The glory of the Lord ...

"The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:11).

The house of the Lord is never to be the chief focus of our attention. The Lord of the house is to be the focus of all that we do when we gather together for worship.

When we look, with admiration, at the grand cathedrals, we may wonder, "Who were they trying to impress when they built this?" When we see two hugely impressive examples of Chucrh architecture located very close to each other, we may wonder, "Is there more than a bit of the 'keeping up with the Joneses' thing going on here?"

We may wonder, "What goes on in these places?" Are they places of which it can be said, "The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord"? or Have they become places that are not really much more than tourist attractions?

When Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, He found that life in the Jerusalem Temple was busy with activity, but it was empty - God was not there.

At the end of the book of Ezekiel, there are these simple yet very wonderful words: "The Lord is there" (Ezekiel 48:35).

When we hear these words, we know that this is what really matters: "The Lord is there."

"The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord" - What does this mean?　

- We are to be "in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day" (Revelation 1:10).

- We are to "worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).

- We are to "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18).

- We are to pray that we will "hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches" (Revelation 2:7).

- We are to pray that our preachers will speak with the authority and power of God: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel ... " (Luke 4:18).