Glory of the Lord
Isaiah 40:5 “And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
In the Book of Ezekiel chapters 10 and 11 we see the glory of the Lord departing from the temple. In the first chapters of Ezekiel we see the sin of the people of Israel. God is warning them, but they are refusing to listen. This is most usually the case with His people, not listening to His admonitions or warnings until it is too late.
Because they would not listen – we see in Ezekiel chapters 10 and 11 the glory of the Lord beginning to depart from the temple, or rather His mercy seat. The glory of the Lord was leaving the place of mercy and entering into the place of judgment. However it is important for us to see that when God moves from a place of mercy to judgment it will be very slow, but at a steady pace. But, when He moves from judgment to mercy it will always be instantaneous.
What is interesting is to see how He moves. In Ezekiel 10:18 we see the glory of the Lord over the threshold. There He waits to see what His people will do. Will they listen to the prophets, heed the warnings and repent or will He have to take another step towards judgment? They do not repent so He takes another step of leaving the temple and the place of mercy. According to verse 19 He is now over the East gate and again He waits. What will His people do?
They do not repent and so we read in Ezekiel 11:23 that the glory of the Lord is now over the Mountain, east of it on the Mount of Olives. The glory of the Lord has now departed from the temple. God has moved into the place of judgment. We see the judgment that fell on God’s people for almost the rest of the book of Ezekiel, which also models the history of the children of Israel up until today.
However, we find that repentance does come in and the glory of the Lord returns. We read about this in Ezekiel 43:4 “The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.” What is interesting is that there is no stopping over the Mountain, or the East Gate or the Threshold, but immediately the glory of the Lord is pervading the Temple over the mercy seat.
In the New Testament we see something that is parallel to this, in Luke 20:9-15 we have the parable of the tenants. Here we see the landlord who planted a vineyard and went on a journey. At harvest time he sent his servants to gather fruit, but were wrongfully treated and cast out, and some were killed. Almost in desperation we hear the owner say: “What shall I do?” and then he goes on to say: “I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.” But the son is rejected, cast out and killed.
This ties in with Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Here we see the heart of God. “How often I have longed to gather your children together,” and we see the heart of man as well, “but you were not willing.”
So we read in Matthew 24:1 that “Jesus left the temple.” The glory of the Lord of Israel had departed from the temple. After this Jesus never came back to the temple. Where did He go? He went to the East Mount – the Mount of Olives.
God is warning us as He has always warned His people throughout time, but are we listening? This is most usually the case with God’s people, not listening to His admonitions or warnings – until it is too late.