The Cloud Covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of God Filled the Tabernacle

The glory of God filled the tabernacle and the temple; glory is an attribute of God, for glory is the expression of God, and in the tabernacle, we see that the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of God filled the tabernacle.

This week we come to the fourth and final crystal in 1 and 2 Kings related to the temple of God; the title is, The Temple of God filled with the Glory of God.

There is a great need for us to advance with the Lord, to go on with Him, from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life.

On one hand, we appreciate and love the tabernacle church life, for it is here that we enjoy the Lord’s presence, learn to pray one with Him, experience the offerings, have His shining, and we eat Him as the showbread table.

But there need to be some more solid experiences of Christ that we have in the church; we need to advance to have a renewed, strengthened, and uplifted experience of Christ in the church life and be in the reality of the Body of Christ.

May the Lord unveil us to see the building of God, especially appreciate the development and advancement from the tabernacle stage of the church life to the temple stage of the church life.

In the tabernacle, there was one bread for the Table of the Presence, but in the temple, there were ten such tables; our enjoyment of Christ as the bread of God’s presence needs to increase and be enlarged tenfold.

The dimensions of the altar in the temple were much larger than the altar in the tabernacle; our experience of Christ’s redemption and of consecration before the Lord needs to be increased and enlarged very much.

This doesn’t mean that we will now have even more excitement, more exciting things that we do in the church life, and we’re more buoyant and excited when we come to the meetings.

Our experience of Christ and our enjoyment of Him being enlarged has nothing to do with being excited or doing exciting things.

There needs to be a growth, advancement, and development of our experience of Christ.

We need to advance in the Lord in our experience according to His revelation related to the matter of God’s building from the stage of the tabernacle to the stage of God’s building, the temple of God.

What we see at the end of the building of the temple of God is that, at the time of the “dedication of the temple,” after the many sacrifices were offered and Solomon offered that wonderful prayer, the glory of God filled the temple.

The matter of the glory of God filling the temple is overlooked in the teachings in today’s Christianity.

God’s glory wants to fill the temple of the church life, once such a temple is built in an adequate way.

Glory is an Attribute of God: Glory is the Expression of God, God Expressed in Splendor

When we speak of the glory of God, what do we understand by “glory”? Many Christians today say, Glory to God!

And in particular, in some Pentecostal gatherings or groups, they like to say, Glory to God.

The general concept concerning the glory of God is that there’s some kind of radiance, some feeling of awe, and maybe even a halo around your head. But this is not what glory is.

According to the revelation in the Bible, glory is God expressed. In other words, whenever God is expressed, glory is there.

When God appears to someone, that is His glory being expressed. In Exo. 24 God asked Moses to go up on mount Sinai, and there he spent forty days and forty nights with God.

At the end of this time, the glory of God shone on his face, for he spent time in God’s presence, God was expressed before him, and he was infused with the glory of God.

God’s glory settled on Mount Sinai (Exo. 24:16), for where God is, there is His glory also.

God wants to dwell with His people, that is, He wants His glory to be manifested in and through His people so that they express Him.

This is why He wants to gain a people on earth that are His people, those who are not only redeemed and brought back to Him but who are also filled with Him to the extent that they express Him.

When God appears to us, we see His glory, for His appearing is His expression, and this is His glory.

When Stephen was being persecuted in Acts 7 and eventually was stoned to death, he looked to the heavens and saw the glory of God and the Son of Man standing in glory (Acts 7:55).

Christ as the Son of Man was standing in glory and appeared to His suffering servant when he was being persecuted.

We need to forget about our natural concepts related to what God’s glory is and allow the word of God to renew our minds and uplift our concepts.

We need to put aside any superficial concept concerning glory being just a kind of radiance, some kind of glory.

Glory is an attribute of God: He is in glory, He is expressed through His glory, and when He appears to us, we see His glory.

Glory is nothing less than God expressed, God manifested in splendour.

And He wants to express Himself not only in His divine Trinity but even more, through His people.

