The Service In The Glory

7:15 That is why they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits upon the throne will spread the covering of his glory over them.

Those who have been faithful will have the entry into the very presence of God. Jesus said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" ( Matthew 5:8 ).

There is a very significant fact hidden here. Serving God day and night was part of the task of the Levites and the priests ( 1 Chronicles 9:33 ). Now those who are before the throne of God in this vision are, as we have already seen in Revelation 7:9 , drawn from every race and tribe and people and tongue. Here is a revolution. In the earthly Temple in Jerusalem no Gentile could go beyond the Court of the Gentiles on pain of death. An Israelite could pass through the Court of the Women and enter into the Court of the Israelites, but no further. Beyond that was the Court of the Priests, which was for priests alone. But in the heavenly temple the way to the presence of God is open to people of every race. Here is a picture of heaven with the barriers down. Distinctions of race and of status exist no more; the way into the presence of God is open to every faithful soul.

There is one other half-hidden fact here. In Revelation 7:15 the King James Version has it that he who sits upon the throne shall dwell among them. That is a perfectly correct translation, but there is more in it than meets the eye. The Greek for to dwell is skenoun ( Greek #4637 ), from skene ( Greek #4633 ) which means a tent. It is the same word as is used when John says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ( John 1:14 ). The Jews always connected this with a certain Hebrew word which was somewhat similar in sound although quite unrelated in meaning. This was the word shechinah (compare Hebrew #7931 ), the visible presence of the glory of God. Usually that presence took the form of a luminous cloud. So when the Ten Commandments were given, "the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days.... And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain" ( Exodus 24:16-18 ). It was the same with the Tabernacle. The cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter into the Tabernacle because of the glory of the Lord. This was the cloud which guided the Israelites by day and the fire that guided them by night ( Exodus 40:34-38 ). At the dedication of Solomon's temple the glory of the Lord filled it so that the priests could not enter ( 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 ).

Skenoun ( Greek #4637 ) always turned the thoughts of a Jew to shechinah (compare the Hebrew verb, shakan, Hebrew #7931 , to dwell): and to say that God dwelt in any place was to say that his glory was there.

This was always so for a Jew, but as time went on it became more and more so. The Jews came to think of God as increasingly remote from the world. They did not even think it right to speak of him as being in the world; that was to speak in terms which were too human; and so they took to substituting the shechinah (compare Hebrew #7931 ), for the name of God. We read Jacob's words at Bethel: "Surely the Lord is in this place" ( Genesis 28:16 ); the Rabbis changed that to: "The shechinah (compare Hebrew #7931 ) is in this place." In Habbakuk we read: "The Lord is in his holy temple" ( Habakkuk 2:20 ); but the later Jews said: "God was pleased to cause his shechinah (compare Hebrew #7931 ) to dwell in the temple." In Isaiah we read: "My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" ( Isaiah 6:5 ); the later Jews altered it to: "Mine eyes have seen the shechinah (compare Hebrew #7931 ), of the King of the world."

No Jew would hear the word skenoun ( Greek #4637 ) without thinking of shechinah; and the real meaning of the passage is that God's blessed ones would serve and live in the very sheen of his glory.

It can be so on earth. He who faithfully works and witnesses for God has always the glory of God upon his work.