Imagine for a moment that you are part of the nation of Israel. You, as one of the designated leaders of the people, have been tasked by Moses to ascend Mount Sinai to hear God’s Word to his people. The God who split the sea and defeated the Egyptians in a moment is descending in smoke and fire above you. The Bible says that these people on the mountain with Moses “saw the God of Israel”—at least, they saw his feet—full of otherworldly majesty and marvel “as if it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness” (Exodus 24:10).
The very presence of the Almighty God, Yahweh Himself, in the midst of his people, so close that they can see and feel and hear the splendor that surrounds his coming. “He’s here! He’s real! He’s with us!”—the realization of everything you’ve only seen from a distance, so close you can almost see him. Through the clouds God’s command comes again: “Moses alone shall come near the Lord” (Exodus 24:2). So close, and yet you only know him from a distance.
In the Old Testament, this distant knowledge was the only reality for the people of God. They would see the presence of God come down to meet with Moses outside the camp, or witness the smoke of the Holy of Holies rise from the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement, or know the justice of God by his laws. They knew God’s presence through the smoke of His presence or the word of an intermediary, and they held to the belief that the sacrifices of animals would be sufficient to pay for their sin. Never close, never sure, never near. Could you imagine their reality?
This is how the people of God continued for centuries. They knew God from a tabernacle and a temple, but never face to face, for “no one sees the face of God and lives” (Exodus 33:20). Throughout the Old Testament, there are glimpses of hope that one day, God’s presence would rest not on a place or a priest, but “they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:34). This was the hope for generations, before this hope was realized in Christ.
Because of Jesus’s death on the cross, the people of God go from a distant, far-off knowledge of God to being called sons and daughters of the Most High. What was once a vision of smoke ascending from the tabernacle is made accessible to all people, in all places, by the blood of Christ descending from a cross. His perfect sacrifice has done away with the tabernacles, temples, priests, and sacrifices—once for all, sufficient for all, available to all.
When Paul was writing to the church in Ephesus, he borrowed language from Exodus 24:1-2 when “Moses alone” was allowed to “come near the Lord,” while the rest of the people stood “far off.” On the other side of the cross, Paul tells the Ephesians that “in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have now been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). Where there was once an inseparable gap between the people and the presence of God, Jesus Christ has brought us near through his blood. Now, just as the prophets promised, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can know him—and not just know him, but draw near to his presence. In Christ, there is no distance between you and your God. There is blood-bought, irrevocable nearness.
Today, if you are feeling “far-off” from God’s presence, remember that the blood of Christ stands as an open invitation to “draw near”—and may we say, for the first time or the thousandth, that “your nearness, O God, is my good” (Psalm 73:28).
