Glory of God
God said : “But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.”
Numbers 14:21(NKJV)
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The Glory of God
The Bible has so much to say about the Glory of God.
But he [Stephen, the first martyr], filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw THE GLORY OF GOD and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. -Acts 7:55
We frequently sense the glory of God manifesting among us. And when we walk with God, we are conscious of his glory, and we are... transformed from glory to glory. But in Acts 7:55, it says that Stephen saw something. What did he see?
The Jews who heard Stephen preach this sermon in Acts 7 understood what Stephen meant when he said he had seen the glory of God. There are numerous references to the glory of God in the Old Testament, starting with those in Exodus.
EXODUS 16:7,10
7 And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints against the Lord...
10 And as Aaron was speaking to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, they looked towards the desert, and behold, the GLORY OF THE LORD appeared in the cloud.
EXODUS 40:34,35
34 A cloud covered the tent of the assembly, and the GLORY OF THE LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 Moses could not enter the tent of the assembly, because the cloud remained there, and the GLORY OF THE LORDfilled the tent.
LEVITICUS 9:4,6,23
4 You shall also offer a bull and a ram as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, to sacrifice them before the Lord, and an oblation kneaded with oil, for it is today that the Lord will appear to you....
6 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, and the glory of the LORD will appear to you...”
23 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and came out and blessed the people. And the GLORY OF THE LORD appeared to all the people.
NUMBERS 14:10
10 But the whole assembly stoned them with stones. And THE LORD'S GLORY appeared in the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel.
NUMBERS 20:6
6 Moses and Aaron left the presence of the assembly to go to the entrance of the tent of the assembly, and they fell on their faces; and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.
1 KINGS 8:10,11
10 When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord,
11 and the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the GLORY OF THE LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
2 CHRONICLES 5:11-14
11 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:
12 The Levite singers, all of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brothers, dressed in white linen, with cymbals, lyres and harps, stood at the eastern end of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets.)
13 As the trumpeters and singers joined together to make one sound of praise and thanks to the Lord, and as they raised their voices with the trumpets, cymbals and musical instruments, and praised the Lord, saying: For he is good, for his mercy endures forever, then the house was filled with a cloud, the house of the LORD;
14 The priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
2 CHRONICLES 7:1,2
1 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the GLORY OF THE LORD filled the house.
2 And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because THE GLORY OF THE LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
This glory is what Stephen saw, and the Jews to whom he preached understood what he meant. They knew that the glory of the Lord had appeared and filled the house of God. They knew that it often looked like a cloud filling the House, and so they understood what Stephen was talking about when he said he had seen the glory of the Lord.
That you will one day see the glory of God manifested in this life, when you leave this earth, is where you will go: into the world of glory.
Psalm 73:24 says, “Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to GLORY.”
There is a world of glory, and sometimes this world of glory manifests itself in this world. When this happens, it is through a supernatural manifestation of the power of God.
Jesus Is The Glory Of The Father
"And the Word became flesh. And pitched his tent among us, And we gazed upon his glory, - A glory...full of favour and truth" (John 1:14 Rotherham).
Rotherham's translation of John 1:14 says:
”We've tended to think of Christ's coming to the earth as a man only in terms of His self-denial in leaving glory, or else in terms of His suffering on this earth. But I believe it was a joy to Christ, who so loved man and so desired man's fellowship, to "pitch His tent" among us so that He might give to alienated man - who had never known his Creator - a true conception of His Heavenly Father. “
It was good tidings of great joy which the angel proclaimed to the shepherds - and to all people everywhere. Man, separated from God for 4,000 years, could now gaze upon God's glory, could now see God, could now know God as He is, and could now be reunited with Him!
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).
The Word has become flesh!
Confession: Like the multitude of the heavenly host, I, too, am praising God. Praise God for sending a Savior! Praise God for Christ the Lord! Praise God for allowing us to gaze upon His glory!
God’s Pattern, God’s Glory
Written by Patsy Camenetti
For my birthday one year, an intern of ours who was an exceptional artist presented me with a beautiful picture she had painted. It’s really a lovely painting, but as lovely as it was, it was unsigned. So, I asked her to please sign it. Her signature said it was indeed her work and finished. A true artist won’t sign a painting if somebody else does the work on his or her painting.
God signed the tabernacle and the temple with His glory. God’s glory is His signature on the work of art He has created!
When God created the world, He didn’t use what already existed on earth as a pattern. He created things that had never existed before by His Word. When it came to making man, God didn’t use a pattern of anything He had made previously on any other day of creation. The pattern God used to make man was Himself. “God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image to be like us.”
The two dwelling places God commissioned to be built in the Old Testament illustrate the fact that God did not use earthly patterns. We also see that God is very specific about what He wants and how He wants it.
Acts 7:44 says that the Tabernacle was constructed according to the pattern God showed Moses. It wasn’t constructed according to any design that Moses had seen in Egypt. Moses didn’t use Egyptian architecture to build the tabernacle. It was a new plan. It came from heaven—not from Egypt. God gave Moses this warning in Exodus 25:40, “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you….” In Egypt? No! “…on the mountain.”
The tabernacle was not some kind of concoction that emerged from a group discussion or a special committee assigned to come up with what it should look like. No, God took Moses away from every other influence, up onto the mountain of God, and there, God gave him the pattern of the original that came from heaven itself. God had a pattern in Himself, and He showed it to Moses.
Solomon’s temple, like the tabernacle, was built exactly according to the specs and design that came from God. God was just as precise about it.
As a result, both were filled with the glory of God upon their completion. God never fills man’s plans with His glory. Man may even dedicate his plan to God. Still, He won’t fill it with His glory. The only thing that God fills with His glory is what comes from Him. If man does the work, God won’t take the credit (Psalm 127:1).
One primary reason we know that man didn’t evolve from any other type of life created earlier is that God very plainly said four times in Genesis 1 that the pattern He used to make man was Himself. The pattern was not from something He made some other time in His creation. No, the Word makes it abundantly clear. God Himself is the pattern in the creation of man.
Adam was made to represent, resemble, reflect, and image God like a mirror. God was the pattern for man. Man and woman were perfect visible images of the invisible God. Like a mirror is not a person but images or reflects a person, Adam and Eve were made to image and reflect God. You couldn’t see God, but you could see man. In other words, if you could see man, there wouldn’t be any confusion about what God was like. Man was created to reflect God’s likeness. And He will fill His creation with His glory!
God’s glory is His signature on the work of art He has created! Do you want the glory of God on your life as well?
It comes on a life that represents and reflects Him – a life made in the image of God Himself.