In God’s Presence
It is considered a
great honor and a rare privilege to
be received in audience at a royal
court, even though a hundred others
are received at the same time. There
is considerable rivalry among
visitors to the British Isles to
obtain the much-coveted invitation to
a palace function where they are
introduced to royalty. If invited,
they spend much time preparing for
the occasion. It is indeed the event
of a lifetime. They read carefully
the rules that govern their
appearance, the proper way of
addressing royalty, and what they may
do or not do in the royal presence.
The occasion is never forgotten; and
if royalty addresses any remark to
them, the words are ever cherished.
We need not attempt to
compare or contrast such an occasion
with that of appearing before the
most high God in private audience. If
the one is wonderful, the other is a
thousand times more so. There can in
reality be no comparison, only
contrast; for God is beyond compare.
In prayer, we enter
the presence of God, the audience
chamber of the Most High. Not, as on
earth, are we ushered into an outer
reception room with hundreds of
others, but into the throne room
itself, the inmost sanctuary of God,
for a private audience with the ruler
of the universe. It is doubtful that
even the greatest of the saints fully
appreciate the honor thus bestowed.
Moreover, this honor is granted the
lowliest of men! Wonder upon wonders!
In private prayer, as
in public worship, we often engage in
communion with God as a matter of
duty or custom and repeat certain
phrases without thought as to their
meaning. It is a pious practice
learned from others or remembered
from childhood. We cling to it as
something we “ought” to do.
We feel that if our prayers seem to
do little good, at least they do no
harm.
Such is a far cry from
what God intends prayer to be. Prayer
is not a common occasion for which no
preparation is needed. It is an
audience with God.
God’s Plan for
Man
We need to understand
more about prayer than we do. Why
does God want us to pray? He knows
what we need, so why does He simply
give us what we ought to have? What
are the conditions upon which rests
the answer? What may we expect from
prayer?
In God’s
universal plan, men were intended to
occupy a high position as co-workers
with Him. To prepare them for this
work they were to be subjected to
certain tests to ascertain if they
were worthy of their future high
calling; if they stood these tests
they were eventually to take their
place as members of the household of
God.
Such a plan involved a
period of instruction and training
that would demonstrate their capacity
for learning the necessary lessons.
During this time they would have the
opportunity of deciding whether or
not the life promised them by God as
a reward for their work was worth the
discipline necessary to meet the
standard God has set for inclusion in
His family. At any time they would be
at liberty to terminate the
agreement; and should they once more
change their minds and wish to return
to their allegiance to God, He would
give them the opportunity until they
at last had irrevocably settled the
question for or against God. If their
decision was against life, they would
eventually return to the earth whence
they came. If they chose life and
passed successfully their period of
instruction and the final
examination, they would be invested
with life everlasting and be
officially installed as the sons of
God.
In the beginning,
there was open communication between
man and his Maker. God was one with
man, and the record states that He
walked in the garden in the cool of
the day. Prayer, such as we now know
it, was unknown. Man did not fall to
the ground when he talked with God.
They communed one with the other as
friends do and as Moses did later.
“The Lord spake unto Moses face
to face, as a man speaketh unto his
friend.” Exodus 33:11. There was
perfect fellowship, as between father
and son, God talked with man, and man
talked with God. After sin came in,
this close fellowship ceased. Says
God, “Your iniquities have
separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid His face from
you, that He will not hear.”
Isaiah 59:2.
While sin made a
separation between man and God, and
no direct communication was possible,
man was not entirely shut off from
God. A way of approach was opened
through Christ, and in His name, man
could reach the ear of God. Jesus
Christ declared, “No man cometh
unto the Father, but by Me.”
John 14:6. “Whatsoever ye shall
ask of the Father in My name, He may
give it you.” John 15:16.
According to this, the way to the
Father, and the only way, is through
the Son. Through Him, we may come,
and whatever we ask in His name, we
shall receive. This is the “new
and living way, which He hath
consecrated for us, through the veil,
that is to say, His flesh.”
Hebrews 10:20.
This new way was first
prefigured by the sacrifices to God
in Old Testament times. These
sacrifices were ordained to help man
keep in mind that he was a sinner and
as such deserved death, but that a
way had been found by which he might
come back to God and find access
through the death of the sacrifice.
Thus, we find that Cain and Abel
brought their sacrifices to God,
“in process of time.”
Genesis 4:3,4. In thus bringing a
lamb from his flock, the sinner
acknowledged his guilt and admitted
that he was worthy of death. As he
slew the animal, he demonstrated that
he understood that the wages of sin
is death and that he was not worthy
of life. The sacrifice also showed
his belief that God accepted a
substitute in his stead, and that the
lamb died that he might live. Thus,
the sacrifice signified two things:
man’s acknowledgement of the
justice of God in requiring
punishment, and a demonstration of
the mercy of God in providing and
accepting a substitute to die in the
sinner’s place. On the
sinner’s part, it was an act of
faith for him to accept the provision
and follow precisely the rules for
the offering of the sacrifice.
