November
1, 2003
GOD'S
GLORY
"For
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" (2 Corinthians
4:6, NKJV).
The glory
of God is His character. While Moses was in the mount, earnestly
interceding with God, he prayed, "Please, show me Your
glory." In answer, God declared, "I will make all
My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion." The glory of God - His character - was then
revealed: "And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed,
'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means
clearing the guilty' " (Exodus 33:18, 19; 34:6, 7).
This
character was revealed in the life of Christ. That He might
by His own example condemn sin in the flesh, He took upon
Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. Constantly He beheld
the character of God; constantly He revealed this character
to the world.
Christ
desires His followers to reveal in their lives this same character.
In His intercessory prayer for His disciples He declared:
"The glory [character] which
You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as
We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have
sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me"
(John 17:22, 23).
Today
it is still His purpose to sanctify and cleanse His church
".. that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing
of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing.. " (Ephesians 5:6, 7). No greater gift than the
character that He revealed, can Christ ask His Father to bestow
on those who believe on Him. What largeness there is in His
request! What fullness of grace every follower of Christ has
the privilege of receiving! O that we might more fully appreciate
the honor Christ confers upon us! By wearing His yoke and
learning of Him, we become like Him in aspiration, in meekness
and lowliness, in fragrance of character.--God's Amazing
Grace, p. 322.
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