Troublesome Topic: ENTER GOD’S PRESENCE THROUGH QUIETNESS

In the cultures of Old Testament times everything was oriented toward the East. Observe some of the ways that was demonstrated in their cultures:

>Their maps were oriented toward the East, not the North like ours are.

>The star that announced Jesus’ birth appeared in the East.

>The temple faced East.

>In Ezekiel’s vision, the glory of the Lord departed from the temple going East (Ez ch 10), and returned to the temple from the East (Ez ch 43).

>In Jesus’ day the Eastern Gate into the outer court of the temple was called the “Golden Gate.”

>There was no West gate into the inner court (this would have been a back way into the Holy of Holies, and you cannot blind-side God, nor sneak in from a different way).

>And the eastern gate into the Court of Women was called “Beautiful” (it was over 80 feet tall!) Several ancient cultures made tall entrances for their temples to show how great the deity was that entered through that entrance. A very tall temple gate was intended to show “our god is very, very big. See how big he is?” However, there is no gate big enough for our God, and that is the intent of Ps 24:7, which says,

Ezekiel 26 adds something else of interest about the entrances to the temple: Thus says ADONAI YHVH (read Adonai Adonai), The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the East shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

This was the most important gate of the temple complex because it faced East and because it led directly to the inner court without going through the court of the gentiles or the court of women. However, in a given month it was only opened on the day of the new moon and on the Sabbath days. It was not open on days full of hustle and hassle, buying and selling, coming and going. It was open only on the special days such as the Sabbath, when things were quiet. This gate did not lead into the temple area from the city where the action was, but from outside the city wall, from the Kidron valley. By connecting the gate facing Eastward to the Sabbath it was showing that the Sabbath is the most important day.

Jesus is called the “door.” Jesus is our special entrance into the presence of God, but this entrance must be accessed through quietness and tranquility, not during times of frenetic activity.

After a time of intense pressure and some depression, Elijah ran, he slept, he was awakened by an angel who told him to eat, then he slept again, then he ate again, then he proceeded to do God’s bidding. All of us need to find that rhythm of resting and running.

Husbands, create opportunities for your wife to get away from the kids and the chores and be with God. Wives, grant opportunities for your husband to get alone with God as well.

We ignore rest to our own demise. God created us to need rest as part of our standard maintenance schedule. In the same way that ignoring your car’s maintenance schedule and not changing your oil for a long period of time will do serious damage to your car, ignoring our spiritual maintenance schedule and failing to connect with God will do serious damage to our spiritual wellbeing, and other relationships too. The difference is that a car can go quite a while without changing oil, we need time with God often.

(The next section in this topical study is called Connecting Fully Produces Anticipation of Heaven. You can go to the first lesson of that section by clicking on this link: Heaven Will be Characterized by Rest.)