CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY OF FIRST AND SECOND KINGS
Message Nine
The Temple of God Filled with the Glory of God
Scripture Reading: Exo. 24:16; 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Acts 7:2, 55; John 17:22; Eph. 3:21; Rev. 5:13; 21:9-11
I. Glory is an attribute of God; glory is the expression of God, God expressed in splendor—Exo. 24:16; Acts 7:55.
II. The glory of God filled the tabernacle and the temple—Exo. 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11:
A. "The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle"—Exo. 40:34:
1. The day that the tabernacle was raised up, that the cloud descended and covered it, and that the glory of God entered and filled it was a great day—vv. 2, 34-35:
a. Those who gathered around the Tent of Meeting could see the cloud, whereas the high priest who eventually entered into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle could see the inward glory of the tabernacle—Lev. 16:15; Heb. 9:7.
b. This indicates that in our experience of the church life we need to advance by entering into the tabernacle—Christ as the embodiment of God—to enjoy the bread at the table and intercede at the incense altar so that we may experience the glory in God's dwelling place—Exo. 40:34-35; John 1:14.
2. The tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with glory was a great blessing to the children of Israel, but today we have the reality of what they had only in figure—14:2-3, 6, 10-11, 16-18, 20, 26; Eph. 2:18-22; 3:16-21.
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.
B. In Ephesians 1:17 Paul uses the term the Father of glory:
1. The Father of glory is God expressed through His many sons—Heb. 2:10.
2. The title Father implies regeneration, and the word glory implies expression; therefore, the title Father of glory implies regeneration and expression.
C. Christ the Son and God the Father are the same in glory—John 17:5:
1. Christ the Son is the effulgence of God's glory; the Son is the shining, the brightness, of the Father's glory—Heb. 1:3a.
2. Christ is the King of glory, Jehovah of hosts (that is, of armies), the consummated Triune God embodied in the victorious and coming Christ—Psa. 24:7-10; Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31.
3. Christ is the Lord of glory—1 Cor. 2:7-8:
a. Christ is our life today and our glory in the future—Col. 3:4; 1:27.
b. To this glory God has called us, and into it He will bring us—1 Pet. 5:10; Heb. 2:10.
D. First Peter 4:14 speaks of "the Spirit of glory and of God":
1. The Spirit of glory is the Spirit of God.
2. The Spirit of glory is the One through whom Christ was glorified in His resurrection—Rom. 1:4.
3. This very Spirit of glory rests upon the suffering believers in their persecution, for the glorifying of the resurrected and exalted Christ, who is now in glory—1 Pet. 4:13-14.
IV. The glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10:
A. God's eternal goal is to bring His many sons into glory for the eternal corporate expression—the New Jerusalem—Heb. 2:10; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5-6, 12, 14; Rev. 21:7, 9-11.
B. God has predestinated us to obtain His glory so that we may express Him; thus, the goal of God's predestination is our glorification—1 Cor. 2:7.
C. God created us in His image as vessels unto honor, prepared unto glory; we were predestinated in His sovereignty to be His vessels of honor to express what He is in glory—Gen. 1:26; Rom. 9:21, 23.
D. Christ's redemption has fulfilled the requirement of God's glory—3:23-25; Heb. 9:5; cf. Gen. 3:24.
E. Through the gospel of the glory of God, God has called us by and into His eternal glory—2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Thes. 2:12; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:3.
F. The all-inclusive Christ dwells in us as the hope of glory—Col. 1:27; 3:4, 11.
G. As we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the Lord's image from glory to glory—2 Cor. 3:18.
H. God the Father is moving within us as the God of all grace so that we may participate in His eternal glory and even become the glory of God—1 Pet. 5:10.
I. The glory of God in the economy of God involves the high peak of the divine revelation—God becoming man so that man may become God in life, nature, and function but not in the Godhead—John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; Col. 3:4; Heb. 2:10; Rev. 21:10-11.
