Shekinah: we await his coming in glory!
“The king shall come when morning dawns, and light triumphant breaks” - - it you were here Sunday morning, November 27th, you may remember we sang this as our opening hymn to welcome Advent, and I used it to introduce the SHEKINAH, a Hebrew/Jewish notion of God's glory present on Earth with God’s people.
Advent comes to fulfillment at Christmas, when we light the Christ Candle, which some of us see (I DO) as symbolizing the SHEKINAH, the Light of Christ the Messiah returning at last! It goes back into Genesis, the Beginning, and a long story. I want to remind you:
Genesis 15, Abram/Abraham in the terrifying darkness, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch, the presence of God consuming Abram’s bloody sacrifice: Shekinah!
Exodus 3, God confronting Moses from the burning bush: Shekinah!
Exodus 13, forty years in the wilderness, God present for his people in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night: Shekinah!
Throughout the Book of Joshua, God empowering their conquest of the Promised Land, God present in the Ark of the Covenant: Shekinah!
In the Temple with Solomon, God in fire from heaven, consuming the sacrifice: Shekinah!
The Shekinah of God present in Solomon’s Temple as long as Moschiach, the Messiah of God (anointed Kings who are Sons of David) are on the Throne in Jerusalem - -
until Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroys Jerusalem; overthrows the messianic kings; destroys the First Temple; carries God’s people away into Exile - - and Shekinah, the glory of God departs, never to return.
Years later the Exile ends, Jerusalem is reclaimed, and the second Temple is built; but the messianic Sons of David are not restored to the throne, and Judea is occupied by foreigners, and the Shekinah, the glory of God, does not come.
Yet through the centuries there is hope (and eventually expectation, and even from Scripture messianic prophecy) that MOSCHIACH the Messiah will come, to reestablish the throne of David, and drive foreign devils from the Holy Land, and then the Shekinah will return
By Jesus’ Time, anticipation of the Messiah’s coming is at fever pitch. And the Messiah DOES come: announced to Mary and Joseph by God’s angel, the Messiah’s birth heralded from Heaven in a brilliant night sky filled with angels, and the Star of Bethlehem. Shekinah!
At Jesus’ baptism the heavens break open, the Holy Spirit comes down, and a voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son - - SHEKINAH!
On the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah, the Messiah is transfigured in blinding light, acclaimed again by God the Father: “this is my beloved Son”. Shekinah!
But he came to his own, and his own received him not, and Pontius Pilate crucified him. Yet, death cannot hold him, and he returns to us in love, then, promising to return in clouds of glory with the holy angels, he ascends to the Father.
Christ the Shekinah, Immanuel, the glory of God on earth among men has come. On our Advent wreath, the Christ Candle commemorates the Shekinah!
Christmas will fade to Epiphany, when we celebrate the wise men from the east, guided to Messiah by the Star of Bethlehem as the Shekinah burns bright.
Jesus, Immanuel, God with us; Shekinah, the glory of God on Earth among men, Hallelujah!
We remember his death.
We proclaim his resurrection.
We await his coming in glory - - Shekinah!