Reflecting the Glory of the Lord

Well, good afternoon again, brethren, and it's wonderful to see all of you here today. And as I mentioned, I appreciate the hymns that we sang here earlier today, and also Mr. Barnett's reference to God's ultimate purpose of bringing many sons and many daughters to glory. Actually, you know, some of our songs, as we sang, you know, we sang about Father God on high.

And then we later sang, we will glorify. Glorify the name of God. And there are a lot of different ways that we should do that. But I want us to think initially today about a verse that we're very familiar with, one that I'm sure almost all of you could quote in Matthew 6, verse 9. And I'm going to say you could quote that. You may not know exactly what Matthew 6, 9 says, but you do know and are familiar with the statement, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Now, that's an incredibly common terminology or description that a lot of people would be familiar with. All of us are. Many other people would be familiar with this. You often hear this type of prayer repeated and used by people around Christians of all type. You know, they could probably quote that particular part of that prayer. But I think there may be more to that. More to that than we may realize. Because whenever, again as our song said, Father God on high, what exactly are we saying?

Now, all of us, having an awareness of God, having a commitment to God, having a devotion to God, and having a desire to be the desired outcome of God to bring many sons to glory, it should have more significance to us than to most people who may say those words and yet not really comprehend the depth of what Jesus was truly saying. Whenever you see Jesus referring to the Father, whenever He's praying to the Father, or He's thanking the Father in most cases, He's doing that with an awareness and a knowledge that was incredible.

It was beyond the norm for everybody else alive at the time. And it should be, you know, whenever I think about praying to my Father in heaven, I think about a number of things that I ought to praise God for and worship God about and respect Him and respect His law and submit to His rule in my life.

But whenever I pray to honor my heavenly Father, that should have more meaning, more significance to those of us who understand God's purpose and plan than to anyone else on earth. Now, I hope to point out how, you know, this is the case for all of us today.

We've all returned, or most of us have returned, from enjoying the Feast of Tabernacles. And we've studied verses that talk about the coming millennial rule of Christ. We often read Isaiah 11. You know, that's one of the most common chapters that we would go over. It gives a lot of detail.

It gives a lot of instruction about the law going forth from Zion. It talks about, you know, a change in the nature of the whole world, the nature of animals. But what does it say in verse 9? Isaiah 11, verse 9, describes, in a sense, a beginning of what would have to be known in order for the peaceful and wonderful world to come to actually be the way God describes it.

It says, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Now, we all know you can look at any globe. You can understand, you know, when you look at the expanses of the oceans about, I guess it's two-thirds or so of the earth's surface is covered with water. And a third of it popped up all over in different places around the world is land surface. But, see, this description of the earth being full of the knowledge of God is certainly, I would say, a beginning point. Because if people don't believe in God, if they don't believe that God exists, if they don't believe in the Word of God, if they don't believe that God has important information that all people need to know, then very little is going to be achieved toward His end.

And yet, I'm pretty sure all of you are familiar with this verse, the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Now, I want us to contrast this with a verse in Habakkuk.

This is one that may not be as familiar, but it's very similar. Habakkuk chapter 2.

Now, that's a little book in the latter part of the Old Testament. It's one of the minor prophets. You can find it by looking it up in the index.

I'm not sure. I can tell you what page it's on, but I doubt that that would really help you very much.

But I'm only going to read one verse here anyway, or at least right now, because the book of Habakkuk talks about another topic altogether. And I'm not really wanting to go into that, but in Habakkuk chapter 2, in verse 14, it makes a summary statement about what's going to happen.

What's going to be the end result? It says, the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Now, that's a little bit different than what we read in Isaiah.

And I'd like for us to think about what's the difference in those two statements.

The knowledge of the Lord, or the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

And it is important to be able to understand the difference. I would say the knowledge of the Lord could refer to just general knowledge, general information about God, about His law, about His way, about His gifts, about the fact that He exists, about the fact that He is ruling and that He's the author of life, He's the author of law. Those are all things that we certainly believe and we know about and we were taught about even early on in our connection to the Church of God.

But see, what about the knowledge of the glory of the Lord?

It seems to me that that would indicate a greater comprehension of what is God's purpose for human existence. What is God's... why were we born? What is God planning to achieve with human beings?

And I think that the answer to why were we born and that we're to become a part of God's family and we are to be ultimately glorified. See, a knowledge of the glory of the Lord, of a glory that He wants to share. He wants to share with us. So, I'm going to say the title of this sermon would be Reflecting the Glory of the Lord. Now, you may decide it's about something else, but I'm going to title it Reflecting the Glory of the Lord because that, in essence, is what our Christian lives ought to be about. I want to begin. I'm going to... I'm going to number these for fear that I will get confused and you will have four points and I will have six.

But nonetheless, I'm going to attempt to do that because obviously the topic of glory could be viewed in a number of different ways, but the Bible uses it in specific ways for specific reasons. And so, the first point that I want to make about the topic of glory is simply the fact that the glory of the Lord that we read about, mostly in the Old Testament and then in the New Testament, deals with God dwelling with His people. God dwelling with His people and, of course, He chose the people of Israel, the people descended from Abraham.

He chose to dwell among them. Now, we realize most of the people that we read about in the Old Testament, most of the Israelites didn't really have a relational connection to God.

Most of them just didn't have the heart for that. But what do we read here in Exodus, chapter 40? Exodus, chapter 40, describes how it was that God says that He was going to dwell among His people.

It's different than we see today, but it is described here in Exodus 40. This is after Moses had been directed to develop a very intricate tabernacle and all of the things that would go into the tabernacle, and He was going to put all of this together. And, of course, this tabernacle being a mobile tent, because it could move around, and it did move around as God directed. But what do we read in verse 34? It says, "...the cloud covered the tent of meeting," or the tabernacle, "...and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Moses wasn't able to enter the tent of meeting because of the cloud settling upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And then it describes a little more about God leading the people by day and by night.

And yet, I point this out because now that's where God said He was going to dwell. He was going to be among the people of Israel.

Now, did He relate to them like He relates to you and me? No.

It seems that He related to Moses and a few of the others in a very intimate way.

But what we see about God dwelling among the Israelites was in this tabernacle where the glory of the Lord was sent to symbolize God's dwelling among the people. Now, if we jump forward a number of years after the tabernacle to the time when Israel is in the Promised Land and where King David has become the king over all of Israel, and He desires so much to build God a temple.

And God says, no, I'm not going to allow you to do that.

I'm going to allow you to put the stuff together, and you can gather all the remarkable amount of opulence that God allowed David to amass for his son Solomon to be able to build a temple. So let's jump forward to 1 Kings 8.

1 Kings chapter 8 brings us to the time when Solomon has achieved what David wanted to do to build a place for God to dwell among now the nation of Israel, a much larger group than had been dealing with the tabernacle.

And during the dedication of the temple, this was a gorgeous temple, a beautiful temple, an opulent temple, a beautiful facility that represented how we connect with God, how we go to worship God, and where the Holy of Holies is, and where specific things are, the ark and the mercy seed and the carabin that cover all of this is in this one location. In verse 9, it talks about things that were in that temple, nothing in the ark, except the two tables of stone that Moses had placed there at Horep, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when?

In verse 10, the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests couldn't stand to minister because of the cloud. So again, in very similar fashion to what we see happen with the tabernacle, now with this glorious temple that Solomon had been permitted to build, you see here in verse 11, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness, and I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.

See, this actually symbolized God's desire to dwell with his people. And again, as we said, most of them didn't obey very well. Even later on, the king of Israel and Judah, as they were divided, they didn't obey well. They didn't direct the nation to obey well. They didn't connect with God hardly at all. And ultimately, both of them go into captivity. First Israel and then Judah. We've gone over this recently here, at least in the last six months or year. And as even Daniel was in captivity, and he was figuring out how long we're going to be here, ultimately God would send a group of the people of Judah back to build another temple, to rebuild Jerusalem, and to rebuild a wall, and to rebuild a temple. And yet, what do we learn when we read about what Ezra and Nehemiah were able to do? Because they were commissioned to kind of lead that project. They had a lot of obstacles. They had a lot of disinterest. They had a lot of difficulty.

They had really been pleased with the former temple. It had been a glorious temple, as Solomon had said. And yet, this was in comparison kind of a shabby temple. They were going to build this temple, and it was going to be a temple in Jerusalem. But whenever you read, and we can look at this in Ezra chapter 6, Ezra chapter 6, you read about the work going forward and here in Ezra chapter 6, starting in verse 16, it says, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites and the rest of those who returned as exiles, they celebrated the dedication of this house of God that's with joy. And they offered at the dedication of the house of God, you know, lots of bulls and rams and lambs and offerings.

According to the number of the tribes of Israel, and they set the priests in their division and the Levites in their courses for the service of God of Jerusalem, as is written in the book.

But nowhere do you read about the glory of the Lord filling this temple.

See, what was God indicating by making this display in the tabernacle and then in Solomon's temple, but then not in this additional temple that He allowed to be built.

Well, He was symbolizing that, you know, there would be a different type of temple, a different type of temple that we read about here in the New Testament, a different type of temple as we read here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, that would actually be not a physical temple at all, or I guess it would be physical, but it wouldn't be a building, per se.

But it would be a temple that would involve Christians who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

Christians who have been a recipient of the Holy Spirit, and where did that Holy Spirit come from?

It came from the Father. It came from God. And He is the One who initiated. We didn't just decide to be Christian. We didn't just decide to be the children of God. That's really not something you can decide for yourself. You have to agree to that, yes. But see, who initiated it? Well, the Father is the One who initiated a calling that brought us into the Church of God. Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, He says in verse 16, don't you know? And of course, Paul is talking to a group of Christians who live in Corinth. He's talking to them. Now they clearly were not perfect. They clearly had difficulties and problems, and they stumbled and grumbled. And they complained about almost everything they complained about. Paul, they had a lot of trouble. But he says, don't you know that you are the temple of God? Don't you know that as individuals that God has drawn to Jesus Christ and He has begun a good work in your life, that you are the temple of God and that God's Spirit dwells in you. And if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. So you see this description in Paul's writings in numerous places, and it talks about a relationship. See, God desired to dwell with His people Israel, but He was doing that in a somewhat limited way. He did it in a visible way with the tabernacle, later with the temple, not so with the second temple, but He had in mind the real goal of the temple that would be the church, the temple that would proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God. And I think you might also connect this again with another verse in Habakkuk.

We read Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 14, where it says, the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Let's drop down to verse 20.

But the Lord is in His holy temple, and let all the earth keep silence before Him.

See, that's kind of an outcome statement that God is willing to dwell in Christians. So this is one way, this is the first point here, one way that you see the glory of the Lord described, and how it is that that glory is connected to us through the receipt of the Holy Spirit.

It's connected to us so that we can relate to our Heavenly Father, but more than just relate, that we can truly honor, honor our Father who art in heaven because He is the one who started the process of our conversion and ultimately our being glorified.

See, how do we see the word glory or the use of glory in other parts of the Bible?

The second point is that you can see glory or glorify, maybe more so, given or used as an honor or a respect. You know, we can give glory to God. We can give glory to Jesus Christ. We can give glory to their name and to their plan and to their purpose.

John 1, verse 14, is actually an extension of the glory of God. It's clearly talking about Jesus Christ, who in verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in verse 14, and the Word became flesh. He became, He was with God. He was always existing with the Father, and yet He came to the earth. He became flesh and lived among us, dwelled among us, He tabernacled among us. And we, John could say this because he was one of the very close individuals to Jesus as a man, as a human being. He was actually his cousin.

He was, or at least maybe I'm getting that mixed up, maybe John the Baptist clearly was a cousin. John the Apostle, he clearly was very close to Jesus. He was familiar with many things that he did. And he says, we have seen His glory. See, now they just saw a physical individual. They saw what He did. They saw what He said. They saw He was there to do the will of the Father. He says, we've seen His glory, the glory as of our Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. And so clearly in that statement, we see Jesus is unique. He is the only begotten Son. At least in that form, having that past, no one else will qualify. He is unique. And yet, He had a very close, intimate, loving relationship with His heavenly Father, where He was able to do the will and to do the works and to speak the words of the Father. That's what He said, I'm here to do. And yet John, the Apostle here at John 1.14, is saying, we've seen His glory. We saw what He was able to do. He was the glory of the Father's only Son.

If we jump on over in the book of John here, you see glory or glorify used out of respect.

John 8, verse 54. John 8, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. John 8. In verse 54, He's been discussing with them how they're really not pleasing God. They're not honoring God. They're following their Father, the devil. They didn't want to hear that. They didn't want to know that.

They thought they were righteous on their own. But in verse 54, it says in answer to a question, verse 53, they ask Him, are you greater than our Father Abraham who died?

Who do you claim to be? And Jesus said, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. He's going to point out something that's very significant. Now, it would seem as we understand Jesus, He certainly was worthy of worship. He was worthy of glory.

He was worthy of honor in every way because of what He did. But He made the explanation, if I glorify myself, then my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me. It is my Father that glorifies me, He of whom you say He is our God. Even though you don't even know Him, but I do know Him. See, now Jesus was making a statement that they were going to be very angered about.

They were going to be chasing Him out of town over what He had to say about His relationship with the Father, but He said, I'm not here to glorify myself. I'm here because of the Father glorifying me, Him recognizing me or respecting me as His Son. If we jump over a few pages here to chapter 11. In chapter 11, you see an account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

And it's a marvelous account and it's a wonderful thing to read. And yet, early on in the chapter, John 11, when Martha and Mary were pleading with Jesus to come help the man you love, our brother Lazarus, he said in verse 3, the sisters sent a message to Jesus, Lord, the one that you love is sick. He's pretty close to dying.

But when Jesus heard it, He said, this illness does not lead to death. Rather, it is for God's glory so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

See, clearly, Jesus understood the topic of glory. He understood that God was the one who's the author of glory. He's the one who gave Him the authority and the glory and the power and the respect that He had as He did His job here on earth. So you can see glory used in that way. You also see, and this would be point number three, you see glory of the Lord described as God's power, in His position. If we back up to chapter 2, even in a miracle that Jesus performed almost, it sounds like before He really wanted to, He says, it's not really time. It's not really time for me to be doing what I came to do. But His mother asked Him, well, you know, they're out of wine, you need to help them. And of course, most of the people at the party didn't realize what happened except the servants. And then most everybody did later, and they said, boy, this is really good stuff.

This is much better wine than, you know, the early stuff that you serve. But here in chapter 2 of John, verse 10, everyone serves good wine first, then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But He has kept the good wine until now. And Jesus did this with the first of His signs in Cana Galilee, and He revealed His glory. He revealed the incredible power, the incredible connection that He had to the Father. He revealed something that He had said to His mother, well, it's not my time yet, but He did that out of concern.

And of course, after that, they went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers, and they stayed there for a few more days. And so, this is just a reference to glory, and glory of the Lord being acknowledged as their power, their authority. In chapter 5, chapter 5, here of John, you also see another example. Chapter 5, verse 44, again, He's talking to the Pharisees. Chapter 5, verse 39, He says, you search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life.

Yet, in verse 40, you refuse to come to Me to have life. He says, I'm the one who can help you, but you're relying on your understanding of what you read, and even that understanding was limited. But here in chapter 5, verse 44, how can you believe when you accept glory from one another, honor from one another, is I think what the King James says. How can you believe when you accept honor or glory from one another and not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? He was telling them, you kind of think your opinion is pretty important. Why would you not think that the honor and glory that God gives to Me, why wouldn't you think that's impressive?

