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Posts Tagged ‘Glory’

Dual Inheritance

Posted in Assurance, Blessing, Faith, General, Glory, God's Word, Gospel, Salvation, Work of Jesus, tagged , , , , on June 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

While discussing verses in Ephesians chapter one in Bible study I began to think on God’s goodness toward us. Many of the thoughts that I am going to share are insights that my brothers in Christ shared during our study.

In Ephesians 1:11-14 inheritance appears twice: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promised, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” The word inheritance appears again in v.18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Commentators (1) have a disagreement as to who is receiving an inheritance in these verses, God or saints. John Piper (2) thinks that the answer is both. The leader of our group ferreted out these details in his own study of the use of inheritance. We discussed it and saw more examples of this dual inheritance.

In grappling with what this means for us, I concluded that our inheritance is that we are God’s inheritance. As I continued meditating on it, I further realized that God’s inheritance in us is quite different than most inheritances. When you receive an inheritance, you may get a very desirable one or one that is not so much. You do not decide what the inheritance will be. But in God’s case, He chose His inheritance. Therefore, He must and does cherish it. He further lavishes all riches upon it. Examples of this include Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Also, consider 2 Peter 1:3: “… seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” Or think of this: “It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14)

I, indeed, we, brothers and sisters in Christ, are cherished, cared for, and secured by God in Christ for a glorious future, living in His presence. He is our inheritance; we are His.

We are getting the better end of the deal it seems. The leader I spoke of earlier said that he feels humbled by why God would want us. His glory and our good are furthered.

I know that my blog is read by people on several continents, though not followed by many. Some of those people cannot at present be encouraged by the contents of this entry. They are not cherished by God and have no great inheritance for eternity (3). Dear friend, that can change. You may know this great and kind God by turning away from your sin and trusting Jesus as you Savior and Lord. Except for His one and only Son, Jesus, all God’s other sons and daughters are adopted. Seek Him. Ask Him to save you. Trust Him. Listed below are some verses in the Bible that may help you to begin that journey. (4)

  1. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ephesians/1-11.htm
  2. I highly recommend this 14-minute podcast, as it is very encouraging. https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/are-we-gods-inheritance-or-is-he-ours
  3. Actually an eternity of pain and despair
  4. John 1:12; Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9-10,13; Acts 4:12; John 14:6; Ephesians 2:1-10

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The Glory of Christ in His Humanity

Posted in General, Glory, God Thoughts, Person of Jesus, Poem, Work of Jesus, tagged , , , on January 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I have nearly completed an abridged version of John Owen’s book, “The Glory of Christ.” (1) The book lifts your gaze from the mundane and glitzy things of this Earth to a deeper vision of who Christ is in His humanity. Theologically I did not learn much but devotionally I was challenged to a new level of pursuit of God.

On page 33, Owens writes, “It is impossible that someone who never meditates with delight on the glory of Christ here in this world, who does not make every effort to behold it by faith as it is revealed in Scripture, should ever have any real gracious desire to behold it in heaven.”

This statement and similar ones jolted me. Though the statement above could be applied to all Christ is in His divinity and humanity, Owen spends most of his time talking about Jesus’ humanity. Why do I not meditate and revel in the glory of Christ’s humility, willing submission, lowliness of life, and cruel death. Why could I not? As I read these things I came to realize the problem was not in ignoring or undervaluing what He did for me. Rather, I did not understand these things to be glorious. Glory in Hebrew is Kabod, meaning “heavy”. So, God’s glory is heavy or substantial. We think of brightness and omnipotent and exalted and incessantly praised and sovereign. These things come to mind when I think of the glory of God. Here Owens was urging me to see poverty, humility, and submission to death as glorious. Considering His willingness, facility, and power in carrying them out, indeed, they are glorious. I was pushed to consider them in a different way.

In consideration of my need for a mindset shift about how I considered Christ’s glory, I wrote the following poem:

Glory in lowliness
Who would have thought?
Supreme humility
Salvation brought

Glory seen in brightness
I would have thought
But here He was in flesh
No fanfare sought

Glory means weightiness
Substantial thought
Yet His work as Savior
Our poor souls bought

Glory submissiveness
Opposing thought?
But here He was dying
Salvation wrought

Glory in humbleness
Meek in all thought
His pattern and decree
While here He taught

Glory of God’s likeness
Oh blessed thought
In all He is and did
Him we exalt

  1. “The Glory of Christ” by John Owen, abridged and made easy to read by R.J.K. Law, first published 1684, abridged edition 1994, reprinted 2018, Puritan Paperbacks. (Not a very proper bibliography, but more than enough to find it online.)

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Not Gaze At Glory

Posted in Blessing, Faith, General, Glory, Grace, Metaphor, Worship, tagged , , , , , on May 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

We don’t think of heaven enough; we are too earthly bound. We cannot imagine the glories there; we look through a glass dimly. What will be our focus, what our glory there? I was listening to several hymns on the YouTube channel A Cappella Hymns. The simple, unadorned polyphony of voices helps me to focus on the words and learn the melody and parts. Arriving at the last verse of the hymn, “The Sands of Time”, I thought, “Yes, that is what I will do there.” I won’t be glancing around at lesser glories and gifts, but upon my glorious Redeemer. Then, because of His grace through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and finished work of salvation, the phrase will be secured, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) The metaphor in the song is biblical and applied well:

“The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory,
but on my King of grace;
not at the crown he giveth,
but on his piercèd hand:
the Lamb is all the glory
of Emmanuel’s land.”

