The Approach To God In Every Dispensation

Feature 4 – January 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Approach To God In Every Dispensation

When God created man – Adam and Eve, male and female – He created him after His likeness and in His image (Gen. 1:26-28). This means that He gave to them, and to no other creature, the ability to respond to Him and the task of representing Him.

With our bodies we interact with God’s creation, and through our souls we do so with animals. However, our human spirit is unique, for only humans are gifted to be in touch with God, who is Spirit (Jn. 4:24). He enabled us to approach Him and give Him an account. Ultimately, before God at the great white throne, all unbelievers will be held accountable and condemned, having rejected God’s provision of salvation through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ (Rev. 20:11-15).

All human beings have failed (Rom. 1-3), but those who repent and believe are set right with God, since Christ was judged in their place (2 Cor. 5:21). Every true believer belongs to the new creation where the possibility of failure does not exist (v.17; Gal. 6:15). Today, this is our new position in Christ, even though we remain in practice here fallible and failing.

All humans were created with the faculty, or capability, to approach God, but Adam and Eve’s fall made it impossible for them to approach Him as they had, since God blocked the entrance to the garden (Gen. 3:23-24). Cain thought he had a way to approach God by bringing to Him the results of His own efforts, fruits from a cursed ground (4:3). In contrast, his brother Abel brought a sacrifice to God taken from the firstborn of his flock and of their fat the best of the best. Abel must have understood that he needed an innocent substitute to approach God. Indeed, He accepted his sacrifice which was in accordance to what God had done for Adam and Eve after their fall (3:21). Cain, obviously, thought that his own efforts should be sufficient to please God, but he was mistaken. “The LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering” (4:4-5 NKJV). This caused Cain to become angry and jealous towards his brother, whom he killed soon afterwards. How sad!

A Relationship With God
God is, indeed, looking for a response from human beings, but such a response must be given according to His thoughts, not man’s ideas. This point represents a principle the Lord Jesus explained to the woman at Sychar’s well who asked Him about worship, or the right approach to God. Jesus told her, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” He added, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:23-24). In other words, a response from humans must be given in accordance with God’s thoughts, as we saw with Abel, and not following man’s ideas, as with Cain. Left to himself, man will never come to this correct approach, because God’s intervention in grace is needed to make it possible.

The right basis is necessary, which is Christ’s accomplished work on the cross for us, then God’s work in and with us. On Mars’ Hill, Paul showed that humans will make all kinds of religious efforts to reach God (Acts 17:22-23). The Creator of heaven and earth cannot be served by putting Him on the same level as His fallen creation (vv.27-29). To approach Him we must repent and accept His terms a radical change in man’s thinking and a turning to Him in faith, having feared God’s coming judgment (vv.30-31).

The years from Adam to Noah are described in Genesis 4 and 5. The line of faith from Adam via Seth, who approached God (4:26), goes through ten generations unto Noah (Gen. 5). The unbelievers are shown in their rebellion (4:1-24), as summarized in Genesis 6:1-5, with Satan’s efforts to oppose God and corrupt all humans. Only Noah and his family were not affected yet by the corruption (6:8-12) through which Satan sought to thwart God’s plans with the Seed of the woman (3:15).

God’s judgment came upon the whole earth through the flood (Gen. 6-8). After this, God told Noah to leave the ark that had preserved him and his family. Noah immediately built an altar the first one mentioned in the Bible – where he brought a sacrifice of all the ceremonially clean animals (8:20-21). God accepted this sacrifice as he had done with Abel’s offering. Noah’s approach to God, right after the worldwide judgment, resulted in blessings that reach all the way to the end of the millennial reign under Christ (9:1-17; Eph. 1:11). Then God will receive sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving from the whole human race, with Israel and Jerusalem in the center (Isa. 2:2; Zech. 14:11). The right approach to God will then, finally, be enjoyed by all nations, under the blessed reign of Messiah, with Israel as head of the nations.

Approach To God, Real Or Counterfeit
After the flood, however, people fell into idolatry (Gen. 10:8-9, 11:1-9; Rom. 1:18-23). Yet God preserved a succession of believers just as He had done before the flood. He called Abram from the center of idolatry that he and his descendants might serve the true and living God (Gen. 12:1-8; Josh. 24:2-14). While God let the nations go their own ways in ignorance (Acts 17:30), He was pleased to accept true worship from Abram, Isaac and Jacob (Heb. 11:8-21). He blessed them, although they were living amid terrible idolatry in the land of Canaan. Abraham’s four altars, as well as the altars that Isaac and Jacob built, showed that they approached God without any intermediary – as did Joseph, who walked with God in Egypt (Gen. 37-41).

God led Jacob’s descendants to Egypt, using Joseph in remarkable ways to preserve them there (Gen. 42-50). When the right time had come, God gave Moses instructions to lead Israel out of Egypt after they had celebrated the Passover lamb (Ex. 12). Here is another example of how God made approach to Him possible. Because of that special sacrifice and its sprinkled blood, God spared Israel’s firstborn, whereas Egypt’s were smitten in judgment, including Pharaoh’s own firstborn son.

God brought His firstborn people Israel (4:23) out of Egyptian bondage through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. He immediately provided for them a way to approach Him (see Ex. 25-40). After just one year, God’s dwelling place among His redeemed people was ready, an amazing feat. All of this was realized despite the people’s shortcomings and failures, even their worship of the golden calf, which was a counterfeit approach to God (Ex. 32), and despite their sins and rebellion (Num. 11-16).

Access to God, as to the sanctuary and its service, is further detailed in Leviticus. God’s plan was to bring His people to the Promised Land, where they were to worship Him (see Num. 15; Dt. 26). These Scriptures show the right approach – that is, what God had in mind for His redeemed people – despite their failures during the wilderness journey.

The Promised Land And God’s Service
When the Israelites had all these things behind them, a new generation was standing at the border of the Promised Land. The LORD God led them through the river Jordan to enter the land He had promised to Abraham and his descendants. Under Joshua, Moses’ servant and successor, God helped them to conquer Canaan and take possession of it so they could enjoy it according to His thoughts and approach Him there (Dt. 26).

To realize this objective, a work of God was needed, not only for them but also in them. Such a work was seen in Rahab, the prostitute, who was rescued from one of the most terrible forms of bondage and idolatry (read Josh. 2). She became one of the women from whom, one day, the Messiah would descend (Mt. 1:5). It was given to her to approach the true and living God, as was the case later with Ruth the Moabitess, who also had been an idol worshiper but found grace (Ruth 2:12).

Through Ruth’s marriage with Boaz she also had part in the lineage of the Messiah (4:18-22). Her great-grandson David prepared a place of rest (Ps. 132) and through his son Solomon, God transitioned His people from the ark and the tabernacle to the temple for worship, with direct access to Him. Yet, how limited in scope all this was when compared to the direct access Christians may enjoy now as a people taken from among Jews and Gentiles, set apart to serve the true and living God (Eph. 2:11-22).

Since David’s days, the approach to God was linked to Zion, the city of David, and to God’s actions in sovereign grace with His people – a beautiful picture of the blessings in the world to come. Despite David’s failures, and even through them, he relied on God. This was in contrast to King Saul whom God had to set aside. When David sinned, he repented, and was restored to approach God again (consider Ps. 32, 51, 139). Nevertheless, direct approach to God was under the enemy’s constant attack, whether in the days of the Judges, the Kings, or the Prophets.

Solomon allowed idolatry to prosper, even in Jerusalem. For this reason God divided the kingdom after Solomon’s death and soon Jeroboam led the Ten Tribes, the northern kingdom, astray. He replaced the service of the true God at Jerusalem with a counterfeit at Dan and Bethel, like the golden calf that Aaron, Moses’ brother, had allowed to be worshiped in the name of the LORD (Ex. 32; 1 Ki. 13).

Later, in addition to the false approach that Jeroboam had introduced, King Ahab’s wife Jezebel added the worship of Baal, a foreign god. The approach to God was under attack as never before, yet God preserved the prophet Elijah as a faithful witness, despite his failures, as well as a remnant of 7,000 (1 Ki. 17-19). Elisha succeeded him, and God’s grace was displayed in his ministry, such as in the healing of Naaman the Syrian, who became a true worshiper with direct access to God (read 2 Kings 5).

