Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Immanuel

Episode Date: December 16, 2022

In part II of this Advent series, Jonny Ardavanis considers the wonder of the incarnation by examining the Creator’s design and desire to dwell with His people. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were not only banished from the garden of Eden, but from God’s presence. Therefore, the purpose of their humanity was lost. How then can Eden be restored? How can we dwell in the presence of God once again? Initially, in the Old Testament, the way God brokers access to His presence is through the tabernacle, mediated by the priest. God’s glory that once filled the Garden would once again, descend into the tabernacle, but who can enter? Only the priest. There remained this longing for fellowship, for full access to God’s presence. An understanding of the structure of the tabernacle gives new meaning to the words of John’s opening words in his gospel: “The Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) amongst us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten, full of grace and truth.”Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. In this episode, we'll consider the second part of our three-part series on Advent regarding the birth and arrival of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's dial in. The phrase, can't see the forest for the trees, is an idiom you may be familiar with. It speaks to the idea that often we can focus on certain details but miss the big picture. We can look at one tree and miss the forest right in front of us. If we return to our story that we examined in our previous episode,

Jesus is having a conversation with two travelers on the road to Emmaus who have done exactly that. They have missed the forest because of the trees. They have missed the big picture about who Jesus is and what he came to do. Celebrating the Christ of Christmas is dependent upon considering why he came in the first place. And truly, as we consider his advent, we can agree with the words of J.I. Packer, that there is nothing as fantastic in fiction than the story of the incarnation, meaning that you cannot make up a story this wonderful, that the baby in the feeding trough was the king of the universe. Luke 24 details that Jesus joins the conversation of a man named Cleopas and his

companion. Their joy had been collapsed like a house of cards, and their spirits are now scraping the ground, and they are confused and bewildered because of the previous weekend's events, namely that the one who they had thought was the Messiah had been crucified, and the Savior of the world joins them now as he had been resurrected from the grave, and he joins them in their journey and consequently joins them in their conversation. Jesus asked them a probing question as he walks alongside these two men, and he asked them, what are you talking about? What an interesting thing to observe. Jesus, of course, knows all things and

knows better than anyone the things that have taken place and the matters they are conversing, but he presents the question to expose the dilemma they are in. He frequently employs this tactic. Consider when he asked the paralyzed man in John 5, do you want to be healed? Why would he ask this? Of course the man who has been paralyzed for 38 years wants to be healed. So why does Jesus ask? Well, because he wants them to think and he wants to press and probe and then supply the solution and answer in a way only he can. The two companions respond to Jesus in detail that the one they had thought would be the great deliverer of Israel had died and that had now been three days since he had been slaughtered on a Roman cross.

Jesus responds to them in Luke 24, 25, and says, watch this, watch the emphasis, that is, you foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophet has spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things which were written about himself in all the scriptures. What's interesting to you about Jesus' response to the two men on the road to Emmaus? Well, what's interesting to me is he doesn't just instantly respond to their bewilderment and despondency by showing them the nail piercings in his hands. He first does what?

He explains the Bible to them. What a model for us. The instrument Jesus employs to minister to their melancholy hearts is first and foremost the word of God. Their spiritual and intellectual needs were met by Jesus as he opened the Bible. The author of the word had become its expositor. He doesn't just reveal to them his resurrected self. He wants them to understand something. And what is that, you ask? He wants them to understand the scripture. Far from unhitching our faith from the Old Testament,

