PPG 222 4/14/85; ISR 8 5/21/91

DOCTRINE OF THE SHEKINAH

A. Jesus Christ, the Shekinah Glory of Israel, lived in the Holy of holies, Ex 25:21-22; Lev 26:11-12; Ps 91:1; Heb 9:5. His presence was manifest by a cloud above the tabernacle by day and a pillar of fire by night, so that the Jews could always tell when Jesus Christ was present in the tabernacle.

1. The Shekinah Glory is related to two theophanies.

a. The cloud over the tabernacle and sometimes in the tabernacle.

b. The Shekinah Glory appeared as a bright light between the cherubs over the mercy seat in the Holy of holies.

c. Scripture.

(1) Ex 40:35, “And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

(2) Ex 16:10, “And behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.”

(3) Num 16:42, “And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.”

(4) Heb 9:5, “And above the ark of the covenant, the cherubs of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.”

(5) Isa 37:16, “O Lord of the Armies, O God of Israel, who sits between the cherubs, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth.”

(6) Ps 99:1, “The Lord rules. He sits between the cherubs.”

(7) Rom 9:4, “Who are the Israelites, to whom is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants.”

2. Only the high priest was permitted to enter the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement to offer blood. He sprinkled the blood over the mercy seat, which contained sin, as the atonement for man’s sin. The holiness of God the Father was satisfied with the blood of Christ—His sacrifice on the Cross. The Shekinah Glory emphasized the true heritage of Israel in regeneration.

3. The Shekinah Glory emphasized the fact that God guaranteed temporal blessings while Israel was on earth and eternal blessings for believers afterwards. The Shekinah Glory dwelt between the Cherubs as a guarantee of Israel’s blessings as a client nation to God. For example, the Shekinah Glory guaranteed that Abraham would have an eternal city, the new Jerusalem, suspended above the earth for all eternity.

C. The Shekinah Glory is the sign of great blessing to Israel.

1. In Isa 7:14, “Immanuel” means “God with us.”

2. Jn 1:14, “And the word became flesh and He tabernacled among us.”

3. In the flesh, Jesus Christ lives in the prototype divine dynasphere and not in the tabernacle. “We observed His glory, the glory [the Shekinah Glory] of the unique One from the Father.” God the Father sent the Shekinah Glory to men to guarantee that escrow blessings were on deposit for those who accepted Him as Savior.

D. The change of residence of the Shekinah Glory established a transition between the First Advent and the dispensation of the Church.

1. In the Church Age, there is a new way of life—the protocol plan of God.

2. In the Old Testament, it was all ritual. That’s why the Shekinah Glory dwelt between the cherubs as a part of the ritual.

3. This is why we are new creatures in Christ.

a. We have the indwelling of Christ as the guarantee that our escrow blessings for time are available to us now.

b. We have spiritual freedom that was never available before to any other generation because it is inside the divine dynasphere.

c. 2 Cor 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit [deity of the Holy Spirit], and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Now we all with an unveiled face [filling of the Holy Spirit] looking into a mirror [Bible doctrine] to produce a reflection [the manifestation of the Shekinah Glory who indwells us], namely the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image [the protocol plan of God transforms the believer into reflected glory of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah Glory, so that we fulfill the mandate of Eph 5:1 “keep on becoming imitators of Christ"] from glory to glory [from the humanity of christ living in the prototype divine dynasphere to the momentum of the believer in the operational type divine dynasphere; this also means from the glory of the escrow blessing guaranteed by the indwelling of Christ to the glory of escrow blessing in eternity guaranteed by the fact that Jesus Christ now lives behind the veil inside the Holy of Holies] as it were from the Spirit of the Lord.”

E. We are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.

1. 1 Cor 3:16, “You are the temple of God.” A temple must have the Shekinah Glory as the guarantee of escrow blessing. This is why you must be a temple. The Holy Spirit takes our body and makes it a temple for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the guarantee of blessing in time.

2. There is a conflict between the Holy Spirit and the old sin nature as to who will control the soul, Gal 5.

3. You don’t have the ability to destroy the temple which God the Holy Spirit has built in your body. He built the temple, He maintains the temple, not you. Health is not the key to your spiritual life, and not the reflection of your spiritual life. 1 Cor 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

a. Your health is based on your genetics, metabolism, allergies, environment, common sense, mental attitude, but it has nothing to do with your spiritual life.

b. This verse was a warning for the Corinthians to stop going to the heathen temples and fornicating with the temple prostitutes in the name of religion.

4. 2 Cor 6:16, “For we are the temple of the living God, just as God has said, `I will dwell in them and walk among them; I will be their God and they will be My people.’” Lev 26 is quoted, which relates the indwelling of Christ to the Shekinah Glory.

R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740

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