LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (5)

“The voice said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.’ And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it” (Revelation 4:1-2 NLT)

God want to take us on an excursion in the realm of the spirit.  When John heard the invitation from God to come up to heaven for deeper revelations, he accepted the invitation and instantly he was in the spirit. What does it mean to be in the spirit? Well am sure I know what the Bible means by that but we can attempt an explanation from other incidences in the Word of God. Paul spoke of similar experience in 2 Corinthians 12:1-3.

This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. ³Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know ⁴that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”

To “be in the spirit” could be to be brought into “visions and revelations from the Lord.”  The Lord may open His deep mysteries to a believer to enable the person see and experience His eternal goodness and wisdom. At such times, He grants one special privilege  to see those things which eyes have not seen or those things which no ear has heard of the things He prepared for those who love Him, but which the Holy Spirit has the prerogative to reveal to the believer as He will  (1 Corinthians 2:9-12). Our Lord had earlier promised that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will lead us into all truth and take from what belongs to Jesus and declare it unto us(John 16:12-15). Such encounters in visions and revelations can be a form of being in the spirit.

Again, to “be in the spirit” could mean and imply being “caught up into the third heaven.”  The third heaven is the physical home of God. It is the tabernacle of His glory and the place of His throne. It is the place where spirit of believers go to after death to be with their Father.  To be “caught up into the third heaven” could be to be taken out of one’s body. Sometimes we have dream experiences that looks like out of the body experiences. You may have seen yourself in a dream doing something while your body is fast asleep. When God summons one’s spirit out of his body into the third heaven, it is called out of the body experience. Paul said that “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV). This must not be confused with astral travelling which people of the occult indulge in to the detriment of their souls. As astral travelling or soul projection is what one does through soulish power under the influence of satan. Being caught up in the spirit is what God does when He summons any of His children into His Presence when it pleases Him. The person involved did not have to plan for it. It happens unexpectedly as in the case of John.

It is also clear that “to be in the spirit” could be out-of-the-body or in-the-body experience. As we have explained in the out-of-the-body experience, only the human spirit is interacting with heaven. In the in-the-body experience, the fully conscious person is interacting with heaven.  It is more like the person becoming overshadowed with the glory of God in an awake experience, much like what happened on the mount of transfiguration with our Lord and the three apostles, Peter, James and John.

The unique feature of being in the spirit is the full activation of one’s spiritual senses.  John testified, “And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.”  Therefore, to be in the spirit involves the activation of our spiritual senses so that we can see into the spirit realm and hear the voices of God and of His angels, and sometimes smell the heavenly aroma. John’s spiritual eyes were activated and he saw a throne and One who sat on the throne. This is the level of intimacy God is calling us into.  It will come when make quality time to be with God in prayer and reflective study of the Bible.  May the Holy Spirit inspire you to press in for such an intimacy with our Father in Jesus’ name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (4)

“Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this” (Revelation 4:1 NKJV)

God has so much to reveal to us than we are willing to receive. Sometimes we are too busy to give Him the attention He needs to initiate a revelatory process with us. Moses was totally consumed in his job of tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness until one day God was able to arrest his attention. “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 1:2 NKJV). Notice the sequence of events that brought Moses to a destiny-changing encounter with God. First, he looked and saw the burning bush, which aroused his curiosity and birthed a hunger to see more of what God is doing. He could have dismissed the whole incidence at that point like most of us often do.  He would have found the bush burning without being consumed a mere amusing spectacle with no spiritual or divine connotation.  Instead, he considered it a sign and wanted to know what the signification could be. Therefore, he did the second thing that is often critical in processing a revelation from God –he probed further.   “Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn” (Exodus 1:3 NKJV). He turned aside to study the phenomenon –why the bush does not burn even though the fire was raging. What Moses did that doesn’t come easily to us these days was that he set time aside to reflect deeper what God seem to be doing around him.  This seems to be all that God was waiting for.

God immediately took advantage of Moses’ attentiveness and began download revelations to him –“So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am. Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’ Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus 3:4-6 NKJV).  Moses was certainly not prepared for this. God likes throwing surprises at us sometimes. Notice that Moses did something that triggered the flow of revelation and positioned him to hear God – “when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look.”  Moses turned away from his business and preoccupations and paid attention to what God was doing around him.  Moses must have thought to himself, my business is truly important to me and should command all my attention, but even more important is checking out on God to see what He had for me.