The First
Recorded Offering
In the first sacrificial scene
mentioned in the Bible (Genesis
4:3-15), “Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he
was righteous” (Hebrews 11:4).
“Unto Cain and to his offering
He [God] had not respect.”
Genesis 4:5. The difference between
the offerings of Abel and Cain lay in
the nature of their sacrifices.
“Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground an offering unto the
Lord;” Abel likewise brought an
offering of the fruit of the ground;
but in addition “he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock and of
the fat thereof.” Verses 3,4. In
bringing a lamb from his flock, Abel
confessed that he had sinned and was
worthy of death. He brought the lamb
as a sin offering and asked God to
forgive him and accept the lamb in
his stead. Thus, he showed his faith
in the true Lamb of God. The Bible
declares that “the Lord had
respect unto Abel and to his
offering: but unto Cain and to his
offering He had not respect.”
Verses 4,5.
In their simplest
form, sacrifices were embodied
prayers. It was at the altar that men
met God, and here He accepted or
rejected their prayers as they were
symbolized by the offerings brought.
Each offering had in itself the
elements of prayer: confession of sin
symbolized by the sacrifice;
acceptance of the sinner’s
prayer and repentance; and man’s
faith in both God’s justice and
His mercy. Sacrifices accepted meant
sins forgiven. In each case where a
sacrifice was brought and accepted,
the record says, “It shall be
forgiven him.” Leviticus
4:26,31,35; 5:10,13, 16, 18.
The offering of the
sacrifices brought vividly to mind
the seriousness of sin and the great
cost of transgression; and the
slaying of the victim by the sinner
was intended to bring him to the
decision, “Go, and sin no
more.” If this was the result of
the offering, the aim of the
sacrifice and the sacrificial system
had been accomplished.
The True
Meaning of Sacrifice
To the informed Israelite it must
early have become clear that the
sacrifice of an animal could not take
away sin, but that it was only an
object lesson to make more vivid to
the mind that sin meant death, and
that what counted was the
sinner’s attitude of repentance
and confession. David understood this
clearly when he said, “I
acknowledge my transgressions: and my
sin is ever before me.”
“Thou desirest not sacrifice;
else would I give it: Thou delightest
not in burnt offering.” Psalm
51:3,16. He then states God’s
real desire: “The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit: a broken and
a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt
not despise.” Verse 17.
“The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart; and saveth
such as be of a contrite
spirit.” Psalm 34:18. To this
the prophets agreed. See Micah 6:6-8;
Isaiah 1:10-20; Jeremiah 6:20;
7:21-23; Amos 5:21-24.
When Israel came to
regard sacrifices in themselves as
efficacious and forget that what God
demanded was a humble and contrite
heart, God abolished the sacrifices.
He still retained, however, the vital
elements – prayer, a humbling of
the heart before God, a broken
spirit, a contrite heart, and an
intense desire to go and sin no more.
These are God’s requirements
today. Not all believers in the Old
Testament times confined their
prayers to the occasions when they
brought their offerings. They prayed
as we do now, and God heard their
prayers. The prophets understood
clearly that sacrifices were only a
temporary arrangement, one that could
safely be ignored when further light
came. Hence, we find prophets
speaking lightly of sacrificial
offerings while stressing spiritual
attainments. Christ did not Himself
bring any offering to the temple and
He ignored all the temple ceremonies.
In the Old Testament
times, it appears that prayer was
more natural and unaffected than now.
Men of old talked with God, and He
answered them directly. Their prayers
took the form of a conversion rather
than of a formal petition. The
prophets particularly appear to have
been on speaking terms with God,
generally getting their orders in
dreams and visions, but also at times
by word of mouth. While in some
respects we may know more about
religion than did the men of old,
they knew far more about how to
approach God. It is high time that we
come back to communion with God and
learn to “practice His
presence.”
“The Lord spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaketh unto his friend.”
Exodus 33:11. From one such interview
with God, Moses came down from the
mount and was not aware that
“the skin of his face
shone” while he talked with God.
Exodus 34:29. This reflection of the
glory of God was so strong that Aaron
and the people “were afraid to
come nigh him.” Verse 30.
Therefore, Moses “put a veil on
his face But when Moses went in
before the Lord to speak with Him, he
took the veil off, until he came out.
And he came out, and spake unto the
children of Israel that which he was
commanded. And the children of Israel
saw the face of Moses, that the skin
of Moses’ face shone: and Moses
put the veil upon his face again,
until he went in to speak with
Him.” Verses 33-35.
That God spoke with
Moses face to face became so well
known that even the Egyptians heard
of it. Said Moses, “They have
heard that Thou Lord art among this
people, that Thou Lord art seen face
to face, and that Thy cloud standeth
over them, and that Thou goest before
them, by daytime in a pillar of
cloud, and in a pillar of fire by
night.” Numbers 14:14. It would
be well if God’s people at this
time would come so close to God that
men and nations would hear of it. The
work would then be finished speedily.
Memory Verse:
“No man cometh unto the Father,
but by Me.”
John 14:6
Questions:
- Why does God
want us to pray?
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- In our lesson,
what are the elements of
prayer?
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