THE SHEKINAH
GLORY
BY
WESLEY A. SWIFT
The word “Shekinah” is a Hebrew word referring to
the effulgent Glory that shines for from the presence of the Most High God. The
translations of the Bible do not use the word Shekinah, but call it a light a
Radiant light. We call it by the intended name: The Shekinah Glory of the Most
High Yahweh.
Recognizing and understanding
the significance of the Shekinah Glory is an intense and very important part of
our knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. The Shekinah Glory as well as
many other words in the Scriptures are translated rather poorly. Because of this
many people have different ideas about the things spoken of in those Scriptures.
They look for the eventual doom of ungodly men and for their endless torture and
punishment because they do not understand what they are reading. You should
understand when reading the Scriptures that they contain the message, which is a
glad tiding of great joy to all people. I can assure you that it would
not be glad tidings to someone who is going to be punished and tortured
throughout all times and ages. Thus we have some things to learn about the Grace
and the Light of Yahweh.
Out of the vastness of the
Majesty of God’s creation, we have Him coming out the yesterdays creating the
heavens and the earth. He created also the sidereal systems whose magnitude we
are unable to comprehend. Physicists who study relative energy and the patterns
of the universe see its tremendous curve; they see its endless magnitude and
realize that God has been creating forever and ever and that there will always
be God as long as there is a universe.
He has been creating in the
Majesty of His power and we discover that the Light of Yahweh and the substance
of His Spirit is an effulgent light a radiant Glory. We see that Yahweh has an
entity of Spirit, which is exactly like the physical body, which we possess.
When Christ was in the world, His physical body was the exact image of his
Spiritual body; and that is like unto the bodies we ourselves possess. His
Spiritual body was synthesized and filled with a tremendous Light, and this
effulgent light was the Glory of Yahweh.
May places in the scriptures
talk about the Glory of God and how the Glory of God fills the heavens and the
earth. For example: “And Yahweh went before His people by day in a pillar of
cloud and by night in a pillar of fire.” (Exodus 13:21)
Here we discover that He took
his people out of Egypt and traveled over them using His Shekinah Glory to
protect them and to show them the way. The cloud was visible evidence that He
was there. In the14th Chapter of Exodus we read in verse 19 “And the angel of
Yahweh which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them; and
the pillar of cloud went from before their face and stood behind them.”
Here again we are reading of the
Shekinah Glory of Yahweh and how this great light went behind Israel to shield
her from Pharoh and His army. We see the protecting of Gods people by the Light
of Yahweh as He went before them, behind them and above them. For forty years
this Shekinah Glory hovered over the Israelites in their exodus, acting as a
Witness unto His people of His tremendous power and glory.
When Moses led these children of
Israel out of Egypt, he led 3 million people from the land of Goshen to the Red
Sea, then across the Red Sea into the wilderness. There was not one lame, blind
or sick person among them because the Glory of Yahweh was there to heal them and
carry them forward. Those people walked under the protection of the Shekinah
Glory of Yahweh. There is no question of its Majesty and brightness, but
remember: He talked of the day when He would shine forth across the whole world.
Ezekiel the prophet, talked
about the Shekinah Glory of Yahweh, which he saw when he was standing in the
field. He saw the great circular ships come in to land; he described the wheels
within wheels, the markings on the ships of the flying fleet of God also the
four living creatures, which we find to be the same as the beasts around the
throne of God spoken of in Revelation 4:7. This marking according to the book of
Numbers, Chapter 2, were on the standards of Israel. They are the signs that
were to fly the highest, on each side of the tabernacle in the wilderness. On
the east was the standard of Judah with its mark ing of the lion. On the
south was the standard of Reuben with its marking of the man. On the west
was the standard of Ephriam with its marking of the ox or calf; and on
the north was the standard of Dan with its marking of the flying
eagle.
Thus Ezekiel tells about the
great ships of the Most high as they came in to land in their formations. While
he watched, he saw in the midst of these ships of a great flagship. A door
opened, and they took out of that ship a throne; and upon that throne Ezekiel
beheld One Who radiated a Shekinah Glory. All the space around the throne was
also filled with a certain radiance, which to Ezekiel seemed to be the color of
amber. Then he saw the colors as of a rainbow around the head of him who sat
upon the throne. As Ezekiel beheld the Shekinah Glory of Yahweh, he fell upon
his face. Lying there with his face towards the ground Ezekiel heard these
words: “Son of Man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak unto thee.” (Ezekiel
2:1)
Later Ezekiel was to travel in
one of those great crafts that came to the plain, and he tells us that the voice
of Yahweh was there.
