A Glorious Place for God to Dwell
When we set out to cultivate a personal relationship with God, we find ourselves experiencing His Presence in deep and wonderful ways. This is what God desires and makes possible by taking up residence within each of us. We are His Temple. We are a glorious place for God to dwell.
There is a powerful vision found in the book of Ezekiel that speaks of this.
“Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell face down. The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet.” (Ezekiel 43:1-7)
This is a prophetic revelation of our reality as the temple of the living God.
We are created for this
I’ve been sitting with this vision for awhile and Holy Spirit has been showing me several things. First, is the coming of God into the temple with power and glory-“His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.”
Thinking about this, I was taken back to the creation of Adam in Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” The breath of life is the Voice of the Lord, the Sound of Heaven which energized Adam. However, something was not yet complete. Adam was filled with the life of God but not His Glory. The Lord was in the creative process of fashioning His temple which finds its fulfillment in Acts, chapter 2-the Day of Pentecost- when God came to man with both His voice (sound) and His glory (fire). In fact, the vision of Ezekiel has direct correlation to what we find in Acts 2. Why is this so important?
Because we are made in the image of God for the purpose of intimacy. (Gen. 1:26-27) The desire of God’s heart is to create place for His Presence, a holy place where He can live expressing the fullness of His love. The revelation in Scripture of the covenant of marriage is a picture of this. From the union of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:21-25) through the union of Christ, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride (Eph. 5:30-32) there is a constant flow of revelation of the heart of God for us to be in Him, and He in us-“….and they shall become one flesh.”
So, God created earth as the perfect place for man to dwell; then, made man as the perfect place for Him to dwell so that we, together in complete and holy union, would fill the earth with His Glory which, in turn, would radiate and resonate throughout the whole universe the Splendor of God’s Majesty.
This is now our reality. We are created to be the full manifest expression of the vision of Ezekiel 43!
How awesome!
How Majestic is our God! How Glorious is His love for us!
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.”
The gate facing east
There is a key to becoming the manifest expression of the Glory of the Lord. That key is the ‘gate facing east’. This is the ‘gate of worship’. Here’s what Holy Spirit is showing me.
He reminded me of the importance of Place. The gate of worship is the gate into the temple, which is the place of God’s Presence. That’s simple enough.
However, because of our religious mindset we forget that God does not dwell in buildings made by the hands of man. We consistently view the place of worship as a somewhere we go–say, a church, synagogue, cathedral, etc. These places are good and needed in providing a space for corporate worship and praise. But, they are not God’s dwelling place–we are. God has made us His house.
The Spirit also reminded me that God has established this house as His rightful place of sovereign rule and reign. He set His throne in place and in doing so has laid claim to the Land, the place where He’s put the soles of His feet. In other words, He has laid claim to us. Everything in the creative process of God-from creation to redemption to transformation and glorification- is so that we would become living beings suitable for His Presence. This is the heart of God’s ‘reconciliation’.
“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Col. 19-20)
I hear the Spirit say, “This is the very Throne Room of God.” You and I enter the Throne Room not by going to a place, but by turning to a Person. Through deep intimacy comes glory–“And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”‘ (Psalm 29)
I thought of how the prophet, Isaiah, had a throne room experience where he saw–“..the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” (Isa. 6:1) Can we expect such an experience? Yes!
The pathway to such an experience is seen in Ezekiel’s vision.
The prophet fell face down in the Gate of Worship. I hear Holy Spirit say, “Herein lies both the source and the power of praise” One word describes this: Humility. Our position before the Lord must always be ‘low’. He alone is exalted. This low place of humility is the ‘fear of the Lord’, that awe of His Majesty which always releases true praise. Any praise that exalts man is, at best performance and entertainment; and, at worst–idolatry. Humility is the source out of which the power of true worship flows. Ezekiel humbled himself before the Lord, and this is what happened:
“Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”
Through humility, Ezekiel was lifted and brought into the Presence of the Lord.
The power of Praise
This is our true purpose lived out from the place of our identity. Jesus said. “..the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (John 4:23) Father is seeking those who, out of the truth of their rightful identity as sons of God; and, who are yielded to the Lordship of the Spirit of God, will fill the earth with praise. This is the desire of God for each of us. It comes to us through the gate of worship in the atmosphere of humility
There are two words that come to mind, “Resonate” and “Radiate”. Think again of how God created man. When He breathed upon Adam He released into him the Sound of Heaven, the Song of the Lord. Adam began to ‘resonate’ not only with God’s Song; but, his own song was awakened. Pure worship, high praise, comes when we are awakened to our own song and unite it with God’s Song. A symphony is released that carries the power of God like His voice over the waters. (Psalm 29).
Not only that; but, the Glory of the Lord is directly tied to the Song of the Lord. The land was ‘radiant’ with the glory of the Lord. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” cry the seraphim at the throne of God. And, so it is! But, the glory has been buried, hidden away waiting for the ‘sons of God’ to be revealed. (see Romans 8:14, 19-21) Until now!
A New Pentecost
When Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2, the Sound and the Glory filled the house where pure worship and praise was being released. I am hearing Holy Spirit saying, “A new Pentecost is at hand! I believe this New Pentecost will fulfill what the first began.
We are in the Third Great Awakening. The revealing of the sons of God is even now happening. These ‘sons’ are those who have entered the Secret Place of God’s Presence to be purified in the Flames of Yah and cleansed in the deep healing Waters of Life. These are the ones who have awakened to their own ‘song’, embraced it and infused it with the Song of the Lord. Trained and nurtured in the intimate love of Holy Spirit, they now live fully yielded to Him. These are the ‘led’ ones who resonate the Song and radiate the Glory of the Lord. The fullness of God’s glory has been hidden away in these ‘sons of praise’, just as the glory has been hidden in the earth–until now!
The Lord said, “I will glorify the place of My feet!” This He is doing in this hour.
Selah