THE
GLORY OF GOD

Isa
40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

This
was the promise of the prophet Isaiah. John recorded the fulfillment
of the promise; John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

It
has always been one of man's greatest desires to behold the glory of
God. Since mans glory is usually manifested in his handiwork and in
his possessions, he has searched diligently into the things God has
made and into those things which are His, hoping to find Him there.

In
the opening strain of the nineteenth Psalm is a statement which has
caught and held the imagination of the human race; The heavens
declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
From the very beginning, man has been impressed with the beauty and
fascinated by the precision and dependability of the movement of the
heavenly bodies. Yet, though he has charted their movements, examined
them with telescopes and sent probes among them and even made the
first step toward them by going to the moon, he has not found God
tucked away somewhere on a golden throne. It was reported that one of
the first Russian cosmonauts came back and reported, "We have
swept the heavens and did not find God!" An American astronaut
is said to have replied,"If that is what they were looking for,
they might just as well have swept the kitchen floor!" All man
has succeeded in doing in his research is to enlarge his knowledge of
the manifestation of God's glory. It is good that man enlarge his
conception of the vastness and perfection of God's creation, if he
will only keep in mind the wisdom of Solomon; 2 Chr 6:18 But will
God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the
heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which
I have built! How great is our God and His glory! Man cannot
reach or even begin to understand the limits of His creation, much
less can he hope to define God.

Then
we turn our eyes from the creation and look around us. There too we
behold the glory of God. Jesus said, Mat 6:28 And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin:

Mat
6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these. Even the spark of life which God
placed in the tiny seed shows forth the glory of God as it bursts
fort and will even break pavement in its reach for the energy it
receives from the sun.

Yet,
it is not in nature that God's greatest glory is seen. A greater
display of God's glory than that of the stars, the northern lights,
giant redwood trees, mountains and deserts is one poor, lost sinner
with his wasted life made new by the Grace of God!. Look around you
and see those who were once ruled by sin, drink and lusts, enslaved
by their passions and degraded to the utmost but are now dedicated to
the service and worship of God. Consider their new nature and behold
the glory of God!.

Search
into your history books and see those martyrs who were enabled, not
by the strength of their own character, but by the grace of God, to
pray for their murderers and then to die with smiles and praise on
their lips and you will behold the glory of God.

Look
at the Lord's churches down through the centuries. People from all
walks of life with nothing in common by nature, yet all working
together in one spirit toward the goal of reaching the lost with the
gospel of Christ. Behold the Glory of God!

God
did not intend that man should be limited to seeing only the
reflection of His glory in nature or in men however. It was for this
reason that He sent His Son.

and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth. It is expressed again in
Heb 1:3 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;

We
may sometimes sing hymns without even thinking of the import of their
words, but the angels were not taking lightly their proclamation;
Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward men. They were announcing the arrival on earth of one who
would show to man, the glory of God in a way the events of the Old
Testament could never do. The delivery from Egypt, the crossing of
the Red Sea, the shining face of Moses as he descended from the
mount, and all the other manifestations of God's power would now take
a back seat to the Son of The Living God!

Time
after time, the pharisees and the lawyers came to try to trick him
with questions. On every occasion it was THEY who were confounded.
They watched his every move in their desire to find fault with him.
In every case it was themselves who wound up being convicted. In
desperation they even hired false witnesses against him and even then
the judgment of Pilate was, 'I find no fault with this man!"
When we consider how easy it is for us to find fault with one
another, all we can say as we see the faultless Christ is,"Behold
the Glory of God!"

Let
us the turn our eyes to Calvary. It is here that He laid aside all
divine power and became obedient unto death. He allowed him self to
be led as a sheep to the slaughter. As we see him approach the place
of his death we might see his crown of thorns, his mutilated face,
his beaten back and say,"There is no glory here." We might
well conclude that there is nothing here but shame and disgrace, but
then we remember that it was here that he removed the curse of sin
for those who will receive him and the fear of death for those who
have place their trust in Him and we are forced to cry,"Behold
the Glory of God!"

We
go to the garden tomb with his disciples on the morning of the first
day of the week and see that the stone is rolled away. We hear the
pronouncement of the angel, "He is not here. He is arisen!"
Our hearts must now, as they have in the breasts of Christian ever
since, leap with excitement. Here is the glory of God manifested in a
way never seen before. Not only is the weight of sin removed, but the
very gate of death has been forced open! Through Christ, the grave
has become a doorway into the presence of God and the coffin has
become a chariot to glory.

And
still, we haven't seen the full extent of the fullness of his glory.
At a time when all hope is gone and the world has suffered untold
agony because of sin, Christ will return and all his saints with him.
This is described as his coming in clouds of great glory. Those who
have been saved by his glorious death, will have been raised in the
likeness of his glorious resurrection, given a body fashioned like
unto his glorious body, and those who have faithfully served in his
glorious Church will have received their glorious crowns will be
glorified with him as he begins his glorious reign!

BEHOLD
HIS GLORY

Behold
the glory of God,

in
field, in wood and sky.

Behold
it when the storm clouds

bring
lightning flashing nigh.

Behold
His glory when leaves unfold

and
blossoms scent the air.

Behold
it when by grace He comes

and
takes our every care,

Behold
His glory is sun-warmed earth

in
mountain and in sky.

Behold
it in the one who died

for
such a worm as I.

His
glory is told by all He made.

It
bears the print of His mighty hand.

His
glory, his love, his wonderful grace,

and
He offers it all to man!

His
glory, he gave to my savior;

His
love was mad known on the cross.

By
grace He saved me and promised

I
never would suffer loss.

His
glory is shown in the mountain,

in
field and forest and sea,

but
His glory His grace and His wonderful love

are
seen best at Calvary!

fcc

Why
not look to him there now? Behold His glory in the crucified Christ
and be forever changed. 2 Cor 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.