The glory of God.

The Bible speaks of God’s glory quite often.  In fact, when Isaiah is taken into the throne room of God, he records that there were seraphim flying above him and crying out to one another:

Isaiah 6:3

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The whole earth is full of God’s glory.  There isn’t a single moment of our lives where we have lived in the complete absence of God’s glory.  We’re also called to glorify God with our lives.  But what is glory?

Glory is a bit of an abstract term.  We know what it is, but it’s really hard to define.  It’s kind of like beauty.  We recognize beauty when we see it, but it’s really challenging to put into words what is and what isn’t beautiful.

Glory carries the idea of something that is exalted and worthy of praise.  There was a popular movie back in the day about a humble Catholic friar named Ignacio who is often overlooked and oppressed in his service to the Lord.  He had dreams of becoming a luchador; a professional wrestler in the Lucha Libre.  He just wanted a little taste of the glory, to see what it tasted like. 

* Nacho Libre Clip *

There is a glory that we receive and experience when we defeat all of our obstacles and rise up in victory.  It tastes pretty good, too.  However, there is no earthly glory that can even begin to compare to the glory of God!

The glory of God is so magnificent and so far beyond earthly glory that it is tangible.  It can be experienced with our senses.  Encounters come to mind like this one when the angels came and announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds:

Luke 2:9

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

The shepherds could see and feel the glory of the Lord.  In Ezekiel 10 and 43, he was taken by the Spirit into the temple of the Lord and he said that saw the glory of God coming from the east and it travelled through the east gate into the temple and then filled the whole temple.  He also saw the glory of God above cherubim rise and then move to the threshold of the temple and then filled the temple with radiance.

Isaiah prophesied about John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for Jesus and said about Jesus that:

Isaiah 40:5

…the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

    and all people will see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

When the first earthly temple was finished and being dedicated, this is recorded:

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,

“He is good;

    his love endures forever.”

This isn’t the first time that this happened, either.  Earlier, when the arc of the covenant, the very Presence of God, was carried into the temple:

2 Chronicles 5:13-14

13 The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:

“He is good;

    his love endures forever.”

Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

The many various manifestations of God’s Presence and glory is not just some new Pentecostal experience.  The glory of God came in the form of a cloud many times in the scriptures.  On Mt. Sinai, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night that lead the Israelites from slavery to God’s promises, a