Man Made in God’s Image

A 3-Part Study

of Man “made in the image of God”

as compared to Jesus Christ

who “IS the image of God,”

 as Seen in His embodiment of the “Shekinah Glory.”

By Arthur J Licursi

Part 3 of 3 - The “Shekinah Glory” of God

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [or manifested] him.” (John 1:18)

Until Jesus of Nazareth came, the only visible form of God was that which appeared in the ‘cloud and fire’ that dwelled over the Tented Tabernacle in the Sinai wilderness in the midst of the encampment of the twelve tribes of Israel. This ‘cloud and fire’ we call the “the Shekinah Glory” or Shekinah expression of God’s presence.

The ‘Cloud and fire’ were visible but without substance. The word ‘Shekinah’ does not appear anywhere in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally means “he caused to dwell,” signifying that that the ‘Cloud and Fire’ was a divine visitation of the very presence or dwelling of the Lord God on this earth in the midst of Israel’s encampments in the Sinai wilderness, gathered round about “the Tabernacle.”

But the Prophet Ezekiel was the only man who was able to look into the “Shekinah cloud and fire” where he says he saw “four living creatures [Cherubim angels]” having their appearance as the “likeness of a man” which as we will see was Jesus Christ, the very “Son of God” who was also the “Son of Man” as ‘the image of God’ (cf. Eze 1:4-5)

“And I [Ezekiel] looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. ⁵ Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures [angels]. And this was their appearance; They Had The Likeness of A Man. (Ezekiel 1:4-5 (KJV)

Looking inside the ‘Shekinah cloud and fire,’ Ezekiel gazed upon four angels who were cherubim (Eze, 10:15) pantomiming the likeness of one human person. These were not four men represented by each of the living creatures in this vision – Just “a man,” ONE man. So, grasp what the text is saying – “they [plural]” had the “likeness of a [singular] man.” So, Ezekiel saw that the core image of the Shekinah cloud was a divine MAN. The ‘Shekinah cloud and fire of God’s presence’…  looked like “A Man.”

When we come to the New Testament, all of this becomes even more interesting. In the opening to the Gospel of John, he begins this way;

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 (KJV) Then John then writes; “… the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us [skenoo], (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)…” (John 1:14 (KJV)

By the context of these two verses it is clear that this is speaks of none other than the incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, “the Son of God” who here is “the Son of Man.”

We note that here in John 1:14, he uses a unique word for “dwelt among us” the Greek word ‘skenoo,’ meaning “to pitch a tent.” This is the noun form of the word is “skene,” which is the Greek word for “tent,” which is the New Testament word translated “tabernacle” in Hebrew 9:2-3, 6 and 8. By using the verb “skenoo” for Jesus’ birth, John is saying the incarnation of God in Christ was the living manifestation of the Old Testament ‘Tent of the Tabernacle’ (Eze. 26).

In other words, the “Shekinah Glory” of the Old Testament Tabernacle was back among Israel in the form of the bodily presence of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Hebrew word “shakan” (meaning, “to dwell”) and the Greek word “skenoo” (“to dwell in a tent”) both contribute to the formulation of the majestic name for ‘God’s Glory’ – the “Shekinah Glory.”

This unique phrase, the “Shekinah Glory,” literally means “The Tented Glory where God dwells among His people, Israel.” When in John 1:14 he wrote that Jesus “tabernacled among us,” He followed by saying “we beheld his [Jesus’] glory, the glory as of ‘the only begotten of the Father.’ (John 1:14).

Just think about it. John was expressing that fact that… ‘JESUS (the God-man)’ IS that “SHEKINAH GLORY,” that was seen as a ‘Cloud and Fire’ over the Tent of the Tabernacle in the Sinai wilderness.

Today, God’s “SHEKINAH GLORY” tents or indwells every regenerated believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, thus making them an extension of Jesus Christ as "the light of the world, thus making them an extension of the Lord Jesus Christ as "the light of the world."

- This “Shekinah Glory” portion was adapted from Dan Hayden -