Jesus doesn't reveal himself to a single person or a single male after his resurrection until he had sufficiently connected the dots and pieced the puzzle together of the Old Testament scripture. He doesn't appear to these two men on the road and say, ta-da, it's me. He says, have you not read your Bibles? If Jesus thinks it's important to be able to walk people through the Old Testament and point people to the Lord Jesus, should it not be our conviction as well? In our previous episode, we looked at one of the main themes that Jesus would have walked these companions through, that being the great theme of a coming king. The Christmas holiday

is the celebration of the child who, in the words of the hymn writer, was born a child and yet a king. Jesus would have explained to these travelers in detail that the point of scripture is to point to the coming of the king. In this episode, I want to look at another specific thread with you, a main color, if you will, of the mosaic that presents itself in Scripture. In Scripture, there are at times various themes that all coalesce and interweave in the person of Jesus Christ. The point of all the sacrifices, all the festivals, the tabernacle, the temple, and the priest is what? The one who would come and be born in a manger. We will see how Jesus fulfills all these realities fully in the next episode, but I want to, in a sense, lay the framework here and then punctuate the work of Christ in the following episode.

So let's rejoin the conversation once more and kindle our own imagination in regards to how the greatest preacher and the greatest expositor would have shown these two travelers that all of Scripture points to him. Jesus would have reminded them of the opening verse of scripture once again. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. These words are the words recited by young children sitting upon their mother's knee. God created all things, and the high point of that creation is that God would make man in his own image. The logical question then is why?

Why did God create man in his own image? Assuredly, you might be going, well, for his glory, which would be true, but why else? The answer is initially provided for us when we more deeply understand the seventh day of creation. The ultimate blessing of being created in the image of God was not just that man had the responsibility of subduing the rest of creation, but the reality that man was extended the unique blessing of having a relationship, fellowship with his creator. God didn't create man in his image to merely observe and spectate. He formed and fashioned them in order to dwell with him.

This means that man's primary purpose is far more than keeper of lower creation, but as the friend and the fellow of the one who spoke all things into existence. Life was meant to be lived, quorum Deo, before the face of, in the presence of, and to the glory of God. But this unique blessing and privilege of those who had been created in God's image was fractured when sin entered the world. So not only is there this promise of a solution from the seed of the woman in page 3 of your Bibles, but a massive question which functions as one of the primary cornerstones of the entire narrative of the Old Testament.

How can Eden be restored? Adam and Eve had previously walked with God in the cool of the garden, but now they are banished not only from the garden, but from what? From God's presence. Only the holy can walk with God in the cool of the day. And now Adam and Eve, they're no longer holy, but they are unholy. This is the greatest tragedy of the fall. Man is now exiled, which means he has lost fellowship with his creator. And in turn, he has lost the purpose of his humanity. The grand question that arises out of Genesis 3 then is how can God dwell amongst his people

once more? The answer to what we do with our guilt and shame is initially answered by the covering that God provides from a blameless sacrifice. But from the opening pages of your Bible, a central truth is clearly demonstrated. God can only be approached through atonement. That is, God can only be approached by the blood of an innocent sacrifice that appeases his wrath and his justice. Later on, we will see that these sacrifices can only be appropriated by a priest and at the tabernacle or then the temple. But this first sacrifice in the garden, God himself operates as the priest and covers not only the nakedness of Adam and Eve, but also makes covering through the sacrifice

for their sin. Now at Christmas, we sing, O come, O come, Emmanuel. Emmanuel means what? It means God with us. But the crisis that cries out to us from the opening pages of Genesis is that God can no longer be with us because we are sinners. This is a dilemma. So what is the solution? While much attention in the book of Exodus is given to the plagues and to the power of God in delivering his people, the predominant focus of the book is often dismissed, that being the tabernacle. What's interesting, if you consider your Bibles, I love this, there are two chapters in the Pentateuch about how God created the world.

Do you know how many chapters there are that provide instructions in regards to the tabernacle? 50. The answer to Eden's problem, namely how can we once more dwell with God, is initially answered in the book of Exodus as God gives instructions regarding the tabernacle. If you are familiar with the story of Exodus, you are likely most familiar with the story of the plagues. You know, the frog, locusts, and let my people go. But the majority of the book is about the tabernacle. Yahweh did indeed deliver his people to showcase his power and promote his glory.

