1 Kings 8:10-11

The Glory cloud.

Never did Solomon appear so much "in all his glory" as on this memorial day of the dedication of the temple. The solemnities of the service, the procession of the sacred ark from the city of David into its resting place, the robed priests, the rapturous multitude, the unnumbered sacrifices, the music and the songs, must have formed altogether a marvellous spectacle. But of all the incidents of the day none could be compared with that of the sudden appearance of the Shechinah—the glory cloud. This introduced new supernatural element. The rest was human—man's handiwork, man's worship, man's glory; this was Divine—the miraculous sign of the present and approving God. It raises the scene above comparison with any similar scene in the history of any other nation. Other peoples have reared their gorgeous temples, and kings and priests have gone in solemn pomp and circumstance to consecrate them. But what shrine has ever been honoured like this? Altars to false gods inmunerable have been reared, but where has been the fire from heaven to kindle their sacrifices? Idol temples dedicated—where the radiant cloud of the Divine presence? The priests were too much dazzled by the shining splendour to continue their ministrations. Solomon might well be filled with adoring wonder. "But will God indeed?" etc. ( 1 Kings 8:27 ). Many Scripture examples of the way in which miraculous revelations of the presence of God overawe the spirits of men: Jacob at Bethel, Moses before the burning bush, Elijah at the mouth of the cave, the disciples of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, etc. Solomon's, however, was not so much an emotion of fear, but of sacred reverence and glad surprise. The appearance of the cloud set the seal of Divine acceptance on the temple and its service, linking it with all the glorious associations of the past—the climax and crown of a long series of miraculous Divine manifestations. But look on it now as prophetic of a more glorious future, as imaging forth to the men of that age higher forms of Divine manifestation that in the fulness of time should come to pass.

I. THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST . When the eternal Son of the Father laid aside the "form of God," and took upon Him "the likeness of sinful flesh," He filled the temple of a human body with the Divine glory. God came to dwell in very deed "amongst men upon the earth." The Infinite Unseen submitted to the conditions of a finite visible personality. The Light insufferable, "which no man can approach unto," veiled itself in a cloud of mortal flesh. "We beheld his glory," etc. ( John 1:14 ). When the second temple was being built, many of the people were troubled at the thought that it would be so inferior to the first. The old men who had "seen the first house" wept ( Ezra 3:12 ; Haggai 2:3 ). But the prophets of the time were commissioned to comfort them with the assurance that, though the old symbolic grandeur was gone, the glory of the latter house should be greater than that of the former. It would contain no ark, no mercy seat, no Shechinah, no heaven-kindled fire, no Urim and Thummim, no prophetic spirit; "Ichabod" would be written on its walls. But a nobler Presence than had ever been seen on earth before would irradiate it in the coming time: "Behold I will send my messenger," etc. ( Malachi 3:1 ); "Yet once, it is a while, and I will shake the heavens," etc. ( Haggai 2:6 , Haggai 2:7 ). Every time the Lord Jesus, "the brightness of the Father's glory," entered the temple—as a babe in His mother's arms, as a boy girding Himself for His "Father's business," as a man in the fulness of His Divine authority, purging it from defilement, expounding in it the law of acceptable worship, making it the centre of His beneficent healing ministry—He verified in some new form these prophetic words. The manifestations of the present Deity in the olden times "have no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth," even "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Do we ask, "Will God in very deed dwell?" etc; the answer comes back to us, "Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest," etc. ( 1 Timothy 3:16 ), "Immanuel, God with us" ( Matthew 1:23 ). That outshining radiance in the temple was dazzling, almost repellent, deepening the sense of distance, creating fear; this Divine apocalypse is infinitely active, gives unmistakable proof of sympathetic personal nearness, awakens grateful, trustful, and adoring love.

II. THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT . The manifestation of God in the person of His Son was preparatory to the richer grace—the actual impartation of Himself by His Spirit to the individual souls of men (see Ephesians 4:8 sqq.; 2 Corinthians 6:16 ). The dispensation of the Spirit is the ultimate fact. In this God communicates Himself in the highest form of revelation, and the most intimate fellowship of which man is capable. The "dwelling" of the Holy Ghost in every new-born soul, in every assembly of true spiritual worshippers, in the "one body" of the universal Church, is prefigured in the scene before us. The day of the dedication of the temple finds its antitype in the "day of Pentecost." Place these manifestations side by side. As you trace the lines of comparison between them, how glorious does the Christian fact appear! The one was material in its nature—a bright and beautiful vision for the eye, appealing indirectly through the senses to the soul; the other intensely spiritual—a blessed overpowering influence, seizing at once on the minds and hearts of the people, the flowing in of a Divine life. And though there was something for the eye and ear, its form was such as to suggest most strikingly that living word of truth and holy fire of love which the heart alone can know. The one was diffuse, general, indiscriminate—a bright, scattered cloud filling the place;—the other was distinct and personal. The Spirit of God deals not with companies of men, but with isolated souls. There was a separate tongue of flame on the head of each. Not the place merely, but the men, each according to his own individuality, was "filled with the Holy Ghost." The one manifestation concealed more than it revealed. It was the sign of God's presence, but it made the people feel that He is indeed a "God that hideth himself." They could not really "behold his glory." They "saw through a glass"—a cloud—"darkly." The "dispensation of the Spirit," though it did not remove fleshly restrictions, brought in that blessed condition of things in which the soul has such a thrilling sense of Divine communion as scarcely to need any material help to the apprehension of it, and almost to forget the intervening veil. The one manifestation was local and exclusive, confined to the central shrine of Jewish worship, distinguishing the Jewish people from all the world besides; "to them belonged the glory." The grace of the Spirit is God's free gift to all mankind, "shed on us abundantly" ( Joel 2:28 ; Acts 10:45 ; Titus 3:5 ). The Spirit is the exclusive possession of none of the churches, owns no human creed, or ritual, or ecclesiastical boundary rather than another, dwells with all who call upon the same redeeming Lord. The one manifestation was transitory, served a temporary purpose. The "glory" soon departed again, and returned to the heaven from whence it came. The other is an enduring reality. The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, "abides with us forever." the spring of an imperishable life, the pledge and pro. phecy of the unfading glory of God's unveiled presence.—W.

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND