John Bevere - One Thing That Will Distinguish You
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Hey everybody, welcome to Lesson Four of «Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God,» based on the book «Drawing Near.» This lesson is titled «Behind the Veil.» I must say this one is going to be scripture-heavy, so I will need to stick closely to my notes. It’s very exciting but also crucial that I explain this systematically.
To begin, we’re going to go back to Exodus 33:15, when Moses says to God, «I would rather be in this desert with Your presence than go to the promised land without it.» Moses said, «If You personally don’t go with us, don’t make us leave this place.» That place was the desert. «How will anyone know that You look favorably on me and on Your people if You don’t go with us?» Now, listen to this statement: «Your presence among us sets Your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.»
So here’s the statement: it is the presence of God that separates us, His people, from all the other people on the face of the earth. I hope you write that down; that is what distinguishes us from all other people. A.W. Tozer wrote, «God wills that we should push on into His presence and live there our whole life.» This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day. The presence of the Lord always brings greater revelation of who God is, and with each encounter, we are changed forever. His manifested presence is woven throughout the Bible.
I’m going to run through it again, as I did in the first lesson: Adam and Eve, when they sinned, what did they do? They hid themselves from the presence of God. That’s why God had to say, «Where are you?» Enoch walked with God, which means he walked in the presence of God. Noah walked with God. Abraham, listen to what Abraham said to his chief servant: «For the Lord, in whose presence I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your mission successful.»
Samuel— the Bible says in 1 Samuel 3:19— «The Lord let none of His words fall to the ground.» Why is that? Because in 1 Samuel 2:21, it says Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. If you look at David, he said, «May the dynasty of your servant David be established in your presence» (2 Samuel 7:26). David was the one who cried out when he sinned regarding Bathsheba and Uriah; he cried out, «Do not banish me from Your presence and don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me» (Psalm 51:11).
You know what psychologists tell us? This is amazing: psychologists tell us that the relationships we’ve had over the last five years will shape our personality. Well, listen to this one: think about David. When he was living in the caves in the desert, with King Saul trying to destroy him—I’m talking about David as a young man—he was out there in the middle of the wilderness, and what does the Bible tell us in 1 Samuel 22:2? «Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was discontented gathered to David.» So he became captain over them, and there were about 400 men with him.
Now, think about it: who were his friends? All the distressed, indebted, and discontented. You would think that would shape David’s personality, but in reality, David spent so much time in the presence of the Lord that he changed all 400 men’s personalities, and they became some of the most famous men of any generation in Israel’s history. They were known as the men of renown.
Isn’t it interesting? If you spend more time in the presence of God than you do with disgruntled, unhappy, indebted people, you are going to have an impact on them; they won’t have an impact on you. I’ve seen it happen the other way around: when people don’t spend time in the presence of God, the greatest tragedy we have in the Old Testament is that the children of Israel could not endure God’s presence.
Now, we see this: Moses brings Israel out of Egypt. You know, I’ve asked people time and time again, «Where was Moses bringing Israel when he led them out of Egypt?» I’m telling you, congregations raised their hands and said, «The Promised Land.» I said, «Was he bringing them to the Promised Land?» They raised their hands, «Yes, the Promised Land.» No! What did Moses say to Pharaoh five times? «Thus saith the Lord: Let My people go that they might worship Me in the desert.»
Why did Moses want to bring them out of Egypt into the Promised Land before first bringing them to the Promiser? If you bring them into the Promised Land before first bringing them to the Promiser, they’ll make the Promised Land into a place of idolatry.
Let me tell you something: I find an amazing contrast between Moses and Israel. Moses was raised in the wealthiest man’s home in the world—Pharaoh is his grandfather. He lives in a palace; he eats the best. He can throw a party whenever he wants; he can drive a Maserati; he can have every Harley in the collection. He literally has anything he wants. Israel lives in slums; they have stripes on their backs, and their children are put to death. Yet, Israel comes out of Egypt, and they’re constantly saying, «We want to go back to Egypt.» Moses comes out of Egypt, and he never once says, «I want to come back.»
Why? The reason he never said, «I want to go back to Egypt» is that he had one encounter with God at the bush that changed him forever. So when he leads them out of Egypt, he wants to bring them to that same mountain—the mountain where the bush that burned in fire was, Mount Horeb. He wants to bring them right to that mountain to meet the same God that changed his life.
So he brings Israel out and has this preliminary meeting with God. As I said in an earlier lesson, God said, «You see what I did to the Egyptians and how I brought you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.» God said, «That’s the message I want you to tell all of Israel.»
So God said, «I want all of you guys to be like Moses; I want you to have interaction with Me.» God comes down on the mountain to introduce Himself to all of Israel on the third day. Can you imagine how excited He was? «I’ve been waiting to meet these people for 430 years.» He comes down to meet them, and they all run away and said, «Moses, we cannot handle this.»
Okay, this is what’s really scary: what happens next? A tabernacle has to be built. God has to dwell in this Tabernacle because His people can’t handle His presence. Here is God saying to Moses, «All right, you and the people build Me a residence that I’m going to live in.» It’s a tent; it’s a Tabernacle. So they build this thing according to the pattern of heaven, and once the Tabernacle is complete, this is what we read: «Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.» Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, the Tabernacle.
Now, at this juncture, I have to take a side step. I’m going to continue this narrative of what happened with Moses and Israel in future lessons, but before I do, I need to discuss the various degrees of God’s presence.
When you say «God’s presence,» the question that comes to my mind is, «What degree of God’s presence are you talking about?» Let me explain this: the glorious presence of God came on that Tabernacle so strongly that Moses couldn’t even enter.
Now, let’s talk about this. Moses has two nephews—they’re actually the sons of his brother Aaron. One’s name is Nadab, the other is Abihu. Shortly after God’s presence moves into this Tabernacle, these two young men are authorized priests. But they come into the presence of the Lord treating Him as ordinary. They come with what the Bible calls profane fire. When they enter with an irreverent attitude into the presence of God, they are struck down dead—I mean dead, buried under the ground type of dead.
But yet, if we go a couple of hundred years later, there is another priest named Eli, and Eli has two very corrupt and wicked sons named Hophni and Phinehas. The Bible tells us that they are committing adultery with women just 90 feet from where Nadab and Abihu were struck dead. Yet, they’re not being struck dead. They are taking offerings by manipulation and force at that same Tabernacle, but they’re not being struck down dead. What’s going on here?
Let me tell you what the Bible says about what was occurring in the days of Nadab and Abihu and a couple of hundred years later. You know, this glorious presence moved into the Tabernacle initially. It says in 1 Samuel 3:1, «The word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.» Now, what does that mean, «The word of the Lord was rare»?
Where there is no presence of God, there’s no revelation. Where there’s little presence of God, there’s a small amount of revelation. And where there’s great presence of God, there’s great revelation of who He is and His ways. So what we must ask is the difference between the presence of the Lord in the days of Moses when the Tabernacle was constructed and the days of Nadab and Abihu. We can see the degree of His presence differed because here were guys sinning right in that Tabernacle, yet they were not being struck dead like Nadab and Abihu, who came in with irreverence.
The glorious presence of God is what we’re after. What is the glory of God? This is what I really want to focus on in this chapter, because it is so important that we understand what the glory of God is.
First of all, it is not a cloud. You say, «Well then, John, how come every time the glorious presence of God is referenced in the Old Testament, we see this dark cloud?» The reason is because God is so brilliant, so bright, so awesome, that mortal flesh cannot stand in His presence. I mean, Moses got as close as he could get, but God said, «You can’t see My face. I can only show you My backside,» because Moses was like, «I want to see Your glory,» and I’m going to talk about that in just a second.
So the glory of God is not a cloud. He has to hide Himself in that dark cloud so that no man would die. No man can see My face and live, is what He said to Moses. This brings up the question: How could Ezekiel, how could Isaiah, how could the Apostle John see the glory of God? It’s very simple: they were in the spirit; they weren’t in their bodies. Your physical body cannot handle the full glorious presence of God because He is the all-consuming fire. This is what the writer of Hebrews tells us: God is the all-consuming fire.
Now, when you think of an all-consuming fire, don’t think of a wood fire with a bunch of logs in a fireplace burning. No, He’s much, much stronger than that. Paul writes this in 1 Timothy 6:15 and 16: «He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality dwelling…now listen to this…dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see; to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.»
So Paul said He dwells in unapproachable light. Yet listen to what the Apostle John says in 1 John 1:5: «God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.» The sun, as bright as it is, still has dark spots, so you can’t even compare the sun to His glorious presence. Are you starting to get a glimpse of this now?
Paul could write these things about Him dwelling in unapproachable light because he had the experience on the road to Damascus. He wrote in Acts 26:13: «At midday, O King, along the road I saw a light from heaven.» Now listen to this: «Brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.»
Let me explain something to you: for years and years and years, I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve been to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America. For years, I didn’t travel with sunglasses, but I remember the first trip I made to the Middle East. When I was there, I had to wear sunglasses.
Now, at 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning, it wasn’t so bad; at 4:00 or 5:00, it wasn’t so bad. But man, between 10:00 and 2:00, I had to wear sunglasses. Why is that? Because the air is so dry; you know the humidity doesn’t refract the light, and it bounces off the light terrain. It’s so bright that literally your eyes are like slits if you don’t have sunglasses on.
Okay, Paul said that in the Middle East, the presence of Jesus was brighter than the noonday Middle Eastern sun. Let me help you comprehend this: when you go outside at night and it’s a clear night, what do you see? You see stars everywhere—the Milky Way, the stars everywhere. What happens in the morning when the sun comes up? The stars all go away.
