I am reading through Ezekiel 45-46 these mornings and I love this book. My favorite section is Ezekiel 36:25-27 because it introduces Israel to the New Covenant that God will make with them; the books is amazing! The overview is this: Israel’s sin has become so extensive that the glory of the Lord (His presence) leaves the temple and departs from them (chapters 8-11). When we get to chapters 43-48 (towards the end), the glory of God returns to dwell in the midst of His people. The in-between time is a long difficult process of God dealing with His people and their need for repentance and restoration with God. The return of His glory has more to do with what God does than what Israel does – the New Covenant section is a brilliant picture of how God brings cleansing, healing and will give His people a new heart and spirit and make His Spirit dwell in them (36:25-27).

Most would love to have been there to see this manifestation of the glory of God (if you read Ezekiel 1:1-28 you will read about this amazing description of the glory of God) and Ezekiel’s experience of the unveiled presence of the God of Israel. The temptation would be to say: “how I might live differently if I saw something like that?” …which is possible, but let me remind you of God’s glory in the New Testament:

For God who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

For true Christ-followers, God has actually allowed us to see His glory in the face of Christ. When we heard the gospel (Christ died for our sins, was buried and raised on the third day… for our sins), we realized our absolute need to step into relationship with a holy God. When we consider Christmas we need to understand that God has manifested Himself and His glory in the person of Christ – he was full of grace and truth. We do not have to “wish” for what it would have been like to be Ezekiel. Every one of us (Christians) have been given the undeserved privilege of seeing His glory when discovered – this is Christ Himself. No person has seen God at any time. The only begotten God (Christ) who is in the bosom of the Father, has explained the Father (John 1:18).

Christmas is about God revealing His glory to the world in the Christ event – His incarnation and birth by Mary. Have you lost sight of the glory of God? The problem is that we often lose sight of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Christmas is a great time to humble ourselves before His throne of grace and bathe in the light of the glory of God and worship Him.

As we begin our celebrations of Christmas remember that we have the privilege where God has shown us His glory – Merry Christmas everyone.

Blessings,

Pastor Brad Little