Ezekiel was not the last nor
only prophet to fall before the Glory of Yahweh. When the Apostle John was on
the Isle of Patmos for the name of Yahweh, he heard the voice and a trumpet and
he turned to see One in white raiment who was majestic in appearance. This One
was lighter than the day and brighter than the sun. He was radiant in His Glory.
John heard a voice say, “Come, John, stand on your feet. You did not fall when
you walked with Me along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.”
When John heard these words, “I
am Alpha and Omega, the Lord God Almighty,” he was amazed and realized that he
stood in the presence of the Messiah and that these words had come forth from
Him. The Apostle John, like Ezekiel, fell before the Shekinah Glory of the Most
High, but then he also stood in the presence of the Most High.
Joshua was anther who fell
before the glory of Yahweh. Later Isaiah went into the Temple and he, too, saw
the Glory of Yahweh. To him it was like a great flame filling the Temple.
Yahweh spoke to Isaiah and told him that he was to go and speak to His people
Israel. These people were the household of Yahweh, who have emerged today as the
White Christian nations of the Western world. They are the people of the Book,
the descended seed of Israel. They are the Saints, the breathing offspring of
Yahweh. Thus God talks to you about how He is going to fill the whole earth with
His Glory. We also discover that with the essence of His Glory, He will
Cleanse the whole earth. The One we call Jesus, the Christ, was the body of
God with the fullness of God, dwelling among us.
When announcing the birth of
Yahshua, the Messiah (Jesus), the angel said there would be glad tiding of great
joy. The reason for those glad tidings was that Yahshua came to save His people
from their sins. In the process of that redemption He was to buy the whole world
to take out of it the treasure, which was His people.
In the Book of Hebrews we are
told that Yahshua (Jesus) came “as a man among men”. In these instances he did
not bring the Shekinah Glory because if the Shekinah Glory had enveloped His
body, His enemies could never have crucified Him. You will note that throughout
the ministry of Christ as He was speaking to the people, He always escaped the
clutches of the Jews so that they could not kill His physical body until His
time had come. He told His disciples that He had told His disciples that He had
chosen theses twelve, but one of them was a devil and after this, he walked in
Galilee because he could not walk in Judea as the Jews sought to kill him.
Yahshua, the Christ, had absolute power in His ministry. He raised the dead,
healed the sick and opened blind eyes; yet He constantly protected His physical
body by eluding the Jews since they sought continually for ways to kill Him. He
did this until the time came for His death. As noted before, if the Shekinah
Glory had enveloped His human body, there could have been no destruction of that
body.
Adam and Eve, the progenitors of
the Adamic race, were enveloped with Shekinah Glory as they walked the earth in
their beginning. From ancient books we learn that the children of Lucifer said,
“We can not stand the light of them.” Thus Lucifer seduced Eve in order to bring
their fall so that they would lose their Glory.
As part of the Adamic race today
we imagine what it would be like if we were enveloped in that Light and Glory.
We anticipate that great event even as the Apostle Paul did. He said, “For we
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2
Corinthians, 5:1) Paul was thinking about his Celestial house, his spiritual
being, and he said in essence, I don’t want t o die; I just want to put on my
light. I want to see this body enveloped in light. This, he knew, would be the
ultimate victory, “mortality swallowed up of life,” as he says in the fourth
verse of 2nd Corinthians 5. Paul knew this would happen because this
is what God has promised will happen; namely, that He will put his children back
in the light in which they lived while in the heavens before the world was
framed.
In His prayer to be glorified,
Jesus said, “And now, O Father, glorify thou mw with thine own self with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5) He was longing
for that light even as He fulfilled His responsibility.
We turn to the Scriptures and
note in the Book of Isaiah 35:2, that God speaks, and we read: “The wilderness
shall be glad for them, and the deserts shall bloom as a rose and rejoice, even
with the joy of singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the
excellence of Carmel and of Sharon, and they shall see the glory of the Lord,
and the excellency of the Lord.”
Thus we understand that the
Glory of the Lord and the excellency of Yahweh/Yahshua shall cover the whole
earth. The Glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see the might
Shekinah Glory of the Most High Yahweh. In Isaiah 45:11-12, We read: “Thus saith
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come
concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
“I have made the earth, and
created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all
their host have I commanded.”