Among the Two Tribes, sometimes called the southern kingdom, the service of God in the temple at Jerusalem continued, with the proper approach to God. There, God’s thoughts were under constant attack, even more so, as King Ahaz replaced God’s order of approach inside the temple (2 Ki. 16). His grandson Manasseh, even though he was a direct descendant of David, was leading the service of Moloch with child sacrifices. We may abhor the idea of child sacrifices, but are not the many abortions that take place today just as bad?

This wicked king, Manasseh, repented and was restored to a proper approach to God – amazing grace! In God’s righteous government, however, the consequences of those terrible idolatries could not be erased, even though two glorious revivals occurred. The first revival was under Hezekiah and the second during the reign of his grandson Josiah. Both kings restored the true approach to God, helped by a willing minority.

Shortly after, however, the decline continued until no remedy was left. God allowed some of His people to be taken captive (see Dan. 1). A few years later, the prophet-priest Ezekiel was sent to Babylon in the second exile under Nebuchadnezzar. God showed Ezekiel why: Many idols were served on the hills around and on the street corners inside Jerusalem, even in God’s temple. Unbelievable idolatry and corruption (see Ezek. 8) in the place of approach to God, corrupted it to the point that God had to remove His presence, represented by the Shekinah glory cloud (Ezek. 9-11). What tragic developments, indeed!

A Remnant
Yet, God gave grace to a small remnant of believers who maintained the liberty of approaching God. Inside the land there was Jeremiah and others with him. Outside of it we find a remnant in Daniel and his friends in captivity in Babylon. They were a wonderful and powerful testimony that a living and true approach to God was still possible even in those difficult times and despite great pressures.

As He had promised, God brought a remnant of the Two Tribes back to Jerusalem as living proof of a direct approach to God in prayer, worship and repentance. Among others, there was Joshua the high priest, Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor. These were days of recovery and restoration despite great trials, but the enemy could not stop God from giving His people a direct approach to Him even after the temple had been destroyed.

When the second temple was rebuilt and its service restored after new failures (see Neh. 13) God’s service remained under attack from outside and inside, as recorded in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah. About 100 years later under the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, God had a remnant among His people that enjoyed the right approach to Him, despite new failures, and predicted a glorious future (Mal. 1:11, 3:1-6,16-17). This remnant continued through 400 silent years until God called John the Baptist, who preached repentance to bring the people back to the right approach to God.

Whatever the enemy did, God preserved some who enjoyed a direct approach to Him. Luke 1-2 describe several examples of this remnant: Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds in Bethlehem’s fields, and many unnamed people around them. Let’s not forget Simeon, who received the Baby Jesus in His arms and enjoyed direct access to God (Lk. 2:25-33), as well as the pious prophetess Anna from the tribe of Asher (2:36-38).

All through the Gospels we meet believers enjoying direct approach to God. This was despite the gloomy days in which they lived under the leadership of the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians, who completely rejected the testimony of the Lord Jesus and of His disciples.

God’s Ways Are Higher Than Ours
God had plans from before the world’s foundation to have a people for Himself. They were taken from among the Jews who rejected Jesus and from among the Gentiles who were far from God, plunged in all kinds of idolatry. We learn especially from Paul’s ministry (Eph. 2:18, 3:6-12) how God prepared this people for Himself. These ones would live in the enjoyment of a close relationship with Him and approach Him directly, without any intermediary, in a living relationship that no one in the Old Testament had known nor will those after the rapture know. Paul fully agreed with the other New Testament authors (Gal. 2:6-10), and this was reciprocal (2 Pet. 3:14-17; see also Acts 15:7-21; 1 Jn. 4:6).

Under the Mosaic law a direct access to God as the believers have today (Heb. 2:9-12, 10:19-22, 13:15) was unknown. Before the law was given, God gave a way of approach (Ex. 19:4). The people failed to obey although they had promised three times that they would do all that the Lord had said. Even so, one still could come with a sacrifice and approach God at the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. 1-7).

