"Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD... "They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 1:8,19 (NASB) Hymn: "Sun of My Soul" John Keble This life is not meant to be done alone. The basic promise God makes over and over again throughout scripture, in fact, is that He will be with us. Ever since leaving Eden, mankind has been cut off from relationship with God, and the condemnations laid down on Adam and Eve broke their relationships with each other and with nature. The work of restoring relationship with God is fundamental; all other relationships flow from it. "I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God." Exodus 29:43-46 (NASB) The Law was a mediator. Within very tight restraints, the people of Israel could experience a relationship with God again. They could experience being His people and having Him as their God. David wrote many psalms where he found his rest in knowing that God was with him. Jeremiah was given an incredibly difficult job, and God affirms twice in the first chapter that there is no need to fear because He would be with him.
There is much that can be said about the role of community in the life of a Christian, but that community is founded on having relationship with God. All of the promises of scripture culminate in the person of Jesus, who initiates a relationship with us that does not require constant sacrifice, or extensive ritual, or any mediator but Christ Himself. The final fulfillment of the promises of God is found in the New Heaven and New Earth, when God dwells with us for eternity. Our first desire must be for Him. Every other desire worth having is built on it.
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Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation
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