Discipleship – the glory of God!

God took up resi­dence on this earth in the tent of reve­la­ti­on. God took up resi­dence among his peo­p­le with his glo­ry. The glo­ry of God shows its­elf as a mani­fes­ta­ti­on of his power. But this glo­ry was too gre­at for peo­p­le to bear. That is why it was vei­led. Sin­ce Jesus Christ, howe­ver, the Holy Spi­rit dwells in every per­son who fol­lows Jesus. This makes the body a sanc­tua­ry of the Holy Spi­rit. The­r­e­fo­re, life is then a ser­vice to God and reflects the glo­ry of God. The Holy Spi­rit empowers a life that is per­me­a­ted by the glo­ry of God, i.e. in which the power of God beco­mes visible.

God’s «Shekinah» glory

We are still tra­vel­ling with the peo­p­le of Isra­el in the desert. The people’s jour­ney tells us a lot about our fol­lo­wing of Jesus. The peo­p­le made a coven­ant with God on Mount Sinai. The­re they recei­ved various ins­truc­tions as to what this rela­ti­onship should look like. God deci­ded that he wan­ted to dwell in the midst of his peo­p­le. «I will dwell among the Israe­li­tes and be their God» (Exodus 29:45 NLB). He cho­se a tent sanc­tua­ry for this. It was sui­ta­ble for their cur­rent situa­ti­on. They were tra­vel­ling and so they could take the shri­ne with them whe­re­ver they went. It is a sign that God goes with them. The term she­chi­nah is used in Jewish and Chris­ti­an tra­di­ti­on. The root lies in the Hebrew word «skn», which means to sett­le, dwell, rest. Thus the mea­ning of She­ki­nah is the pre­sence of God among the peo­p­le of Isra­el. This dwel­ling of God among the Israe­li­tes is central.

The tent sanc­tua­ry has various names and is also known as the Tent of Reve­la­ti­on. It was the place whe­re Moses recei­ved his ins­truc­tions from God. God dwelt in this tent and met the peo­p­le. They in turn cam­ped around the sanc­tua­ry. This made it clear what God’s posi­ti­on was among the peo­p­le: He was the cent­re. Moses recei­ved clear ins­truc­tions for the con­s­truc­tion and strict­ly adhe­red to them. «[…] When Moses had finis­hed the work, the cloud cover­ed the tent of God and the glo­ry of the LORD was reve­a­led.üIt hap­pen­ed. Moses could no lon­ger enter the tent of God becau­se the cloud des­cen­ded on it and fil­led the tent of God with the glo­ry of the Lord.ühad» (Exodus 40:33–35 NLB). Three ele­ments are named here: The cloud, the tent of God and the glo­ry of the Lord. All three are the focus of today’s ser­mon. First­ly, we look at the glo­ry of God. In Hebrew, to sett­le has the same root as She­chi­nah. But the glo­ry of God is so gre­at that Moses can no lon­ger enter the sanc­tua­ry. This shows that peo­p­le can­not enter into the pre­sence of God’s glo­ry. This glo­ry was then pla­ced on the Ark of the Coven­ant, which stood in the Holy of Holies of the Tent. Only the high priest was allo­wed to enter this room. And only once a year. But he had to make so much smo­ke that he could not see the lid of the Ark of the Coven­ant. Alt­hough the glo­ry of God dwelt among the Israe­li­tes, it was still cover­ed and vei­led. The glo­ry of God refers to his great­ness, sple­ndour and majes­ty. We encoun­ter this not as an attri­bu­te, but as a mani­fes­ta­ti­on of his divi­ne power. God’s glo­ry is reve­a­led when HE leads the peo­p­le out of Egypt. HE leads them to vic­to­ry in batt­les. HE pro­vi­des the Israe­li­tes with food in the desert. The­se are all deeds that can be tra­ced back to his glory.

The body of the followers of Jesus as the temple of the Holy Spirit

The tent of reve­la­ti­on is the place whe­re God takes up resi­dence on earth. But Jesus Christ makes such a loca­li­sed sanc­tua­ry super­fluous. «Or do you not know that your body is a temp­le of the Holy Spi­rit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to your­sel­ves, for God has paid a high pri­ce for you.üpaid for you. The­r­e­fo­re honour God with your body!» (1 Corin­thi­ans 6:19–20 NLB). After some time, the temp­le repla­ced the tent of reve­la­ti­on as the sanc­tua­ry in Isra­el. What remains the same, howe­ver, is the fact that the temp­le was God’s dwel­ling place on this earth. A temp­le points to a dei­ty and in a sen­se belongs to it. Now the body of a fol­lower of Jesus is a temp­le of the Holy Spi­rit. This has con­se­quen­ces. So a fol­lower of Jesus points to God in ever­y­thing and God takes up resi­dence in him through the Holy Spi­rit. And now comes the cru­cial point. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus share in the glo­ry of God becau­se they are a temp­le of the Holy Spi­rit. «When Christ, who is your life, will be known to the who­le world, then it will also beco­me visi­ble that you share his glo­ry with him» (Colos­si­ans 3:4 NLB). Do we under­stand what hap­pen­ed here? In the past, the glo­ry of God fil­led the tent and peo­p­le could no lon­ger enter the tent. Now God takes up resi­dence in us humans. Chris­ti­ans share the glo­ry with their Lord Jesus Christ. So what does wor­ship mean when they are a sanc­tua­ry of the Holy Spi­rit? It means that God is hono­u­red with your who­le life. More spe­ci­fi­cal­ly, «What I do is a ser­vice of wor­ship and praise».

