Glorious Hope

April 3, 2022

Randy Hageman

The resurrection of Jesus Christ promises those of us who place our faith in him “a living

” that nothing in this world can take away from us.

Christ’s resurrection helps us begin to experience the

of heaven here on earth!

Jesus: … “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” —John 11:40 (ESV)

In the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked with God and experienced His

.

The way back to God was blocked by justice, a visual reminder that the penalty for sin is

.

On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. —Exodus 19:16-18 (NLT)

Moses wanted

– He wanted to know God better, to understand Him and His ways in order to better obey and serve Him.

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
—Exodus 33:18 (NIV)

The LORD: “… you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” —Exodus 33:20 (NIV)

God did provide a tangible, visible way for the Israelites to see God’s

in their midst through the tabernacle, a movable sanctuary, where Moses could talk with God, even if Moses couldn’t see Him.

In the holy of holies God’s

presence and glory touched earth.

There in the LORD’s presence [Aaron, the high priest] will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. If he follows these instructions, he will not die. —Leviticus 16:13 (NLT)

Over the “mercy seat,” on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high priest offered a blood sacrifice to atone or

for the sins of the people.

Just as a sword of justice stood at the entrance to the Garden, guarding the way, so the high priest had to go “under the sword” by offering a blood sacrifice, a symbolic atoning for sin, paying the price to go into God’s

for a few moments.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” —Numbers 6:22-27 (ESV)

God offered the tabernacle and temple as ways the people could draw

to God, but, still, no one could see His glory and live.

The prophet Ezekiel heard God promise a new temple of God and a new David to build it, and the Lord’s glory would fill it

!

Sovereign LORD: “My servant David will be their king, and they will have only one shepherd. They will obey my regulations and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren after them will live there forever, generation after generation. And my servant David will be their prince forever. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put my Temple among them forever. I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And when my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I am the LORD, who makes Israel holy.” —Ezekiel 37:24-28 (NLT)

But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation.… —Ezra 3:12 (NLT)

“The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” —Haggai 2:9 (NLT)

As we get to the New Testament, the writers start using different

about the temple.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. —John 1:14 (ESV)

John declared that the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, “became flesh” and, literally, “tabernacled” or “pitched a tent” among us so that he and many others saw the

of God.

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. —Hebrews 1:3 (NLT)

Jesus does not simply bring God’s glory or have God’s glory – he

God’s glory!

“All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this…. —John 2:19-22 (NLT)

Jesus was telling them and us that the old tabernacle and the two temples had been pointing to

all along –

Reveal Answer

is the glory of God in our midst.

When Jesus said that his resurrected body is the true temple, he was saying something like this: ‘In all temples around the world, priests offer sacrifices and do rituals aiming to bridge the chasm you feel between yourself and God. But I am the sacrifice that ends all sacrifices. I am the priest who ends your need for priests. It was I who went under the sword (Genesis 3:24). I am the one who brings heaven to earth, because I am not just the bridge over the gap to God’s glory. I am God’s glory.’ —Tim Keller

Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.… —Matthew 27:50-51 (NLT)

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are uniting with the risen Christ, through his Spirit, who comes to live in us, bringing the actual

of God that resided behind the curtain to us.

We who trust Jesus as Savior and Lord are now

in which the Holy Spirit of God lives.

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. —1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

God uses us to display His

to all those around us as we live obediently by His power at work in us.

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. —2 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT)

The coming of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:16 tells us the whole world, all of the new creation, will be a

holy of holies.

I [John] saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. —Revelation 21:22-23 (NLT)

This glorious hope is available to us

, as we see with the eyes of faith.

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. —2 Corinthians 4:6 (NLT)

Jesus: … “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” —John 11:40 (ESV)

Next Week: Subversive Hope