Pressing In to See and Be Near

Well the Christmas season has officially started and to be honest I am glad.  Not because of the busyness and consumerism it will bring to the forefront, but for something else - my thoughts drift so much to Jesus more and more each year leading up to the anticipation of our celebration of His first coming.  

I am still amazed and filled with worship as I think upon the reality that He came here, took on flesh, was like us, was among us, and came to rescue us.  

A couple of weeks ago I wrote the words below in a sermon and my thoughts drifted back to that text tonight as I reflected on He Who Came Near.  What it must have been like to go and see Him and sit and listen to The WORD teach the Word!

The God Who Came Near – 5:1

Luke 5:1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 

This reality of Christ’s nearness is one of the clearest pictures of our faith’s uniqueness.

No other faith system in the world affirms how close our God was when Jesus lived here and no other faith has at its core the reality that those who know God in faith have God living inside of them like we do.  We have become the living temples of the Holy Spirit – houses of the one true God.  It is so amazing this truth!

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

2 Timothy 1:14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

In the first century in Israel, God had come and was walking on the earth - you could go see Him, listen to Him, talk to Him, ask him questions, be healed, laugh, be in awe, worship, or just walk near Him.  What that must have been like.

Looking at the early part of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ popularity was immediate for right after the temptation sequence these words describe how people were seeing Him…

Luke 3:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

The Jews knew that you give glory to God alone so they fact they were giving glory to Him reveals how they were seeing Him.  The people were amazed at it all!

The hearts of people were being awakened and everywhere Jesus went, the things that took place were only the kind that God had the power to do.  God had come to earth and you could go and draw near.

Things like this were becoming the norm everywhere...

·      Demon-possessed man - Luke 4:36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

·       Peter’s mother in law – Luke 4:39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

·       The Sick and Demon-possessed – Luke 4:40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

·         The Pursuit of the People – Luke 4:42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

In time, the popularity of Jesus was so immense that Mark writes these words…

Mark 1:45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Q: Why all of this attention?  God had come near and it was stirring mightily in the nation.

As we come to Luke 5:1 we see the people so wanting to get close to Jesus again…

Luke 5:1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 

            pressing in on him – the Greek is “epikeimai”

·      Epi – imposed upon something – force, pressure

·      Keimai – to lie on or upon

It is the same word the Greeks used to describe the pressure and power of a hurricane or strong storm.  So when it says the people were pressing in on him, the scene is not one of calmness, but of the powerful strength of a crowd all desiring to be on the front row and be near.

There was an urgency to be near.

Does that describe our desire to be near?  

We love this verse for its powerful implications spiritually in James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Or…Hebrews 4:6 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

For those living in the pages of the New Testament, they were the special generation who got to see the physical Jesus and know the greatness of seeing and hearing him.  It is understandable their pressing in to get so close.

One day we will get to press in and we will be heaven and in that state of perfection we will worship and be near in the most magnificent way. 

The reality of that nearness, at least for me, makes the worship here special and a great foretaste of what is to come. 

I cannot wait to truly see Him who died and rescued me!

As we walk through this Christmas season of 2017, let's find ourselves pressing into His nearness.