His declaration is that all the
ends of the earth are going to look unto Him. In the elements of the
supernatural is the light to shine on Israel. “Arise and shine for thy light has
come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen upon thee.” (Isaiah 60:1)
Therefore, what do we know about
the Shekinah Glory of Yahweh? We know that the Majesty of the God of Light was
demonstrated in the hour of His resurrection when He hung His head and said, “It
is finished.” They took His body from the cross and put t in the tomb, but now
the Celestial Being of Yahweh encompassed in light and Glory stormed the
Netherworld. The princes of Lucifer cried out: “Don’t let Him in or we shall
lose all His people which we have held.” But when He resurrected from the dead,
He came forth in Glory and there was no stopping Him. The guards at the tomb
described what they had seen as the Glory of Yahweh; but it was hard for them to
describe this light. They said that it was brighter than the noonday sun and
that around the tomb came a light such as they had never beheld before. One came
out of the tomb who was as the son of Jupiter in His Glory. When Mary came
searching for her Lord, she saw a form, which she thought, might be the
gardener. She said to this figure: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not
know where they have laid Him. Then a voice said, “Mary” and she knew that
voice. He said, “Do not touch me for the Glory has not gone from me.” At this
time Mary’s human body could not have stood the electrical charge which would
have been a result of her touching His body with some of the Glory still in it.
You will recall the men on the
road to Emmaus who were joined in their walk by Yahshua. When He asked they why
they were said, they related to Him what and occurred concerning Jesus of
Nazareth. After they had finished, He said, “O fools, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken:
“Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things, and to enter into His Glory?” (Luke 24:25-26) And then
“beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:27) In other words, He was
trying to show them the need for all that had happened. Should not He have made
the way of atonement for His people? Should not He have destroyed their sins?
Should He not have paid for His household?
Most assuredly He could have
held back Lucifer, for He had the power; but from the fall came a greater glory:
He, Yahweh, fulfilling all these thins and rising from the dead in all His
Glory. Was this not really what He should have done? And He revealed this Glory
to the men on the road to Emmaus when they all went into a roadside inn to eat.
In Luke 24:31,we read: “And their eyes were opened and they knew him, and He
vanished out of their sight. In the hours after His resurrection many beheld Him
who rose in Glory.
In all these instances we are shown the Shekinah Glory. This is very significant
because when Christ returns, He returns in Glory and never again will this Glory
be separated from His being. This tells us that the New Age is going to be
wrapped in Glory. In fact, we are told that when He re-enters the area of our
world, there will be no need of either sun or moon for the Glory of God will
lighten the city of Jerusalem. In this hour we shall be glad to see Him
approach in all His Glory. The return of the Christ in light and Glory is the
supreme paradise of the Christian. He will live in that Glory, in that
enveloping light, and there shall be no death. The constant power of
Resurrection shall be upon Him, and no harm can come to Him enveloped in that
Glory. The Scriptures tell us that when He returns, we, His people, are going to
be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We shall know as we re known. (1Cor.13:
12), and we shall be enveloped in light and Glory.
Yes, he hath redeemed a people,
His Israel people, a mighty people; and because He redeemed them, they can now
stand in His presence. More than that, he took from them their weight of
transgression and sin and became to them their redeemer. Therefore, they are
looking for His appearance. Some will say, “But Israel is a long way from
being perfect,” and of course this is true. However, they make their mistakes
under the veil of the cross and they still work and look for perfection.
Now come the questions about the
wicked. What about the wicked dead? What about the wicked who are alive? What
about persons who despise the name of Yahshua, the Christ? What about all
organizations that work against the Kingdom? What about all the workers of
iniquity?
The Scriptures say that they
shall cry out. The plan of God for them is a rather interesting program, and I
will cite to you what is in the Scriptures. You will find that in 700 places
where the word “fire” is used, people think of it as “perdition” or Hellfire.
In all 700 of these places, however. The word was translated from the same word,
which is used for SHEKINAH GLORY or the light that light of the Holy Spirit of
Yahweh. Here are some examples of what we are talking about:
“And the beast and the false
prophet were cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Revelation
19:20)
“And the devil that deceived
them was cast in to the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev.
