In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah 6:1-6
As I reflect on this scripture I am led to ask, “What does it mean for the train of His robe to fill the temple?” When we enter into the secret place and abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Ps. 91) He comes close. How close indeed is He meant to come? So close the train of His robe fills the temple. His entire hem indwells us because we are now the temple of the Lord (1 Cor. 3). I question how often we allow the Lord to come this close. Do we hold Him at a distance or keep corridors and corners of our hearts sealed off? In 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 the Lord promises us to go from glory to glory, this is our inheritance if we are in Christ!
16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
As we behold the glory of the Lord in the secret place we are transformed into His likeness from one degree of glory to the next. There are times when I am in the secret place and the weight of His glory is so heavy I start to wonder how much longer I can sit in it. Because I have crossed over the threshold of yesterdays glory and I sit in new territory, the weight of His glory is heavier than last time and my spiritual muscles endure stretching and pushing to a breaking point. How many know that when you are working your physical muscles the tissue is ripping and tearing and as it heals it builds up stronger? I feel the same can happen in the spiritual realm. During these intimate times of fellowship with the Holy Spirit, we can be stretched and broken under the glory of the Lord. As the foundations of our thresholds shake at the sound of His voice we cross prior glory to the next glory out of necessity all the while being transformed into Jesus’ likeness as 2 Corinthians promises. In the presence of the glory of the Lord there is a vulnerability that we sit in with Him where we cry out like Isaiah “Woe is me…I am a man of unclean lips…” this is where flesh willingly decreases because we have seen the King, the Lord of hosts who can take our guilt away and atone for our sin. This is where the unveiling lets us see the true condition of our hearts so we can joyfully pierce our wicked ways to the cross for the sake of love for our Bridegroom Jesus.
In the blessing of marriage and covenant relationship there is a sweet invitation we have to enter the secret place with our spouses. If our marriage dwells in the shelter of the Most High and abides in the shadow of the Almighty, if we say to the Lord that He is the shelter and fortress of our marriage, then we position ourselves and our marriage under His Lordship and protection. When Dan and I go into the secret place together and fellowship with the Holy Spirit our relationship is strengthened in a way unlike any other. No amount of date nights or physical intimacy can forge the knitting together like spiritual intimacy does. All are needed and important but spiritual intimacy reinforces Jesus as the foundation of our marriage and the solid rock upon which it is built. In the aftermath of our secret place encounters with the Spirit, we both sense a wall of fire surrounding us together where every weapon the enemy means to use to destroy our covenant is disintegrated. There is a strength and beautiful fortitude forged in the Spirit during these times and it is because we are sheltering in the fortress of the Lord; each prayer taking us deeper in fellowship where the Father shadows over us. Just as the enemy wants us to build a stronghold for him to live in through every lie we believe and sinful thought we do not take captive, so does the Lord who is the Mighty Fortress want us to build our marriage up in Him where He increases as we decrease.
Practically speaking for us this often looks like making a serene atmosphere without distractions after our kids are sleeping or if they are not home. We begin with thanksgiving, praise and adoration and flow in and out of areas the Spirit is prompting us to move into. We often move in and out of praying in tongues together and individually and receive the gift of tears that cleanse and soften our hearts. The Lord will lead us into times of repentance, prophetic declarations over our family and intercessory prayer.
If marriage involves being joined to one another in the flesh and likewise joining the Lord is becoming one spirit with Him as 1 Corinthians 6 tells us, then the knitting together of man and wife in the Spirit is essential for the covenant to be sustained in Christ.
