The invitation to come and see is 3-fold:
- Seeing Jesus
- Seeing Ourselves
- Seeing Each Other
How I see God (clarity and frequency) determines how I see myself and how I see others.
- How I see God determines how I treat myself and how I treat you.
- We know the importance of continuing to seek God when we are going through a trial (sickness, financial problem, mental health, etc)…we have to do this with interpersonal conflict as well…we seek to see the God in our brothers and sisters when we face personality conflicts, offenses, and preference gaps.
Why is this important?
…because our individual seeing Jesus (when it’s really Jesus) leads us into covenantal communion, and corporate commission:
Exodus 24:9-12 (NLT)
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.”
Numbers 11:24-29 (NLT)
24 So Moses went out and reported the Lord’s words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle. 25 And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.
26 Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since his youth, protested, “Moses, my master, make them stop!”
29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!”
Luke 9 & 10
- In Luke 9 We see Jesus fulfilling what Moses longed for on the Mt. of Transfiguration…in Luke 10 we see the 70 commissioned
Acts 2:42-47 (NLT)
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved
- The people of God are the Kingdom of priests that are keeping the fire burning to that the world can continue to encounter the risen Christ.
- We we assemble together (in groups large and small) we are tending the flame.
The priests continually broke the flesh and spilled the blood of bulls and goats so Israel could be forgiven, but God in Christ allowed men to break his body and spill his blood to forgive the world. Now God’s people live lives of breaking bread and pouring out cups so the world can taste and see the goodness of God.