But he delivered them for another chief reason. He delivered them that they might dwell with him. This is what God explicitly says in Exodus 15. God had dwelled over his people in a pillar of fire and cloud as he led them out of the land of Egypt, but his desire was not to dwell over them, but amongst them. Therefore, he commissions his people to make him a sanctuary that, Exodus 24, 8, that I may dwell among them. As the glory of God was in the garden, the glory of Yahweh will now descend and fill the tabernacle in Exodus 40, verse 34.

The tabernacle now serves as a mediated return to what had been lost, namely Eden. But now Yahweh's presence is not in a garden, but in the holy of holies. And for the first time since the exile from the garden, Yahweh through the tabernacle will dwell amongst his people. This is Eden regained, at least in part before a crisis is introduced. The closing verses of Exodus aren't the resolution of the drama that is unfolded,

but merely the opening scene. Although the tabernacle has been constructed and although Yahweh's presence is amongst his people, he is still unapproachable. The unholy person simply cannot approach a God who is wrapped in glory, holy, and untainted by sin. In Exodus 40, 35, it says that even Moses, who spoke to God face to face, this man was not able to enter the tent of meeting. This verse fosters much tension and serves as the introduction to the book of Leviticus. There's a massive problem at the end of Exodus. If Moses is unable to approach Yahweh, the man who spoke to God face to face,

then who can possibly approach a holy God? Do you know the answer? Well, Leviticus will show us that only a priest covered by the blood of an innocent substitute on one day a year will be able to approach God. This isn't Eden restored at all. The people of God were made in God's image. You are made in God's image. And do you know what you have hardwired into your DNA? A longing to be

in the presence of God. But since Eden had been lost, our lives are constant reminders of the reality that what we have lost cannot be recovered unless God makes a way. So then, the question of Exodus is how can this divine dwelling place of God become a divine meeting place with his people? How can a sinful man not only live but thrive in the presence of God? We will answer that question in the next episode, but for now I want to consider this reality as we begin to land the plane. John's gospel is the only gospel that doesn't start with an account of Jesus's birth. Typically at Christmas we read from

the accounts of Matthew and Luke because it includes the genealogy of Jesus and the stories that we love with the shepherds and the magi bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But John's gospel doesn't begin with Christmas morning. It starts in eternity. John begins by saying words very reminiscent of Genesis 1-1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. When John says, in the beginning was the Word, word here is meaning the logos in the Greek, and that refers to the power and meaning behind the universe. The Greeks believe that this was an abstract, impersonal force who is behind everything in existence. But John details, no, the power behind the universe isn't impersonal. He's a person,

and he was with God when everything was made, and he himself is God, and nothing has come into being except through him. John then says in John 1, verse 10, that he, that is the logos, the power behind the universe, the king of creation, came into the world, and the world he made did not recognize him when he arrived. Then it says in John 1, verse 14, words that you may be familiar with. The word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory. Glory is of the only begotten, full of grace and truth. Likely a familiar verse, but only a mind-blowing verse when it's considered in its

Old Testament context. The word John uses for dwelt here when he says the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us is the Greek word skino. Do you know what that word literally means? It means tabernacled. In the same way that God's glory and presence resided in the tabernacle in the Old Testament, God's glory and presence manifests itself most closely and most clearly where? In the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of God's presence. He did not want to merely reside over his creatures from his heavenly throne, but came to earth to dwell amongst them. As in the garden, when the creator walked with his creatures in the cool of the day, the creator of all things would once again walk amongst people like us. John says, we saw, we beheld his glory. The question is, where is God's glory most vividly

and clearly seen? Well, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The question is, how can I come to God? How can I enter into his presence? Well, the answer then is the same answer now, by the blood of an innocent substitutionary sacrifice. This is what we will discuss in our next episode, but for now, consider the wonder of Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Nothing is so wonderful in all of fiction as the truth of the God who took on flesh, but nothing can be so tragic as the thought of you not knowing him. So do you know him? I pray you do. Stay dialed in.