The Cloud, The Fire & The Glory

INTRODUCTION & SCRIPTURE

If you have your Bibles with you this morning I would like you to open it at 2 Chronicles 5.

We are going to read a couple of verse this morning to enable us to get a clear picture of what God has placed on my heart to share with you this morning.

While you find the place in your Bible, let me just give you some background regarding this piece of scripture.

The Temple of God was finished, all the building work and decoration work has been done and now it is time to consecrate the Temple.

If you can remember, God instructed that the Temple be built, but He did not allow David to build it.

We read in:

1 Chronicles 28:3 GW

(3) But God told me (David), 'You must not build the temple for my name. You have fought wars and caused bloodshed.'

So here, in the scripture this morning, we have David’s son, Solomon, having been at the head of the building project, now also present at the consecration of the Temple.

So let’s read from verse 1.

2 Chronicles 5:1-7, 11-14, 6:1, 7:1-3 GW

1) All the work Solomon did on the LORD'S temple was finished. He brought the holy things that had belonged to his father David-the silver, gold, and all the utensils-and put them in the storerooms of God's temple.

2) Then Solomon assembled the respected leaders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the Israelite families. They came to Jerusalem to take the ark of the LORD'S promise (The Ark of the Covenant, KJV) from the City of David (that is, Zion).

3) All the men of Israel gathered around the king at the Festival of Booths in the seventh month. [(Feast of Tabernacles, KJV) (Sukkot) – Later, after Israel entered Promised Land, it became The Fall of Harvest (Chag ha-Asif)]

4) When all the leaders of Israel had arrived, the Levites picked up the ark.

5) They brought the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils in it to the temple. The priests and the Levites carried them [The tent of meetings was the meeting place with God when the Israelites were in the desert after Moses freed them from the Egyptian slavery. They did not have a permanent Temple at that time, mainly because they travelled a lot. So we see that the tent of meeting, the original meeting place with God, was now also placed inside the newly erected Temple. Also, the Ark was placed in the Temple. So we see that God, in our human understanding, was brought into the temple. It was given to Him to occupy so to say. He was given residency.]

6) while King Solomon and the whole assembly from Israel were offering countless sheep and cattle sacrifices in front of the ark. [There was sacrifices given to God. Sometimes we need to make some sacrifices before God will bring His Glory to us.]

7) The priests brought the ark of the LORD'S promise to its place in the inner room of the temple (the most holy place) under the wings of the angels. [We see that God was given Centre stage]

11) All the priests who were present had performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy to God without regard to staying in their divisions. [The priests made themselves Holy before entering into the most holy place – Sanctification took place. Whenever we want the Glory of the Lord to manifest in our midst, we need to sanctify ourselves, we need to confess any sins to God and be washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ.]

12) All the Levites who were musicians-Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons, and their relatives-were dressed in fine linen and stood east of the altar with cymbals, harps, and lyres. With the musicians were 120 priests blowing trumpets. When the priests left the holy place,

13) the trumpeters and singers praised and thanked the LORD in unison. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, they sang in praise to the LORD: "He is good; his mercy endures forever." Then the LORD'S temple was filled with a cloud. [They praised & worshipped the Lord. Look at the word used here “unison”. The KJV says that “the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound”. They were in one accord. Whenever we pray, praise and worship God in one accord, the Glory of God will fall in our midst, and it can even be seen as a physical manifestation. When this Glory falls, people WILL get saved, people WILL get healed, and people WILL be filled with the Spirit, even when no one prayed for them. But there needs to be a unison. In other words, everyone must be making the same sound. Too often we find that the Glory of God is not present in a church meeting for the clear fact that there are no union amongst the congregation. People fight amongst each other, talk bad things behind other people’s back.]