II Chronicles 4-6
The house of God is complete and all of the priests, praisers, and musicians in unison begin of loudly praise the Lord with “He indeed is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” God’s glory fills the house like a cloud, so that the priests can not even stand.
This is one of the milestones in the history of Israel. After all of the centuries of God’s dealings with Abraham’s descendants, His house is finally built a and established as the place for his presence in His special land. What a glorious moment.
Then Solomon kneels before all of Israel and prays for God to continue to bless the land. He praises his God for all that He has done, and looks forward to the years of continuing to walk with this wonderful, mighty God.
Have you ever experienced the “glory of God” in a place? I have. I have been in meetings where His presence was so thick that I felt weak. I think of it as the atmosphere of heaven.
In that presence, there is not a care in the world. You can have issues facing you at home or at work, but in the presence of God – that thick cloud of His presence – you know that your Father is taking care of the problems for you. No worries.
Now I have never been in a place where no one could stand, so I can only imagine what that would be like. But I have been so that I couldn’t stand, and it’s a remarkable thing!
Peace, joy, and contentment accompany God’s presence.
John 10:24-42
I just love to see Jesus challenging the Pharisees and watching them squirm. He is really not against these men, but against the religious traditions which have taken God’s purposes out of the mix and allowed for these “leaders” to pompously dictate their own purposes to those under them. (Their main purpose being to procure for themselves wealth, honor, and control).
In substituting their own desires, these leaders don’t understand – or even try to understand – the Word of God.
So Jesus calls Himself the “Son of God,” which He is, of course. They go nuts! Then He eggs them on even more.
He reminds the Pharisees that the scripture says that ,”Ye are gods.”(Psalm 82:6).
Jesus is reminding these men that man was created in the image of God Himself. It was only after Adam’s sin that man lost that position, and Jesus has come to restore us back. All of this is in then scripture, but couldn’t be understood at the moment.
I feel quite sure that few could grasp what Jesus was saying at the time, but they were hanging on, because they believed he was the Son of God. They trusted Him – and just thought He was smarter than they were.
Now, however, we have God’s precious Holy Spirit living inside of us and guiding us. We realize what Jesus was saying.
He was planning to cleanse us through His blood at the cross, then send back His Spirit to live within us. Once again would we be true sons of God. We would be able to talk with Him and represent His desires in the earth.
What an opportunity we have to walk with Him as His children! As we continue to follow Jesus and His teachings we will fulfill His desires for us in the earth.
