The Glory of God

“The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east" (Ezekiel 43:2). What condescension! This is the glory of which we read in chapter 1:22, where the firmament was of the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. Then in verses 26 to 28 the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man like afire, but having a brightness round about like a rainbow.
In Ezekiel 1, we see God in government on earth, but connected with His throne in heaven. The Spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels, and there was a wheel within a wheel. God rules over all, and the complexity of His government is far beyond our comprehension, but the Christian knows that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. All moved as the Spirit willed, and He who governed did so in perfection, even divine perfection.
If in Ezekiel 43:2-3 that glory came, and, in verse 4, came into the house (prophetic of the millennial glory of that house), it is equally true that the glory had departed from Israel when the evils remained with them, and they listened not to the voice of His prophets. It reluctantly departed (see chapters 10 and 11), for God would rather His people had gone on so that He could have gone on with them.
Now the glory of God has been here in the Person of His dear Son, not in an awe-inspiring manner, but meek, gentle, gracious and loving, making all His goodness to extend toward us (Psa. 16:2-3). He manifested the Father and all His loving heart, while still upholding holiness and every divine attribute of our God. It was God come down, God drawn near unto sinners and publicans, unto a woman at Sychar's well, one whose ill fame was widely known, yet loving and saving her and filling her with His praises.
Such is the glory of God toward us in this day of grace! Who can fathom the wheels of His grace? The wheels are within wheels! There is a glory to that grace: "The praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:6-7). Praise His name!
Questions and Answers
QUESTION: What about body, soul and spirit? Please distinguish.
ANSWER: The divine order in Scripture is "spirit and soul and body" (1 Thess. 5:23). These comprise man's whole being. Soul is used often for man as a whole, both in the Old Testament and the New. "The sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten" (Gen. 46:27). In the ship with Paul there were "two hundred threescore and sixteen souls" (Acts 27:37).
Man's soul and spirit are from God's in-breathing, as distinct from the body which He formed from the dust of the ground, and he is therefore immortal—he exists forever. "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7). We never read of a mortal soul, but we do of a "mortal body." Scripture clearly distinguishes between soul and spirit; the Word, as the sharp sword of the Spirit, only can separate them. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
Spirit and soul in man are alike undying. "The spirit shall return unto God who gave it," and "fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Beasts have life, or souls of an inferior order but they are part of their organization. (See Genesis 1:30, margin, and chapter 7:22.)
The soul is generally spoken of as the seat of the affections, but this faculty is possessed by brutes in measure, in an inferior character. "The spirit," as another has said, "is that which is most excellent in our moral being, that by which we are placed in relationship with God, and distinguished from the brutes.”
“What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" (1 Car. 2:11). "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8:16).