20:10)
“And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14)
“But the fearful, and
unbelieving and the abominable, the murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers,
and idolaters, all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
(Revelation 21:8)
This passage from Revelation
21:8 is the exact same meaning of “fire as we find in the Gospel of Matthew 3:11
where John the Baptist is speaking: “I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”
John the Baptist was speaking of
the Majesty of Yahshua the Christ and the words “Holy Ghost” and “fire” are of
the exact same substance of translation given for the “lake of fire” into which
the beast and the false prophet are thrown in other quotations. This is a
spiritual fire a cleansing fire, and it will be a transforming fire, the same
kind with which John the Baptist and Jesus would baptize men. Luke 8:16 speaks
of the same thing, and the meaning is the same. In your Strong’s Concordance,
which is that massive concordance of Scripture, turn to P. 352, and in the
center column look at the pattern. This is a pattern of purging fire.
There will be “weeping and
wailing and gnashing of teeth”, and there will be agony because in America today
there are masses who do not want Christ. However, they will be thrust in to the
Shekinah Glory of Yahweh, our Yahshua, and this Shekinah Glory will burn out
there errors. They will cry as though in torment when this occurs. We, the
children of God, understand how He can activate the consciousness and bring on a
guilt complex, which makes an individual act as if he were tortured by the
conviction of the Holy Spirit until he turns from his transgressions into the
path of the things of the Most High God.
In the Books of Corinthians we
read about the Majesty of God’s purpose, again with reference to “fire”. In the
first Book of Corinthians, Chapter 3, we begin at Verse 9:
9. For we are laborers together
with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye (Israelites) are God’s building.
10. According to the grace of
God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he
buildeth thereupon.
11. For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12. (Here he likens men’s work
to a foundation of Gold, etc.) Now if any man builds upon this foundation gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble;
13. Every man’s work shall be
made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by
fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. (Again we have
the same word the Shekinah Glory of the fire of Yahweh’s divine presence)
14. If any man’s work abide
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15. If any man’s work shall be
burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by
fire.
Notice that if any man’s works
be burned up, still the man himself will be saved by this fire. Again this is
the work of the purging Divine influence of the Holy Spirit of Yahweh, and the
Holy Spirit carries the Shekinah Glory of Yahweh. Therefore He is going to cast
into the lake of His Shekinah Glory all those who do evil or are filled with
evil and they shall be there forever and ever. This word “forever” is translated
from the word “aion” and it means “for a time or a season”. Thus those who are
cast into the lake of His Shekinah Glory will be there for a “time or a season”
during which evil will be purged from them.
We are told in Philippians 2:10
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Hymns are
going to be sung in the heavens, in the earth, and even in the Nether worlds
where perdition exists.
So we see that the Scriptures
repeatedly proclaim the Glory of the Most High. Here on earth we are carrying
out a battle to spread the truth. We are identifying ourselves with our Saviour
and His great Salvation, so Majestic, so Divine. To the ends of the earth we
have held out the opportunity to know Him, but His enemies will not see because
they cannot see. Because of their blindness the children of Lucifer cannot see
the things of Yahweh. Remember that in John 8, Jesus told them that they did not
believe him because they were not of God (John 8:46-47) but the time will come
when the refining influence of the light and Glory of Yahweh will purge out the
errors and make new creatures of these people.
By spreading the truth we are
fulfilling prophecy for this era. The Satanic forces are battling us as in
their error they have created depressions and wars bringing us to that time of
prophecy where we are at the door of the final climax of Armageddon. Make no
mistake about the fact that the sons of darkness have brought this to pass.
However, in our determination to carry out the program of Yahweh, we will resist
the powers of darkness and if necessary we, in turn will kill and destroy to
save the Kingdom. We will fight for the liberty of people, even though they do
not by their actions deserve liberty. This is the program of Yahweh’s Kingdom,
and He says that He rises up His many sons, and they are His battle-axe and
weapons of war. In His wrath He will utterly destroy the forces of His enemies;
yet in the fullness of His prophecy, will reach out and redeem and save
according to the great magnitude of His Glory. I point out to you that in his
declaration even so they will be saved by FIRE.
The words “Sheol” and “Gehenna”
are translated in the Bible as “hell”. “Sheol” means the “grave” and “Gehenna”
refers to the fire in a garbage dump outside the walls of Jerusalem. This fire
burned for 2000 years, but a study of the Scriptures shows that it is used very
few times; and at no place is the kind of fire used in relationship to the
punishment of the wicked.
