. I had gone into the post office and accidentally locked my keys in the car. That was before cell phones and there were no public phone on the premises. I was locked out!
There was a time when Adam and Eve enjoyed an open access to God. After they sinned, they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. When God came down in the cool of the day to visit with them, they were afraid because they were naked. After God pronounced judgment on them, the Lord sent them out of the Garden of Eden and from His blessings and favor.
Genesis 3:24 NKJV So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
When they sinned, they walked away from the strength and covering of God’s presence and blessing. Under the power of sin and the curse, they were “driven away.” These are strong words.They were “driven away” from access to God. Three times in Mathew’s Gospel, Jesus spoke about individuals being cast out into outer darkness, (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). Outer darkness is a place without access to God.
Moses and the children of Israel came to know the abiding presence of God. When they were brought out of Egyptian bondage God showed them His miracles, power and deliverance.
Exodus 13:21 NKJV And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
I have often wondered what it must have been like to walk under the shadow of God’s presence. They were being given access to almighty God. It was during that exodus that God made provision for His newly delivered people to enjoy continued access. God called Moses up into the clouds of God’s presence on Sinai and began giving him His Law. Moses had been given direct access to God almighty. During that time, God made provision for His people to find the blessing of His presence and mercy and grace. Through the blood of the sacrifice, God made it possible for the people to have access and come near to God. While Moses was receiving that covenant and Law, the people constrained Aaron to make gods that would go before them. Their golden god was not able to protect, keep, or provide for that multitude of people. After their sin, God was ready to forsake them and blot them out of His book, but Moses made intercession for the people.
On Sinai, God told Moses He would still give them the land He had promised, send His Angel with them, but He would not be in the camp, (Exodus 33:1-6). God was telling Moses that He would be faithful to His promises, but He would not go up in their midst, lest He consume them. They would be locked out from God’s access. Moses knew that without access to God’s presence and power the people would be nothing, so he began pleading with God.
Exodus 33:15 NKJV Then Moses said to God, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
Exodus 34:8-9 NKJV So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
Moses knew that it was God’s presence that made them great. He could not face his enemies or the challenges that were coming unless the Lord God Almighty was with him. He and God’s people needed access to God.
Exodus 34:10 NKJV And God said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”
God was giving them a covenant of His blessing and access to His mercy and favor. He was renewing the covenant He had made with Abraham.
In Genesis 12:3 God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The Lord our God is a covenant God. When the people left Sinai, God was with them.As a result of their sin, the people wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and the pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day or the pillar of fire by night, (Nehemiah 9:19). God’s good Spirit instructed them, He did not withhold the manna from their mouth, and He gave them water for their thirst, (Nehemiah 9:20). For forty years God sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing; their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.” (Nehemiah 9:21)
All of the promises God had made were fulfilled and they finally took possession of the land and God gave them rest.
In Deuteronomy 26-28, God renewed His covenant with the next generation of His people.
Deuteronomy 26:16-19 NKJV This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.
As a result of His covenant, God promised to load them with blessings.
Throughout Deuteronomy 28, God promised to bless His people if they continued to walk in His presence.
- He would set them above all nations of the earth.
- His blessings would come upon them and overtake them.
- They would be blessed in the city and in the country.
- The fruit of their body, ground, and livestock would be blessed.
- God promised to bless their income and storehouses.
- They would be blessed coming and going.
- All of their enemies would be defeated before their faces.
- They would come against them one way and flee seven ways.
- The Lord would establish them as His holy people and they would be called by the name of the Lord.
- They would have plenty and God would open His good treasure and the land would produce increase for them.
- The Lord would make them the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath.
How can we get closer to God, live in His presence, and be blessed by His favor? I want access to God’s blessing and favor.
James 4:8 NKJV Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
If you want to enter into God’s blessing, you must be near Him. His blessing does not come without being in His presence. The people of Israel proved that they could not dwell in God’s presence and live unclean and rebel against Him. James told us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
How can we do that?
John 14:6 NKJV Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus is the Key to access to God.
In the Old Testament, people came to God through the sacrifice and blood covering. They found mercy and help for their time of need when the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat.
Ephesians 2:13 NKJV But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
- Jesus is to me – access to the mercy of the Father.
- Jesus is to me – access to the covering for my sins.
- Jesus is to me – access to fullness of joy and gladness.
- He is to me – access to God’s peace and rest.
- He is to me – access to life everlasting and hope and heaven.
- He is to me – access to God’s blessing and divine healing.
- He is to me – access to deliverance from my struggles.
I can say with Moses, “Lord, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.”
- Only Jesus can take us into the Promised Land.
- Only Jesus can bring us into God’s covenant blessings.
- Only He can bless us coming in and going out.
- He can bless us when we arise and when we lie down.
- Jesus can command blessing to come on our storehouses.
- He can defeat our enemies and cause them to flee from us.
Exodus 34:10 NKJV And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”
