Village Shepherd

When my father was dying, he was only able to eat porridge for weeks on end. Since I didn't think he'd live to see another year, I rang my brother in America and asked whether he and the family could come over for Christmas. They could, and from the moment my father knew they were coming, he began to improve. By Christmas Day my father was better than he had been for months. He ate a good Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and with Christmas pudding to follow. He remained in good form right over Christmas and into the New Year, when my brother had to return to the States. Then my father's condition began to deteriorate again and he died in the February.

It makes a huge difference to our lives when someone who is far off comes near and that huge difference is even more exciting when the person who is gradually coming closer is someone who is dearly loved. When that person actually lives with us for a while, our joy is complete.

The history of God in the Old Testament shows God gradually drawing nearer and nearer to his people. At first, God was one among many gods, until the people began to learn that God was unique and different. God called Abraham who responded to him, but Rachel, the wife of Abraham's grandson Jacob, was still worshipping "household" gods (Genesis 31:19). And four hundred or so years later when God was leading his people out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land, one of the ten commandments given to Moses was "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3), so clearly the worship of other gods was a problem at the time.

At first, God lived apart from his people. He visited certain of his people from time to time and spoke with them - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - but lived apart from them. Then, when the people were in real trouble living as slaves in Egypt, God told Moses to lead them out of Egypt to the Promised Land, and God himself promised to go with them and lead the way. God's presence was seen as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, lighting the way for the people. At this time God dwelt in a tent, the "tent of meeting" within the sacred Ark of the Covenant which resided within the tent of meeting. Here, God would meet with Moses and pass on instructions to Moses. When the people were on the move, the Ark of the Covenant was carried between two poles and was so holy that to touch it meant certain death (1 Chronicles 13:9-10). It was so amazingly powerful that later, in the time of King Saul, the very sight of the Ark of the Covenant filled the mighty Philistines with terror (1 Samuel 4:3-8), although it has to be admitted that they won the battle even despite the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.

Eventually, King David decided that a tent wasn't good enough for God and that God should dwell in a house just as the king dwelt in a house. Accordingly he made plans to build a temple for God. But God himself stepped in and prevented David from building the temple, perhaps realizing that a permanent home would imprison God. God told David, "I didn't ask you for a house. Instead of you building me a house, I'll make you a house which will last forever" (2 Samuel 7:6-11). God was, of course, referring to David's descendants, the "House of David." But there was no barring the progress of science and eventually King Solomon built a magnificent temple to God's very exact specifications (1 Kings 6). Thus it became possible for anyone to visit God's house and by the time of the birth of Jesus, a visit to the temple in Jerusalem was a required pilgrimage for the devout.

So for many centuries God was living with his people, either moving around with them in their wanderings, or dwelling in God's temple. But things still weren't right between God and his chosen people. Despite all God's promises and the covenants between God and human beings, the humans continued to sin and to stray from God's path. Despite the laws and commandments given to them via Moses to help them live godly lives, they continued to ignore the guidelines and do exactly as they pleased, so ruining their own lives and each other's lives.

God then sent a series of prophets to try to recall the people to the right path and one of these prophets was Jeremiah. Like all the prophets, he spent much of his time haranguing the people to convince them of their sin, but in reply was treated appallingly by them, suffering several terms in prison. But it was through Jeremiah that God came even closer to his people.

God said, "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more."

For the first time in history, anyone would be able to access God's law, for it would be written on all their hearts. No longer would people need to be instructed by others who were specially trained; they would simply be able to find truth deep within themselves. So this covenant with the people through Jeremiah marks a turning point in the history of God's relationship with his people.

Of course, that isn't the end of the story. Although human beings now had God's law within themselves, they continued to ignore it, but God never gave up on his people. 800 years later God himself came amongst his people as a human being, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus showed the amazing lives people could live if they listened to and responded to God's law within them. And later, God himself came to dwell within every human being via his Holy Spirit.

God is now so close to us that he is part of us. We involve God in every thought and action we take. Jesus has shown us how to maximise the effect of the God within, the rest is up to us.