Holding hands with God
PK and Proud of it
I grew up in the church. I’m what is affectionately known as a “PK” also known as the preachers kid and I wear that title proudly. I went to church before I was even born. I attended a Christian school, and every Sunday found me on a church pew (usually on the first three of four so my Mom could keep a watchful eye on me in the choir). In fact I can count on one hand the number of Sunday services I have missed in my life. One of those was this past Sunday, find out what I did instead here.
There were lots of perks to growing up in church. Getting to eat the doughnuts before anyone else, drinking all the grape juice from the leftover communion cups, rolling underneath the pews after church when no one knew where I was, and playing hide and go seek in the dark on Saturday nights were just a few of the amenities. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But there were some things about church that were also a hindrance. One of those was learning Christianese. I speak it fluently. If you didn’t grow up in church, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The church is notorious for speaking a different language and using words for which everyone should know the meaning but no one ever did. Words like “sanctification”, “justification”, even the word “saved” can be puzzling for those who haven’t had the marvelous heritage that I so often took for granted. For more information on Christianese and how to interpret it, you can listen to a series of talks I gave entitled, “The Art of Translation”
Lost in Translation
Two of those big theological words thrown around perhaps more in seminary than the church are the words immanence and transcendence. These are words I first came across in my time studying at Southern theological seminary and they have been two handles that have helped me grip the character of God just a little better. But at first glance they may engender more questions than answers so definitions may be a helpful. Webster defines transcendence as, “extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience.” It’s the concept of otherness, of being entirely unlike our experience. The other word is immanence. It is defined as, “being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge.” So it kinda the opposite. It’s being like us, understanding us. It is something akin to being one of the guys.
What is so interesting is that every other religion in the world worships a god that is one or the other. Iain D. M. Duguid illustrates it well in his book, God’s presence in the wilderness He writes, “Every other culture or religion worships a god who is either transcendent or immanent. Their god is either transcendent—utterly distant and uninvolved with us—or he is immanent, present with us. Transcendent gods are completely unlike us, while immanent gods are a lot like us. In Islam, for example, Allah is transcendent—the high and holy one—but he is not immanent. He does not dwell with his people; he is completely Other. He cannot easily be approached by ordinary people, nor does he really involve himself personally and intimately with the lives of human beings. On the other hand, Norse gods like Thor and Wodin were utterly immanent: they were just like human beings, feasting and fighting, marrying and committing adultery. Apart from their raw power, there was nothing transcendent about them at all.”
Two Men and a Truck
As I’ve been reading through the book of Numbers, God has been teaching me some really special things. In Numbers 4, what, on the surface, might be an otherwise boring chapter, upon digging deeper displays for us an incredible picture of a God that is at once immanent and transcendent. The chapter recounts for us the numbering of the Kohathites. They were descendants of Levi’s son, Kohath. Parenthetically, there’s a good name for your firstborn son, Kohath. Just imagine when He has kids, you can call your grandkids Kohathites! You know it will be fun and they will love it! Anyway, back to our story. These Kohathites were the group of men directly responsible for the moving of the Tabernacle. I guess you could call these men the “Two Men and a Truck” of the ancient Israelites. Here’s the interesting thing about them, they were commanded never to touch or look at anything they were to move under penalty of death. God specifically directed the sons of Aaron come and disassemble the Tabernacle. The tent, and the curtains, and the ark of the covenant, and the furniture, and the altar, all had to be torn down in a prescribed manner and way by only the sons of Aaron, and then these Kohathite movers could pack it up and follow behind the cloud to the next destination. But here’s the deal, it was a life or death proposition. Numbers 4:15 reads, “15“After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting.”
Why was God so picky about who packed up what, how they packed it, and when and who could pick it up? I mean really, death was the punishment for sneaking a peek at the showbread? I mean why did they call it showbread if it wasn’t for show and public display? Or maybe God had it out for the Kohathites, or He like Aaron’s sons better? I can just imagine the playground bullying, I’m a son of Aaron and your just a whiny Kohathite. None of this was the case, the reason why is because God is holy, in other words, He is transcendent. He is set apart and He will not look on sin nor will He allow sinful man to look upon Him. He is unlike us, not stained or marked by our sin, and He will not even allow the instruments used to serve Him be looked upon or handled by sinful men.
But that is only part of who God is. See on the one hand God is transcendent, and yet, and here’s the glorious truth, He is also immanent. The presence of this Holy God was with them! Walking with them, guiding them, residing with them, tabernacling with them. What an incredible thought that this God, who is so holy people would die for looking at the instruments of the tabernacle, was also PERSONALLY walking with them, going before them and behind them, miraculously providing for them. There is only one God who is at once transcendent and immanent and He is on majestic display for us in Numbers 4.
So how do we approach a God who is both unlike us and like us at the same time? How do we conceive of a God so powerfully holy and distant and unlike us; who is not limited by our time restraints and our mental capacities and our circumstantial barriers? This God was before us and will be after us, and yet at the same time stoops to be with us. How do we approach Him? The answer is, we don’t. Because He approaches us!
Drawing Near an Unapproachable God
As I wrote in a previous post on the book of Numbers, the theme of this book is that God is with His people in their wilderness journey from their bondage to the promised land. Don’t miss this, just as God tabernacled with His people, so to Jesus has tabernacled with us! As the apostle John wrote in John 1, “the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The only way we approach a holy transcendent God is through His Son, Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews chapter 2 read, “17For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
See Jesus, whom the book of Hebrews 1 tells us is the “exact imprint (the icon) of God the Father” condescended or stooped to us in our sin and became like us. As Hebrews 2 tells us, He is our "High Priest, a Son of Aaron. He lived on this earth, was tempted in HIs own wilderness, just as we are, and was suspended between a holy God in heaven and a sinful people on earth. And as He hung there on that tree, as Colossians 1 put it, “He reconciled us to God!” Now we are not dressed in our own sinful rags, no we have been adorned with the blood-stained perfect, righteous garments of our Savior, Jesus Christ who willingly tabernacled with us to make us fit for fellowship with His Father! And as the veil of His flesh was torn, so to was the veil of the Temple that divided us from fellowship with this transcendent God. He who Himself sprinkled His own blood on the mercy seat before the Father now stands as our Advocate and our Righteousness making the broken sinner worthy of fellowship with the transcendent King! What a wonderful God, what a powerful Savior, and what a beautiful gospel! I’m overwhelmed by a God who sits high and looks low and stoops to become like us (immanence) to raise us up and sit us in heavenly places (transcendence).
Every page of the Bible screams His name, even the ones our eyes glaze over like the book of Numbers. In church world, there is a tendency to see God one way or the other. On the one hand, He is the Holy God that is unlike you, waiting for you to sin, so He can strike you dead because you looked at the showbread. On the other hand, there is the immanent God who is just like you, who is the man upstairs and your good buddy. But what if they are both wrong? See trading one view for the other misses the glory of the gospel, it misses the beauty of Jesus who is both transcendent and immanent at the same time. Holding hands is a sign of intimacy between two people, and Jesus died for that intimacy to occur. As you reach your broken hands to His, the ones pierced for our transgressions, remember what it took for you to feel the embrace of Your King. Take a moment to reflect on these truths, let them move you to worship and adore Him, and let your worship and His sacrifice govern your walk in this wilderness journey to the promised land.
