Tents, and Tables of Ascent
We are told that when John Huss was arrested and informed that he would be burned to death for his faith, he purposely practiced holding his hand over fire to prepare for his final test. He burned himself in preparation. He wanted to be faithful to the end.
The question I would like to explore today is, What preparations can we make to meet Jesus outside the camp? What visionary steps has the Lord given us to catch fire with His Glory and Presence? Faith, hope and trust are the obvious places to begin our search for the Lord. But what’s the next step to encounter His manifested Presence? Sunday many took the first step in drawing near to the Lord in facing their fear, removing their shoes, and humbling themselves at the church altar. Like Moses removed his shoes – you removed what you were resting, and trusting in, exchanging your filthy rags of self – righteousness for His righteousness. The next step involves fundamental disciplines, Jews, Christians, and other faiths have used for years to connect with God. The only difference being that our disciplines have been transformed by the manifestation of the Spirit of God Who causes them to come to life. For example, in Scripture, when it refers to someone seeking God there were two fundamental disciplines implied: Worship and prayer. Faith, humility, truth, and obedience were the fuel for their practice. But our main focus presently is, What can you prepare in order to meet Jesus outside the camp, and catch fire in His manifested Presence?
Moses provides us with a clue: Exodus 33:7 Now Moses used to take [his own] tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting [of God with His own people].…Exodus 34:1-3 The Lord said to Moses, Cut two tables of stone like the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke. Be ready and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let flocks or herds feed before that mountain.
The steps, and disciplines, Moses practiced were: (1) Establishing a place to meet with God; (2) Removing all distractions; (3) Utilizing faith to call it a place to meet with God; (4) Cutting, or carving out time to meet with God; (5) Offering your heart of stone for cutting and carving by the Spirit of Truth; (6) Readying yourself to meet with God; (7) Rising up in the morning; (8) Presenting yourself to the Lord; (9) and Coming alone.
Hebrews 13:10 states: We have an altar from which those who serve and worship in the tabernacle have no right to eat. Another way of saying this is by saying that, We have a table from which they have no right to eat. Now the question begging to be asked is, How can we pitch a tent for His Presence, and cut a table from our spiritual disciplines, that will cause us to come into His Presence, and catch fire with His Glory? How can we find this outside of the ordinary, common, distracting life we experience inside the camp? How can our seeking God, through the disciplines, extend beyond the average, ordinary, common pursuits inside the camp?
