Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

1 Samuel chapter 4, verse 21 and 22.

And she named the child Iqabad, saying the glory has departed from Israel

because the ark of God had been captured because of her father-in-law and her husband.

And she said, the glory has departed from Israel,

for the Ark of God has been captured. What a phrase. The glory has departed. What happens here in

1st Samuel chapter 4 is the Ark of the covenant that represents God's presence among his people,

has been taken by the Philistines, it's apart from the people of God, and this exclamation twice in 1st Samuel 4, 21 and

22, the glory has departed from Israel. This is basically the worst thing possible for the people of God

to be disconnected from the glory of God. We see a similar picture later in the Old Testament

when the temple is destroyed and the glory of God departs among his people.

And when we see pictures like this in the Old Testament, it gives us greater understanding of the wonder of what we read in John chapter 1, when Jesus is described as the Word of God made flesh and John writes we have seen his glory

the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth I left to ourselves in our sin.

The picture in the Bible is clear.

We are separated from the glory of God.

What does Romans 3 say?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And if we die in this state of separation from God and all of his glory, we will spend eternity separated from God and all of his glorious

attributes. We will spend eternity in judgment due our sin. But the good news of the Bible is that the God of glory has come to us in Jesus. He has lived a life. We could not live a life of no sin. Then even though he had no sin to die for,

he chose to die on the cross for sinners, for all who would trust in him. And he rose from the dead

three days later to give eternal life to all who know him, that we might experience His glory in unimaginable ways.

The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, our bodies, a temple of His Holy Spirit, as we live with

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