He wants to gain a group of people who are redeemed, regenerated with His life, filled with Him and built together to the extent that they become God’s building upon which and through which His glory can shine.

May we be such ones. May we give ourselves to the Lord for the fulfilment of His purpose and for His glory to be manifested through us.

May we daily come to the Lord to have His appearing, His glory, until we’re infused with Him to express Him in His glory.

May the church be built up and filled with Christ to the extent that the glory of God is manifested through the church!

God of glory, we come to You as we are: appear to us and infuse us with Yourself! Keep us open to Your divine infusing and transfusing of Yourself into us. Amen, Lord, we come to You as we are: appear to us and manifest Your glory to us and through us. Fill us with Yourself. Dispense more of Your holy, righteous, and glorious element into us. Beam Yourself into us. Radiate Your glory on us and be expressed through us. We want to behold You in Your glory and express You in Your glory. Amen, Lord, have a way to be expressed and manifested through the church so that God’s glory may be expressed through the built-up church on the earth!

The Cloud Covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of God Filled the Tabernacle

In Exo. 30 and 1 Kings 8 we have the two instances in the whole Old Testament where we see the glory of God filling His people; in Exo. 30 the glory of God filled the tabernacle and in 1 Kings 8 filled the temple.

The God of glory appeared to Abraham (Acts 7:2); that was a great attraction, for God who is glory Himself, appeared to Abraham.

Moses later wanted to see God’s glory but was not allowed to, but he spent time in God’s presence and was infused with God’s glory.

Here in Exodus and in 1 Kings, however, we see that the glory of God actually filled His people.

When He gains a people on earth who are built up as His dwelling place, he comes in to fill them with His glory so that He can express Himself through them.

No individual could be filled with and express God’s glory in full; only a built-up corporate people can express God’s glory.

Only Jesus Christ was the effulgence of God’s glory and expressed God individually, and besides Him, there’s no one else who can do it. God’s glory is not for filling individual persons but to fill a corporate people built up as a tabernacle and a temple.

Exo. 40:34 says that the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.

The day that the tabernacle was raised up, that the cloud descended and covered it, and that the glory of God entered and filled it was a great day (Exo. 30:2, 34-35).

Those who gathered around the Tent of Meeting could see the cloud, but the high priest who eventually entered into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle could see the inward glory of the tabernacle (Lev. 16:15; Heb. 9:7).

There is a distinction between the tent of meeting and the tabernacle; they both refer to the same thing, but there is a difference.

The cloud covered the tent of meeting, but the glory of God filled the tabernacle.

The children of Israel gathered around the tent of meeting and saw the cloud; the cloud signifies the presence of God.

The people of Israel enjoyed God’s presence, but only the priest entered into the tabernacle and touched not just God’s presence but also His glory.

This indicates that, in our experience of the church life, we need to advance from merely being outside the Tent of Meeting to entering into the tabernacle.

We need to enter into the experience of the tabernacle by enjoying Christ as the embodiment of God, Christ as the bread at the temple, and interceding with Christ at the incense altar, so that we may experience the glory in God’s dwelling place (Exo. 40:34-35; John 1:14).

Where are we today? Are we just on the outside of the church life looking on and appreciating God’s presence as a cloud?

Do we enjoy Him there being with us, or are we inside the tabernacle enjoying God Himself as glory fills us? There is a difference between the two.

The church life may be simply gathered around the Tent of Meeting but not in the tabernacle.

Those who gather around the tent of meeting, listening to the Lord’s speaking and being in His presence, don’t have the glory of God filling the tabernacle.

The cloud is like a shell containing God’s glory, but the inner part of this shell is the glory of God.

Just like our skin covers our body and our body contains our being, the spirit, so the cloud contains God’s glory, and only by being in the tabernacle can we have His glory.

For example, the young people may enjoy the church life and may testify of how wonderful it is; however, they may be enjoying only the “shell of the church”, the cloud covering the Tent of Meeting.

