By John H. Corbin

During each summer Olympic Games, the marathon race is the last event. The marathon run is a grueling race which takes the contestants through the heat of city streets, up and down the hills of the countryside, and then back to the Olympic Stadium. The marathon traditionally ends with the runners entering the stadium to run the final quarter mile around the oval track inside the stadium.

At complete exhaustion the runners enter the stadium to the roar of thousands of spectators. Now imagine just how that roar glorifies the runner’s effort, and pulls him or her around that last quarter mile to a spirited finish. For all this work, the glorification only lasts four years, until the next Olympic competition and a new marathon champion is crowned.

Ezekiel & God’s Glory

Ezekiel had witnessed the power of God before by the Kebar River, so when he saw the glory of God coming at them from the east, Ezekiel at once fell facedown on the earth. For the voice of God was like that of the roar of rushing waters, and God’s glory was so powerful it seemed to radiate the entire surrounding areas.

Then something extremely special took place: “Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple” (Ezekiel 43:5). How truly awesome it is when God’s Spirit lifts us up in times of need.

Modern-Day Glory

Just as with the other Old Testament followers of God, the glory of God which Ezekiel received would eventually fade away. Yet this truly awesome Spirit that God glorifies us with now is not temporary, but permanent once we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. He glorifies us with the Holy Spirit himself, so that we can take on his likeness. This is so that our lives may become a reflection of God, taking on the same image and characteristics of him: ”And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

John Corbin serves as a supply preacher for churches and runs a landscaping firm. He has three sons, Adam, Dakota, and Malachi, and makes his home in Ghent, Kentucky.