3 Glory Dimensions & How to Access Them

There are many dimensions of the glory of God—so many that no definition can ever completely describe the fullness of His glory.

The multifaceted glory of God must be experienced time and time again. Each definition is a dimension we can experience, and has levels upon levels of reality. Consequently, I don’t make the focus of this chapter on the different definitions of the word “glory”—rather, that would fill a book.

Many are accustomed to hearing about the dimension of the glory that the priest experienced when he couldn’t stand in Solomon’s temple because of how heavy the glory became (2 Chronicles 7). They conclude that if the glory of God is present, everyone will fall to the ground. I used to believe this as well, until one day I was reading about Jesus turning water into wine (John 2:1-12). After Jesus turned the water into wine, the Scripture tells us that it was a manifestation of His glory, yet no one fell. It’s not recorded that anyone who drank the wine could not stand up; therefore, we can ascertain that the people were just in awe of the taste. The governor of the feast stated that they had saved the best wine for last.

These are examples of how God’s glory can manifest in many ways. The glory in Solomon’s temple is a different facet of the glory from when Jesus turned water into wine. It would be a huge mistake for us to assume that the glory will always look the same.

Jesus was the glory in a human body. We see Him take several different forms in Scripture where He was not recognizable, even by people who were often with Jesus. Just think of when Jesus walked on the water and His disciples thought He was a ghost, or when Jesus rose from the dead and talked with two of His disciples who didn’t recognize Him (Luke 24). A truth we often miss is that Jesus is the glory.

The Bible says that the fullness of God dwells inside His human body. Jesus is the radiant glory of the Father. If we seek the presence of Jesus with all of our heart, we will always find ourselves in His glory. As you read on, I don’t want you to lose the heart of this chapter—experiencing Jesus is experiencing glory.

Three Dimensions

We don’t have to seek signs and wonders. We don’t have to see glory clouds and pray for gold dust to appear. We simply have to seek Jesus; and as we do, we remain sensitive and alert to notice the signs and wonders of His glory following us. Glory is commonly described using three primary words that seem best to describe all the fullness of the supernatural glory, which reveal three dimensions of glory:

1) Kobod,

2) Shekinah, and

3) Doxa.

Now let’s look closely at each of the three.

Kobod

Kobod is weighty or heavy glory. We see this glory demonstrated when people could not stand under the weight of His glory (Numbers 20:6; Ezekiel 1:28; 3:23; 44:4). When John the beloved fell as dead when he saw Jesus like the sun shining in its strength in Revelation chapter 1. Another example is when Abraham fell down and worshipped God in Genesis 24:48. Kobod was and is weighty glory.

One of the greatest examples of this is when Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord. God responded by releasing a heavy glory that knocked the priests down and seemed to pin them on the floor. They couldn’t stand to minister.

This glory will not instantly knock us down, but I believe these are great examples of this particular dimension. When we experience the Kobod glory, it comes in measures. Think of it as God adding weight to the atmosphere and upon us progressively as we minister to Him.

Shekinah

The Shekinah glory of God is not actually a word found in the Bible. It was the Jewish rabbi who used this word to describe aspects of the glory of God, which means the dwelling place of glory. It seems to be used in the context of visible glory. In Scripture, a great example is the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 13:21-22).

Shekinah glory is often used to describe gold dust as well. I remember the first time I experienced this phenomenon. Gold dust came out of my pores during my prayer time. The following day, my prayer room was covered in gold dust. The Lord spoke to me, “This is a sign of new realms of glory.” I don’t believe this is what it means every time, though. Signs are a form of the voice of God speaking to us.

After this initial experience, we have consistently seen this sign in our ministry. Sometimes it pours out of my wife and I, and we are covered with it after services. People in our gathering can often see the glory on their hands. We even experienced gold dust raining down in my office. We have also on a few occasions witnessed a visible glory cloud form. The strongest I have seen it was actually during a deliverance service. As the cloud came into the atmosphere, many demons were cast out and I even saw the cloud on social media recordings.

Doxa

The word “Doxa” speaks of the judgment and the view we have of another person. In the context of spiritual glory, it is a glory that reveals who God is. In other words, Doxa is revelatory glory; glory that comes to reveal the character of God. For example, God is loving, merciful, holy, good, just, omniscient, faithful…. Many Scriptures throughout the Bible verify these, as well as many other righteous character traits of our heavenly Father. I encourage you to search the Bible and take note of all you find.

We have been called to move in the glory; however, we must distinguish the glory of God from several other dimensions of God. We must first distinguish presence versus power. Then we must differentiate between faith, the anointing of God, and then the glory of God. The Bible says that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power—because there is a difference between the presence and power of God. When Jesus breathed on the disciples and they received the Holy Spirit, they instantly received His presence. However, they had to wait to receive power in the upper room (I explain this more in my book, Supernatural Upgrade).

Many believers today are people of the presence of God, but they are yet to know His power. You can attend ministries and enjoy the beautiful presence of God in worship, but not see any demonstration of His power. It’s not that they are wrong. They have just settled for presence and haven’t sought the power. Imagine if the one hundred and twenty disciples never went to the upper room because they thought it was enough that they had already received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them. How tragic that would have been!

Some even make claims that all we need is character. This is erroneous thinking. Jesus was a Man of both character and the power of God. People with this mindset assume that because they experience the sweet presence of God that they need nothing else. What they fail to understand is that God’s power is not His Person.

Please understand this truth clearly. A believer who no longer knows the presence of Jesus, can continue to move in His power on some level. Really? you may wonder. Well, consider this Bible passage when Jesus says:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV).

Jesus was talking about people who lost the presence of God, but power remained operating in their lives. This further validates that presence and power are two different dimensions of the glory.

With that understanding as a foundation, it is easier to now understand that the gifts can be in operation, but it doesn’t mean we are in the glory. We need to make these distinctions to gain individual understanding of each. We must also know that all of these dimensions work together and are meant to connect as one to bring us into the fullness of God. I believe that to enter into the glory, we must begin with faith, enter the anointing, and then we will see manifested glory.