And of course, He goes ahead to describe that, well, you really don't know God. You think you do, but you don't. Here in chapter 7, Jesus even explains, and again, it seems incredible, that He would be able to explain that it's not about Me, even though clearly He deserved all kinds of credit and glory and honor and respect and praise. He says, no, it's not about Me. It's about the One who gives Me the glory. It's about the One who sent Me. Here in chapter 7, He says in verse 16, my teaching is not mine, but His who sent Me.

And anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking of my own. In verse 18, those who speak of their own or on their own seek their own glory. They're trying to honor themselves. But the One who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true, and there is nothing that is false in Him. See, Jesus said, I've been glorified by the Father. I'm glorified because I have a connection to the Father, and that should be respected.

You even see here in kind of a parenthetical statement in John 12, this was as Jesus was entering the city of Jerusalem ultimately for the last time. He would conclude His life there. But it says in John 12, verse 12, the crowd had come to the festival and they heard that Jesus was coming. They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. They praised Him. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. In verse 16, His disciples didn't understand what the people were doing.

They didn't comprehend the depth of what the people were doing.

They didn't understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified.

What is that reference to? When Jesus was glorified, whenever He had gone through a crucifixion, when He had been in the grave for three days and three nights, and when He had been resurrected by the Father once again to be at the right hand of God, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of Him and that they had been done to Him. They began to understand the Scripture much better. They could comprehend certain things that they hadn't comprehended before. But see, in that case, obviously it was talking about the fact that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and was now glorified with the Father.

Point number four here in John 17.

You see, glory refers to the glory of the God-kind.

John 17, of course, is a chapter. We read almost every Passover.

It's a prayer that Jesus prayed to His Father. And He said, as He looked up to heaven, Father, the hours come, glorify Your Son. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You.

Since You've given Him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him, see, who was it that was going to be offered eternal life? Well, people that the Father had drawn to Jesus Christ. And He says this is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God, and that they may know Jesus Christ whom You've sent. In verse 4 He says, I glorified You on earth by finishing the work that You gave Me to do.

And so here He mentions glory being given to the Father for doing the work that God had done through Jesus Christ. And yet He says in verse 5, so now, Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had in Your presence before the world existed.

See, He had been living as a physical human being for 33 and a half years.

He had been in a different state. He had taken on the form of a servant, a form of a human being.

He had existed with God forever in the past as the Word, and yet He had come as the Son who had a connection to the Father and He was asking to be re-goreified.

See, that would be an explanation to me that glory indicates being a part of the God kind. Not a part of the humankind, but a part of the God kind. And if you connect this with what we read in Hebrews 2, that we alluded to earlier, in Hebrews 2, you see, as Paul makes this reference about what David said in Psalm 8, you know, what is man? Why is man important?

What significance does man have to the great God? Well, he talks about how he created human beings a little lower than the angels. And in verse 8, now, having been subjected or subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control, and yet as it is, we don't yet see everything in subjection to them. See, he's describing a wonderful future, a future that, in our minds, perhaps, is hard to comprehend, hard to recognize what it is that God is offering. But in verse 9, what we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, and so he took on that human form, but now he is crowned with glory and with honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. See, that was his role in the plan of God, that they had agreed upon long before, that they had decided they would enact a way for man to be redeemed, and that was going to be through the Redeemer, through the Son of God. But see what we see here in chapter 2, verse 9 is that glory is described as being a part of the God family. Glory and honor is where Jesus is today. He is at the right hand of God.

We can see that clearly written in the book of Revelation, and we see, you know, that he is there as our high priest, as our Redeemer, as our Savior, as our King, and yet we pray for him returning to the earth. And so I think you could make a case that glory is a description of what it is to be in God's family, of what Jesus is now at the right hand of God. In Revelation 5, it talks about him being the Lamb, and that's the reference, the Lamb. You refer to the Lamb a number of times there in the book of Revelation, but it says a Lamb that is worthy of all honor and all praise of all humans.

All of us are going to be in subjection to Jesus Christ and then His Father.

