Divine connection

It seems that as Christians we often separate the Old and New Testament. We look at the Bible and see the "vengeful" God of the Old Testament who seems to stand in stark contrast with the "grace" offered by God in the New Testament. The more I study the Old Testament, I discover that this could not be any farther from the truth.Throughout the Old Testament we encounter a God that yearns for relationship with humans - the Bible serves to portray the development of that very journey. For example, God establishes covenants with His people, delivers them, and provides for them. God creates laws and guidelines to keep that relationship pure - all the while establishing the beautiful relationship between God and mankind. We find an amazing example of this in Exodus.

Exodus 40:34 - 38 reads :
"Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out - until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels."

To take hold of the wealth of these scriptures I am going to deviate away from this Exodus passage to the story of the transfiguration. In Mark 9:7 we find that while Jesus, Peter, James and John, encounter Moses and Elijah on the mountain "a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: 'this is my Son , whom I love. Listen to him!'" So up until this point the primary way God led the Israelites was through a cloud by day and fire at night. Approximately thirteen hundred years later God shows that the law and prophets are fulfilled through Jesus which is shown by the presence of a cloud.

Now let's go a little farther to Acts 2 and Pentecost. Up until this point in scripture, God is an outward force leading mankind through symbols and prophets. This one chapter in Acts changes the entire relationship between God and mankind for eternity. We read in Acts 2:3-4 that "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
Now, God descends with fire and rather than leading people from afar, dwells inside them. The Trinity is fulfilled - God shown in the cloud, the Christ who is revealed at the Transfiguration, and the Holy Spirit who descended like fire and now dwells within us. How awesome is that! What seemed like a mere Old and New Testament fit together like a perfect puzzle and reveal this long journey of a God that simply longs for relationship and devotion.

So what does this mean for us? As humans, God desires relationship but sin severs that union. As we know, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) As with every relationship, we have to hold up our end of the bargain. For the Israelites, they had to keep an exhaustive list of rules and follow the pillar of God. For us, we still have to keep our temple holy. So I wonder, what are we doing to enhance or detract from that relationship? Are we investing in that relationship or just benefiting from it? We serve an awesome God, a Jehovah that relentlessly pursues us. We just have to give ourselves and devote ourselves to the God that now dwells within us.