B
“The glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah”—1 Kings 8:11:
１
The temple, the corporate expression and habitation of God on earth, was filled with the glory of God—vv. 10-11.
２
The glory of Jehovah filled the temple of Jehovah, bringing the God who is in the heavens to the earth and joining the earth to the heavens—v. 11.
３
In Genesis 28 Jacob dreamed that “there was a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven” (v. 12), and he said that this is “none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (v. 17):
ａ
There heaven came down to the earth, and the earth was joined to heaven by the ladder.
ｂ
This ladder is a type of Christ who, as the Son of Man, with His humanity, is the ladder set up on the earth and leading to heaven, keeping heaven open to earth and joining earth to heaven for the house of God, Bethel—John 1:51; Gen. 28:19.
ｃ
Today the heavenly God comes down to the earth, and the earth is joined to God by the Christ who dwells in us—Col. 1:27.
ｄ
God not only came down from heaven, but His shekinah glory filled the temple—1 Kings 8:10-11.
Ⅲ
The Triune God is a God of glory—Acts 7:2, 55:
A
God is the God of glory—vv. 2, 55:
１
Whenever God is expressed, that is glory; the unseen God is God, and the seen God is glory—Exo. 13:21.
２
The God of glory appeared to Abraham, called him, and separated him from the world unto God; he was attracted and captured by that glory—Acts 7:2.
Morning Nourishment
1 Kings 8:11 And the priests were not able to stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.Acts 7:2 ...The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham...
But being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
First Kings 8:1-11 shows us that the tabernacle was merged with the temple... The tabernacle was a portable precursor moving through the wilderness... The temple was a consummation of God’s building in typology built upon Mount Zion, a peak of Mount Moriah... The glory of Jehovah filled the temple (cf. Exo. 40:34), bringing the God who is in the heavens to the earth and joining the earth to the heavens. This should be our situation today.
In Genesis 28 Jacob had a dream and he called that place Bethel, meaning “the house of God.” There heaven came down to the earth, and the earth was joined to heaven by the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream. This ladder was a type of Christ who, as the Son of Man, keeps heaven open to earth and joins earth to heaven (John 1:51). Today the heavenly God comes down to the earth, and the earth is joined to God by the very Christ who dwells in us. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 36)
Today’s Reading
Whenever God is expressed, that is glory. But whenever God is hidden, concealed, there is no glory expressed... While the unseen God is God, the seen God is glory. God’s glory was seen as the children of Israel journeyed from Egypt to the good land (Exo. 13:21). During the day God was seen as the cloud, and during the night He was seen as the pillar of fire—that was glory. In the Gospel of John we read that the Word was God, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and that we all beheld His glory (1:1, 14). Verse 18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” There is glory in the declaration of God.In Acts 7:2 ...Stephen [testified], “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham...” The glory here might have been visible glory, as when the cloud and the fire appeared to Israel (Exo. 16:10; 24:16-17; Lev. 9:23; Num. 14:10; 16:19; 20:6; Deut. 5:24) and filled the tabernacle and temple (Exo. 40:35; 1 Kings 8:11). It was the God of such glory who appeared to Abraham and called him. His glory was a great attraction to Abraham. It separated, sanctified, him from the world unto God (Exo. 29:43), and it was a great encouragement and strength which enabled him to follow God (Gen. 12:1, 4).
Stephen’s word about the God of glory fits in with God’s New Testament economy. In his second Epistle Peter tells us that God has called us by His glory and to His glory (2 Pet. 1:3). Because we were called by the glory of God our Savior (2 Pet. 1:1), we eventually received the Lord Jesus, realizing that He is better than anything and anyone else.
The God of glory called Abraham, and Abraham was attracted and caught by that glory. The principle is the same with us today. We all have been caught by the Lord in His glory... One day the God of glory came to us through the preaching of the gospel, and we were attracted and convinced and began to appreciate Him. During that time, the God of glory transfused some element of His being into us, and we believed in Him spontaneously. To be attracted by the God of glory means that God transfused Himself into His called ones without their realizing it or being conscious of it... We may say that God is the strongest “radium.” If we stay with Him for a period of time, He will transfuse Himself into us. This transfusion will cause infusion, saturation, and permeation. Once God has transfused Himself into us, we cannot escape; we must believe in Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 36-37)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 4, 11, 21, 45, 61-62, 73, 80, 337-338