As I was seeking God’s leading for this week’s study, I was directed to focus first on the date and the numerical significance of it. There are four “2’s” when added together is the number “8” and tw0 “5’s when added together is “10.” In Scripture 8 is the number of new beginnings, resurrection and spiritual renewal. The number 10 in Scripture is Divine completion, perfection, order and responsibility. Now is the time that God is drawing us to Himself so that we can truly experience His Glory. The word “Glory” emphasizes God’s rank, renown and “beauty.” “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty…” (1 Chron. 29:11) Glory is used of the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation—what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way He reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His “Glory” has ever shone forth and ever will do. We will trace God’s Glory manifested in the Old Testament, in the 400 silent years between the Testaments referred to by the rabbis as Shekinah Glory, and in His ultimate revelation in His Son in the New Testament. The word shekinah does not appear in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression during the 400 years that God was silent. It is a form of a Hebrew word that literally means “he caused to dwell,” signifying that it was a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling of the Lord God on this earth. Could it have been that it was a time that God put a yearning for Him and His presence after so many years of silence before Jesus came?
These are principle ways in which the Lord communicated with His people in Old Testament time:
Showed divine protection and leadership “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light.” The fire and the cloud symbolized divine leadership and protection (Exodus 13: 21) This was the first biblical account of Shekinah Glory after the Israelites left the shackles of slavery in Egypt. Cloud of God's direction Numbers 9:15-23, describes how the “cloud” that represented the presence of God controlled the activities of the Israelite community and assured them on a daily basis that God was with them. Symbolized God’s presence This same cloud signified God’s presence when the tabernacle was constructed in the desert: “Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). Located above the Ark Leviticus 16:2 says, “I will appear in the cloud above the Mercy Seat.” The glory of the Lord (the Shekinah) also appeared above the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place in the sanctuary, and later in Solomon’s temple. When the ark was captured by enemy forces in the time of Samuel (1 Sam. 4:21) the event was called “Ichabod” meaning “no glory”. The Shekinah in the temple During the time when the Jewish people were taken captive by the Babylonians, the prophet Ezekiel recorded that originally “the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory,” but, “Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple.” (Ezekiel 10:4, 18). God spoke to Moses out of the pillar of cloud in Exodus 33, assuring him that His Presence would be with the Israelites (v. 9). Verse 11 says God spoke to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud, but when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told Him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v. 20). So, apparently, the visible manifestation of God’s glory was somewhat muted. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand, and passed by. Then He removed His hand, and Moses saw only His back. This would seem to indicate that God’s glory is too awesome and powerful to be seen completely by man. The Shekinah Glory is the localized presence of an omnipresent God! Only by grace has anyone ever been able to establish, develop, and enjoy an intimate relationship with the God of glory. Moses and his people could not earn His favor and neither can we.
The visible manifestation of God’s presence was seen not only by the Israelites but also by the Egyptians: “During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, ‘Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt’” (Exodus 14:24-25). Just the presence of God’s Shekinah glory was enough to convince His enemies that He was not someone to be resisted. Psalm 21: 8 says “Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.” Psalm 96:3 says: “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples!”
In the New Testament, Jesus is the Shekinah Glory as the visible manifestation of God Himself in the second person of the Trinity. He was the presence of God on earth:
Matthew 1: 23. Jesus is the true Immanuel. He fulfills the tabernacle and temple’s true meaning: “God with us.” Colossians 2:9-10. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” John 14:9. “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Hebrews 1. The writer to the Hebrews, who were mostly former Jews but now Christians, uses the same terminology and applies it to Jesus; “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.” Matthew 17 describes what is called the “transfiguration” of Jesus. This means He was suddenly covered in glory, the same “Shekinah” recorded in the Old Testament: “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. . . a bright cloud overshadowed them.” John 17 is Jesus’ intercessory prayer to the Father when He prayed that the Father would glorify Him so that the Father would be glorified. Jesus had glorified the Father on the earth and finished the work He gave Him to do. He asks that the Father glorify Him with the glory that He had with Him before the world was. James 2:1 encourages us to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Acts 1:9. Christ ascended to heaven in the glory cloud. This same Shekinah (the glory of God) again appears, this time connected with the final judgment and the second coming of Jesus.
Matthew 16: 27 reveals that Jesus is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will judge the deeds of man. Revelation 15:8. “The temple (in heaven) was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.” Revelation 14:14-16. Jesus will return the second time in the same cloud of glory. Revelation 21. In the New Jerusalem it is the “glory of God” that is the power source for all light, and “those who are saved shall walk in its light.” When we get to heaven, we will see both the Son and the Father in all their glory, and the Shekinah will no longer be veiled. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3). Our broken relationship with God is restored and there is no need for a temple. In the same way, there is no need for a sun because “the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” Can we experience Shekinah Glory today?
In a spiritual sense, God’s goal is to “reside”, to be a permanent resident, with His people. (Psalms 132:13-16). He can “reside’ in our heart, mind, and lifestyle if we want Him to. This glory of God is always available. All we have to do is ask for it and be willing to let His Shekinah glory be the controlling element of our life through His Spirit dwelling within us. Paul reveals this truth in 2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” His indwelling Spirit allows us to be transformed into His image according to 2 Corinthians 3: 18: “Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Christ is the only spiritual light in the world, and that truth is distributed through His people: His disciples, meaning born-again Christians. Believers are to point others to truth (John 14:6), and to bring glory to God. Jesus in Matthew 5: 16 instructed His disciples to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” This verse provides the practical application of Jesus' teaching about being "the light of the world." Believers are meant to shine that light into a dark world. In other lessons, Jesus expands on the meaning of doing good works. An important point He makes later in the Sermon on the Mount involves proper motivation (Matthew 6:1). Good works done for God's sake, in ways that bring glory to God, ought to be done so that they can be seen. The light of Christian goodness is meant to shine out "so that" God will be glorified. However, in situations where the world is likely to merely praise the Christian, it's better for the act to be done "in secret" to avoid arrogance and pride (Matthew 6:2–4).
The Shekinah Glory within us is the Spirit of God residing in us. In Luke 11: 11-13 we have the parable of fatherhood concerning good gifts given to their children in relation to the Holy Spirit: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” All may receive the Holy Spirit in accordance with the promise in accordance with Acts 1: 4-5. For the Christian to forget Pentecost is to ignore the truth that now every believer has the indwelling Spirit—the Shekinah Glory! Our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” So be it in each of us in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!