Chapter 7 | Table of Contents | Chapter 9
Paul wrote to the Colossians:
I became its [the Church's] servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, so that I might fulfill the ministry of the word [Logos] of God. This secret was hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints, to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the gentiles-which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25-27 ISV)
The ministry of Christ, the Logos of God, is to take us up into the Glory of God, living glorious lives in the glorious riches of the living Christ within. We have been given the life of the Son and that same relationship that He has with the Father. It is all ours. This is the glory of the Son as we share in Him the glory of God. Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica,
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to [into] salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: To which he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of [into] the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 KJ2000)
When Jesus was praying before He was crucified, He prayed, "Father, glorify your name." To this our Father answered, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again." Then we read:
The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:29-32 KJ2000)
The voice came for our sake! Father glorified His name first in Jesus, His obedient Son and He has been and is glorifying it again in the ekklesia, the saints of God as they yield up their lives to Him. The world has and is being judged (set right or made just). How? By the power of God casting down the accuser of the brethren and making way for Christ to abide in us as sons of God. When Jesus was lifted up on that cross, the grip of Satan on mankind was broken, and a way was made for the glory of God in His sons, the very life of Jesus Christ. This is the glory of God.
In John 17 we read Jesus' heart's cry as He was about to be crucified. It was all about the glory of the Father.
These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the son may glorify you: even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he should give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they should know you the only true God, and him whom you sent, [even] Jesus Christ. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. And now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world: they were yours, and you gave them to me; and they have kept your word. Now they know that all things that you have given me are from you: for the words which you gave me I have given to them; and they received [them], and knew of a truth that I came forth from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them: I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me; for they are yours: and all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine: and I am glorified in them. And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we [are]. (John 17:1-11 UPDV)
Notice that He did not pray for universal salvation of all mankind. He did not pray for the world, but rather for those the Father had given Him. He prayed that the glory of our Father and His salvation would rest in those the Father had given Jesus, those that had kept His word. These are the ones who received Jesus from the Father as the Son of God. "Keep them in your name." What name? The name that Jesus always used when he prayed, Father. We are to know our Father just as Jesus knows Him so we can be one in Him just as Jesus is one in Him. True sons of the Father have an intimate relationship with Him, just as Jesus has.
"Father, glorify me with your own self..." This is Christ's inheritance as God's obedient Son and it is our inheritance as His obedient sons who abide in Him—the very glory of God as the God of glory abides in us. Is it any wonder that the face of Stephen shone like the face of an angel when He prayed to our Father as the Jews were about to kill him? Stephen had just quoted Isaiah saying, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will you build me? says the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Has not my hand made all these things?" (Acts 7:49-50 KJ2000) As Stephen was about to die, we read,
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. (Acts 7:55-56 KJ2000)
These self-righteous Jews who did not know God as their Father could take it no longer. They were driven by their father the devil (see John 8:44) to kill this son of glory who was filled with Christ's Spirit. They were blind with rage, but Stephen saw the glory and experienced the glory upon himself.
He also saw Jesus, the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of the Father. It is interesting that Christ is always seen as seated at the right hand of the Father in other passages, but in this instance Jesus stands. Why? He was standing in recognition of this saint that was filled with the glory of His Father and loved not his life unto death. Stephen stood and did all to stand because he was standing in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote, "Therefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Ephesians 6:13 KJ2000) Stephen stood in Christ in that day while surrounded by evil men.
How do we put on the whole armor of God? Do we, as many teach us to, pray for each component, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and so on as if they are separate commodities you can buy from the armory of the Spirit? No! It is God's armor. He is wearing it. Paul said, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27 KJ2000) You cannot be immersed fully in the waters of baptism without "putting on" water. Here the Greek word eis was translated correctly, into. We have been baptized into Christ and thus have put on Christ. You cannot put on God's armor without putting on Jesus Christ, and you cannot put on Jesus Christ without putting on His armor. We must believe into the Son of God as Stephen did if we are to stand against that evil day that is coming upon us all. In Hebrews we read,
See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven [the heavens]. And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:25-29 KJ2000)
Only as much as we abide in Christ do we dwell in His kingdom. Where the King is found is also where His kingdom exists. Satan threw every temptation, every false accusation, and every rejection from his own people at Jesus, trying to shake Him and move Him off-course from His heavenly goal, but He could not be shaken, even in death. The kingdom of heaven dwells in our midst, (Luke 17:21) and only as we are enveloped into Christ and His kingdom will we also remain unshakeable.
We are about to see all the kingdoms of men, their markets, and their man-made churches come crashing down. Their inflated currencies are about to collapse. Where will the faith of these shallow Christians be when the worldly prosperity they have placed their faith in crumbles? The kingdoms of this world will be shaken to their core. Only Christ's kingdom and its King will remain unshakeable. We must be hid in Christ if we are to stand in this coming evil day.
If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4 KJ2000)
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