June 16

“….and the glory ….” (Romans 9:4).

The next items on Paul’s list of privileges that pertain to Israel’s high calling, he refers to as the glory.

As to the glory, this refers to glory of the personal, evident, presence of God in their midst, which was the distinguishing mark that separated Israel “from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Exodus 33:16). This was the unique character of Israel that testified to the fact that their God was the One True God. Their safety and security was in the presence of God and so significant was it to them, that they were reluctant to move away from where they were, unless that holy Shekinah went before them (Exodus 33:15).

At the present time, and ever since the Babylonian captivity, “the glory has departed from Israel” and they have dwelt in an “Ichabod” period (1 Samuel 4:21), which was foreshadowed in the capture of the Ark by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:11). This Ichabod period, in which the glory has departed from Israel, corresponds to the “seasons of the gentiles” (Luke 21:24), now at its conclusion.

It was the withdrawal of God’s Presence from the midst of Israel that marked the beginning of their long period of sufferings. The withdrawal of God’s presence from Israel was not sudden, but gradual, and is spoken of in the prophecies of Ezekiel. Although God’s presence, we are told, fills the universe, yet He has dwelt with no other nation as He dwelt with Israel, His first-born. But that holy presence came to an end.

We read in Ezekiel chapters 9, 10 and 11 that God withdrew gradually, and even reluctantly. Firstly, Ezekiel sees the “glory of Jehovah” in its rightful place between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies, then he sees it lift up from the cherub and move to the threshold of the House (Ezekiel 9:3), where it evidently remained for a time “and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of Jehovah” (Ezekiel 10:4). Then he sees it move again, this time mounted on the cherubim, the symbols of God’s executive power and authority on the earth, and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house and “…the glory of the God of Israel was over them above” (Ezekiel 10:19). Finally, the prophet saw the glory of Jehovah going up from the city to the mountain to the east where it stood for a time before it departed, and Israel was taken into captivity (Ezekiel 11:23-24).

In the meantime, those gentiles who have been convicted of sin and repented, who have faith in God, who trust in Christ Jesus, and who received the Holy Spirit, have been blessed with individual access to that holy, personal, presence which brings with it life, both abundant and eternal.

Yet Israel may hope in the return of the glory; the vision of Zechariah sees His blessed feet returning from the same direction in which He departed;

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14:4).