GLORY BE!

(NOAH'S DAY RETURNS - APPENDIX F)

Much is said in the organized church today about the glorified bodies of Believers, but much is also left UNSAID. Many warnings in God's Word go unheeded. God Almighty gives His assigned "shepherds" (pastors) their pulpits, whereby they are to feed their "sheep" (congregations) a "balanced diet" from the Word of God. However, many "shepherds" today, have found it much more profitable to feed their flocks a sugar-sweet diet (which appeals to the sheep), based only upon certain portions of the Word and neglecting the portions which would provide the properly balanced nutrition for their flocks. A child who is fed nothing but candy will soon die. Could this likewise be true spiritually of God's children? We will attempt to pull from ALL of God's Word and balance the scales so the body of Christ can understand the fullness of the teaching related to the glorification of the Believer's body.

There is a most beautiful mystery tucked away in God's Word, and revealed here and there, one wisp at a time, which creates a joyous expectation for the saints of God. It appears that this mystery was sealed until the fullness of time in the end days to be shown to the Bride of Christ who is alive and awaiting the call to go forth and meet her Bridegroom in the air! It was most probably not even fully understood by the hand who penned it as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write it down!

We will begin our investigation of this mystery with Colossians 2:26-27 which reads, "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, THE HOPE OF GLORY". This initial disclosure of this mystery is then shrouded with a warning in the following two verses. They state, "We preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, striving ACCORDING TO HIS WORKING, which WORKETH IN ME mightily". Paul indicates here that he can in no way be worthy of such hope of glory except that he strive to allow the work OF GOD to be achieved through him. Note that this is not HIS work FOR GOD, but GOD'S WORK THROUGH HIM, that he should be found perfect in Yeshua. It is further indicated here that this is a teaching "in ALL WISDOM".

Now GLORY throughout God's Word is linked with a glowing, shining, or glittering essence. Indeed Solomon knew much of a glory of sorts when he wrote Ecclesiastes 8:1. Here he again links glory to wisdom and he asks an important question, "Who is as the WISE man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to SHINE, and the boldness (sternness) of his face shall be changed". It is a question in dire need of an answer, but never fear, Scripture answers Scripture!

We find that those who are WISE are linked in Matthew 24:45 with those who are made rule over the household of the lord (parable language for Kingdom of the Lord), and we see that their role on earth is to bring the people "meat in due season"! They will be those who share the WHOLE Truth of God rather than simply the "milk" gospel taught in most of today's organized church. They will work with the "meat" of God's Word which brings about conviction, genuine repentance, and TRUE righteousness, even unto the saving of the soul per James 5:20 (as opposed to simply the saving of the spirit).

In I Corinthians 6:19-20 we are reminded that the body of each Believer is a temple of the Holy Ghost within, and we are not our own. Accordingly, this short two verses gives each Believer a personal mandate, saying to "glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's".

How do we do so, and what is the evidence? Among things in our earthly existence which shine and sparkle, maintaining a type of "glory" from the human perspective would be gold, silver, and precious stones. Maybe this is why we are told in I Corinthians 3:11-15 that only works built upon the foundation of Yeshua (His works as performed THROUGH mankind) prove to be of such quality. Only these works will shine and sparkle in glory when tried by the fires at the Bema Judgment Seat. Those of wood, hay, and stubble (laid upon the frail foundation of human determination) will be burned up, and be unable to create the first glint of glory!

Titus 2:13 reminds us to look "for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ", and Mark 13:26 joyously speaks of the return of "the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory". Luke 9:26, however indicates that when Yeshua returns in His glory, there will be those among His own of whom He shall be ashamed. The words which follow should rend the heart of all who love His precious name. "For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's and of the holy angels."

In Romans 8:29 we find, "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren". There are two schools of thought as to who the "he" represents in the phrase "that he might be the first-born among many brethren". Some believe that the "he" refers back to the Son, while others see this "he" as the main subject of the passage, i.e. the one whom God foreknew. There seems to be merit to both issues, and it is likely that it was intended to have a double meaning, as we find such twofold meaning in many passages! Either way, it is obvious that "born" is not referring here to a literal "birth", as the date of physical birth would have no bearing on the position with the brethren.

Let's proceed for a moment though with the concept that the "he" here could mean the corporate body which God had foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. This would be a prerequisite to them being the "first-born" among many brethren! When checking the "born" portion of the word "first-born" in the Greek, we find that it can mean "delivered". Thus we see that they could be said to be the "first-delivered", or maybe even the "first-raptured", as in the First Fruits Pretribulational Rapture as opposed to the Ingathering Prewrath Rapture.