The estab­lish­ment of God’s glo­ry is a sign that he dwelt in the midst of the Israe­li­tes. The same appli­es to fol­lo­wers of Jesus. The glo­ry of God has sett­led in our lives through the Holy Spi­rit. The glo­ry of God is a power and is demons­tra­ted, among other things, by the fruits of the Holy Spi­rit (Gala­ti­ans 5:22–23). The­se fruits are the power of the Holy Spi­rit. If I try to chan­ge things and pro­du­ce good fruit in my own strength, then I will fail. Becau­se God does this, not me. If I want to pro­du­ce good fruit in my own strength, it is my strength and not his and most of the time such chan­ges are not sus­tainable. Then it is not the glo­ry of God that shows its­elf, but I try to chan­ge things out of my own glo­ry. This is then self-aggrandising.

The «cloud» over the lives of Jesus» followers

The cloud accom­pa­nies the peo­p­le of Isra­el throug­hout the wil­der­ness peri­od. «Every time the cloud lifted from the tent of God, the Israe­li­tes left. But if the cloud did not rise, they stay­ed whe­re they were until the cloud rose again. Throug­hout their jour­ney, the cloud of the LORD res­ted on the tent of God during the day. At night the­re was fire in the cloud, which all the Israe­li­tes could see» (Exodus 40:36–38 NLB). God has pre­ce­ded the peo­p­le to this point in a pil­lar of cloud. This now sett­les on the sanc­tua­ry and takes on various func­tions. First­ly, the cloud is a sign of God’s pre­sence. It could be seen from the who­le camp. It was even lit up at night so that ever­yo­ne could see it. It was the ever­y­day and ever-pre­sent reassu­rance of God’s pre­sence. In addi­ti­on, the cloud hid God’s glo­ry from the Israe­li­tes. God real­ly did dwell among them, but in a cloud. The cloud also pro­vi­ded pro­tec­tion for the tent of reve­la­ti­on. The roof of the tent was made of dif­fe­rent fabrics lying on top of each other. But the best pro­tec­tion was the cloud that sett­led on the tent. Last but not least, the cloud acted as a gui­de for the Israe­li­tes. It show­ed them the way and also when they should take a break. The cloud reassu­red the Israe­li­tes that they were under con­stant divi­ne guidance.

Through Jesus Christ, the way to the Father in hea­ven has now been cle­ared. The cloud no lon­ger has to cover the glo­ry of God. Every fol­lower of Jesus is now a temp­le of the Holy Spi­rit hims­elf. «The veil has been remo­ved from all of us so that we can see the glo­ry of the Lord as in a mir­ror. And the Spi­rit of the Lord works in us so that we beco­me more and more like him and incre­asing­ly reflect his glo­ry» (2 Corin­thi­ans 3:18 NLB). The veil has been taken away. In other words, the cloud with its vei­ling func­tion is gone. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus now reflect the glo­ry of God. In a sen­se, we can say that the Spi­rit of the Lord has taken the place of the cloud. The Holy Spi­rit is a sign of God’s pre­sence. «The Holy Spi­rit is the gua­ran­tee that he will give us ever­y­thing he has pro­mi­sed us and that we are his pro­per­ty – to the prai­se of his glo­ry» (Ephe­si­ans 1:14 NLB). The Holy Spi­rit shows that fol­lo­wers of Jesus belong to God. If the cloud was a pro­tec­tion for the sanc­tua­ry, the Holy Spi­rit is the empower­ment. Rather, the Holy Spi­rit is now also the empower­ment to endu­re things that seem too dif­fi­cult for us. This can be, for exam­p­le, the empower­ment to ans­wer ques­ti­ons. «But if you are arres­ted and stand tri­al, don’t worry about what you should say in your defence. Just say what God puts in your mouth. It is not you who will speak, but the Holy Spi­rit» (Mark 13:11 NLB). In addi­ti­on, the Holy Spi­rit is the gui­de of my life. He assu­res me of God’s pre­sence. God with me. I per­so­nal­ly live this in such a way that I invol­ve God in pray­er in as many things as pos­si­ble and then bold­ly go forward.

The Holy Spi­rit took the place of the cloud of the Old Tes­ta­ment. But he is much more. While the cloud was only a pic­tu­re of God’s glo­ry, the Holy Spi­rit is a part of God hims­elf. The Holy Spi­rit works in the fol­lo­wers of Jesus so that they reflect the glo­ry of God. The glo­ry of God is reve­a­led in his power. This means that mira­cles are part of it! As the Holy Spi­rit lives in the fol­lo­wers of Jesus, he turns the body into a sanc­tua­ry that points to God. He hims­elf is a gui­de, com­fort­er, coun­sell­or and much more.

Possible questions for the small group

Read Bible text: Exodus 40:33–38

1. What do you under­stand by the glo­ry of God?
2. The glo­ry of God mani­fests its­elf as power. Have you alre­a­dy expe­ri­en­ced it?
3. What does the thought that you, as a fol­lower of Jesus, are a sanc­tua­ry of the Holy Spi­rit trig­ger in you? What frigh­tens you? What encou­ra­ges you about this thought?
4. How could you make more room for the glo­ry of God in your life through the Holy Spirit?
5. How do you reflect the glo­ry of God?
6. In which area are you depen­dent on the empower­ment of the Holy Spirit?