Tag: Glory

Blessed Be the Glory of the Lord

In the Old Testament, the presence of the glory of the Lord was visible by fire, thick clouds, great earth quake. These phenomena happened when God came down to Mount Sinai to covenant with Israel (Exo. 19:18). We read in Exodus 19:18 the following: “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. Israel reacted to this with fear and trembling, saying to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die; and the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:19,21). The glory of the Lord is His holiness. No man can comfortably experience the glory of the Lord and be the same as before. When the holy meets the unholy there will be shock, shame and fear. For man’s nature is sinful from his birth. When Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, He described it saying, I say the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And the skirts of His train filled the temple; above Him stood the seraphim; each had six wings; with the two [each] covered his face, and with two [each] covered his feet, ad with two [each] flew. A one cried to another sand said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone and ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of host! “Woe is me” was the expression of conviction Isaiah experienced when beholding the glory of the Lord.

“Blessed is the glory of the Lord” should be the declaration of every person that beholds it. For Isaiah, it came in its glorious manifestation of God Himself. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, was the sound of praise that came from the seraphim in adoration to God’s holiness. “The Lord of hosts” is a title for YAHSHUA.   Isaiah was indeed on holy ground.  Seraphim are six-winged powerful angels. Who surrender the throne of God declaring the holiness of God. They are fiery angels. Isaiah received forgiveness when he repented and one of the Seraphim came to him with a live coal in his hand; with it he touched his mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven (Isaiah 6:6-7).  That was the Glory of God manifested through forgiveness and cleansings of his sins.  “Then he heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). Then said Isaiah, Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 68-9). Joshua also experienced the glory when seeing a Man standing near him with His drawn sword in His hand. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What says my Lord to His servant? He said, Loose your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy” (Joshua 5:13-15). He surrendered to God and He instructed him on what to do next, which was the destruction of Jericho.

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As in a Mirror

When we look in the mirror, what we see is the reflection of ourselves. What the mirror shows truthfully and undeniably is the reality of what we look like. Many of us spend hours in front of a mirror dressing our face with makeup, eye shadows, eye brows straightening. At the end of this ordeal, we take a last look in the mirror to perfect our art work. It is amazing what a little makeup here and there can do to a face. Thanks to a mirror that can be done. But all of these are external and superficial beauty we desire, so to be accepted by the world, wanting to feel good about ourselves. There is however, an internal beauty provided by our Lord YAHSHUA when He died to cleanse us from our sins and iniquities; It reflects from the soul to the world in ways that world will notice the difference. It is a beauty that shines love, unconditional love to all. Moses reflected the glory of God in his face when he came down the mountain, where he spent forty days and nights with God. The brilliance of God’s glory was so strong, he had to cover his face with a veil until he went up the mountain to talk to God. Imagine that!  Paul said that Moses veiled his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing [splendor which had been upon it] (II Cor. 3:13). Moses carried with him the splendor of the glory of God every time he saw Him.

Like Moses, we God’s people have access to His presence and experience His glory, because YAHSHUA tore the veil that separated the holy from the unholy from top to bottom. He opened our eyes of understanding to perceive as in a mirror His glory being reflected in us. So, becoming more like Him, we experience the ever-increasing glory, as we are transformed into His image. This is done by the Holy Spirit, Who works sanctification through molding us into being like YAHSHUA. This is a beautiful gift, but at the same time very painful too, because our soul being carnal does not submit to God easily. Its desires are evil, and contrary to God’s holy desires and so are the thoughts of the mind; our emotion acts circumstantially depending on what is happening. As a result, the shinning of the glory of God fades away, His joy from where we receive our strength is diminished. We want to be like YAHSHUA; indeed, but going through the breaking of the power of our will, thoughts and emotions, is not easy to accept. Going through his spiritual battle, Paul expressed himself the feeling that we also struggle: “But I discern in my bodily members a different law at war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs. O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliverer me from this body of death? O thank God! [He will] through YAHSHUA Messiah our Lord! …” (Rom. 7:23-25a). Yes, God, in his love through the Holy Spirit, continues refining us and perfecting us until the day He calls us home. As silver and gold must be refined for the purpose of shinning the inner beauty as jewelry on the neck of one, or on the finger of another, we must submit to the work of the Holy Spirit of refining and transforming us from glory to another degree of glory according to His will. The veiled faces of those who continuously reject the truth is made impossible to perceive, to hear and listen, for darkness has covered their understanding. Not until they turn to the Lord in repentance will they be unveiled.

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The Glory of the Gospel in YAHSHUA’S Face Overwhelmed the Glory of the Law in Moses’ Face

(Exodus34:28-33; II Corinthians 3:10-18)

“Shekinah Glory is a visible manifestation of God on earth, whose presence is portrayed through a natural occurrence.  The word shekinah is a Hebrew name meaning “dwelling” or “one who dwells”.  Shekinah Glory means “He caused to dwell,” referring to the divine presence of God.  It is the majestic presence or manifestation of God in which He descends to dwell among men.  Whenever the invisible God becomes visible, and whenever the omnipresence of God is localized, this is the Shekinah Glory.”

