Focus: Tracing The Glory

Text: 1Cor.3:16

"Know ye not that ye are the TEMPLE of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

The temple is God's sacred space, and the evidence of it is the presence and glory of God. If the presence and glory of God is missing in a temple, then its existence is of no importance. It is a tragedy when God is not found in His own place. And how do we find God except through His manifest presence and evidential glory?

Eden is the first temple of God in the earth and evidently the sacred space of His manifest presence and resplendent glory (Gen.3:8,10,24; 4:16; Isa.51:3; Ezk.28:13; 31:9).

Next, God says to Moses, "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" (Ex.25:8). In Ex.29:43, God said, "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory." Then after the sanctuary was set up, God came into His space and His glory filled the whole place, even to the degree that Moses could not go in to minister (Ex.40:34-35). When Moses finally entered into the tabernacle, he heard the voice of God speaking to him "from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him" (Num.7:89).

What is my point in all this? It is that you can't afford to have God's temple or space without His presence, glory and voice of authority. Those are the distinguishing marks of a place devoted to God. Everywhere you look you see traces of God's presence and glory.

In the temple of Solomon we read that "the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD" (1Kgs.8:11).

As Ezra's temple was still in building, God said, "I will fill this house with glory saith the LORD of hosts… The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts" (Hag.2:7,9).

No space to include the accounts of Ezekiel and Revelation, but it is all about the presence and the glory of God.

We read in Ps.50:2, "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."

Then we come to John, where we see Jesus as the antitype of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, and we read, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (Jh.1:14). In turning water into wine He manifested the glory. On the Mount of Transfiguration He manifested the glory again. Everywhere He went people could see the evidence of God's glory. He literally carried the glory everywhere and showed it in good works. His presence is sheer beauty and joy. He gives people good stories to tell. He touched lives and left no one the same way they met Him.

And now we are the human temple of the living God - His mobile structures on earth. The Spirit of glory lives in us. But people around us need to see the evidence of God's presence in our lives and the manifestation of His glory. Let us join the psalmist to pray: "And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us" (Ps.90:17). We are God's present day temple and the world wants to witness the glory of God from our lives. The church is the place of God's presence and glory. Where is our glory? Where is your glory? When people come in touch with you, do they experience God's touch and see God's glory? Is anyone finding in you that divine 'treasure' in earthen vessel? O Lord, help us!

I pray and declare with my whole heart that we will manifest the glory of God to the people of our generation and beyond. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter