“He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.


2 Chronicles 5: 12-14

12 All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:
“He is good; his love endures forever.”
Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

Today’s title is “Filled With The Glory of God”

I am often marvelled at the gigantic scale of things at the time of Solomon. He gave “a thousand burnt offering” on the bronze altar of the tabernacle at Gibeon before he dedicates the temple. Can you imagine how much is a thousand offerings? Literally, it must have made a river of blood from the slaughtered animals. It must have taken a fairly long time to burn them all. The scale of the dedication of the temple is no less impressive at all. Just imagine all the Levites who were musicians standing on the east side of the altar in fine linen. I don’t know exactly how many were there. Considering that there were 120 priest trumpeters who accompanied the musicians, it seems to me at least a thousand men praising God in unison. Of course, God is not impressed at the size of offerings or at the number of people praising. But it still makes us feel the intensity of Solomon and the Israelites with which they dedicated the temple. I am sure that God had felt the genuine passion and intensity of Solomon and his people in dedicating the temple. With such intensity, they all raised their voice and sang the famous repeated phrase of David’s psalms. “He is Good. His love endures forever”. The king and all the Israelites who snag the praise truly meant it from the very bottom of their hearts. It was one of the greatest worship and celebration in the history of the Bible. And their praises have reached to the throne of God. God responded to such passionate worship and dedication by filling the place with the overwhelming presence of His glory. He filled the temple with His glory cloud so profusely that the priests could not continue the service. It looked as if God was releasing His overjoy at the dedication of the temple and their worship. It was indeed a heaven on earth where God and His people were celebrating together. I believe this is one great example of worship where we would worship God in spirit and truth and God fills us with His glory. This is what our worship is supposed to be like. How often do you experience such heavenly encounters on earth? I am sure that God is never shy to fill our worship with His glory. What really matters is whether we worship in such spirit and in truth. If only we worship God in spirit and truth celebrating His grace and praising His goodness and faithfulness as the Lord said, we will surely be filled with the glory of God. Amen!