The Glory
By Pastor Jeff,
My first thought when it comes about the word “glory” is when the angels announced the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ to the shepherds in the hills, Luke 2:11-14, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The Glory of God can be difficult to describe, His Glory can be found in His creation, Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork.” Even man was created to display His glory, Isaiah 43:7, “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” Unfortunately, man has polluted the glory of God, Romans 1:18-23, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”
Do you think of glory as being another name for heaven? Psalms 73:23-25, “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” How many times have you said or heard Christians talk of death as being “received unto glory,” which is a phrase borrowed from this Psalm. When the Christian dies, he will be taken into God’s presence, and in His presence will be naturally surrounded by God’s glory.
Defining what Glory is and what it means is tougher than I thought and to explain it to someone who never has seen the glory of God in His creation or has never experienced the wonderful presence of Jesus Christ is like trying to explain a sunrise over the ocean to someone who is blind.
Because God is the creator of all, including us and is Holy, the glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness. It is the going public of his holiness. His holiness is what he is as God that nobody else is. It is his quality of perfection that can’t be improved upon, that can’t be imitated, that is incomparable, that determines all that he is and is determined by nothing from outside. It signifies his infinite worth, his intrinsic, infinite worth, his intrinsic, infinite value.
We need to give Him “Glory” we all make the mistake of trusting in earthly things, earthly relationships, their own powers or talents or beauty, or the goodness they see in others. But when these things fade and fail as they will inevitably do we tend to abandon the things and people we have been giving glory to. What we all need to realize is that God’s glory is constant, and as we journey through life we will see it manifest here and there
The Lord Jesus Christ has done so much for me, can you declare that too?
John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
And we have this promise in Him, Ephesians 1:11-17, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:”
Moses who probably had the most one on one connection to God in the Old Testament had had one day asked the Lord an interesting question in Exodus 33:18, “And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.”
You know what, that is a question I am asking God too…
Exodus 40:34, “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” I want you to notice something here, this filling of the tabernacle only happened after sacrifice, what sacrifice can we give? Hebrews 13:14-15, “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
Its about desire, do you have this desire?
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