V. In John 17:22 the Lord Jesus prayed, "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one":
A. After praying for the stages of oneness in the Father's name by the eternal life (vv. 6-13) and of oneness through sanctification by the holy word (vv. 14-21), the Lord prayed for the third stage concerning the believers' oneness being in the divine glory for the corporate expression of the Triune God (vv. 22-24).
B. Since the glory which the Father has given to the Son has been given to us by the Son, genuine oneness is in the divine glory—v. 22:
1. Glory is the sonship given to the Son by the Father with the Father's divine life and nature to express the Father in His fullness—vv. 1, 5, 22.
2. There are four aspects of glory: sonship, the Father's life, the Father's divine nature, and the expression of the Father in His fullness; these four things equal the glory that we have in the Son and that has been given to us by the Son—Eph. 1:5; 4:18; 1 John 5:12; 2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 21:9-11.
C. In the third stage of oneness, the believers, their self having been fully denied, enjoy the glory of the Father as the factor of their perfected oneness and thus express God in a corporate, built-up way—John 17:22:
1. It is only in the third stage of oneness that we will be absolutely perfected into oneness to manifest and glorify the Lord.
2. We will have the life of God, the nature of God, and even God Himself for the purpose of becoming the manifestation and expression of God—v. 22.
VI. In Ephesians 3:21 Paul declares, "To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen":
A. We are being strengthened into our inner man according to the riches of God's glory; this implies that the glory of God can be wrought into the saints—v. 16; 2 Cor. 3:18.
B. In Ephesians 3:21 to Him be the glory implies that the glory of God, which has been wrought into the saints, returns to God.
C. This glory comes to us with God and, after being worked into us, will return to God with us; this is the way in which God is glorified in the church—vv. 16-21.
D. By means of this two-way traffic the church, as the first-fruits in the universe (James 1:18), takes the lead to give glory to God:
1. God's glory is wrought into the church, and He is expressed in the church—Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 3:16-17, 19b.
2. To God is the glory in the church; that is, God is glorified in the church—v. 21.
3. God will be glorified not only in this age, the age of the church, but also in the coming age, the age of the kingdom, and in the age of the ages, which is eternity—Matt. 6:13, 29; Rom. 16:27; Rev. 5:13; 21:10-11.
4. For God to be glorified in all the ages, from the present age through eternity, He must be glorified in the church and in Christ—Eph. 3:21.
VII. An outstanding feature of the New Jerusalem is that it has the glory of God, His expression—Rev. 21:11, 23:
A. The New Jerusalem, as the corporate expression of God in eternity, bears the appearance of God, expressing God's image in His glory—vv. 10-11; 4:3.
B. The entire city of New Jerusalem bears the glory of God, which is God Himself shining out through the city—21:11a:
1. The glory of God is the content of the New Jerusalem, for the city is completely filled with His glory; this indicates that the New Jerusalem is a vessel to contain God and express Him.
2. The glory of God is actually God Himself being manifested; thus, for the holy city to be full of God's glory means that God is manifested in this city.
C. The glory of God, God expressed, illumines the New Jerusalem, shining through the jasper wall—vv. 23, 18a:
1. The light of the New Jerusalem is like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal—v. 11b.
2. The glory of God shines in Christ the Lamb as the lamp through the wall of the holy city—vv. 23, 18a.
D. God is the New Jerusalem, and to glorify God is to take Him as the New Jerusalem and give all the glory to Him—v. 22; Rom. 15:5-7:
1. To glorify God is to participate in the New Jerusalem—Rev. 3:12; 21:11.
2. It is only when we express God in the New Jerusalem that He is truly glorified in the universe—Rom. 16:27; 1 Cor. 10:31.
E. As the New Jerusalem, we will be to the praise of God's glory—Eph. 1:12:
1. In eternity all the sons of God will be fully saturated with God and will express God—Heb. 2:10.
2. God will be expressed through His glorified sons, and this expressed God is glory—Rev. 21:7.
3. All the angels and positive things in the universe will praise the expressed God; thus, we, the glorified sons of God, will be to the praise of His glory—Eph. 1:12.