The Mind of Christ

Isaiah 60:19 “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

I purposely skipped this verse  because I wanted to come back to it and spend a little extra time on it. Have you ever wondered why God has done things the way He has? God could have just defeated Satan and there would be no need for the fall of man and for God to have to send Jesus to redeem us. We could just have lived with no death, no suffering… no nothing!!! I mean He is God and He can do whatever He wants. I have wondered about this exact thing. God gives us a glimpse into this mystery. The beginning of this verse talks about us not needing the sun or moon anymore. This foreshadows what Heaven will be like. In Revelation 21:23-25 it says, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.” We read here that Jesus, the Lamb of God, will be our light. We also read in 1 John “where there is light there will be no dark.” What is being expressed is where Christ is there is no dark…(Meaning no sin, no death, or no Satan). The victory has been won and we will dwell in the presence of Christ for eternity. However, there is one more tidbit in both of these verses. It says that “God will be our glory” and that the “king (Christ) will bring glory into it.” This is what the entire plan for humanity rests on! The Glory of God!

This is why we are here and in my mind this is why God has worked the way He has since the beginning of time. When Satan fell (along with other angels) their desire was to have control. Simply they “wanted to be like God” (Isaiah 14:12-15). We too, like Adam and Eve in our humanity, wanted to have control and be like God. That is why Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis 3. Their desire was to be like God. We, as created beings, were made with the desire to have this control. Think about a child. A child doesn’t need to be taught to be self centered, and the child inherently does not want to share. However, God made a plan that would “make us a people of His possession” (1 Peter 2:9). In the very beginning, we are told in the creation account that after God created each aspect of creation that it was “good.” That is a huge declaration! Later in Exodus we are shown some clarity of what is “good.” In Exodus 33:18-19 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’” In this account, Moses is asking to see God face to face, but “nobody can see God and live” (Exodus 33:20). Therefore, if the “glory” of God is when He goes public with who He is, then the “goodness” of God is the magnification of His Glory. Okay, that’s a little tricky. Let’s look at another account to help clarify it. Earlier in Exodus we have the account of Pharaoh who is holding God’s people as slaves. In this account, we see that Pharaoh is a picture of Satan, Moses is a picture of Christ, and the Israelite nation is a picture of the church. Exodus 14:17-18 says, “And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” This story exemplifies what God was doing from creation. This is showing His power and glory for a purpose. The main purpose we will discuss throughout, but for now we can see that the glory of God is the subsequent main point on why we were created. We read more about this in Psalms 29:1-2 “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” Additional verses that tell us about God’s Glory are Isaiah 48:11, I Samuel 12:22, Psalm 106:7-8, Isaiah 49:3 (Just to site a few).

We have our base theology on why we were created, but is God in heaven conceited and just wanting all the attention? I mean if that’s it then He most assuredly deserves it! I am not so sure that is how God works. I have written the last month all of these “but God” devotions and I have learned that   when God intervenes, He then acts positively for His children. We can definitely see this through God sending His son Jesus, to die for our sins. We can also see the reason behind God sending Him. Jesus is the Glory of God revealed to us. John 1:14 says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Later in John 17:1-6 it says, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.’” I mentioned earlier in the account of Moses on Mt. Sinai and in other scripture we are told that we can’t see God’s glory and live. So, God sent His son not only to be the perfect sacrifice but through Him was revealed to us GOD’S GLORY. This is made even clearer in Hebrews 2:10  “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering”. Jesus purpose was to be the glory of the father in order to bring glory to humanity. We look at this more closely in this next section.

Now, if Jesus is God’s glory then where does that leave us? This is the good news! We as believers are the glory of God though the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are created for His Glory! Continuing in the book of John, chapter 17:6-12 says “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Also in Isaiah 43:7 it says “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” (additional scriptures…Isaiah 44:23, 48:9-11, Ezekiel 36:21-22) We are the glory of God!! Let that sink in for a minute!!! Even when you don’t feel like this is true we are told over and over this is who we are in Christ Jesus. You are Glorified.

So let’s put this all together! God’s glory is that He is the creator of all things both in the natural and spiritual world. This is His Glory! God’s glory can’t be revealed by Him because He is infinitely perfect and all powerful. Therefore, He sends His son in the form of a man, to His creation, to live a sinless life; and to be the perfect Lamb of God, worthy to be the perfect unblemished sacrifice. We then, through Jesus’s death burial and resurrection, are imputed with all that is necessary to become the Glory of the Son of God. We now have access to the Father, through the Son, and They in turn are glorified though us. This is why Paul in Romans 8:30-31 says “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Also in 1 Corinthians 6:11 says “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  Therefore, what we couldn’t do in our humanity, when there was no hope for our eternal future, we have this pinnacle “but God” moment where God comes as the ultimate victor and saves us from hopeless to hopeful. Did you catch this? We are Justified (declared righteous), sanctified (made Holy) righteous (fulfillment of the law) and glorified (God going public with His perfect creation)!!! Bask in the goodness (Glory) of God which is Jesus Christ for you and never forget when all seems to be lost there is always a “BUT GOD!”