I am in receipt of a facsimile from God! Can you imagine my amazement? Contained in the fax, the Lord outlined, in some considerable detail, advice regarding how I can experience His presence ... in fact, experience His glory!

It’s been on my heart to tell you this incredible piece of news, however I’ve been a little nervous about it because of the flack I have feared receiving. I mean, facsimiles from God have fallen way out of fashion in recent years – probably for the following reasons ... firstly, they do take a little effort to figure out; you know how faxes can get a little blurred in transmission.

Secondly, they have become the favourite target of various “hot young preachers” who use a certain “T” word as a byword for tedious and unnecessary information. You would think that on something as awesome as experiencing the presence of the glory of God that people would want to be bothered. I realised I had a facsimile from God on my hands when I read the following in the New Testament: there are priests ... who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’ (Hebrews 8:4-5)

The fax itself can be read in various places in the Old Testament, but especially in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. And that “T” word? “Tabernacle”. Yes, it’s a fax! And God was so fastidious about it, why? Because the Tabernacle was a copy of an original that has always existed with God, but out of sight from mortal men. He was so keen for us to know all about the original that he faxed it to us. Call me “out of touch”, but this facsimile has had my attention for years: not because I’m a detail freak, and not because I want to bore younger generations of Christians, but because I’m crazy about the prospect stated in the fax where God said, that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

 I recall that right at the beginning of creation, human beings had experienced God in the garden – an experience of friendship, acquisition and intimacy. And even though the human’s disobedience and want for knowledge independent of it’s source viciously cut off their experience of God’s glory, it remained forever on God’s heart to get it back. So he sent mankind a fax through Moses.

And so the Tabernacle and all that occurred there, as so meticulously detailed in the last four books of Moses (Exodus to Deuteronomy), is a visible message to humanity from every era and from every place concerning the accessibility of the glory of God’s presence. This is made abundantly clear by simply reading through Hebrews chapters 8, 9 and 10. And right there it is abundantly clear that the prospect of experiencing God’s awesome presence is not just something for our afterlife ... it is something for us to set our hearts upon whilst we live in our mortal frame.

What is clear from my facsimile is that a person will not experience this great weight of God’s presence by right or nonchalantly. The fax tells me that the presence was only entered if two altars were encountered as a prior experience. The altar of brass was the place where sacrifice was made and blood was shed – our first qualification for the presence of the Lord is, of course, that we have encountered the Christ of Calvary and been cleansed by his shed blood. The altar of gold was the place where incense was offered – a representation of prayer, devotion and adoration that ascends to God from our lives. Only with blood and incense could a man enter the Most Holy Place where God’s presence dwelt with power and glory.

Israel under King Solomon are recorded as sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be countered or numbered for multitude (2 Chronicles 5:6), and then praising with instruments, trumpeters and singers (2 Chronicles 5:12-13). This was blood and incense. The result was that the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house (2 Chronicles 5:13-15).

 I should point out that my fax is a little blurry on one particular point. The copy shows a seemly timid man (the High Priest), taking the blood and the incense on just one occasion a year and venturing into the presence (Leviticus 16:2-3,12). However, the original tells us the one with blood and incense may have boldness to enter, may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19-23); hardly the timid, once per year entry of the copy.

 What a message for the churches in 2007! What a challenge for the redeemed (by the blood of Jesus) to make their worship so hearty, so glorious, that the glory of the Lord fills “the house”, fills our lives. What hope for a fallen world to have such a God-filled people living and shining among them.