Tag: God’s presence

Lent 2023 | Day 16: The Gospel’s Glory

The Gospel’s Glory is that God has conquered the consequence of Sin in us. God has defeated death.

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.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2022 | Day 22: Wonderful

A cursory search for the etymology of the word wonderful shows it is derived from two words. The words “wonder” and the word “full”. This should not be surprising. But what is interesting is that the word wonder is an old word describing something that is miraculous or astonishing. Therefore, when we say that something is wonderful we are describing the quality of the object to which we are referring. That it is something marvelous and worthy of being astonished at.

We too often use words like this in ways that may not necessarily measure up as well as we might think. Many times we describe things as wonderful that are truly aesthetically beautiful or pleasing to the eye. They just may not necessarily be filled with wonder themselves. And I’m not trying to get too technical at this description of the word. My desire is merely to highlight the unique attribute of how this word had been used and may be found useful to use again.

Within the Christian faith, there are several things worthy of being wondered over. Things such as the grace of God in his mercy, the sacrifice of Christ for sinners, and even being able to gather together with other believers. I know that not everyone would agree that these are wonderful. But I think that’s part of the problem. The fact that these things exist and that we can be partakers of them is exactly what makes them wonderful. Just because they may appear to be ordinary by the standards of some does not make them any less astonishing.

Of all the things which we could find wonderful, the presence of God among his people is one of the most astonishing of them all. How God is able to do that is a mystery. But it is not a mystery that has been kept hidden from us. It is a mystery that now resides in the open. For when we gather to sing and celebrate, to study and share our lives together, to serve those around us we are told God is among us as well.

It is through the simple acts of living life, aware of his promises, that it becomes a reality to us. Too often we try to fabricate a divine encounter by using means that stimulate our emotions. But that only serves to cloud God’s presence in our lives. There is a sense in which our ability to apprehend those things filled with the quality of producing wonder requires a stillness we are not always comfortable entering into.

Every year in the 40 days prior to Easter we are given an opportunity to slow down. To take some time and look back over the course of our lives and the previous year and remember God’s faithfulness to us. And it’s not that we always can see God’s faithfulness. But learning to accept that it is really present even when we’re not as aware of it as we would like.

This is why when I think about those things that elicit wonder in me I think of God’s presence permeating the world in which I live. Similar to the oxygen that I need to breathe but cannot see, God surrounds us with himself.

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