Edition 12. September 26th 2009
In this edition:
●The Glory which shall be revealed
●The Gory to be revealed in believers
●The Glory to be revealed in the creation itself
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The Glory which shall be revealed
In the late 1600s George Frederic Handel composed one of the most powerful pieces of music ever written and titled it "The Messiah" it contains an incredible track "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed" He took the title from Isaiah 40:5
Romans 8:18-21 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God...for the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God"
Introduction:
In this edition I would like to discuss perhaps the most exciting prophetic subject of all. It is our being changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye into people of eternal glory...and it's not far off.
These words should bring you hope, encouragement, purpose and reason for living, meaning to life and inspire you to move on, forward with our King of Great Glory!
The greatest regret of all time will be when many people one day find out about these things and how close they were and yet they rejected it all in favour of rebellion to God. The world today including many believers, has no peace, because they are rebels in the face of fast approaching GLORY.
The glory to come:
Firstly, I don't have much to say about the glory of God. It is simply indescribable. Language can't do it justice and the human mind is far too limited to imagine it.
All human beings will get a resurrection body, but only true believers will be able to share Gods glory with Him. All unbelievers will be eternally imprisoned in hell. The bottom line is...whose neighbourhood are you going to hang out in forever?
●The glory to be revealed in believers:
You may wonder why I've chosen those ugly guys in the image below to represent believers. Well, it's simply because salvation gets offered to all. The completion of our salvation transforms us physically into something glorious, wonderful, spectacular, beautiful and new.
2 Corinthians 4:17 "For our light affliction which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
It's often good to set your sights into the future, if only for a short while. It gives you perspective. A little while ago I was in one of the most amazing deserts on this earth...the Namib on the west coast of Africa. (There are some pictures of it in the "Gods Garden" section. One night I lay for many hours in the dunes just looking at the night sky and imagining the glory that is to come. It was an incredible experience!
1Corintians 15:40-44 "There is one glory of the sun and another of the moon and of the stars, all differ from one another, so also is the resurrection of the dead"
This verse (above) makes it very clear that we will all differ from each other in the resurrection. Some will scrape into a Godly eternity by the skin of their teeth, others will have a reward state that will be spectacular. Our rewards which will set us apart from each other for ever are described as wood, hay, stubble or gold, silver, precious stones, which are all hit by the fire of Gods judgement. The first three will leave a puff of smoke while the others are refined by fire and will live on.
Yes of course we will all be equal in terms of salvation, but what you and I do with our lives now in respect to Gods plan for us, will determine our eternal glory!!
One of the rewards, that never ceases to amaze me is the 'crown of righteousness' given only to those that "look for His coming"...Don't you dare ever tell me not to get into this end time stuff!! Actually, I have nothing but the utmost contempt for all those pastor / teachers out there who are in love with the ways of the world and anti -eschatology!
Philippians: 3:21 "He will transform our lowly body, that it may conformed to His glorious body..."
The above verse indicates that the sort of body we will be given will be similar to that of our Messiah after His resurrection. How exciting is that! He could travel at the speed of thought, walk through walls, appear here or there. You could touch Him, He could eat and on top of this we will have full, complete knowledge of all things just like Him. Ahhhhh the pain in my back, knee and neck will be gone forever!
We will be able to be and exist in the dimensions of the physical as well as the spiritual. We'll be able to transcend the dimensions of time and space.
The most outrageous, farfetched and stretched science fiction will have nothing on this, nothing at all. This puts that to shame in comparison.
Colossians 3:4 "When Christ who is our life appears, then we also will appear with Him in glory". Bring it on, bring it on!
●The glory to be revealed in Israel:
Isaiah 35:1-5 "The desert shall bloom as a rose...the eyes of the blind shall be opened"
It's interesting that the land of Israel is one of the most successful from an agricultural point of view and yet it is water-scarce and full of rocks! Many people (including myself) would say that something supernatural is on the go. It's just the start though.
Isaiah 62:2-4 "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness and kings your glory and you will be called by a new name... You will also be a crown of glory in the hand of our Lord. You shall no longer be termed forsaken"
Unfortunately the above verse will come about after much suffering, but it's coming. In fact we are now in the early stages of the new birth of Jews.
Isaiah 44:23 "Sing O heavens for the Lord has done it...break forth into singing you mountains, forest and every tree. For He has redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel."
The above verse is yet future in its complete fulfilment, but we are in the fore-runner period now...exciting times indeed!
●The glory to be revealed in nature:
Romans 8:21,22 "The creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God...The whole of the creation groans with birth pangs of labour together until now"
I am a mad bushman at heart and have spent much time in some of the most beautiful wild places on this earth. But there is always a sense in me that this was not the way it was supposed to be. I can only imagine what the natural world will be like after the curse on nature is lifted. It was lifted from a positional point of view on the cross, but nature's full salvation, like ours, still lies ahead.
Isaiah 51:3 "The wilderness shall be like Eden"
The earth will be restored to the way it was in Eden, before the fall of man. Adam's fall brought down all creation with it. The millennium period will see all of this completed.
Isaiah 11:6-9 "The wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the lion together and a young child shall lead them...for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
On many occasions I've watched a lion tear into its prey and devour the poor animal. It's quite a sight. This is normal now, but according to the verse above, a big change is coming!
Isaiah 32:15 "The wilderness becomes a fruitful field, then justice will dwell in the wilderness."
I have a passionate hatred for cruelty to animals or injustice on any level to the indefensible. Thank God for the above verse!
Job 39:8 "The range of the mountains is His pasture and He searches after every green thing"
God is green, declares the above verse! Yes I know the green movement is new age and filled with all sorts of evil, but there is a truth in the midst of 'green'! Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!
Revelation 22:3 "And there shall be no more curse..."
The cow dung choice:
If I were to slap you in the face with a hand full of hot steaming cow dung I don't think you'd be too happy! The verse below compares the things of the world with cow dung (original word). This is the desire of the world...pure cow dung in comparison to the coming glory!
Philippians 3:8 "I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ...for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ."
2 Corinthians 4:4 "...whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who did not believe , lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
What an incredible tragedy that the world at large is blinded, misguided and deceived by its god into a life of futility, while right before them, so very close is glory indescribable.
I always think of this when seeing a funeral of an unbeliever. There is so much dark, gloomy, hopeless despair, while a funeral of a true believer although sad for the moment has an air of victory to it!
Conclusion:
Revelation 21:4,5 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...Behold I make all thing new"
Revelation 5:12 "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power riches and honour and glory and blessing"
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In closing this edition here is a beautiful woodcut print done by Paul Gustav Dore in 1870. It's part of the Paradiso series titled "The Heavenly Choir" (thanks to Adalaide University Library)
Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and hang in there!
