1. Oldham Woods church of Christ
The Presence of God
Where is the glory?
From Eden to Eternity . .
Sept 23, 2007
Sunday AM
Oldham Woods church of Christ

2. Rev 21:3
"Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them
What is the tabernacle doing in heaven?

3. Definition of Tabernacle
Lit. A tent, temporary dwelling place
Bible came to mean “a place where God dwelled” among His people.

4. Began in Eden Before the fall Adam and Eve enjoyed sweet fellowship!
Parallels with Tabernacle
Cheribum
Golden candle stick = Tree of life?
Heaven (tabernacle) = Paradise

5. Law of Moses Ex 20-10 Comm. Direct Communication!
Ex 24 – Ratify the Covenant
Ex 25:8 “Let them construct a sanctuary for Me.”
½ of Exodus instructions on how to build the tabernacle!

6. Ex 40: 33-35
“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
Shekinah Glory

7. The Cloud and Pillar of Fire
(Exodus 25:8, 22; 29:43; 40:34-3)

8. Why two tablets? Is this concept right? Wrote on both sides! Ex 32:15
A covenant agreement
Both parties had a copy!
Where did God keep His?

9. The Ark of the Covenant

10. God warns Israel This covenant is CONDITIONAL!
Lev 26: “If you act with hostility towards me, I will act with hostility towards you.”
God is Holy!

11. David
II Sam 7 :2 “I dwell in a palace of cedar but God dwells within curtains.”
God will allow a permanent temple but it will be Solomon’s job to build!

12. Solomon’s Temple Complex

13. Solomon’s Temple
Twice the size but proportional
Permanent version

14. II Chron 5:7-14 Shekinah Glory
“Brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, under the wings of the cherubim. And there was nothing in the ark but the two tablets which Moses put there where the Lord made a covenant.”
Vs “Then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
Shekinah Glory

15. 2 Chron 7:1-2
“Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house. 2 The priests could not enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD'S house.”

16. Jerusalem = God’s presence
A Jew would always face Jerusalem when they prayed! WHY?
God reminded Solomon II Chron 7: 19
that the temple and land are conditional blessings!
That was where God lived!

17. The Great Apostacy Solomon sins Kingdom is divided
Civil war and idolatry
Israel – Assyrian Captivity
Judah – Babylonian Captivity 2 Kgs 25

18. Ezekiel
Exiles are in denial. God will not allow His own house to be destroyed!
Message: Yes He will!

19. Ark of the Covenant, Tablets of Stone lost
Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
10: “The glory of the Lord departed .. When the cherubim departed… with the wheels beside them.”
11:23-24 “The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city.”
His house is empty!
Ark of the Covenant, Tablets of Stone lost

20. Jeremiah -- New covenant
Messianic Hope!
Ezekiel 37:23 “No longer defile themselves with idols…”
37: 24 “My servant David will be king over them!”
37:26 “I will make a covenant of peace with them!”
Jeremiah -- New covenant

21. Messianic Hope!
Ezek 43: 2-5 “The glory of the Lord will fill (a restored) house of God!”
Ezek 48:25 “The name of the city from that day forward shall be Jehovah Shammah = Jehovah is there.

22. What Happened? Righteous remnant returns and rebuilds the temple.
Haggai 2:3 “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory?”
Vs 4 “Take courage .. For I Am With you!
Vs 6 “I will fill this house also with glory.”
Vs 9 “The latter glory will be greater than the former!”

23. What happened? Ezra 1-2 tells us they finished.
Upon completion – NO SHEKINAH GLORY!
Jews complain lacks full restoration:
No spirit of prophecy
No Urim and Thummin
No ark of the covenant - HH empty!
No GLORY!
OT ends with an empty shell waiting to be filled with glory!

24. When fulfilled?
Was it in the Herodian Temple?

25. Herodian Temple Ancient 7 Wonders of the World! Built for destruction!
Completed 64 AD
Destroyed 70 AD

26. Where is the Glory? What Ezekiel promised!
Jesus: Lk 2: “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 " Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
What Ezekiel promised!

27. God's presence (glory) has returned!
Where is the Glory?
Matt 1:22-23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."
God's presence (glory) has returned!

28. Jn 1:14
“The word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth.”
Dwelt – “dwell in a tent.” GK. = Tabernacled among us.
Glory – what kept filling the Tab. & Temple !

29. Jesus entering the Herodian temple
Not even go inside, OT system he was from wrong tribe!
The greater glory came when Jesus replaced the OT temple with the church!
John 2:21 “ But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”

30. Conclusion
Acts 2 – Miraculous manifestations = God taking up residence in His church!
The church = temple of God! Col 1:27
Relationship is still conditional!
Not the end of the story!
Both OT and NT temples are copies of the true tabernacle in HEAVEN!

33. The Temple of Solomon
The temple proper was surrounded on the north, west and south by chambers three stories high, which served as storerooms, offices and possibly also as accommodation for the priests. There was no entrance to these chambers from inside the temple, but an external door on the south side of the chambers, near the eastern end, gave access to an internal spiral staircase to the upper floors. The whole structure was on a platform elevated above the terraced courtyards that completely surrounded it. The brazen altar, brazen sea and the lavers were in the inner court, where the sacrifices and other ceremonials took place, which the public in the outer court could watch, but they could not mingle with the participants. The courts were enclosed within walls made of three courses of hewn stone, surmounted by a row of cedar beams.

34. God's building
God's building: -- There have been many splendid structures which, in their day, have been the wonder and admiration of the world, but this infinitely transcends them all. The colossal palaces and hanging gardens reared by Nebuchadnezzar must have presented a gorgeous spectacle; while the fame of Solomon's temple has filled the earth in every age. But what is all this material splendour, which has long since passed away, to this temple whose stones are immortal spirits -- whose foundation is the rock of ages-whose walls no revolutions can ever shake -- whose fair proportions shall be fully developed, amid the ruin of all the mightiest and loveliest works of human ingenuity and power -- whose top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings when the "heavens shall have passed away." In surveying this building, note --
(from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright (c) 2002 AGES and Biblesoft, Inc.)

37. All the contents of the temple were taken off as loot when Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC. The Persians, whose empire succeeded that of the Babylonians, restored some of the treasures:
Cyrus gave them back the bowls and cups that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had put in the temple of his gods. He handed them over to Mithredath, chief of the royal treasury, who made an inventory of them for Sheshbazzar, the governor of Judah, as follows:
gold bowls for offerings 30
silver bowls for offerings 1,000
other bowls 29
small gold bowls 30
small silver bowls 410
other utensils 1,000
In all there were 5,400 gold and silver bowls and other articles which Sheshbazzar took with him when he and the other exiles went from Babylon to Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:7-11)

38. The Golden Lampstand