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Posts Tagged ‘Glory of God’

The Glory That Makes Us One

Posted in Being One, tagged , , , on May 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 17:1-8, 22-26

In order to save man, Christ had to lay down the glory that He had with the Father before the world was. There was one time on the Mount of Transfiguration when Christ burst forth from the body of Jesus and the disciples saw the glory cloud as it shone through his body. They heard the Father speak from within the glory cloud that also enveloped Moses and Elias. But John 17:5 shows that even the great power we saw manifested in Jesus Christ while He was in His human body was not the power which He had with the Father before the world was, but much less.

Let us look at John 17:22, in which He bequeathed to us not the glory of the Christ in the mortal body of Jesus, but the glory of the pre-existent Christ, which He had with the Father before the world was made.

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” 

Our oneness in Christ exceeds all human union. So then, what is this glory which He has given us? And if it is given, is it received? The glory is Christ. Christ stands at the apex of a pyramid and we are all at different points along its side. As we progress towards Him, we also come closer to each other, but it is the oneness of purpose that brings us closer to Him and to each other.

The glory that we seek is Christ. How do we get Christ? It is one of those simple, yet hard answers: We get Christ by being in obedience to the Holy Spirit. Of course, we cannot be obedient to someone whom we cannot hear and we can only hear by the Word of God. Our first action, then, must be a tacit determination to believe the Word of God and to obey it without reservation. Some of us believe this part and that part, but not the other. When this happens, we instinctively seek other interpretations for the Word and, invariably, we fall into error. Once we are in error, we cannot hear the Word of God clearly and we cannot act correctly, thus we miss the glory that was given and we cannot be one with those with whom we should be one.

Let us look at the ending of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:24-26, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The key in this prayer is expressed in the fact that Jesus is saying that we will have this glory in the natural and not just when we are dead. He is praying not for a glory to come where He will be, but “where I am.” In Chapter 14, Jesus explains that He is going to the Father and that He will come again and receive us unto Himself, “…that where I am, there ye may be also.” God’s plan for us is that Christ Jesus, Who is with us now, should bring us into the place where He is with the Father. He moved out of the place on earth and the Word declares in Hebrews 2:10 that He will bring “…many sons to glory.” The time is close when we will come into this glory. Pray that you do not miss it as the scribes and Pharisees did when Jesus first appeared.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, June 1991, pg. 6-8)

Thought for today: As we progress towards God, we also come closer to each other, but it is the oneness of purpose that brings us closer to Him and to each other.

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The Woman and the Glory

Posted in Being One, tagged , , , , on November 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 17:5, 22

God’s smile, His good will, and His permissive will are all that the church seems to have been enjoying until now. But now is the time of the overshadowing, when the manchild church is being brought forth within the woman church. We are moving into a time when nothing but the perfect will of God will be acceptable.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Revelation 12:1.

This is not Mary, the mother of Jesus. This chapter was written of the future and not of the past. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and brought forth Jesus Christ, the son of God. The church is being overshadowed by the Holy Ghost again to bring forth the Christ in us, not in a physical sense, as with Mary who had a natural child, but in the spiritual sense, where we shall bring forth the fruit of the soul and not the fruit of the womb. “Clothed with the sun” signifies an elect and called-out people of God, who at last will attain to the glory of God as their covering. Covering is not only for protection, but clothes which they wear daily – the righteousness of God being a part of our habit. The sun represents Christ, just as the moon represents the church. This woman was clothed with the sun, and her footstool was the moon. The meaning is clear. It brings out the scripture of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:5 and 22,

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.

We do not need ecumenism. The glory of God in us is making us one without reservation or fear of separation.

This glory which Jesus prayed about is the picture we see in Revelation 12. It is the same glory which hung over the tabernacle in the wilderness. The same glory Ezekiel saw at the river Chebar, and which Isaiah saw in Isaiah 1 and 6. All the prophets saw it, and Paul saw it when he was knocked down on the road to Damascus. I believe this is the same glory which I also saw in a vision in Greenwich Farm in western Kingston, when I saw the shadow of a man, cast by a great light in the sky, resting on the sea and on the land, and the voice of God speaking to me, saying, “The glory of God dwelleth in His people.” The glory is already given, and the church needs to appropriate it. The people of God is the only temple on earth now recognized by the Lord as His temple. In Haggai 2:7 and 9, there is a prophecy which is yet to come to pass, and it cannot be speaking of a natural temple, as there is none now standing which would have the approval of God. This temple, of course, must be the temple of the human body which God desires to dwell in, “not made with hands.”

“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.”

This scripture speaks of Revelation 12:1, which is the fulfillment of Haggai’s prophecy. The woman, the church, will be clothed at last, not in her own righteousness, but with the GLORY OF GOD.

“Upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 151-153)

Thought for today: We do not need ecumenism. The glory of God in us is making us one without reservation or fear of separation.

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Seeing the Face of God

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on August 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 3:18

The verse in 2 Corinthians 3:18 means that the more we see the glory of God, and the more the brightness, the light, the blessedness of God encompasses our beings, the more we see Jesus. This is “His face.” “His face” is the riches of His glory, the goodness of His nature, the blessedness of His presence. The more we see it, “WE…ARE CHANGED…from glory to glory” to be like Him.

Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” The purer the heart is, the clearer the vision will be. Matthew 6:23, “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” We are talking about spirit vision and not natural vision. Matthew 15:14, Jesus said, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” We are talking about seeing the face of God (seeing the face of Jesus) and about those who are blind and cannot see the face of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3:13-17, “And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” This “veil shall be taken away” when men “turn to the Lord” Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” We are talking of the mind being blinded, for it is with this mind that one is going to see the face of Jesus.

John 16:14 and 15, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” It is the Holy Spirit that gives us this vision, so that we can see the face of Jesus. The Bible tells us here that the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus. He is the revealer of Jesus, so that as we walk in the Spirit, we get more and more the vision of the face of Jesus Christ, and we become what we behold.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 3, pages 164-165)

Thought for today: As we walk in the Spirit, we get more and more the vision of the face of Jesus Christ, and we become what we behold.

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The Glory of God

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , on June 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 19:1

Salvation has come, “and GLORY.” It is peculiar that it should say “glory.” In the prayer in John 17:5, the Lord Jesus thanked the Father for giving Him the glory. Then in verse 22 He said, “And the GLORY which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” In the Old Testament, Moses came down from the mountain and his face shone with the glory of God. Alleluia! This glory had come in the physical so that when men saw Moses they had to cover their faces so that the shining from his face did not hurt them. What physically happened? I can tell you at least a part of it. As Moses stood in the presence of God (though God had to hide Himself so that Moses could even stand there), the energy, life, power, and radiation from God came upon Moses. Something more than radiation came from God. It was the LIFE and the ENERGY and the POWER of God which came into Moses and shone from him. Notice, it wore off; it shone for a while and then it wore off.

When Jesus rose from the grave, there were two angels in white apparel and their faces were shining. A kind of glow came from them. The sisters saw the angels and the angels gave them the message about Jesus. In Revelation 1:16c John described Jesus Christ “and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” Matthew 13:43, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Luke 9:28-31, “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he (Jesus) took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Here heaven and earth met together and there was a great shining, a glory that came out of Jesus Christ, and His countenance was altered. He became glowing and glorious, like an angel of God.

This glory is not just for Moses and those special people mentioned in the Bible, because in Romans 8:17 Paul speaks of this glory. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also GLORIFIED together.” This glory, this power of God, this indwelling of the Almighty in His fullness is that which lifts the human being from the earthly realm into the heavenly realm. We could be on the moon or on the sun and it would not make any difference. Humanity would then be lifted to this heavenly realm. The voices in heaven were saying that the glory has come; that glory which they were seeking, which they were waiting for, HAS COME.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 3, pg. 9)

Thought for today: The glory HAS COME which will lift us from the earthly realm into the heavenly realm.

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We Go up as the Glory Comes Down

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on November 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 19:1-10

Let me share with you very important truth: The glory of God is coming down to us and we are going up to meet Him. We are being raptured (this is the right kind of rapture) – that is, we are being changed from glory to glory as we behold His face. We are being lifted into the glory of God. In this glory, we are going to see and hear things which we have never seen or heard before. We will see clearly and walk and talk with those who are in the heavenlies. Brother John said in Revelation 19:10 that an angel came to him and confessed that he was one of his brothers who was saved by Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 22, another angel came to him, and John said to himself that this surely must be Jesus Christ Himself, but this angel also confessed that he was not, but that he was “…of thy brethren the prophets,” (verse 9). It was only a man who had gone into the glorious presence of God. God is saying that He is giving the glory to us, and that we are expected not to just receive it and say, “Yes” for next service, but we need to walk in it.

Let us read Ephesians 1:19-20, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

In other words, our power is in Christ. Galatians 3:28 says that in Christ, “…There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,” yet we know that there is “male and female” in the homes, in the Church, and in the world; and that male and female have to operate together in God’s divine order. There is, however, a higher dimension in the Spirit, when Christ begins to speak through anyone and neither the male nor the female voice carries the greater authority – it is Christ speaking. We are talking about children of God getting in Christ in order to get through the veil into the Holy of Holies.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, April 1997, pg. 13-14)

Thought for today: Let us meditate upon the glory of God that is coming down and lifting us up into the heavenly places. And let us remember that our power is in Christ only.

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