Now we would desire not to get wrapped up in a knot here over the theological views of predestination, but we will indicate that this verse says that there are some which the Father DID indeed "foreknow" (perceive or recognize beforehand per the Greek), and these He did predestinate! Now according to the Greek, "predestinate" in this verse means to "determine limits in advance". The beautiful portrait here is that of a loving Father who (even before time begun) understood the desire of the hearts of certain of His end time elect to conform to the Son, and even then He ordained that they should be given supernatural assistance to achieve that goal! A related passage in Ephesians 1:9-23 emphasizes that this occurs in the "fullness of times", and culminates in the gathering of all His own before the Bema judgment seat where we SHOULD BE to the praise of His glory! He speaks of the entire walk of the Believer, from first trusting in Christ to the receiving of the earnest of our inheritance. He ends the passage with the prayer that accordingly, the Father of glory would give unto each of the Brethren the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of HIM so that our eyes of our understanding could be enlightened to know the HOPE of His calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the SAINTS (who are sacred, blameless, righteous, and holy per the Greek)! In John 7:39, we see that the giving of the Holy Spirit was directly linked to the glorification of Yeshua, as we read, "for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Yeshua was not yet glorified". You see, after Christ was glorified, we were given the Holy Ghost so that we might be likewise glorified!

The passage of II Corinthians 3:1-18 speaks of the glory on the face of Moses when he had been in the presence of God. It indicates that all Believers will likewise reflect the Glory of God when are taken into His presence. Verse 18 declares, "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". However, verse 7 gives us a word of caution here. It reads, "the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the GLORY OF HIS COUNTENANCE; WHICH GLORY WAS TO BE DONE AWAY". We see here that merely being in the presence of God created a glorious countenance of blinding radiance, but that it faded away to nothing after he had been removed from the presence of God for a time. Thus, the glory we exhibit, must be directly linked to our interaction with the workings and/or glory of the Godhead. Verses 9-11 further clarify this issue by stating, "For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if THAT WHICH IS DONE AWAY WAS GLORIOUS, much more THAT WHICH REMAINETH IS GLORIOUS." The question remains, who will be close enough to and intimate enough with the Lord to "remain" glorious here? Again, Scripture holds the answers!

Philippians 3:21 indicates that Ysehua shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. However the "our" in this text refers to those in verse 20 "whose conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ". This is in direct opposition to those in verse 19 "whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things", and "whose end is destruction". We should note that verse 19 does not indicate non Believers, as it is within the passage addressed to Brethren (Believers) in verse 17!

Colossians 3:3-4 further indicates that the Believer whose life is "hid with Christ in God" has special assurance. We see here that "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory". This appears to be in direct opposition to those found in verse 6 of this passage, who are not "hid with Christ in God", as it says, "For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience". Now the natural inclination here is to say that these are non Believers. Not so!! We find that verse 5 (which joins these two types) is an instructional verse to each of us as Brethren, warning us to "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry".

Matthew 13:41-43 gives us a sobering look at a judgment at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. It says that the "Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Without getting into a lengthy exegesis now, regarding the meaning of this furnace of fire and those who are thrown into it, we will simply say that again, those who shine throughout the Fathers Eternal Kingdom are limited here to the "righteous".

Ephesians 5:27 says that Yeshua wants to present to Himself a "glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish".

In speaking of the transfiguration in Luke 9:29, we find that the raiment of Yeshua was "white and glistening." Now two passages are written in Revelation regarding the exposure of the Bride of Christ. One is found in 19:6-10. We would note here that she is "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints". Again, we would note that the saints are those who are sacred, blameless, righteous, and holy. Indeed maybe their clean white linen will glisten just as did the raiment of Yshua at the transfiguration! They have allowed God to perform HIS works THROUGH them, rather than doing THEIR works FOR Him. Because it is GOD'S works, their righteousness is HIS righteousness, and they are seen as righteous. Man's righteousness is as filthy rags per Isaiah 64:6 (rather unsuitable for the wedding garment of the Bride of Christ). Even Revelation 22:11 echoes the disdain of these filthy rags of righteousness, saying: "he that is filthy, let him be filthy still"!

The second passage regarding the Bride in Revelation is found in 21:9-11. What a beautiful tribute rests upon the countenance of this corporate body. John writes here of an angel who revealed to him the likeness of the Bride. The angel said unto him, "Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;". No, the city is not the Bride here. The Bride is the corporate body within the city. Those in Revelation 3:12 of the Church of Philadelphia (those who were living and worthy and were taken in a First Fruits Pretribulational Rapture) were made to be pillars (the foundation of) the very temple in the which Christ will be the cornerstone. As the holy city of this New Jerusalem is being brought into view, John is overcome by the glory and splendor of the Bride within the temple of this city.

I Corinthians 15:41 informs us:

This is now applied directly to us as Believers in the following two verses which state:

However, as we have seen this GLORY of various Believers will be vastly different, and some will vanish totally.

Daniel seems to put all the ducks in a row in 12:3 of his writing by saying:

Brethren, this is not the whole "church" as we know it. How will you shine in the presence of the Lord?