Ref:  Christianity.com, What is the meaning of shekinah glory Biblestudytools.com, The abiding presence of God.

When our Lord and Savior came to earth as a baby, a bright star shone in that dark night announcing His birth. That was a very special star. The Magi of those days well understood the meaning of that star and took years traveling to meet the King that star was pointing to. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, (the shepherds) and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them and they were terribly frightened; but the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord! (Luke 2:11). The Shekinah Glory of the Gospel is YAHSHUA incarnated, bringing forgiveness to all who will receive Him as Lord and Savior- as the Son of God. John testified about Him and cried out, This was He of Whom I said He Who comes after me has priority over me, for He was before me. For out of His fullness, we have all received one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift, for while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through YAHSHUA Messiah. (John 1:15-17).

When God came to mount Sinai, in His holiness, He came to establish the law with all its demands and consequences to covenant with Israel. The Bible says, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord Descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. (Exodus 19). God showed Israel His holiness, as never they had seen before. He said to Moses, Write these words, for after the purpose and character of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel; Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.  When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face shone and sent forth beams by reasons of his speaking with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone and they feared to come near him…Afterword, all Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all the Lord had said to him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. The Israelites saw the face of Moses, how the skin of it shone; and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with God (Exodus34).

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The Shekinah Glory

The Shekinah glory was visible in the Old Testament in the forms of light, fire, and cloud, or in a combination of all three. It is the manifestation of the presence of God. In the Garden, Adam and Eve experienced the Shekinah Glory at the time they heard God’s voice, as He walked in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8a). The Shekinah Glory was visible to Moses in a flame of fire while he was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law. (Exodus 3:1-5). In his journey through the desert to the Promised Land, Moses spent eighty days and nights in the presence of God.  The Shekinah Glory led Israel through the desert to the Promised Land by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22).

The greatest manifestation of the Shekinah Glory was visible in Mount Sinai, when the Lord came down upon it on the third day: The third morning there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. When Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. As the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice. The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up (Exodus 19: 16-20). That was the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments.

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From Glory to Glory

                                  (II Cor. 3:18; Ephesians 5:27; I Cor. 15: 43)

And all of us, as with unveiled face, continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [who is] the Spirit (II Cor. 3: 18).

“In justification, through faith into Christ the sinner is accepted in Christ (Ephesians. 5:17) who Himself is the pure and perfect Image of God, and that divine image is freely imputed to the believer. In sanctification, through the operation of the Holy Spirit who enables the believer constantly to behold the glory of the Lord, that image is increasingly imparted to the Christian. In glorification, justification and sanctification become complete in one, for that image is then finally impressed upon the redeemed in unobscured fullness, to the glory of God throughout eternity” (Second Corinthians, p. 120) Philip Hughes.

When God created Adam and Eve, He made them in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). But when they failed out of God’s image, they received the spirit of fear instead. In His customary time when He came to talk to them, God found them hidden and afraid when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? He said, I heard the sound of You in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself (Gen. 3:8-10). Because Adam and Eve had lost the image of God, they became slaves to the spirit of fear and to the demands of the flesh. Men lost the sparkle of the glory of God. A wall was now in between them and God; no longer did God walk in the garden to talk to them. But God’s love for men compelled Him to do something to restore them to Him again. And at the fullness of time He sent His Son YAHSHUA to restore and reconcile men to His Father, God. In that reconciliation man was justified through faith in Messiah; he was sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit given him at the moment of his spiritual birth; God gave them His image through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. The fullness of the glory of God will be complete in those who have accepted Him in their glorification, God’s final work in men. Man is justified, acquitted, and forgiven in the process of salvation; he is sanctified to reflect the glory of YAHSHUA, which is increasing from one glory to another, as he grows in Christ and matures in Him. Finally he will be glorified and completely holy and blameless and he will be as YAHSHUA is when men see Him.

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Goodness- The Glory of God

(Exodus 33:18-19)

The word goodness carries a strong connotation of its meaning. It is the goodness of our God that showers us with blessings. God’s creation in its varies aspects of life depend on His goodness to survive. Psalm 104 beautifully describes the goodness of God toward His creation: O Lord, how many and varied are You works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures, these all wait and are dependent upon You, that You may give them their food in due season. When You give it to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand and they are filled with good things. When You hide Your face, they are troubled and dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When You send forth Your Spirit and give them breath, they are created, and You replenish the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His work (vs. 24,27-31). Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits – Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems you live from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; Who satisfies your mouth with good so that your youth, renewed is like the eagle’s (Psalm 103:1-5).

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