We see similar incidence in our text. John has been enjoying a series of visitations from God’s Angel who has been speaking to him about God’s assessment of the seven churches in Asia. These were by every means very powerful encounters   but there was more that God had in store for him. God had spoken to John on earth through the Angel, now He wants to bring him to heaven so he could experience deeper intimacy with his Father.  Friends, it does not matter what level of revelation God has given you now about His person and His program, there is always more for us. Notice the same revelatory process as we saw in the case of Moses.  “Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast.”  He looked! Searching always leads to revelation. Many of us are not receiving much from God because we hardly truly seek Him. John sought Him. As He looked for God, he saw a door standing open in heaven. That door does not close. It is always open for those who would seek God. As he gazed at the open door wondering what it meant, he heard a voice inviting him to the Throne Room in heaven. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” What privileges are ours as God’s children that we never enjoy because of ignorance and busyness?  John looked, his eyes were open to see an open door in heaven, and he heard a voice inviting him to step through those open doors to a life-changing, sin-blasting, and God-glorifying encounter with our Father. You are next in line for similar favour and blessing in Jesus’ name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (3)

“...And the glory of children is their father.” (Proverbs 17:6^b NKJV)

The awesome privilege of the fatherhood of God is the glory of the believer in Christ. God could not have loved us better than to adopt us as His children. When the apostle John caught the revelation of this truth he exclaimed with rapturous appreciation –“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!...” (1 John 3:1 NLT).  God is our Father! Our Lord Jesus came to this earth to reveal God as Father to the world of orphans and to restore those who would believe in Him to the family of God. The new birth experience is God’s way of bringing people to share in the glory of His fatherhood. “God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation” (Hebrews 2:10 NLT). God brings people into glory as Jesus brings them into their salvation. When a person believes in Jesus and trusts Him for his or her salvation, that person becomes a member of God’s family. John explains the process of becoming a child of God: “He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God” (John 1:11-13 NLT). You lay claim to the fatherhood of God by believing in Christ and by accepting His finished work of our salvation at Calvary. 

The experience of glory comes with assurance of God’s fatherhood.  The deeper you become aware that God is your Father, the more of the glory you will experience.  The life of faith is one that is deeply rooted in the knowledge that God is our Father. This assurance of the fatherhood of God is what gives wings to our faith and enables us to approach God with confidence in prayers. Prayer is nothing more than a loving discussion between a child and a Father that loves unconditionally. Our Lord affirming said, “If a child asks his father for a loaf of bread, will he be given a stone instead? If he asks for fish, will he be given a poisonous snake? Of course not! And if you hard-hearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matthew 7:9-11 Living Bible). Good fathers are happy to give good gifts to their children. I certainly derive my joy in giving good things to my children than they derive in receiving them.

God, who is our Father, is the most generous and kindest Person there can ever be. Knowing Him and relating to Him as Father is the crowning glory of our being. He said through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV). No human achievement, however lofty, is worthy enough to become the reason for our glory. Our only true reason for glory should be that we know God as Father –“exercising lovingkindenss, judgement and righteousness in the earth.”  God is not an angry God. Our successes or failures do not determine His mood. God has no tantrums to throw at people! He is a happy Father!  If you are unfortunate to have an earthly father who is abusive and ill tempered, then take solace in the factual reality that you have a Father in heaven who loves you and cares about you with boundless kindness.

God is our ever-present Father. He sticks with us irrespective of the prevailing conditions in our lives. He thinks good about us and has great plans for our future. He is too jealous of you to allow the enemy to prey on you. He fights your battles and defends your cause.  He says to you, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NKJV).  Will you not take advantage of this invitation and run into His warm embrace? He will lavish you with love.  Our dear heavenly Father, open our hearts today to receive your love, to know it and feel it as your children in Jesus’ Name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (2)

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory” (Colossians 3:1-4 NLT).

Our new birth confers on us the right to participate in the life of glory with Christ. When we were born again by receiving the forgiveness of sins God offers us in Christ, God counted it for us as death and resurrection experience. By believing in Christ and accepting Him as Saviour implies an exchange of your life for His. Hence, Christ did not only die for you as a person, He died as you! Therefore, the Bible declares, “For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”  How did you die? You died in Christ because He died as you. Because Christ died as you, you are now empowered to live as Him.  On the strength of this eternal and permanent transaction, John was bold to declare, “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world” (1 John 4:17 NLT).  Did you capture the reason the apostle gave as to why we should live with confidence in view of glory? “Because we live like Jesus here in this world.”  Did you get it?  You live like Jesus here in this world. Can this be true?  If indeed it is true, how do I live like Jesus here in this world?

