Glory To God

The glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple.

1 Kings 8:11

Solomon, the son of David, had built the Temple his father had envisioned but was not allowed to build. The Temple was a permanent form of the Tabernacle, the portable place of worship that the Israelites took with them wherever they went. When the Tabernacle was first erected, according to detailed instructions given Moses, the glory of the Lord filled it. “The cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). And when the Temple was completed, “the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple.”

In both instances, the glory of God appeared in the form of a cloud so concentrated that it interrupted normal activities: “Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it” (Exodus 40:35). “The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud” (1 Kings 8:11).

In the Old Testament, God often made his presence evident in a cloud. As we move into the New Testament era, the temple—God’s dwelling place on earth—is God’s people, each one of us: “We are the temple of the living God. As God said: ‘I will live in them and walk among them’” (2 Corinthians 6:16). Now God’s presence is made visible through us. It will interrupt the normal course of activity in our lives, and we will learn to live “abnormally.”

Here is what the Lord promises concerning his house, his temple: “The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies have spoken!” (Haggai 2:9). Now we are his dwelling places, and he will fill us with his glory and grant us peace.

Father, dwell richly in me.

There must be an emptying before there can be a filling; and when the heart is turned upside down, and everything is turned out that is contrary to God, then the Spirit will come, just as he did in the tabernacle, and fill us with his Glory.

Dwight L. Moody(1837–1899), American evangelist and publisher