There was not the same liberty the Patriarchs had known with God. A priest of the house of Aaron could wash himself at the prescribed place, the laver, and enter the holy place for service (Ex. 30:17-21). Yet, direct approach to God was limited to the high priest, who could enter the holy of holiest only once a year on the great Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). Thus, according to regulations of the law as to formal worship, free access to God was closed for God’s people.

Moses, nevertheless, could enter God’s presence at any time (Ex. 25:22), and this liberty is an example of the privileges all true believers have today. After Israel’s sin with the golden calf, Moses still had this access, as did Joshua and all who were truly seeking the Lord (33:7-11). True believers always could approach God, as we see for instance with David (Ps. 27:4), even though none could do so in a formal way, except for the high priest once a year. Today, however, we have direct access (Heb. 2:10, 4:16) and may approach God as worshipers, provided we have confessed our sins and are free to enter as sons.

This approach is for every believer who is in tune with God. Under the law, this entrance was closed, but when the Lord Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary, He officially opened it to all true believers. On earth, Judaism kept the sanctuary closed, and in Church history a religious system developed that imitated Judaism, and worked to keep a direct approach to God closed to the general public.

The free access we enjoy today through faith, as taught in the above Scriptures and in the power of the Holy Spirit, will be demonstrated at the rapture. At that time the Lord Himself will come and bring all the believers into God’s immediate presence. Even then, a distinction will remain between Old and New Testament believers, although both will be ushered into God’s immediate presence, but not before we, who will remain, will be called up (Heb. 11:40; see 2 Th. 2:1; 1 Th. 4:16-18; Rev. 4:1).

Then, the 24 elders will surround the throne. Twelve elders represent the New Testament believers and 12 represent the Old Testament believers who will be the invited guests at the Lamb’s wedding (19:7-9). The Lord indicated this distinction when He said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10; see 3:29). Here we learn that the believers taken from among Jews and Gentiles, who follow the Lord during the time of Israel’s rejection of Him, belong to the one flock that follows the one Shepherd outside Israel’s fold (vv.3-4,27-30).

After the rapture of all the true believers (1 Th. 4:14-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-58), the apostate church of mere professors claiming to have the right approach to God will continue here on earth and develop into the great Babylon (Rev. 17-18). During that difficult time God will form various faith-families, but not with the same status and privileges we have today. They will have a direct approach to God, who will preserve them throughout the great tribulation to usher them into the millennial reign on earth when Satan will be bound (7:9-15, 20:1-3). These are distinct from the believers God will save among the Twelve Tribes, who will be restored to the Land later. As believers, they will enter the millennial reign on earth.

The martyrs of the various faith-families will be resurrected at the beginning of the millennial reign (v.4) and enjoy Christ’s reign from heaven. Prior to their deaths as martyrs during the tribulation period, they will have direct access to God, as indicated in many psalms with this approach to God (consider Ps. 42-45). They will be the overcomers with whom the Lamb will publicly identify (see Rev. 14:1-5).

Isn’t this amazing? Despite differences in position and privileges, and the important distinctions between the various dispensations, every true child of God can approach Him, from Adam until the last believer in Messiah’s coming reign. Today, during the period of grace with special privileges accorded to all true Christians, we approach God in prayer (Heb. 4:16) and worship (10:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:5), and we represent Him in this world (v.9). “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:20).

What about your name?

By Alfred Bouter

We have nothing to do with earth – our names are not written in the earth – we are kings in it indeed, but our portion is not in it. He “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3 KJV). We will have the inheritance with Him, but the earth is below us; our hope is to be with Him above it. The inheritance is the consequence of having this place with Him. We are children of the Father, to be “holy and without blame before Him in love” (v.4). Now we have our portion according to the riches of His grace, we poor sinners whom He has saved; and we will be to the glory of His grace in the manifestation, or revealing, of it. The inheritance comes in afterwards.

“Rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Lk. 10:20). This is as though He would say to them, “Do not let your minds be filled with things down here, but think of what you have in Me and with Me.” When the inheritance is spoken of, it is always future; but when our place is spoken of, it is always up in heaven. The Lord was bringing in a much better kingdom, and He rejoiced in that; for when He gives joy to another, He cannot help having it also Himself. — John N. Darby, adapted.