GLORY OF GOD

“And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory” (Ezek. 43:2 NKJV).

While Ezekiel was being given a preview of the new millennium Temple, the glory of God came on the scene. Our verse speaks of this momentous occasion. It tells of the restoration of the glory of God, the association with the glory of God, and the illumination from the glory of God.

Restoration – ‘And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east.” Earlier in the book of Ezekiel we are told that the glory of God departed from the Temple and from Israel. However, during the millennium, God’s glory will return as He will again be honored in Israel. God’s glory does not reside where God is not honored. If we want God in all of His glory in our lives, we must make sure that our lives honor Him.

Association – “His voice was like the sound of many waters.” Associated with the glory of God was the Word (voice) of God. The two cannot be separated. Where the glory of God is present there will also be the Word of God and vice versa. Too often, our churches are like Israel’s Temple when the glory of God departed. The Word of God is not being preached and taught and so the honor and glory of God is lacking. Our churches need to get back to emphasizing the Word of God and then the glory of God will be seen.

Illumination – “And the earth shone with His glory.” Today, our world is languishing in spiritual darkness. And since is God is not being honored, His glory is lacking, hence the reason for the darkness. The increasing emphasis on ignoring God will ultimately result in “Ichabod” or the glory is departed being placed over society as well as over our lives (cf. 1 Sam. 4:21). Let us pray for the glory of God to return to our society, and to this world. It is not the glory of man that we need but the glory of God.

(Adapted from Analytical Biblical Expositor)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“The glory of God always comes at the sacrifice of self!”

Aiden Wilson (A.W.) Tozer (1897 – 1963)

American Pastor, Theologian and Author

Word Study

Elements

In 2 Peter 3:12 we read, “Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat!” (NKJV).

Elements is the Greek word stoicheîon (στοιχεῖον =stoy-khi'-on). It describes something orderly in arrangement as for example one of a row and hence a component or element. In classic Greek stoicheîon spoke of what belongs in a series, and was used in reference to an element, the simplest part of a whole. In the Septuagint stoicheîon was used to depict the basic elements that make up the physical world. In the New Testament, stoicheîon is used as a religious technical term describing the elementary doctrines, the fundamental teachings or the basic principles of the religion.

“Fear Nots” Found in the Bible

“Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it” (Deut. 1:17 KJV).

Did You Know…

Philippians 2:6-11 is commonly referred to as the Christ-hymn.

Bible Quiz

According to Scripture what caused Solomon to turn his heart from God to follow other gods?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: God placed the rainbow in the sky after the flood to signify what promise? To never again destroy the earth with water (Gen. 9:11).

Names For God Found in the Bible

“LAWGIVER”

"For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King; He will save us” (Isa. 33:22 NKJV).

1. Meaning – LAWGIVER refers to God, whose word is law to us, and to whom every thought within us is brought into obedience. We must live under His rule.

2. Insights – Unlike other capitals that were attacked by ships, Jerusalem will be safe and secure because the Almighty God would be there to protect His people. God controls what happens to His people for He is their King, Judge, and Lawgiver. As king, He fulfills the functions of chief judge who establishes justice and righteousness in the nation. He is a Lawgiver who inscribes statutes for His people. And since God is Judge, Lawgiver, and King, the people should have confidence in His promise to save them. The Lord is sufficient for every need.

Did You Know...Christian History

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was born December 10, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was an American pastor and educator.

Gallaudet attended Yale University, earning his B.A. in 1805, and an M.A. in 1808. After graduating from Andover Theological Seminary in 1814, Gallaudet became a licensed preacher, but declined several offers of pastorates due to ongoing concerns about his health. He decided to become a traveling preacher everywhere there was a need.

Gallaudet’s path in life was altered when he met Alice Cogswell, on May 25, 1814, while visiting his parents. She was the nine-year-old deaf daughter of a neighbor, Dr. Mason Cogswell. As he observed Alice that day playing apart from other children, he wanted to teach her. Gallaudet started to teach Alice what different objects were called by writing their names and drawing pictures of them with a stick in the dirt. Dr. Cogswell was impressed and invited Gallaudet to continue teaching Alice through the summer. While many of his friends became pastors or found mission fields overseas, Gallaudet found his mission field at home.

The next year Cogswell, with several businessmen and clergy, asked Gallaudet to travel to Europe to study methods for teaching deaf students, especially those of the Braidwood family in Scotland. While still in Great Britain, he met Abbé Sicard, head of the Institution Nationale des Sourds-Muets à Paris, and two of its deaf faculty members, Laurent Clerc and Jean Massieu. Sicard invited Gallaudet to Paris to study the school’s method of teaching the deaf using manual communication. Impressed with the manual method, Gallaudet studied teaching methodology under Sicard, learning sign language from Massieu and Clerc, who were both highly educated graduates of the school.

Having persuaded Clerc to accompany him, Gallaudet returned to America. The two men, with the help of Dr. Cogswell, toured New England and successfully raised private and public funds to start a school for deaf students in Hartford, which later became known as the American School for the Deaf (ASD), in 1817. Gallaudet’s school was a success. By the end of the first year, the president of the United States, James Monroe, had paid a visit to the school. This led to the government granting a large piece of land and a three-story building for the growing school. After resigning directorship of his school for the deaf in 1830, Gallaudet wrote educational and religious texts, became the chaplain to the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane in 1838, and taught in Hartford. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet died in Hartford on September 10, 1851, at aged 63, and was buried in Hartford’s Cedar Hill Cemetery.

A Little Humor

After having children, Adam and Eve started getting a lot of questions from their kids about why they no longer lived in Eden. Adam has a simple answer for this: “Your mother ate us out of house and home.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“The best way to face life’s changes is to look at the unchanging God!”