Sycamore a place to share with you my obseration in daily lives.

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Where can we find the Holy Ground today?

what should we do when standing on holy ground?

Taking off shoes
Moses
Bible background:
Ex 3:1-6 “1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, ”I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ”Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, ”Here I am.” 5 ”Do not come any closer,” God said. ”Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, ”I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”


Synopsis: One day, Moses went to God’s mountain, Horeb, and saw the sign of bush that was burning but not consumed. He was very shocked and wanted to see what was going on.


The burning bush was a great sign. In Southern California, it is very dry. Even the butt of a cigarette may start a great fire. When the fire burns over dry forest, it consumes the wilderness.


When Moses came closer, God told him to not come closer. He told Moses to remove his sandals. Why? Because the ground was holy. This was a small piece of land on Mount Horeb. There was no temple, nor signs that marked it. Why was it holy ground? Simply because God said so. Holy ground is where God abides.

Teaching #1 - To remove worldly influences when we come to church
Moses’ sandals were full of filth because he worked in the wilderness. We don’t know how much mud or dust he trekked. Therefore, when he came to the holy ground, he needed to remove his shoes.

God is Holy, so those before him also need to be holy. God’s temple had its cleanliness regulations, which Jesus and the disciples followed.

Today, we also walk in the world and are influenced by worldly activities. Perhaps we inadvertently bring these worldly customs and learning into the church. Just like Moses we have to remove the shoes and sand from our feet. When we come to the chapel, we have to remove worldly thinking.

Teaching #2 - To remove filth so God may stay with us
Deut 23:14 “For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.”

This tells us that God often walked in the Israelite camp grounds. Israelites couldn’t see Him because He’s invisible. They didn’t know when God traversed the camp. The purpose of this was to protect Israel. God wanted to hand over the Israelite’s enemies and watch over the people. He wanted to see the needs of the people but required the Israelite camp to be holy. If there was filth in the camp, God would turn away.

The same thing happens to us. Angels are always around us, watching. God is often present in the church. He walks among us, but we don’t see him with our fleshly eyes. He sees how we obey the commandments and worship him. He also sees our needs and wants to help us. But if he sees filth, he will turn away. Therefore, we should take Deut 23:14 and place it in our hearts.

Teaching # 3 - To be alert and act appropriately in surroundings
Sometimes, we forget we are on holy ground. We forget that church is a holy ground so we become lax in our words and deeds. We unwittingly lose our holiness and offend God. We must be clear that when we come to service, we are entering holy ground.

Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matt 22:1-14) “1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2”The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4”Then he sent some more servants and said, ’Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5”But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8”Then he said to his servants, ’The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11”But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12’Friend,’ he asked, ’how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. 13”Then the king told the attendants, ’Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14”For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Synopsis: The king sent out an invite to the wedding banquet. No one came on time, so he invited the people on the streets. However, v. 11 describes what happens when the king saw guests without wedding garments.

When we attend weddings, we will wear our best clothes or the proper attire. If we are not appropriate, we will be impolite and disrespectful toward the host.

The man who was not wearing the appropriate attire was speechless when the king asked him why he was not dressed. The king then bound him hand and foot and threw him into darkness.

This parable tells us we must be robed with the appropriate attire. In Revelations 19, when we are called to heaven, we also need to wear fine linen. Fine linen = righteous deeds.

This tells us we need to pay attention to the occasion and be very alert. Today, the place where God abides is not like school or work. It’s a place to worship God. Like Moses, we should take off our sandals, set aside worldly influences, and maintain our own holiness & cleanliness.

Joshua
Bible Background
Josh 5:13-15 “13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ”Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 ”Neither,” he replied, ”but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ”What message does my Lord have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the LORD’s army replied, ”Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

Synopsis: After Joshua led the people out of Jordan and before they entered the battle of Jericho, Joshua scouted the city. He saw a man before him with a drawn sward. Joshua asked him which side he was on, and the person replied that he was the Commander of the Lord’s army. Joshua quickly realized who it was and fell face down. What did the person command? For Joshua to remove the sandals from his feet. Why? Because the place he stood was holy. Joshua did as told.

