The Glory of the Lord

Today’s Passage – 1 Kings 8 – 9

Second Milers also read – Mark 9 – 10; Psalms 91 – 95; Proverbs 19

The Scripture Memory Passage for April – 1 Corinthians 13

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 89:1

Read an older post from this passage – “Forgive”

“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, So 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.” – (1 Kings 8:10-11)

As we study Israel’s history, we know that there were many times that they were not where God wanted them to be, spiritually speaking. Often in their history Israel would forsake their God, and err into immorality, and idolatry. These were times when God would be forced to bring judgment upon His people in order to get them to turn back to Him. However, in today’s passage, we see Israel as right with the Lord as they had ever been. They had just completed building the Temple of God, and today was the day that the entire nation was gathered together in order to dedicate the temple (and themselves) to the Lord. God was well pleased with Israel at this time, and He demonstrated His approval with a physical appearance of his presence. Verse 11 tells us that “the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord”.

I have been saved for over twenty years now, and I have been involved in the local church since I was born again into the family of God; and I have experienced the wonderful blessing of seeing God’s presence in the midst of His church. I did not see a physical manifestation of His presence, as these Israelites did, but I did experience the glory of God, nonetheless. Unfortunately, I have also seen the times when God’s presence was apparently absent from our church. Hindsight often provides a better perspective for analyzing the ingredients that went into the times when God seemed to be all over His church. When I look back at the times in our ministry when God was really working in a marvelous way among us, with many being saved and baptized, and wonderful Spirit-filled services, I can see that there were specific ingredients that were present. These same ingredients were present in our text today.

1  There was unity – God wants His children to be “in one accord”. A quick study of the early church from the Book of Acts will reveal that they were all together; they were all moving in the same direction.

2  There was humility – Notice in Solomon’s prayer that He recognizes that the people were prone to get away from God. He admits completely that these people were in God’s hands, and that it was God that blessed them. Notice:

“If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; … Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:” – (1 Kings 8:46, 49-50)

3  There was complete tenacity and loyalty toward God. These people were all consecrated to the Lord. They were not doing that which was right in their own eyes, they were pursuing God. They were not chasing after the world with all of its idols, and all of its immorality. They were not only separated from the world, but they were also separated unto the Lord. These people wanted to please the Lord. They were focused on God. They gave up two weeks of their lives to serve and sacrifice to the Lord.

We can see God’s glory in our churches again today if we have these three ingredients in place. I want to see God move in our church. I want to see Him do great thing in the midst of this world that denies Him. He’s just waiting for us to get on board.