So what happens right before the sun comes up? The stars go, «Get ready, get ready, here comes the sun! It’s coming, it’s coming.» Right when the sun comes up, the stars rush down, and then the sun cruises through the sky, goes down, and when it goes down, the stars go, «Get ready, get ready,» and they all come back out at night.
That’s not what happens when the sun comes up in the morning. The glory of the sun is one level; the glory of the stars is another level. In other words, the greatness of the sun’s power and light is one level; the greatness of the stars' light is another level. The glory of the sun is so much greater than the glory of the stars that it darkens them, even though they’re still shining.
So does this help you understand that when Jesus returns, the sun’s going to be darkened? Joel prophesies this; Isaiah prophesies this; John the Apostle prophesies this: the sun’s going to be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will not shine. The reason is that Jesus is so brilliant, so bright, that He is going to darken the sun, even though it’s still burning. That’s amazing when you think about it.
So, let’s ask the question: what is the glory of God? Moses cried out in Exodus 33:18, «Please show me Your glory.» Now, the Greek word for glory there is kabod; its meaning is the weight of something, but only in a figurative sense. It means splendor; it means abundance; it means honor. God’s reply to Moses is, «I will cause all My goodness"—this is verse 19 of Exodus 33—"to pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord.»
Now, God responds to Moses’s question for His glory by saying, «I’ll cause all My goodness.» The Hebrew word for goodness is «tov,» and it means good in the widest sense; in other words, nothing is withheld. So, when you speak of the glory of God, you are speaking about everything that makes God God—all of His attributes, His characteristics—nothing is held back. You see Him in His full greatness. Does that make sense to you?
Okay, so then He said, «I will proclaim the name of the Lord.» Now, before a king enters into his throne room, the herald will announce the king’s name, and the trumpet is blown. The king comes in, in all of his royal garments and apparel, and you see the king sitting on his throne in all of His glory. If that same king were on the streets with just a regular golf shirt and a pair of pants, walking the streets without all of his attendants, you might pass by him and not recognize him.
But in that throne room, when that herald proclaims his name and the trumpet blows, he comes in in all of his greatness. Nothing is withheld regarding the power and position he holds. Well, this explains why you had people in the Bible who saw God. Jacob wrestled with God, but not in His glory.
If you look at Joshua, he didn’t even know it was the Lord. He said, «Are you for us or for them?» And the Lord said, «Neither; I’m the commander of the Lord’s hosts.» Joshua got down to worship; he saw the Lord, but not in His glory. If you look at Abraham, he gave God and two angels a meal at the Terebinth trees when he talked about Sodom and Gomorrah— not in His glory.
If you look at the New Testament when Jesus was raised from the dead, Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener—not in His glory. The disciples recognized Him on the shore by the fact that He said, «Cast your nets on the other side,» and they caught fish. They didn’t recognize Him at first; He wasn’t in His glory. Two men walked with Him on the road to Emmaus and didn’t know who He was because He wasn’t in His glory. But John the Apostle, who had breakfast with Jesus by the sea after His resurrection, saw Him on the deserted island of Patmos in all of His glory, and John said, «I fell down like a dead man.»
So the glory of God is everything that makes God God. What we have to understand is that there are various degrees that God manifests His presence.
If you look at Peter, he was in the Twelve in the book of Acts, walking in such a tangible presence of God’s glorious presence that Ananias and Sapphira came in and lied to him in that presence, and they fell over dead. Now, did God strike them dead and judge them? No! Let me say it kind of like this: they put themselves in harm’s way.
You know, I know a lot of people who like to go to the beach. They put on their swimsuits and sunbathe; they enjoy the sun’s rays; that’s actually healthy for them. But if you get 10,000 miles or less in front of that sun, that sun that you enjoyed on the beach is going to devour you.
What happened was Ananias and Sapphira got in the presence of His glory, just like Nadab and Abihu did, and did something that was irreverent. It wasn’t that God struck them; it was the fact that they put themselves in harm’s way. They came under a decision of judgment.
So this is the thing we’ve got to realize: we do desire to get closer and closer. I mean, Moses, when you start walking with God, you want to get to the point where you cry out, «Show me Your glory!» David said, «I hunger and thirst to see Your glory.»
This is what happens: the more you come near Him, the more you want the fullness of Him. However, mortal flesh cannot stand in His full presence. That’s why God has said, «Okay, I’ve got to hide Myself. Your mortal physical body can’t handle Me, but I can give you levels.» The greater the level I give you, let me tell you something—you need to honor and respect the presence of God.
And that leads us into our next lesson. We are going to be talking about one of the key elements to having an actual life of intimacy with God. When you understand the different degrees of His presence, you’re going to understand why this next lesson is so critical to our drawing near to God.