The word Shekinah does not appear 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
it was a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling of the Lord God
on this earth. The Shekinah was first evident when the Israelites set
out from Succoth in their escape from Egypt. There the Lord appeared in
a cloudy pillar in the day and a fiery pillar by night: “After leaving
Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the LORD
went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and
by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could
travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the
pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus
13:20–22).
God spoke to Moses out of the pillar of cloud in Exodus 33, assuring him
that His Presence would be with the Israelites (v. 9). Verse 11 says God
spoke to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud, but when Moses asked to
see God’s glory, God told Him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall
see Me, and live” (v. 20). So, apparently, the visible manifestation of
God’s glory was somewhat muted. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God
hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him with His hand, and passed
by. Then He removed His hand, and Moses saw only His back. This would
seem to indicate that God’s glory is too awesome and powerful to be seen
completely by man.
The visible manifestation of God’s presence was seen not only by the
Israelites but also by the Egyptians: “During the last watch of the
night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the
Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their
chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians
said, ‘Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them
against Egypt’” (Exodus 14:24-25). Just the presence of God’s Shekinah
glory was enough to convince His enemies that He was not someone to be
resisted.
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the dwelling place of God’s glory.
Colossians 2:9 tells us that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form,” causing Jesus to exclaim to Philip, “Anyone who
has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In Christ, we see the
visible manifestation of God Himself in the second person of the
Trinity. Although His glory was also veiled, Jesus is nonetheless the
presence of God on earth. Just as the divine Presence dwelled in a
relatively plain tent called the “tabernacle” before the Temple in
Jerusalem was built, so did the Presence dwell in the relatively plain
man who was Jesus. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).
But
when we get to heaven, we will see both the Son and the Father in all
their glory, and the Shekinah will no longer be veiled (1 John 3:2).