Now listen to Paul:

Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.(Galatians 2:20 Message).

Our Lord Jesus Christ now lives His life through me and in me. Now, I live in Him, move in Him and derive my being in Him. I like the way the Message Bible rendered this thought: “We live and move in him, can’t get away from him!...”(Acts 17:28).  As believers, we exist only in Christ. As the fish has no life outside of the water, so we do not have any life outside of Christ. How do we live in Him? We live by trusting Him and resting our hope on the eternal validity of His finished work for our redemption.  Therefore, we have total freedom to live for God’s pleasure in view of His coming eternal glory. 

Our only preoccupation now should be to “set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand.” This means that we should now live on earth looking up to heaven. Nothing should matter to us apart from that which is taking place in the heaven. We catch initiatives from heaven and implement them here on earth. In this way, we will be living true to our real destiny as citizens of God’s kingdom. The book of Hebrews explained further what setting our sight on the realities of heaven entails. “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne” (Hebrews 12:2 NLT). If God commands us to keep our eyes on Jesus, He meant for us to be able to see Him now. Similarly, if God commands us to set our sight on the realities of heaven, He meant for us to see those realities and for them to determine how we live on earth; thus, living with eternity in view!

Finally, we learn to live in the view of glory by keeping the realities of heaven alive in our thought.  “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”  Intentionally choose to approach things on earth from heaven’s point of view. Take the case of success. Why should you work hard to succeed in everything you do?  Your reasons must be that there is no failure in heaven and because Jesus did everything well (Mark 7:37).  May the Lord so fill your heart with heavenly realities that it shows in your earthly life now even as you live in the view of the coming glory in Jesus’ Name. 

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (1)

“But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Revelation 21:22-23 NKJV).

As we begin the last quarter of the year, it is necessary to refresh our mind on how far we have come since the beginning of the year. We opened the year with defining glory and discussing its varied manifestations surmising that Christ is the best and fullest expression of the glory of God. To know Christ is to know the glory of God. To abide in Him is to abide in the fullness of that glory. Everything there is to be revealed about the glory of God is clearly seen in Christ.  His life and work are most eloquent demonstrations of the glory of God. The ultimate expression of glory will be in the person of the glorified Jesus. I have sometimes exercised my mind trying to imagine how glorified Christ looks. John gave a glimpse of what he saw of Christ in his vision on the Island of Patmos. “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength” (Revelation 1:14-16 NKJV). It makes sense when God told Moses that nobody could see His face and live.  Imagine looking straight into the sun shining in its full strength. Who can behold such a scorching brightness and live?

The greatest spectacle one can ever imagine is that of seeing Christ in glory. Seeing Him is the ultimate transforming experience for believers. The Apostle John explained, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3 NKJV). How can we ever wrap our finite mind around such an infinite thought as expressed by John, when he declared, “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”  Think about this truth for a moment. You shall be like Christ as He is in glory! You will look like Him if you see Him. Our ultimate transformation is predicated on our ability to see Him. Are you planning to see Him in the glory land? Here are those who cannot see Him. “But cowards who turn back from following me, and those who are unfaithful to me, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those conversing with demons, and idol worshipers and all liars—their doom is in the Lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This is the Second Death” (Revelations 21: Living Bible). Get your name off this list by purifying yourself as you fix your affection in Christ. How can you achieve this? John reminds us “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  That is the hope of seeing Him in glory. There is so much in the world today, that are forcing us to believe that life on earth is the ultimate reality. This is a lie.  We have a hope for a better life in a better world –the New Jerusalem.

In that eternal city, we would not have need for the sun or the moon because Jesus will provide all the light we would ever need.  His glory will illuminate the eternal city –“the Lamb will be its light.” Paul explains how we can book our place in that city of glory: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory” (Colossians 3:1-4 NLT). Let the thought of heaven fill your heart as you begin now to partake of its most fulfilling reality. We are designed to live from heaven to earth! Far from being merely a future experience of believers, God wants us to begin our experience of glory now –“As He is so are we in this earth” (1 John 4:17). O God let the light of your glory so shine on us now that we will both absorb and emit the same light for the world to see in Jesus’ Name.