Shekinah

When the glory of the Lord came down and filled the tabernacle for the first time it must have been an awesome spectacle to behold. God was truly pleased with His people, not because of their goodness but because their sins were covered. The etymology of the dwelling or presence of God is the Hebrew word Sh’cheenah or as we pronounce it Shekinah. The term Shekinah was many times used interchangeably with the word God. In the Jewish mind it always spoke of the fact that He “dwelt in” or “rested upon” those who merited His favor, whether an individual, a community, or the entire Jewish people.

Scholars have always seen a striking connection between the concept of the Shekinah and the idea of Logos “The Word” which Philo introduced into Jewish philosophical thinking. Of course a much greater emphasis was placed upon the word Logos when the apostle John introduced his gospel account of the life of Jesus with these suggestive words:¹

Christ being the Priest, Tabernacle and Sacrifice enables us by His blood to enter the Holy of Holies which i the presence of God the Father. Our body and the Body of Christ is the Tabernacle by which His Logos and Shekinah glory dwells by revelation. The Way, His flesh, has been made to the Father in us by revelation of Him according to His grace and faith. Also, to the Hebrew mind, a word can be a thing or become a thing, substance or creation. We are becoming Logos substance through Him in the Spirit.