The Glory of His Presence

  • Rev. Jerry Lepasana
  • Jul 22, 2007

 

THE GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE

2 Chronicles 7:1-6

2 Chronicles 7:1-6

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."

4) Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.

5) And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 6) The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord's musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, "His love endures forever." Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

            One of the most important concepts in the Scriptures is the Glory of God. We are all explicitly exhorted in 1 Corinthians 10:31:

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

            Obviously, this verse does not mean that God is glorified every time you eat or drink; so the more you eat, the more God is glorified. But what the apostle Paul is saying is that in our most basic activity such as eating and drinking we need to give Him glory.

            Now, what does that mean? How do you do that? Well, in the Bible the word "Glory" literally means brightness or splendor. When it is applied to God, it means the majesty, dignity or splendor of His person. In essence glory is the physical manifestation of His presence. 

            To help all of us understand this better, we need to see some of the occurrences of this in the Bible. As Glory is described as:

  • "Smoking firepot and a blazing torch" (Gen. 15:17)
  • "Burning bush" (Ex. 3:2)
  • "Pillar of cloud by day" or "Pillar of fire by night" (Ex.13: 21-22)
  • "Thunder and lightning with a thick cloud" in Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:16)

Evidently, because God is spirit without physical likeness, He had chosen to manifest Himself in an awesome and majestic way. All of these declare His excellent and perfect attributes as a person. Therefore, going back to giving glory to God, we as God's people are tasked to be the instruments to physically manifest God in the world. In order for the world to see the majesty and splendor of God, they need to see it through those who proclaim themselves as God's people.

This is what I want to talk about this morning. How can we effectively manifest God into the world? What can we do to consistently fulfill our calling? Here are three attitudes we need:

I           DESIRING - BUILD A DWELLING PLACE:

            Our chosen text is very significant because it allows us to see God manifesting His glory to the nation of Israel in a very special way. This had happened during the dedication of Solomon's temple. Notice what happened - 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. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 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."(vv.1-3)

The question for us is - Why did this happen? Why was God so honored about this place? Well, I believe we have to go back to King David. King David loved God so much that he desired a more excellent place for God.

2 Samuel 7:1-6

1) After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him,

2) he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."

3) Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you."

4) That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

5)   "Go and tell my servant David, 'This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?

6) I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.

            David's love for God caused him to desire God's glory. He felt that by building a temple, God's glory will be declared throughout the nation. Later he would be told that because he was a warrior who has shed so much blood, the privilege to build would be given to his son. But this won't kill his desire; King David took the initiative to plan and provide for the temple:

1 Chronicles 29:1-5

1) Then King David said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God.

2) With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God--gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble--all of these in large quantities.

3) Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple:

4) three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings,

5) for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord?"

            Looking at this passage, David did the best he could. He acknowledged that God who is the greatest deserves the best and the highest. According to Bible scholars, the cost of the temple in today's economy would be in the neighborhood of 16 billion dollars. Wow! Do you think that's justifiable?

            Today, in our time, the shift is - we are the dwelling place of God (1 Cor. 6:19-20). He no longer resides in buildings made by hands. He resides in hearts of all who believes in Jesus Christ. But His presence is definitely not manifested by all believers. Do you have the desire to give God your best just like King David? Or be the best for God wherever you are or whatever you are doing? God is never glorified when we fail to give Him the best:

Malachi 1:6-9

6) "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the Lord Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'

7) "You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the Lord's table is contemptible.

8) When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the Lord Almighty.

9) "Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"--says the Lord Almighty.

II         DEDICATING - BECOME A DEVOTED PLACE:

            After Solomon has built the temple, God's people participated in a public dedication. Indeed, the presence of God came, and His glory was manifested. But then, God wants to communicate to the people that in order for His presence and power to abide with them, they needed to stay devoted to Him. And He communicated to them four requirements in order for this to happen:

2 Chronicles 7:11-15

11) When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace,

12) the Lord appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

13)   "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,

14) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

15) Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

A. Humility - the attitude of seeing ourselves as God sees us. On our own we are nothing, but with Him we are everything. Pride or the attitude of self-sufficiency could be our greatest hindrance to God's help and blessings.

James 4:6

6) But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

B. Pray - prayer is our way of expressing our absolute dependence to God. In prayer we are able invite Him as our partner for our journey of life.

C.     Surrender - seeking God's face is just another way of saying you are doing what would please the Lord. The face will show either approval or disapproval to one's behavior. We should be committed in seeking God's smile of approval for the way we live our lives.

D.     Repentance - "Turning from wicked ways" means repentance. God wants us to abandon our sins. If there is anything that would separate us from God and His favors, that is sin.

Isaiah 59:1-2

1) Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

2) But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

                You see it was not enough that the temple looks good on the outside because it was really beautiful. God was concern of what was happening on the inside of God's people. You see, God has always impressed the principle - "He does not look at the outward appearance, He looks at the heart." The same can be said about our lives, we can always put out a good outward performance, a facade, but God wants to see a more sincere and serious commitment to Him. He wants an authentic devotion that would come from us.

III        DELIGHTING - BEHOLD A DEPENDABLE PLACE

            Lastly, I want to go back and emphasize verse 15,  Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. In here, God makes a beautiful promise that if we have met His requirements, if we seek his glory. He will manifest His power and presence by answering our prayers.

            Have you ever experienced praying for something or someone for months or years, without seeing the answer to your prayers? That can be very discouraging.  The Lord knows that and that's exactly the reason why He makes promises like in our passage. Most often than not, the reason for an unanswered prayers is not God's reluctance in answering, but our lack of delighting in Him. We all know the verse:

Psalm 37:4

4) Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

            I'm sure many of us would like to see the second part of the verse without doing the first part. God communicated it clearly to Israel as He, I believe, is telling all of us - we can tap into the power of the Almighty when we continue to honor Him in our lives.

            You see, if you want to experience the glory of His presence, first is to desire honoring Him. Then dedicate your life to Him, and then lastly, delight yourself in Him.

            Think about this - when God created man, He created us in His image. In a way, He shared His glory in man. However, sin entered and marred His image. Therefore,  Jesus came offered His life so that He can restore God's image or glory to everyone who receives Him. If you are a child of God, you can be the instrument to manifest the glory of God in the world through your life. Commit your life to Him, and fulfill your calling.