The Glory of God Fills the Temple

We are exploring how important it is for us to

leave our own understanding and seek God’s

point of view. Following David’s psalms as a

pattern, David described how circumstances

would overwhelm him, how he would tell God

all about it, but as some point, he’d shut up and

wait on God to reveal the truth. While he

waited, he reminded himself who God was,

based on previous personal experiences with

God. The result of this process was a greater

revelation of God and a change in how David

saw God, himself, and his circumstances.

When we turn our face resolutely to God in the

midst of troubling and confusing

circumstances, we MUST hear from God.

Nothing else makes sense any more.

Can you believe that even scientists have found

a way to explain confounding results that defy

logical analysis? They call it the Chaos Theory.

According to Chaos Theory, the smallest most

insignificant event can have overwhelming

results that is not possible to map. One

example used to explain Chaos Theory is that a

butterfly in Costa Rica can by one wing flap, so

affect air systems, that across the Atlantic it

can cause a hurricane. One insignificant event

can begin a whole cascade of events that seem

unrelated….until you see like God sees.

After tracking this familiar pattern with Israel:

God establishes His expectations, His people

ignore them. God lets them get by with this but

not without warnings, encouragements, and

giving more time. Eventually, God brings

calamity. After the people turn in repentance,

God again blesses them. There is a God-effect

when one person moves the heart of God

through repentance.

Scripture witnesses the God-effect, like Chaos

Theory, of some shockingly huge results from

seemingly small acts of repentance.

Because repentance has such powerful God-

effects, perhaps a quick reminder of what

repentance actually is might help. We might

have gotten this definition as children in

Sunday School: to feel sorry

for past conduct; Maybe as parents we taught

repentance by requiring our children to

apologize or amend their behavior to comply

with expectations. Repentance really means, in

Greek, to change my mind.

Some scriptures address the essential catalyst

for the God-effect this way: “And be not

conformed to this world: but be ye transformed

by the renewing of your mind, that ye may

prove what is that good, and acceptable, and

perfect, will of God.” Or how about this one:

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean

not unto thine own understanding. In all thy

ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy

paths.”

When our paradigm is replaced by a God’s eye

view, God invades the shift! Two OT prophets,

Ezekiel and Isaiah, had such experiences, and

witnessed something physical they called

glory. Webster’s dictionary defines glory as

great beauty or splendor, as one possible

definition.

The glory of the Lord has been witnessed as a

cloud, smoke and fire, and light. The first glory

cloud is recorded in Exodus 16 when God

promised to feed the nation manna: “It came to

pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation

of the children of Israel, that they looked

toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of

the Lord appeared in a cloud.”

The next time was on Mt. Sinai when Moses

was called to approach God: “The glory of the

Lord settled on Mt Sinai. For six days the cloud

covered the mountain, and on the 7th day the

Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.”

Next was the completion of the tent of meeting

in the wilderness: “Then the cloud covered the

tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord

filled the tabernacle.” Solomon’s temple

completion also experienced the glory filling

the temple.

When Jesus was transfigured the glory cloud

was there: “While Jesus was still speaking,

behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them”

Many in the 20th century had reported seeing

the glory cloud, including during the Azusa

Street revival. One 15 year old present in 1906

wrote: There were times when God would start

moving and working and a smoke-like

substance would begin to glow even brighter.”

Smoke and fire are also well-documented as

God’s glory. One example is when the children

of Israel refused to ascend Mt. Sinai: “Now Mt.

Sinai was completely in smoke, because the

Lord descended upon it in fire.”

On Pentecost, fire visibly appeared over the

heads of the early disciples. During the Azusa

Street revival, the fire of God descended on the

building, and the fire department was called

repeatedly to that location because on-lookers

were convinced the building was on fire.

And, the glory also appears as a supernatural

light. The supernatural light was present at

Jesus’ transfiguration. Ezekiel reports it in his

encounter with the King of Glory: “Like the

appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a

rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the

glory of the Lord. His voice was like the sound

of many waters, and the earth shone with His

glory.”

Saul was blinded from a great light from

heaven, which he described as the glory. Paul

says that God lives in unapproachable light. So,

God’s glory, witnessed many times in the past,

is seen as a cloud, smoke and fire, and brilliant

light.

Ezekiel saw New Jerusalem manifested on

earth and reported God’s glory filled the

temple. Ezekiel 43 “The man brought me to the

east gate. Oh! The bright Glory of the God of

Israel rivered out of the east sounding like the

roar of floodwaters, and the earth itself glowed

with the bright Glory. And again I fell, face to

the ground. The bright Glory of GOD poured

into the Temple through the east gate. The

Spirit put me on my feet and led me to the

inside courtyard and—oh! the bright Glory of

GOD filled the Temple!

The temple is the place where God resides, on

earth. During OT days, it was the physical

temple in Jerusalem or the Tent of Meeting in

the Wilderness. In NT days, God resides in us.

This human temple is recorded as being seen

like a cloud. Hebrews 12:1 “we also are

compassed about with so great a cloud of

witnesses” referring to OT saints who died

without seeing what they hoped in.

Ezekiel saw the Holy Spirit fill the body of

Christ with His resurrected life. “I heard

someone speaking to me from inside the

Temple while the man stood beside me. He

said, Son of man, this is the place for my

throne, the place I’ll plant my feet.”

Paul explains how we are the resurrected body

of Christ, baptized by one Spirit into one body:

1 Corinthians 12 “Your body has many parts—

limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many

parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s

exactly the same with Christ. By means of his

one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial

and piecemeal lives. We each used to

independently call our own shots, but then we

entered into a large and integrated life in which

he has the final say in everything. (This is what

we proclaimed in word and action when we

were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his

resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at

one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come

to drink. The old labels we once used to

identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek,

slave or free—are no longer useful.”

Paul spoke in present and past tense. Do you

see Christ living His resurrected life through us

is a now reality, not a someday later hope?

Jesus said to His Father: “The glory which You

gave Me I have given them, that they may be

one just as We are one.”

Isaiah confirms: “Arise, shine; For your light

has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen

upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the

earth, and deep darkness the people; But the

Lord will arise over you and His glory will be

seen upon you. All nations will come to your

light. Mighty kings will come to see your

radiance.” Every time we change our mind to

conform to God’s, we make room for His

glory.

Perhaps David’s prayer in psalm 138 is a fitting

way to respond to such a great gift, the gift of

God’s glory abiding in us, His earthly temple.

“Thank you! Everything in me says Thank

you! Angels listen as I sing my thanks. I kneel

in worship facing your holy temple and say it

again: Thank you! Thank you for your love,

thank you for your faithfulness; Most Holy is

your name, most holy is your Word. The

moment I called out, you stepped in; you made

my life large with strength. When they hear

what you have to say, GOD, all earth’s kings

will say Thank you. They’ll sing of what

you’ve done: How great the glory of GOD!”