The Shekinah fire, The Glory of
Yahweh, is the punishing, refining fire. It is the punishing fire because
evil natures do not want to think right. These forces in the world today curse
and scream at the name of Yahshua, The Christ. They hate the name of Jesus the
Christ, and yet some day they will have to acknowledge and bow the knee and
admit that He is Yahshua/Yahweh the Eternal One; for He will be the triumphant
One and will be all in all.
We have the everlasting Gospel
and it is good news to all men. We the children of Yahweh, the household of the
Most High have been enveloped in His truths. They have become a part of us that
cannot be removed from our beings; thus we live under and by the teachings of
the Gospel and follow the signs of prophecy. For these reasons we watch the
news of our day and stand against what we read and hear.
Then we remember:
Isaiah 45:22 Look unto Me and be
ye saved, all ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
1 Tim. 2: 3-4 For this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (Did you hear that word
ALL?)
1Tim. 4:10 For therefore we both
labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God (Yahweh/Yahshua)
who is the Saviour of all men…”
Psalms 65:2 O thou that hearest
prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
Psalms 22:27 All the ends of the
world shall remember and turn unto the Lord…
Luke 3:6 And all flesh shall see
the salvation of God.
Isaiah 52:10 The Lord hath made
bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God.
Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be
saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation… (And)
Romans 11:26 And so all Israel
shall be saved as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and
shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
In Isaiah 43:9, we read: “Let
all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among
them can declare this, and shew us former things? Let them bring forth their
witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.”
These questions are asked to show that no one can carry out His plan. The ends
of the earth are going to be reformed and redeemed, and brought into a new
capacity by the Most High God. This does not happen in a short life span of a
people, but it is the program of Yahweh, the Most High.
In Isaiah 49:26, we read…all
flesh shall know that I am Lord am thy Saviour (Yahweh/Yahshua) and thy
Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.” And in Isaiah 66:23: “And it shall come to
pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall
all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Then in Psalms 33:8: “Let
all the earth fear the Lord.” Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
of Him.”
These declarations don’t leave
us much room for a defeated Christ!
He says: I shall be triumphant.
I have the power to bring every soul, and I shall bring every last one of these
to My feet. They are going to acknowledge me; they are going to acknowledge that
you are My sons and daughters. Although they would not acknowledge you or
recognize you and although the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing (such as
wanting to throw off the yokes of control, culture and civilization), the
Scriptures tell us that the enemies of Christ, those who follow the errors of
Satan are going to worship the Most High God, and they are going to acknowledge
that you are His sons and His daughters. So we talk about how great is
redemption, and we talk about the majesty of Calvary’s Cross. No wonder the
Apostle Paul said: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus
the Christ.” (Galatians 6:14)
I would like you to know that in
the great and might of our God; He has provided so great a salvation because of
the Shekinah Glory, which is the pulsing vitality of Yahweh, thy Yahshua. He as
not as yet exposed the earth to this glory, but in the hour of His coming, it
will envelope the earth from sea to sea, and from pole to pole. We, His children
have the glorious promise of this declaration.
In America we have seen the
development of technology. We have seen the work of our scientists, and we have
seen the fulfillment of the prophecy, “Blood on the moon”, as our men of Spirit
moved through space and walked as men of blood, on the moon. The revelation of
Spirit in the consciousness of men has made these things possible. Everything
that you have dreamed of doing has been done through the vision the Most High
has provided. The Adamic people have sought to place our knowledge on the spools
of computers and have made the instruments before which we sometimes stand in
awe. As we think about these things, we remember that He said, “Seek, and ye
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” And we know that the
essence of all knowledge and wisdom come from inspiration of the Most High God.
There is no question that things
at the end of this age are fast moving toward a climax. We fight and we resist,
and we work for the Kingdom knowing that God will raise up leaders, warriors and
preachers and through them He will bring in the most triumphant period in all
history. Yes, the forces of darkness can lead us to Armageddon but we stand fast
knowing that the Victory of Yahweh/Yahshua will come out of the chaos.
Remember that in the hour of His
appearing we shall be like Him. We see Him now only dimly in the Majesty of His
Glory; but all flesh shall be saved as it is written, and His Shekinah Glory
will at last take away all transgression and purge out all error. Then the world
shall be: each according to his own, each according to his race, each in his
place in the category that God ordained from the beginning.
Thus we await the purging,
refining fire of HIS SHEKINAH GLORY.
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