Shekinah Glory

Shekinah Glory
By Shirley Mitchell

"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them… There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.”
Exodus 25:8, 22

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14

On Mt. Sinai, God gave Moses the 10 Commandments. In Exodus 25:8-9, 21-22, God tells Moses to make the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. God wanted to meet with them and give His instructions to His chosen people. He would dwell with them, and they could fellowship with Him. He would meet with His people over the Ark of the Covenant.

The Hebrew word for “dwell” in verse 8 is shekan. It means “the idea of lodging, to reside or permanently stay. Abide, continue, dwell, have habitation, inhabit, remain, lay, place, rest, set.” It includes the idea of abiding in a neighborhood or a community. From the verb shekan is derived the word “shekinah,” the noun form. It means “the dwelling presence of God.” Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia says it is “the visible divine presence.” God is omnipresent, but this presence indicates the fullness and the richness of His presence.

The Hebrew word for “glory” is kavodh. It means “to be heavy or weighty.” During that time period, the worth of an object was measured by its weight. In the figurative sense, it means importance or worth. God’s glory is the way that He shows His importance, His worth, or His might. God’s glory is the way that He makes Himself known. God wants to reveal Himself to us!

God desired to have a place where He could dwell among His people. God desired to be able to speak with them in that place. Hebrews 8:5a says, “They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.” This passage tells us that God showed Moses the holy pattern on the mountain. It was a shadow of the real thing in heaven. We saw in yesterday’s devotion that God desired to be with man in the garden. He still desired to be with man even though sin had come between The Holy God and His beloved, prized creation - mankind. God planned a way for the fellowship to begin again.

The Israelites built the tabernacle according to the pattern God showed Moses. In Exodus 40:34-38 after the tabernacle was built, “the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” Verse 35 says that “the cloud had settled (shekan) on it.” What a divine confirmation to Moses and the people who had followed His detailed instructions for setting up God’s dwelling place! The Shekinah glory signified God’s presence, protection, and guidance. The covenant people were fully conscious of their distinctiveness among all people on earth. God’s presence was what set the Israelites apart from other people. It marked them as His chosen people. The glory of God had protected them from the Egyptians when it stopped the Egyptian army in full pursuit. The Shekinah glory was their guide in the wilderness.

After wandering in the desert for 40 years, the nation of Israel entered the Promised Land. There, Solomon built a permanent tabernacle for the LORD. 2 Chronicles 5:14b tells us “the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.” However, the nation of Israel rebelled against God. The prophets of Israel and Judah preached messages of judgment or doom for the people’s rebellion against God and for turning to idols. The people did not listen to the prophets of God who warned of their destruction.

After hundreds of years of this cycle of rebellion, the prophet Ezekiel, while in captivity in Babylon, had a vision of God’s glory departing the temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 10:1-19, 11:16-25). The glory moved from the Ark of the Covenant, to the temple threshold, to the East Gate, and to the mountain east of the city (the Mount of Olives) where it departed. When Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C., Solomon’s temple was plundered of its wealth, and the building was burned to the ground. The Shekinah glory of God left as Ezekiel had prophesied.

In 536 B.C., God moved the heart of the King of Persia to command that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt (Ezra 1:1-2). The second temple lacked five items that had been in Solomon’s temple: The Ark of the Covenant, the Urim and Thummim, the sacred fire, the Holy Spirit, and the Shekinah glory. Ezra 3:12 tells us that the old men who were young boys before captivity remembered the Shekinah glory of Solomon’s temple, and they wailed because it was not present. In 19 B.C., Herod began to renovate the temple. It is Herod’s temple that existed in the time of Jesus. There was no Shekinah glory, though. There was still no evidence of the presence of God. But there was something else…

John 1:14 tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Greek word for “dwelling,” skenoo, means “to tent, or encamp, to occupy or to reside, to tabernacle.” Let’s compare this Greek word to the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for tabernacle, shekan. In ancient Hebrew there were no vowels, only consonants. The letters “e” and “a” were added later as pronunciation aids. Notice the Greek word’s consonants (S-K---N of skenoo) were included in the Hebrew term. What does all this language study mean? A Hebrew would immediately recognize the significance of John’s choice in words. He would realize John was making a play on words and was referring to the Exodus tabernacle.

Do you see in this verse what we have been talking about today? Is John saying what you think he is saying? Oh my, yes, he is! John is drawing from their Jewish history from Exodus. He used these two terms to say the glory of God seen in the tabernacle and the temple had come back to dwell in Israel. God sent the fullness of His glory once again. Only this time instead of being wrapped in a cloud or a pillar of fire, the glory was wrapped in flesh and bone. God’s glory was covered by humanity. Do you remember Moses who could not see God’s glory and live? They had SEEN HIS GLORY!

I must tell you that explaining this story makes the hairs on my arms stand up. I am amazed at the cohesiveness of the Bible. The stories in the Bible span a time period of 4,000 years of life on earth. I am astounded at God’s perfect plan to dwell with people until we could dwell with Him in heaven. The Holy, All-powerful God of the universe reaches down from His throne to mankind. For me, above all, it proclaims in a loud voice for those who are willing to hear it – God’s loving heart.

Pray with me: Oh LORD, our God, You did not send only a prophet to proclaim Your words. You did not send a book so we could read Your words. You did not send a miraculous, physical representation on a mountainside so we could see Your word. You sent Your Word clothed in flesh so Your Word could be demonstrated. Your Word could be the teacher and the exhibitor of Your glory. Then, the Word unveiled and explained You to us so we might know You. This Word lived among people because You wanted to fellowship with us. Oh, how You love us! In the Name of the Word, our Jesus, we pray, Amen!

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study,
Copyright ©2009 Christ Compels