But the fifth point that I will make is stated here in verse 10. That same glory that He has given to Jesus is the glory that He wants to give to the children of God. Verse 9 talks about Jesus. Verse 10 also talks about Jesus, but it says it is fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, as He is bringing many sons, many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. See again, understanding what it is to reflect the glory of God is very important. It's a different dimension of knowledge than just the knowledge of God.

The knowledge of the glory of God involves God's purpose for men.

Let's jump back to John 15 again, the book of John, because John has such a wealth of information about how it is that Jesus related to the Father. In John 15, he's actually telling his disciples, this was of course before he would be betrayed and then crucified, but he told them, well, here in chapter 15 of John, I'm the vine, you're the branches, if you're connected to me, then you have some strength, you have the sap from the vine to be able to bear fruit. And he says that you're not just my servants, you are even my friends. But here in verse 8, well, let's start in verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, then ask what you wish and it'll be done for you. My Father, in verse 8, is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit.

See, how is it that we glorify the Father? Well, we want to be bearing the fruit of the Father. What is the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Well, that fruit has got to be the highest value, the highest impression in our thinking, in our outlook, in our dealing with other people, in our dealing with one another, in our dealing with husband and wife. It's got to be. It's got to be the highest quality that we think about. And yet he says, the Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. And actually, over here in chapter 17, which is perhaps the primary chapter that you could use to think about what it is to be glorified as God wants to glorify us, what it is to reflect the glory of the Lord. In John 17, he says in verse 6, I'm not asking, or I am asking on behalf of the disciples, I'm not asking on behalf of the world.

That's his statement. That's not just mine. That's what Jesus said. He said, I choose, or God chooses, the Father chooses to draw people to me, and I'm working in their lives to create an incredible transformation. A transformation that is impossible without God, and without God guiding our lives. And so he says, I'm asking for these disciples, and on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours, and all of mine are yours, and all of yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. Do we really glorify Jesus Christ? By the way we live, by the things we say, by the way we love one another? Yeah, we do. Well, and that's positive and good, and when it obviously falls within the lines of what God wants. And even if you drop down to verse 20, where he says, I ask not only on these right here with me, the disciples, but I ask for all of those on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. Those of us today who would become members of the Church of God and be recipients of the Holy Spirit, we can glorify God because he says he is to live in us. He is to live in us. And in verse 21, that they may all be one as you, Father, on me and I am you. May they also be in us so the world may believe that you sent me. In verse 22, verse 22, the glory that you have given me, I have given them that they may be one as we are one. See, how connected does the family of God need to be?

How connected should we be with one another and with others who have that same understanding, that same comprehension of the glory of the Lord and what it is for God to dwell in us?

See, the final thing I'll mention, I hope it's number six, if not whatever point you might or might not write down.

See, we've been called to glory. We've been called to be a part of the family of God. We've been called to be, inherit the kingdom of God. And a lot of different ways the Bible describes this, but a primary way is that we've been called to glory. See, whenever you read in John 3, where Jesus talks to Nicodemus and tells him, well, you're a leader in Israel, but you really don't understand what I'm talking about because I'm saying in verse 7, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.

See, I think we ought to think about that whenever we pray our Father, which art in heaven. Because He is the one who initiated each one of us to be a recipient of the Holy Spirit. He began that by begetting us with the Holy Spirit and then intends to bring forth children to glory.

See, if we think of, that's why I say we're familiar with Matthew 6-9, and yet that should have much more meaning to us than it would to people without an understanding of what God means when He says, I'm bringing children to glory.

That's actually something that we can't do on our own. We can't do it. Now, we have our part, obviously. We have to obey. We have to respond. We have to repent. We have to change. We have a lot of responsibility. We have choices that we have to make.

But God is the one who brings this possibility about.

Even when we read back in the book of Hebrews, chapter 5, and this chapter talks about the high priest, it talks about how that Aaron was designated by God to be the high priest. Did Aaron just take that job? Because, oh, that looks like a good job. I think I'm related to Moses. You know, I kind of know what's going on here. God seems to work with Moses a lot. No, Aaron didn't take that job upon himself.