The teaching of this passage is the same as from the passage about Moses. It was important for Joshua to take off his shoes on holy ground.

Covering face
Moses
Background:
Ex. 3:6 “Then he said, ”I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

Teaching #1 - To fear God is the whole duty of man
When Moses realized he was talking to the God of his ancestors, he hid his face. Why? In Ex. 33:20, God says: ”you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Man cannot see the face of God and life. Moses understood this and hid his face. This shows his respect to God and his reverence. Before God, man is so small they should hold a heart of fear.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Teaching #2 - To fear God is the beginning of wisdom
Prov. 9:10 ”The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

The beginning of wisdom is not based on the knowledge that you have. Wisdom does not increase with education or experience. What we know is limited. No matter how much experiences we may have, it may not help in certain circumstances. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD. We have to first fear the Lord in order to obey His commandments.

We can see reality through the Israelites. Why did they disobey and cause God to be angry? Was it because of weaknesses of the flesh? The root of the problem was they did not fear God. Though they knew God didn’t want them to do certain things, they still did them because they didn’t have a fearful heart rooted in them. If fear is rooted in their hearts, they would be afraid to do things they are not supposed to do. They would remember the consequences of doing bad (and not do it). Today, if we find it difficult to keep God’s commandments, we should examine our hearts and see if we truly fear the Lord.

The Lord Jesus said our yoke is light. Why do we feel that it’s so heavy? This is often because our heart lacks fearfulness. If we do not have the fear of God in our hearts, we will not fear to do evil things.

Psalm 35:1-4 talks about the root of the wicked. “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.”

How does someone become wicked? The answer is that they have no fear of God before their eyes. When there is no fear, you easily become wicked. v. 4 says they devise wickedness on the bed. This means that they think of evil all the time. v.2 says the wicked often boast about wickedness because they feel their iniquities cannot be found out. They are content with their wickedness. They think they are clever and get away with evil. v.3 talks the words of his mouth (fruit) are mischief and deceit. At the end, they cease to act wisely or do good. Why? They rely on their own schemes. They do not rely on God to be the lamp of their life. If a person relies on his own schemes, he will be cut off from doing good.

Conclusion
The Bible tells us that when we are standing on holy ground, we can do two things:

(1) Take off sandals from feet, which is
To not bring in worldly methods to influence the church. Too many times, we let out worldly ways influence the way we do holy work. Sometimes, we are not willing to follow God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, nor will we spend time in prayer. We put our confidence in our planning of details. Afterwards, no matter how much we plan, we will not be successful. When we are on holy ground, we need to rely on God to take care of matters.

(2)To recognize our surroundings. In Matt 22, the parable of the wedding banquet, we learn that we need to recognize our surroundings. When we come to church, we need to have a different heart. Isaiah 58: 13, 14 tells us the difference of attitude we should have on the Sabbath. We should turn out feet, not pursue our own interests or speak our own words, and take delight in the Lord.


Is 58:13-14 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the LORD honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”


To be clean when coming to the holy ground. Deut 23 tells us that God is traveling among us. We cannot see God, but His eyes are constantly upon us. Just like when God walked among the Israelite camp, God sees our needs and wants to protect and bless us. But if He sees anything indecent, He will turn away. If God turns away, imagine what will happen to people. Imagine what would have happened to the Israelites. Israelites were only victorious before greater enemies because of God’s help. Without God, they would be killed, robbed, and face the danger of extermination. All these could be avoided as long as they kept the camp clean so God walked among them.


Hide our face, which is to revere and fear God
If we have a heart of fear, we will feel that it’s not that difficult to obey the commandments. We will find that the yoke God wants us to carry is light and find how joyful it is to come to the house of the Lord.