When He Comes Down

I hope you had a good time thinking about the Glory of God coming before His tender revelation of love and compassion. Interestingly enough, when Moses asked God to show him His glory...He did. Read the words God said to Moses when he requested such a thing:

"I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

And as the glory of the Lord passed by Moses the Lord said,

"The LORD, the LORD the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to
thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."

God's glory, His Name was shown to Moses willingly because He loved Moses and was pleased with Him. There, in that intimate moment, God revealed His character, His love, and His purpose. (see Exodus 33 and 34)

I love that!


Let's get back down to the temple.

Okay, David was just told by the Lord that the Lord would build the place through David's son Solomon. We are going to jump ahead to 1 Kings in the Old Testament.

Solomon knew the task set before him and he took it very seriously. He asked for wisdom from God on this thing and sure enough he got it. Loads of it. And it made for a great perk!

And so in 1 Kings 6 the Temple designs and structure came to Solomon from God. He built everything according to the word of the Lord. It was gorgeous. Full of gold, cedar, and olive wood. It had amazing carvings of cherubim, palm trees and flowers. The floors were covered in gold. It was a sight to behold. Seven years in the making and then it was ready for the crowning piece...

The Ark of the Covenant was brought to the Temple and placed in the Holy of Holies, the inner part of the Temple. The place reserved for the High Priest, once a year. The place the Glory would come down.

And did it ever!

"Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the
Lord filled the temple of God."

Reflect on that for a moment.

In 1 Peter 2:9 we are called a royal priesthood. We are given the title of those who were in the temple. We have been given the title of priest as ministers and those who participate in the divine.

It was only when the priests left the Holy of Holies that the glory came down. In the same sense, when we decide to remove ourselves from being in charge of the inner places, that is when the Spirit of God can take up more and more room. Then we'll be free from trying to "perform our services" because we will learn to operate out of His power and not ours. We'll understand more of His love and His nature when we let Him have full control in the inner places of our lives.

Psalm 51:6 says

"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place."

He gets in there and replaces His truth for whatever might be inside. And He does it with pleasure.

The Ark of the Covenant for us is Jesus. He takes His dwelling in the hearts and minds of those who choose to believe Him. He comes down in His glory, with the Truth of God, and willingly resides in broken, wishy-washy, sinful creatures so that He is glorified and we are satisfied. If you want to see the Glory of God, look only to Jesus!

Then you will see that

The LORD, the LORD the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Thank you Father for showing us your glory in the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ!