My Dad's Last Sermon: Part 2: I am with thee

We notice the antidote to fear.

That is, the promise of God’s presence.  He says, “Fear thou not for I am with thee.” He promises, then, his presence.  Now down through the ages Israel had received assurances of God’s presence with them.  They had received an assurance back in the wilderness when Moses, under the direction of God, had erected the tabernacle.  In Exodus 40, verse 34 we read how that tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord, with the cloud, so that Moses himself could not go into the tabernacle such was the presence of the Lord there among them.  He made it evident that we was present with them.

A similar thing happened at the erection of the temple by King Solomon.  In II Chronicles we read that once the temple was completed the temple was so filled with the cloud that the priests and the Levites could not enter. The presence of the Lord was very evident.

But we can understand some of the people of Israel saying, “That was all in the past.  There’s no tabernacle now; there’s no temple now.”  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had destroyed it 70 years earlier.  Yet the promise of God is still the same! “Fear thou not for I am with thee”.  His presence didn’t depend on there being a tabernacle or a temple.  He promised to be present with his people who trusted in him.

That message is carried over into the New Testament.  We remember that Stephen, speaking to the Jews of his day said, “The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.”  Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Matthew 18, verse 20 said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.”  What an encouragement that is to the Church of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we feel sad when we see decline in the Church; churches that were once full of people now greatly reduced in their congregations.  Even here we’ve had to admit that our services are not as well attended as they were.  There has been decline and we greatly regret that.  But however great the decline we do not need to fear that our Lord will forsake us.  He has said, “Fear thou not for I am with thee.”  So as we move into 2013 we have the promise of his presence.

This promise of course holds good not just for the church – it hold good for individual believers.  We think of those who’ve had a loved one and they’ve been together many long years.  My wife and I were celebrating our 56^th wedding anniversary yesterday and that’s a long time.  But we recognise the time will come when the Lord will call and there will not be two but one.  Whenever that comes, or if it has come to any of us, we can praise God that he is with us.  If a loved one has been taken away we can say, “I am not alone for God has said, Fear thou not for I am with thee.””  That promise holds good no matter how much we may miss someone who has been with us over the years.  So the Lord promises his presence.