Christmas is about God promising to solve a problem that no present under a tree could ever solve. Christmas is about God promising to solve a problem that only the presence of the Son of God hanging on a tree could solve. A promise of His presence being delivered at just the right time to provide an opportunity for the rescue all of humanity. And Christmas is about God delivering on that promise at just the right time, by sending His Son Jesus to enter into humanity in order to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. And when we respond to God delivering on the promise of His presence by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader, we receive the forgiveness of sin and are able to experience the relationship with God that we were created for.
However, as we live some 2,000 years after God delivered on His promise to reveal His presence in the most powerful way imaginable, there is a tension, isn’t there. There is a tension because we are not able to see and touch the presence of God. I mean, it is not like we can go to the firehouse and have a conversation with Jesus face to face; it is not like we can even chat with Jesus on Facebook or send Him a tweet on twitter. It is not as though we can text back in forth with Jesus. And because of these realities, we can find ourselves facing the tension of wondering if God’s presence is present. We can find ourselves wondering if Jesus is really present and active in our lives. Maybe you are here this morning and I have just described you.
Maybe you are wondering if God’s presence is actually present today. Maybe you are here and you are wondering if God is present and actively at work today, or if He is just sitting back in a rocking chair keeping time as a disinterested observer of your life. So, is God’s presence present? What do we do with this tension when it comes to God’s presence being present?
The tension that surrounds the issue of God’s presence being present is not a new tension; this tension has been around for 2,000 years. As a matter of fact, there is a story that is recorded for us in the Bible that reveals the reality that the disciples, the very people who had seen and experienced God’s presence in the most powerful way imaginable, wrestled with this tension. The very people who had witnessed Jesus arrest; the very people who heard of Jesus death; the very people who had encountered Jesus after He was raised from the dead; they wrestled with this tension. We see this tension revealed for us in Matthew 28:16:
But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to understand the context in which this story takes place. After being raised from the dead, Jesus provided instructions for the disciples to travel to Galilee to meet up with Him there. The disciples, following Jesus instructions, traveled to Galilee, where they met up with Jesus. Matthew tells us that when they saw Jesus, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful.
Now a natural question that arises here is “what are they doubtful about”? Were they doubtful that it was really Jesus? I don’t believe so, because they all worshipped Him. They would not have worshipped Him if they were uncertain as to whether or not it was actually Jesus that they were seeing. So, why are they doubtful?
To understand why they were doubtful, we need to look back at the final conversation that Jesus had with the disciples before He was arrested. In that conversation, which is recorded for us in John chapter 13-17, Jesus explained that He was leaving to go back to God the Father, and that they were not going to be able to come with Him. And while Jesus also stated that they would not see Him during the time that He was arrested, crucified and buried; and while Jesus had promised that they would see Him again after He was raised from the dead, the disciples knew that Jesus was going to be leaving to go back to Heaven.
Now imagine yourself as one of the disciples. You have left everything to follow Jesus; you have experienced God’s presence in the most powerful and imaginable way possible. You have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead. And yet you know that Jesus had every intention of going back to God the Father in Heaven. How would you be feeling? Would there be doubt? Would you have doubts? Sure you would have doubts. You left everything to follow the Messiah, who you thought was going to usher in the Kingdom of God. And now He is leaving to go back to Heaven and leaving you behind.
I believe that the disciples doubt flowed from two fundamental questions. The first question was “What now? What are we supposed to do now?” And the second question was this “How are you going to be present with us? If you are in Heaven, and we are here on earth, how is your presence going to be present in our lives?” You see the disciples doubted how God’s presence could be present with them as they moved forward on earth while Jesus was in Heaven. The disciples found themselves wrestling with the tension of wondering if God’s presence would be present. The disciples found themselves wresting with the very tension that some of us may be wrestling with this morning. Is God’s presence present?
And it is in this context that we enter into this story. And in this story Jesus makes a statement that is one of the most famous statements that is recorded for us in the entire Bible. And it is in this statement that Jesus makes a promise that is often overlooked but provides us the confidence that we need to navigate the tension that we can experience when it comes to the issue of whether or not God’s presence is present. Tomorrow, we will look at this famous statement...
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