2 Thessalonians 1:1-2. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalms 16:11. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. NKJV.

The opening greeting of the first and second letters to the assembly in Thessalonica, from ‘Paul and Silvanus and Timothy’ is identical apart from one word. At the opening of 1 Thessalonians it reads ‘in God the Father’ as opposed to ‘in God our Father’ in 2 Thessalonians. But it is the great significance carried by these opening statements that is vital to our understanding. What Paul is conveying to us is that the one and indivisible body of Christ, His church, does not have its real location in this world. It is located, not simply in heaven, but now and forever ‘in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.

We may perhaps tend to think of the presence of God in terms of it descending mysteriously upon us as we meet together, or in our hope that it may. However, the Holy Spirit assures us in the verses quoted above that His people, as a unified and indivisible company, are already located in the Person and presence of God. The assurance is given us in John chapter 3 that, at the instant of being born anew of the Spirit of God, each one who believes enters into the kingdom of heaven and, thus, has forever been afforded a new habitation.

Throughout our attendance at countless Sunday morning services how many of us can honestly say that they have enjoyed an experience in which all those present have been caught up into the heavenlies, ‘in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.  Sad to say, few at best have been experiences of ‘In Your presence is fullness of joy’.

If we who have believed unto salvation individually and as a great community of His people are indeed located ‘in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’, then how may we experience living moment by moment in the fullness of joy to be found alone in God’s presence?

During His time on earth there was only one brief occasion when the Lord Jesus was not conscious of the presence of His Father and ours; that was when the sin of the world from all the ages since creation was placed upon Him. In that awesome moment Jesus was forever approved by the Father to be the perfect unblemished Lamb of God. His agonized cry from the cross, “My God, My God Why have You forsaken Me?” echoes down through the ages. The Father, who cannot look upon sin, had to briefly hide His face from His one and only Son.

In this supreme act of love our Father has made the way for all who will come unto Him through Jesus that we may throughout our earthly sojourn and forever in eternity enjoy the fullness of the presence of God. Only sin can hide His beloved face from us. For that we have the sure answer that: ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’. Immediately we do so, the fullness of the joy of Jesus will be ours once again.

The previous four Posts between them contain the ingredients of living consciously in God’s presence. We shall experience fullness of joy:

• As we consistently seek to live in obedience to the perfect will of God
• As we gather to Jesus as Lord in accordance with the pattern given at Pentecost
• As we as individuals and in company take the narrow way and are yoked with Him
• As we meet in mutuality with each one ready to offer experiences of Christ

So shall our individual and collective consciousness of His divine blessing upon us and an unbroken awareness of His presence be ‘in fullness of joy’. As time melts into eternity our fullness of joy will be in the fullness of the presence of God. There, seated at God’s right hand will be our Bridegroom, the Lamb. ‘At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore’.

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