God’s Presence in His Place

Written by Bill Elliff

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.… Then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God (2 Chron. 5:7, 13-14 NASB).

I am overwhelmed this morning with this picture. Lose your familiarity with the text, and picture this moment as if you’d never read it before.

Solomon had built the temple. Never had God chosen a place for His temple to be built, until His people returned to Jerusalem—the city dedicated to God and God alone for all time.

David had longed to build the temple, but his son Solomon was chosen. And, when it was built, there was no structure like it in the world.

The Reminder

God cannot be confined to one place alone. Solomon knew that and voiced it in his prayer later. But, for God’s purposes, He chose to have His people focus on this place, particularly the holy of holies, in a special way. He was there, and this place represented the work He had done and would do for His people. It was to be the constant reminder of His presence—that He was in the center of His people.

The Ark

The Law was there, inside the ark. This represented who God is and what He wants His people to be like. He knew we could not fulfill this on our own. But above the Law was the mercy seat, which represented the work the Messiah would do to make us holy. This work would give us the ability to be conformed to His image—to be like Him. It offers the forgiveness and the empowering we need to be holy as He is holy.

The Cherubim

Overshadowing it all were two cherubim—majestic, supernatural representations of the mighty angels who would guard over all this work.

The Glory

The glory of God filled the house of God. It was so strong that no one could stand before it—a visible, tangible, unforgettable moment that forever sealed in the people’s mind that God had chosen to settle down among them.

The Picture

The picture of this place is stunning. But even more astounding is that God has now chosen His believers to be His temple! Paul reminds us that we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, complete with an outer court (the body), an inner court (the soul), and a holy of holies (the spirit), where God has chosen to place His Spirit.

The Privilege

There is no privilege so great as being inhabited by God. And with this privilege comes great responsibility. We must so cooperate with God right now, today, that the world sees this glory. This one truth should transform us today, calling us to acknowledge His presence in us and respond to Him in ways that release His life through us to a needy world!

When we gather to worship, the combined glory of God in each of us should fill the house, if we are cooperating with Him.

Corporate and national revival occurs when God chooses to manifest His glory in even more deliberate ways among us. It is for this that we must pray and work, crying out to God for His manifestations. It is our only hope for the national course-correction we need.

Hallelujah! God has chosen to place Himself among us! He has done it in the past; He is doing it now. And one day, we will experience it fully in the perfection of heaven!