2024: The Glory Year

2024: The Glory Year

One way God is known and described by biblical writers is the God of glory. Psalm 24:7-10, Acts 7:2, 1 Corinthians 2:8, Ephesians 1:17, James 2:1

Psalm 24:7-10
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

Acts 7:2
And he said , Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

1 Corinthians 2:8
Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Ephesians 1:17
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:

James 2:1
My brethren , have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

One clear objective of the Father's work on the earth is to demonstrate His glory in it's fulness, in the highest possible height. This is the mission of God.

Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Unfortunately for mankind, all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory cutting short the work of God and making the glory of God unrealizable as God intended. 

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

But in the eternal plan of God, He had prepared for releasing His glory to humanity.
Isaiah 60:1-3
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Fortunately, God prepared to count on himself to help man should/when the failure of man sets in, dealing with sin in the most decisive way. 

In dealing with sin, God called in His Son, Jesus Christ, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person to remove sin and bring in everlasting righteousness. 

Hebrews 1:1-3
God , who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Christ himself would suffer, for the sin of man to enter into His glory.
Luke 24:26
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things , and to enter into his glory?

What glory would Christ enter after his suffering?
Peter had a glimpse into the glory of the pre-incarnate Jesus and would not want to leave the place of encounter. 

Luke 9:32~ Peter wanted to stay on the mount where they experienced the glory of Jesus. He would recount this experience in his epistle to show how much impression it had on him.

2 Peter 1:16-17
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

In fact, in Peter's first letter, he wrote indicating that glory would follow the suffering of Christ restating the same thing Jesus taught them in Luke 24:26.

1 Peter 1:10-11
Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

Paul, in his contribution, writing to the Romans, explained that Christ was raised from death by the glory of God indicating that the whole work of redemption is an operation of the glory of God.

Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Now alive, Christ would share his glory with his beloved followers. This much he explained in his prayer to the Father before his crucifixion. 

John 17:5, 22, 24
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 24 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 lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Why would he want us to be with him and behold his glory? 
He wants us to be partakers of His glory. 
2 Peter 1:2-4
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Paul very well explained this in 2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

So the call we received to salvation is a call to glory, not a call to death but to life and immortality. 

2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, in our walk with God, we are to contemplate (consider with continued attention, meditate on) the glory of God and bring it into reality in all we do. 

1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat , or drink , or whatsoever ye do , do all to the glory of God. 

How do we glorify God?
1. In miracles, signs and wonders. 
Can you imagine the number of sicknesses that should have been opportunity for us to demonstrate the glory of God that we failed to take leading to the death of God's people?

John 11:4
When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 

If Martha would believe, she would see the glory of God which is the resurrection of her brother Lazarus from the dead immediately not in the resurrection day of the day of the Lord. 
John 11:40
Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

What is the extent of possibilities we can experience if we take Jesus' word for it?

2. Virtuous living. 
Now that we are exposed to the knowledge of the glory of God as indeed we are the glory of God, we demonstrate the quality of our spirit in the content of our character. 

Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

1 Peter 2:11-12
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

1 Peter 4:12-16
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God , and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Isaiah 60:1-3

3. Preach the gospel in the full intensity of its power. 
2 Thessalonians 3:1
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

How is the gospel glorified? It will not just bring repentance and forgiveness, it brings changed lives with it, transformation by the same word. 
Acts 19:18-20
And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

By the leading of God's Spirit and the strength of God's unfailing word, which has inherent power to make us what it talks about, I call 2024 the glory year. 

Amen.