When we use the word glory in the Church, it is usually in the context of worship. We want to glorify God. That we should give God glory for the things he has done. Or, we should be in awe of the glory of God. This last idea will be the focus of our reflection today.
During the time of the sojourn of Israel in the desert, whenever they would make camp, the tabernacle would be in the center of the people. The tabernacle was the structure God commanded the people to build. It would be where God’s presence would “dwell”.
Now, this idea of a location where God is present is counterintuitive. God is a spirit. He has no corporeal form. And by virtue of this, he is not restricted by the notions of space or time. So, in what sense was God’s presence going to dwell in a specific location? This is where the idea of glory comes in.
The word used to describe this reality is shekinah. This is the specific action of God to make his presence perceptible. It would usually be seen as a cloud or a fire.
If this is the way God showed himself in the Old Testament, is there a corresponding manifestation of God’s glory today? I believe there are. The work and movement of the Holy Spirit among God’s people. The operation of the gifts of the spirit in worship and in our daily life. There is also the often missed but still real expression of God’s presence in our devotional and prayer time.
These are all witnesses to God’s glory. But there is one example that can be tied directly to the Gospel. What is the Gospel’s Glory? The Gospel’s Glory is that God has conquered the consequence of Sin in us. God has defeated death. The great enemy of our lives had been stripped of all its power.
55 “O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NKJV
You may wonder how this is like the other things I have described. I will tell you. Every time we hear the Gospel; every time we are reminded of how sadly we fail; every time we struggle to make sense of how we could possibly be saved; it is there that God’s presence is manifested and the testimony of the spirit says we have been redeemed. We have been adopted. We have been moved from darkness to light. From death to life.
The Gospel’s glory is found in the persistent witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Reminding us that what we want to believe about ourselves because of fear is no longer true about us.
Our destinies have been changed. The trajectory of our lives has been altered mid-flight and we are not pointed toward heaven.
What a wonderful reality. What good news. What an awe-inspiring realization.
We no longer have a tabernacle or a temple to go to experience the presence of God. We have now become living temples. We are not living tabernacles. And wherever we go, the presence of God goes with us.
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