In Awe of God's Glory

Day Fifteen                  

In Awe of God’s Glory          

Hebrews 9:1-14

An orthodox, first-century Jew, hearing John’s description of the coming of the Word and of His glory, could not have failed to have been reminded of Solomon’s Temple, and of Herod’s reconstruction. Classically, the Temple was made up of a series of courts. Each court was named for the group of people who could enter it, but go no further. The outer court was reserved for the Gentiles, that is, for those who were not Jews by birth. Anyone who wished to worship the God of Israel could enter this court, but on pain of death they could not go further. The next court was the “Court of the Women.” It marked the nearest area that any devout Israelite woman could come to the shrine. Beyond it lay the “Court of Israel,” which represented the limit for Israelite men. During the great festivals of the Jewish year, those men, of Jewish birth, who were ceremonially clean, could enter the Temple as far as the Court of Israel. Priests could take the next step. They could enter into the holy place, drawing near to the innermost, most sacred center of the Temple, but they could not enter. On one day, and one day only, the High Priest could enter into the “Holy of Holies” (Hebrews 9:3). On the Day of Atonement, after the offering of suitable sacrifices, the High Priest passed beyond the great, ceremonial veil, carrying a censer and incense. There, he would put incense on a fire and great plumes of smoke would arise, concealing the holiness of God and protecting the High Priest from death, since to see God was to die. All of this would have been understood by John’s Jewish readers, when he wrote about the glory of the Lord.

How shocking it must have been for the! How could God’s glory be manifested in a man, still less in a child? Even those who had responded to the Gospel, and had accepted Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, must have struggled to accept that the glory that had been hidden from human eyes for so long had been revealed in Jesus. That they did accept it shows, not that they had a diminished understanding of glory, but that they had an elevated view of Christ.

This is something we need to rediscover. We have made Jesus so like us that He is commonplace. We have sanitized His holiness to such a degree that we feel able to disregard Him. We have forgotten what it is to stand in awe before Him. Yet, says John, the Savior whom we worship at our convenience is actually the King of glory. One day, before Him, every knee shall bow.

God of glory and of grace, I praise You. In Christ, You overcame the power of sin and death. Yours is the victory I celebrate every resurrection day, for Yours is the dominion, and the power, and the glory forever; through Christ my Lord. Amen.