And it reminds me of a similar thought in the hymn, “Oh, That Will Be Glory”:

“When by the gift of His infinite grace,
I am accorded in heaven a place,
Just to be there and to look on His face
Will through the ages be glory for me.”

Mind you, infinite, all sufficient, sovereign, free grace is all that you or I need to enter heaven. The preacher I heard this morning pointed out that free grace is a tautology, a repetition of ideas, since grace, unmerited favor, could be no other than free, that is unearned. But then to say grace is sovereign, meaning that God has made the free, uninfluenced choice is yet another shade of the same thing. It seems man’s mind hunts for ways to contaminate the simple teaching of Scripture and we must add modifiers to limit and clarify terms to the exact meaning within Scripture. And so with infinite and all-sufficient, the same idea is emphasized in slightly different ways. Infinite speaks to my heart of the never ending nature of grace and all-sufficient pronounces all my sin and shortcomings fully covered by grace.

A mere place in heaven, “a cabin in the corner of gloryland” would be glory, but trivial compared to looking upon His face. And”That will be glory, be glory for me!”

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Adorable

Posted in Beauty, Connotations, General, Glory, God Thoughts, Hymns, Praise, Random thoughts, tagged , , , , , , on May 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Adorable may be defined as

“1: extremely charming or appealing” [examples:] an adorable child, an adorable cottage
2: worthy of adoration or veneration” (1,2)

Notice that the charming definition comes before the adoration one. I assume that this preference is based on the amount of usage in the English language. Interestingly, the etymology (3) of adorable and its base word, adore, is based entirely in worship of God. To find one’s spouse or child or anything adorable is secondary and found arising in language 3 centuries later. So, it makes sense that the definition of adore reflects this origin:

“1: to worship or honor as a deity or as divine
2: to regard with loving admiration and devotion [example:] He adored his wife.
3: to be very fond of [example:] adores pecan pie” (4)

More than likely this order of definition is also based on usage. In present culture, I dare say that you have heard the word adorable in its primary use more than adore in its primary use. With this in mind, consider that it is reasonable that I was struck anew with the following phrase from the hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”:

“Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,

Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight.”

Now you may wonder what the purpose of my introduction is. Obviously, this sentence is talking about God. But I didn’t have the definitions and preferences of use in mind at the time, just the cultural tendency to think of adorable, for example, adorable grandchildren (5).

But then I thought, “Wait, these angels believe God is adorable, that is, lovable, beautiful, worthy of veneration and devotion.” And they do not worship Him out of compulsion or duty, afterall 1/3 refused to and became demons (6). No, they veil their sight, for though they are powerful and beautiful and pure beings among whom humans faint and tremble, their power and beauty and purity is trivial compared to God’s. Are they ashamed to look upon Him? Probably not, since they are pure. But He is so holy, so other, and so glorious, so heavy, and so pure, so full of light. They adore Him because He is worthy and they want to, are privileged to. That will be heaven, worshiping before Him because He has enabled me to and with a pure heart I will want to and it will be blissful.

  1. Adorable | Definition of Adorable by Merriam-Webster
  2. It may surprise you to know it is an adjective only. In the sentence, “The puppy is adorable.” it is still an adjective.
  3. Etymology- the history of a word or linguistic form
  4. Adore | Definition of Adore by Merriam-Webster
  5. I have eight grandchildren, so it is natural for that to come to mind immediately.
  6. Revelation 12:3-4

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Bright Shadows

Posted in General, Glory, God Thoughts, Random thoughts, tagged , , , , on June 27, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Being observant makes life interesting. Being intentionally observant is more interesting, and being in a group of people who enjoy discussing intentional observation is much more interesting. One evening I was walking out of the tower door of the church, which faces west, with two brothers. The sun was low and directly in our faces, making it hard to see. We were discussing what we intended to do when I pulled up short and said, “What in the world?” They both seemed surprised and said, “What’s wrong?” “How can this be?” I replied more to myself than to them, “The sun is shining in our faces but there are shadows in front of us.” I turned around to see if there were shadows behind us where they should be and discovered the truth of the bright shadows in front. The sun was equally blinding reflecting off of the glass door we had just exited. “I thought the laws of Physics were overthrown for a moment.” One of those two men still gives me a hard time about my observation and utter amazement.

I only hope that I may one day be such a good reflection of my Savior’s glory as to caste bright shadows over the lives of those who are blinded in His presence. And will there even be shadows in heaven where the light of His glory penetrates and purifies all its surroundings, where sin cannot abide, and praise arises uninterrupted before His throne? Even in the shadows of my continued sin nature, the world’s wicked system, and the devil’s devious temptations, I look forward to brighter days of knowing and serving Him through the grace He daily provides. Though shadows fall all around us, His presence brightens even these.

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