“and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” 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 Chronicles 5:13-14 ESV
If you’ve been keeping up with this Bible reading plan since the beginning, a detail in today’s reading may have sounded familiar. When the priests begin singing about how God’s steadfast love endures forever, the glory of the Lord is so overwhelming that they can’t even perform their duties.
The same thing happened when Moses completed the Tabernacle over 500 years before:
“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
Exodus 40:34-35 ESV
The Hebrew word for “glory” is kavod, and it means weight or heaviness. (See Day 043: The Weight of Glory).
There had been centuries of ups and downs for God’s people between Moses and Solomon. But God’s character had not changed. It still had the power to overwhelm, to stun, to fill the place with a holiness that could be felt. In spite of 40 years in the desert, 400 years of decline under the judges, and two generations of a mixed-bag experiment with monarchy under Saul and David, God was faithful to manifest His holiness to His people. Solomon noted this in his prayer of dedication:
““Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.”
1 Kings 8:56 ESV
Beloved, as we continue through this reading plan, you’ll see that what was true for the 500 years between Moses and Solomon will be true for the 900 years between Solomon and Jesus. God was faithful to His people through centuries of poor leadership, the rise and fall of empires, and shifting geopolitical realities. Even in the 400 years of silence between the last word from a prophet and the first words of an angel to the Virgin Mary, God was working behind the scenes to ensure that not one of His good promises would fail.
And so, beloved Bride of Christ, know that the same God who shook the foundations of the temple, the same God who disrupts worship services with His overwhelming holiness, is still working today. Not one of his good promises will fail.
Not a single one.
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