Links for today’s readings:
Read: Ezekiel 43 Listen: (5:15)
Read: 2 Peter 1 Listen: (3:06)
Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 43.2-4
2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4 The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Reflection: Glory Returns
By John Tillman
The Glory of God departed because of sin. God previously gave Ezekiel a vision of the disgusting and vile corruption of the Temple, but now Ezekiel sees the glory return. God floods into the temple and takes his rightful place.
Imagine how Ezekiel and his readers felt, exiled in a foreign land, seeing the real temple destroyed and this temple only in a vision. Nice picture, God, but what about now? What about our sin? What about how I feel and where I am?
We might feel similar things reading about this temple or visions of Heaven while we live on Earth. “How long, Lord?”
The temple of Ezekiel’s vision was never built on Earth. Neither Ezra nor Herod attempted it. But Ezekiel’s temple is more real than reality. This temple is transcendent, present both now and in the future. The returning glory of God revealed to Ezekiel as filling the temple is revealed to us in the Holy Spirit.
You are a temple. Are you filled with glory?
Maybe instead of glory-filled, you feel like the empty, powerless, temple. Maybe you feel weak, abandoned, lonely, or scared. Whether or not you feel the glory and power of his presence, God longs to show them through your weakness and strengthen you for what he calls you to do.
God makes himself known to and through those who seek him. His blazing glory returns.
This same blazing glory of God rushed in and filled the expectant at Pentecost. This same Spirit embraced Stephen at his stoning and shielded Peter during his prison escape. This same Spirit knocked Saul from his horse and sent Philip running to the Ethiopian’s chariot. This same Spirit bound the prophesying demons and set the slave girl free. This same Spirit shook Paul and Silas free from prison but would not remove Paul’s thorn. This same Spirit breathed the words of God through human authors so that we can read them. This same Spirit called and sent people to preach so others could hear and opened ears so that the message could be heard and believed. This same Spirit makes beautiful the feet of those who bring good news. (Romans 10.13-15)
You, collectively and individually, are how God’s glory returns. Through us the common encounters the divine. God’s glory returns through us.
Be expectant. Be hopeful in suffering. Be beautiful amidst ugliness. Be glorious.
Music: “Such A Thing As Glory” by Rich Mullins
Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.” — John 15.4-5
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.
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Sin bars the wicked from entering…the righteous are not perfect either. How is one rejected and the other accepted?
