“An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
terrified.” Luke 2:9
Picture
yourself in an open field with darkness all around you and suddenly someone
appears before you. This person is great
in physical stature and he was accompanied by a blinding brightest that shone all
around him. I think it’s pretty easy to
understand why the shepherds in Luke’s account were terrified. What was this brightness? Could it have been the Shekinah glory of
God? I believe that’s exactly what it
was.
The Hebrew word is Sh’cheenah. We pronounce it Shekinah*. It means “that which dwells” and is from the
verb shakhen or shakhan, “to dwell” or “reside”. It is the presence of Almighty God. Though
the word Shekinah isn’t found in scripture, there are several allusions to it
in Isaiah 60:2; Matthew 17:5; Romans 9:4 and the verse we have above.1
The Shekinah glory of God had dwelt upon the Mercy Seat of
the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle until the
day when Christ opened the access to the Holy of Holies by His death (Matthew
27:51). From that day forward all
righteous believers in Christ would be filled with God’s Shekinah glory, the
indwelling of His presence.
With this in mind, how should we live our lives? Perhaps if people who professed to be
Christians understood more about what being a Christian was meant to be and
what God’s presence within really
meant, they would live differently, perhaps not. Some folks need to be shone before they will
react, but seeing isn’t using faith.
Faith is believing what cannot be seen as if it can. Activate your faith today and understand what
it truly means to be all God knows you can be in this life. His Shekinah glory resides within you. Live like it.
Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
* she-ki’na: short ‘e’ – long ‘i’ – short ‘a’ sound.
1 [Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for
'SHEKINAH'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".