He was appointed. It says in verse 1 of chapter 5, high priests chosen from among mortals, every high priest is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf.

And he's able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is subject to weakness.

And yet in verse 4, one does not presume to take that honor, but takes its only when called by God as Aaron was. See, Aaron was appointed to do a job to have a role in Israel that he may not have even fully understood, but he was doing what God said. And his sons, at least some of them, followed instructions and were able to carry that on.

But it says in talking about the high priesthood that had been appointed by God, verse 5, so also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest. You know, he surely seems to have prerogative to me, but this is what God says. Christ didn't glorify himself in becoming a high priest. He was appointed. He was appointed by God. You are my son, and today I have begotten you. You are a priest according to the Order of Melchizedek. He says, I'm giving you that responsibility and that role, and that's a role that will go forward as it has always been in understanding the existence that Jesus had before He came to the earth.

But it says in verse 5, Christ didn't even glorify Himself. He was appointed to be in that role, because He was begotten, the only begotten of the Father. And again, He's always unique. He will always be unique, and we simply are following His footsteps. We're following His pattern.

We're following in understanding what it is to be glorified. Romans chapter 8 is a chapter that we often read that is about the Holy Spirit. And of course, you can read the whole thing, and you wouldn't be able to talk about much of anything else. I only want to read a couple of verses here, but in connection with what I said, my point is we've been called to glory.

See, verse 28 of Romans 8, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose. We've often quoted that. We think about that when times are good, and we think about that when times are not so good. We know that there's growth possible, even when things are not going so well. But He says in verse 29, those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

See, it's been determined that we will conform to the image of the Son of God, because He's our pattern. He's the one that we are to follow. He's the one who sets the pace. He's the one who lived the life that enables Him to be the captain of our salvation. But He says in verse 30, No, let me back up because I didn't finish verse 29. He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that He might be the firstborn within a large family among many brethren.

And in verse 30, those whom He predetermined, He called, and those He called, He justified, and those that He justified, He also glorified. See, that's a progression of understanding of, well, we're going to conform to the image of Jesus Christ. We're going to respond to the calling of God. We are going to be repentant and forgiven and justified before God, and He is going to glorify us.

That's why when you read here in Colossians chapter 1, again, Paul is writing about the mystery of the ages.

He's writing about an understanding of the kingdom of God and of the purpose of human existence and of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That's what he's writing about.

But here in Colossians 1, he even says, I'm rejoicing in my suffering.

And verse 25, I become its servant. The preaching of the gospel was given to me for you to make the Word of God fully known.

The mystery, verse 26, that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to the saints. So again, he gives a different description to who the people are who are making up the church of God and the temple of God and with the Spirit of God. But to them, verse 27, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. See, we have the hope of being glorified like Jesus Christ is. See, we're said to be joined heirs and then joined heirs with Christ. That's a different topic and yet the same thing in Romans 8. A little different description, but here because God says the glory, He's going to glorify His children. See, Christ in you, the hope of glory. See, that's what we want to pray for. That's what we need. That's what we yearn for. That's how God is working with us. So, we've gone over several different, perhaps, verses that deal with at least the word of glory. We want to fully be reminded of our relationship with our heavenly Father because it is of prime importance. Whenever we pray our Father, which art in heaven, it should have more meaning. It should have more significance because He's the one who is growing a divine family. He's the originator of the family. He's the one who causes there to be a family that is to be born from above. And so, He's going to bring forth that family, not just begin, but bring forth. He's going to cause us to be born and born into glory. And so, He's given us the privilege of understanding His kingdom and His family. And so, whenever we read not only that the earth is going to be full of the knowledge of God, the earth is going to become full of the knowledge of the glory of God, of an awareness not only of religious things or things of God, but of God's entire purpose for dealing with human beings. And so, in so doing, we are reminded how God is bringing many sons to glory and that when we pray to our heavenly Father, that we thank Him. We thank Him for giving us that hope, that hope of glory.