BRINGING DOWN THE GLORY OF GOD
Friday, 12th August 2016
2 Chronicles 5:1-14 (NKJV)
So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.
2 Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the City of David, which is Zion.
3 Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.
4 So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.
5 Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up.
6 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.
7 Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.
8 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.
9 The poles extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen from the holy place, in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.
10 Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, when theLord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they had come out of Egypt.
11 And it came to pass when the priests came out of the Most Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without keeping to their divisions),
12 and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets—
13 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,
14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God
If there is anything that we should eagerly seek for in the Church and in our lives as individuals, it is the glory of God. God’s glory manifesting in the Church shows HIS acceptance of the Church, and the glory does not just come anyhow. There is a price for it! In today’s text, for the glory of God to fill the temple, the priests had to make way in the Most Holy Place, having consecrated themselves and come together as one without division or discrimination. All the temple musicians also sang as one, making one sound. As they praised God, the temple was filled with the glory of God.
Today if we must bring down the glory of God, we and every other thing must make way for the rightful Owner of the temple to come in. We must sanctify ourselves and unite as one without division or discrimination, and then praise God as one, making only one unified sound. Notice that the cloud of HIS glory did not come with the abundance of sacrifices but with unified praise from sanctified hearts.
Prayer: Dear LORD, I empty myself that YOU may have Your way in me, help me to continually offer sacrifices of praise to YOU.