“I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells.” Psalm 26:8
Wayne Jackson, in his “Examine me Lord — A Study of Psalm 26:Christian Courier” quotes from George Rawlinson (1812-1902) regarding Psalm 26 that it has “all the notes of David’s style, is full of his thoughts and imagery, and is allowed to be his by almost all critics” (1950, 192). He argued that the Psalm belongs to the time when the ark was at Mount Zion. There is certainly nothing in the Psalm to suggest otherwise.
The Oxford scholar contended that a literal rendition of v. 8b is “the place of the tabernacling of your glory.” In the wilderness, the place of God’s “glory” was in the tabernacle’s “Holy of Holies” (Exodus 40:34; Numbers 14:10).
That last thought caught my attention. The glory of the Lord tabernacled in the House of the Lord. It was there that He was revealed in all His awesomeness. The focus is on the revelation of the Lord’s Nature as the one who redeems His people. Earlier in the Psalm David writes, “For your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in Your truth” (Psalm 26:3). That word Tabernacle refers to the Lord dwelling among us. It caught my attention because it reminded me of the prologue of John’s Gospel where we read John’s testimony regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten, of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The word translated as dwelling in John’s Gospel is actually the word tabernacled. What David was pointing to in Psalm 26 became reality in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we see the glory of God revealed, full of grace and truth. What a tremendous, faith building promise from God. Here is grace and truth that exposes our sin and atones for it in His cross. Here is our reconciliation with God through His shed blood. His call to us is that we receive His grace through faith in Christ.