Title: 13
Author: JOEG
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© 2001 Joe Griffin	                                   ▼                        01-11-13.JSH-571 /

The Inscrutable Question: Uses of Kavoth in the Old Testament: Divine Presence, Thought, & Creation; Restoration of Lost Glory Requires Reconciliation
	14-	Therefore, we are able to reach some conclusions regarding the definition of kavoth:
1)	Glory refers to the presence of God among men and is manifest by phenomena of nature, e.g., cloud, fire, and light:
Exodus 24:16 -	And the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.
v. 17 -	And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.
Isaiah 60:1 -	[ Spoken to Jerusalem at the Second Advent ] “Arise, shine; for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
v. 2 -		“For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.
v. 3 -		“And nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
2)	We know that no man is ever permitted to see the essence of God.  We learn this from the Lord’s response to Moses who requested to see Him face-to-face on Sinai:
Exodus 33:18 -	Then Moses said, “I pray to You, show me Your glory!”
v. 19 -	And He said to him, “I Myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.
v. 20 -	But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
3)	God chose to reveal Himself visibly to His chosen people by means of light.  But His essence, His character, and His thinking were revealed to them by ritual.
4)	From the sacrifices, feast days, Sabbaths, and even the furniture of the Tabernacle, God revealed His plan to the Jewish people.
5)	Consequently, when God reveals His thinking to us we often see Him use the metaphor of “light.”  As He reveals Himself visually by means of light He also reveals His thinking my means of revelation.
6)	The thinking of God is called “light” in:
Psalm 119:105 -		Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
7)	Thus God has glory or weight with regard to His possessions and the responsibility He assumes over them.  
Psalm 50:10 -	“Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”
Psalm 104:14 -	He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and vegetation for the labor of man so that He may bring forth food from the earth.
8)	Man is able to perceive God’s glory by means of His creation.
Psalm 19:1 -	The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
v. 2 -		Day to day pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge.
v. 3 -		There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard.
9)	Man is able to understand God’s glory by means of revelation through the Scriptures.  It is the Word of God that reveals to man that when the glory is gone from a client nation there was a loss of glory in the souls of the people first.  In Psalm 85 the sons of Korah write about the final restoration of Israel at the Second Advent:
Psalm 85:8 -	I will hear what God the Lord will say; for He will speak peace [ <olv / shalom / ] to His people, to His godly ones; but let them not turn back to folly.
v. 9 -		Surely His deliverance is near to those who fear Him [ ary / yare /: reverence and awe ], that glory may dwell in our land.
		10)	The people of a client nation, which has lost the glory of God, must reconcile with God before the client nation can reacquire its glory.  The word <olv / shalom /, translated “peace” in verse 8, refers to reconciliation with God.  
		11)	Reconciliation to God, be it for salvation or fellowship, requires knowledge of the Word of God.  This knowledge includes the gospel for the unbeliever and results in reconciliation before God for salvation.
		12)	Reconciliation to God for the believer is confession of one’s sins alone to God alone and results in purification from sin, restoration to fellowship, and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
		13)	Reconciliation to God for a client nation depends upon the former two things occurring in the souls of enough people so that Jesus Christ Who controls history may be allowed by divine justice to restore the land to a state of order and tranquility.
		14)	The understanding our Founding Fathers had regarding peace and reconciliation is recorded for us in:
Webster, Noah.  The American Dictionary of the English Language.  (New York: S. Converse, 1828).  Reprint.  (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1995), s.v. “PEACE”:
1.	In a general sense, a state of quiet or tranquility; freedom from disturbance or agitation; applicable to society, to individuals, or to the temper of the mind.
2.	Freedom from war with a foreign nation; public quiet.
3.	Freedom from internal commotion or civil war.
4.	Freedom from private quarrels, suits or disturbance.
5.	Freedom from agitation or disturbance by the passions, as from fear, terror, anger, anxiety or the like; quietness of mind; tranquility; calmness; quite of conscience.
Great peace have they that love thy law.  Ps. 119. (v. 165)
6.	Heavenly rest; the happiness of heaven.
7.	Harmony; concord; a state of reconciliation between parties at variance.
8.	Public tranquility; that quiet, order and security which is guaranteed by the laws; as, to keep the peace; to break the peace.
To be at peace, to be reconciled; to live in harmony.
To make peace, to reconcile, as parties at variance.
s.v. “RECONCILIATION”:
1.	The act of reconciling parties at variance; renewal of friendship after disagreement or enmity.
Reconciliation and friendship with God, really form the basis of all rational and true enjoyment.
2.	In Scripture, the means by which sinners are reconciled and brought into a state of favor with God, after natural estrangement or enmity; the atonement; expiation.
		15)	There can be no lasting peace among nations until the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.  Implicit in the meaning of <olv / shalom / is an unimpaired relationship with others.
		16)	However, there is no possible way that a client nation can maintain a status of reconciliation with God and at the same time be at harmony with the nations of the devil’s world.
		17)	Consequently, the client nation must honor God, keep his commandments, and execute them from the motivation of Christian integrity.

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