This doesn’t mean they should give up this enjoyment; rather, they should go on to enjoy the inward glory of the tabernacle.

We shouldn’t throw away the shell just because we don’t have much of the inward glory but keep enjoying God’s presence and advance with Him until we are filled with His glory!

We may have had a glorious time and experience in the church life when the saints would come together one hour before the meeting and praise the Lord and all the meetings were so full of life, light, enjoyment, and excitement.

But today we may not have such things happening but rather, some saints may even be late for the meeting, and there’s not much excitement in the meetings.

This doesn’t mean that today we “lost God’s glory”; rather, we believe that the Lord has been advancing in us and among us, and He is taking us deeper and more inward than before.

We may have once been on the roof of the Tent of Meeting enjoying the cloud, but now we are learning to intercede at the incense altar.

We may have admired the supernatural things God has done for us, but now we are in His glory enjoying Him in an intimate way and taking Him as the source for everything we do.

Today we are entering into a temple church life, not only in the Tent of Meeting but in the tabernacle, where everything is so glorious.

We are no longer only in the Tent of meeting in an outward, external way in the Lord’s move and interest; we are part of God’s testimony and He is expressing Himself through us.

Some older saints may feel bothered, however, and may say that in the good old days the church life used to be so exciting, and the saints were so joyful and eager to meet and enjoy Christ, but today especially the young ones are not so serious with the Lord and the church life is not as exciting.

The Christian life is not a life of being excited; yes, excitement has its place and time, but there is not much excitement for the natural man in the Holy Place and even less excitement in the Holy of Holies where the glory of God dwells.

Yes, we do appreciate God’s interests, and His move, but these are the outward aspects of the Tent of meeting, where we can enjoy God’s presence to some degree.

God wants to bring us on so that we may advance to the stage of glory. God’s glory fills the tabernacle.

God wants to fill the tabernacle of the church life with His glory, but for this, He needs the saints to advance with Him and not look back or reminisce about what was in the past.

The tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with glory was a great blessing to the children of Israel, but today we have the reality of what they had only in figure (Exo. 14:2-3, 6, 10-11, 16-18, 20, 26; Eph. 2:18-22; 3:16-21).

Praise the Lord, we are in the days of fulfilment; the Lord is bringing us into the reality of what the real tabernacle and temple are.

He wants to fill us not only with His presence but even more, with Himself as glory!

Hallelujah, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of God filled the tabernacle! Amen, Lord, we want to advance with You to enter into the experience of Christ as the tabernacle of God so that we may have the glory of God filling the church! Oh, may the glory of God fill the church as the tabernacle of God! Amen, Lord, cause us to advance with You from merely having and seeing Your presence to being filled with Yourself as glory and expressing Your glory! We want to enjoy Christ as the embodiment of God, eat the bread on the table of the presence, and intercede at the incense altar so that we may experience the glory in God’s dwelling place! Save us, Lord, from sighing over the good old days in the church life filled with excitement. Take us on with You to be Your testimony on the earth! Amen, Lord, may the glory of God fill the tabernacle church life as God’s dwelling place!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 185, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 9, entitled, The Temple of God Filled with the Glory of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Thou art the tabernacle too, / God’s holy dwelling place; / Incarnate in the flesh Thou art, / And full of truth and grace. / God’s glory we behold in Thee, / Thou art the Word divine; / Thy words and deeds of love and light / Do God in life define. (Hymns #194 stanza 3)
  – Here God is at rest, / Of His treasures the best— / How His heart is rejoicing all day! / His home is our heart, / Ne’er for Satan a part, / Here His glory He’ll fully display. / God’s home is the church; / Yes, it’s here that He ended His search; / And through all our days / We will shout to His praise, / “Hallelujah for Christ and the church!” (Hymns #1233 stanza 2 and chorus)
  – The Church the lampstand is to Christ, / Christ is the lamp with God as light; / The light divine from Christ doth shine, / The Church upholds its glory bright. (Hymns #822 stanza 1)