UNVEILING FOR THE GLORY (2)

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth;  the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 40:3-5 NKJV)

Whenever the president is scheduled to visit a state, the state government takes time to prepare for his reception. Part of that preparation is to do some road repairs to enable the president to ride smoothly to the different places he is scheduled to go. Potholes are filled and every noticeable obstacle is removed so the president would not have to go on bumpy roads. The roads are made as straight and as smooth as possible and even decorated to create pleasant scenery for the august visitor. It is usually considered a mark of disrespect for the visiting dignitary if adequate preparations are not made to ensure that he has easy access to the places of interest. Even in situations where the host governor does not like the president, such preparations are mandatory. Besides the host governor must be at the airport or at any other appropriate place to personally welcome the visiting president.

What if the visiting dignitary is the King of Glory, even God, who made the heaven and the earth, what level of preparation is required? The first time God revealed His manifest Presence before the entire company of the children of Israel was on Mount Sinai.  In that instance, God revealed how to prepare for the coming of His glory.

¹⁰Then the LORD told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. ¹¹Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. ¹²Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death. (Exodus 19:10-12 NLT)

God commanded Moses to prepare the people for His arrival. The glory of God does not come without preparation.  The children of Israel were to prepare by separating themselves to God. This involved bodily purifications in which the people scrub themselves clean of any dirt no matter how small. They would also wash their clothes until they sparkle. Two full days are set aside for such purification, after which they can confidently expect the visitation of God on the third day. The washing with water is symbolic of the cleansing the Blood of Christ had accomplished for us. Hence, the Bible exhorts, “Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22 NLT). The Blood of Jesus had secured for us once and for all an eternal cleansing that makes us always ready to welcome His Presence. All that we are required to do is to confess all our sins and bring them under the cover of the Blood of Christ. Do it now!

The other aspect of preparation involves setting boundary around Mount Sinai, beyond which no body or animal must be allowed to cross. Any person or animal that crosses the boundary must be killed.  If somebody who had undergone all the purifications ignores the decree of God and goes beyond the boundary He had set to approach the mountain, the person must die. Hence, having our consciences cleansed by the Blood of Christ and ready to welcome the glory, does not absolve us from the demand of obedience. Whatever boundaries God has set for us as individuals or through our leaders must be respected if you must see the glory. Obedience is an inviolable condition for seeing the glory of God.

When the appropriate preparations are made, the word of God assures that “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”  Let us make haste to prepare for the coming glory. God will show Himself powerfully on our behalf. No sacrifice is not small to make in order to welcome into our lives, families and the church, the transforming glory of Divine Presence.

From glory to GLORY

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV).

The phrase “from glory to glory” describes the progressive nature of Christian life on earth.  It is a life of ever-increasing glory. Our conversion is the dawning of glory in our lives, which experience “is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18 NKJV). The Bible affirms that the overarching purpose of God in the coming and suffering of Christ was to bring many children to glory. “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings’ (Hebrews 2:10 NKJV). Therefore, our conversion to Christianity is our inauguration to glory.  The glory experience of the believer, unlike that of the Old Covenant that fades away, is continuously increasing in every way.  No wonder the Apostle Paul affirms that believers in Christ are God’s children, “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:17 NKJV).  We are joint heirs with Christ of the glory of God.  Hence, Christ in us is our “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Christ is our hope of glory because only Him can removed the veil that prevents us from seeing and experiencing the glory of God. “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ” (3 Corinthians 3:12-14 NKJV) . Until one comes to Christ, one is veiled from the glory of God.  The Word of God will not make sense to you until Christ removes the veil over your mind.  In the Old Covenant the glory of God dwelt in the Holy of Holies, which was veiled out of sight, and out of reach from all except the high priest (Hebrews 9:1-10).  When Christ died on the Cross, that veil tore supernaturally from top to bottom signifying that the way to glory has now been opened (Mark.15:38)

Christ is our hope of glory because His blood gives us boldness to enter the Holiest and encounter His glory.  “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22 NLT). The Presence of God is the whirlpool of His glory.  We have unhindered access and unparallel opportunity to dive into and drench in that whirlpool of glory this year.

Do not let anything stop you from bathing daily in His Glory because only in that way will you advance from “faith to faith” (Romans 1:17) and go “from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7), having received “grace for grace” to experience “glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). God will grant glory moments from time to time to reinforce your experience of His glory in Jesus’ name. Welcome to our year of Glory!

UNVEILING FOR THE GLORY (1)

³But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. ⁵For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.   ⁶For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (Corinthians 4:3-4,6 NKJV)

The goal of the gospel is the revelation of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. The gospel is veiled to the extent its presentation fails to reveal the glory of Christ. This explains why Paul chose to know nothing else except Christ and Him crucified. Jesus is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His Person (Hebrew 1:3 NKJV). The gospel is the good news about the glory of Christ, who is “the Lord of glory “(1 Corinthian 2:8). After listening to a good gospel message, people ought to affirm, “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NKJV). “The glory of the only begotten of the Father,” underscores the uniqueness of Christ as an embodiment of the heavenly glory.  He has glory as only Him being the only begotten son of God can have it and none other. The greatest achievement of the devil is to undermine the glory of Christ. Hence, he veils the minds of people to keep them from understanding the glory of Christ.  Where he cannot stop people from receiving the revelation of God’s glory, he tries to diffuse it by making people feel they need something else in addition to Christ to please God. However, the testimony declares that Christ in us is our only hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

The devil wants to rubbish the glory of Christ by turning our attention away from Him as our central and only focus.  To this end Paul warned, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV).  God is revealing the knowledge of His glory only in the face of Jesus.  Complicating the simplicity that is in Christ is satan’s way of veiling the gospel to people.  He does so by corrupting our wholehearted, sincere and pure devotion to Christ as the eternal Bridegroom in whom the Bride finds fullest satisfaction.  “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV). Christ supplies all we need to please God and live for Him on earth. Abiding in Him and focusing on Him are all that God demands from us.   “And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done. Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said” (Colossians 2:6-8 LB).

The Lamb has all the glory and only through Him shall we experience glory.  He will remove the veil the enemy has blinded us with and grant us full vision of the splendours of His heavenly kingdom.   Jesus is waiting to tear this ugly veil from your eyes if you will let Him. “But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16 NLT). He will bring you into revelations and visions of His kingdom and empower you to draw from the riches of His glory.