Do you want glory and honor? Most people are constantly looking to increase their glory and honor through all kinds of things. Some think that more money gives them honor. Some believe that becoming famous will add to their own glory and honor. Still others think that achieving a certain social status or level will also increase their honor and glory. The truth however is that we have a source of honor and glory that we have never known; and it’s been right there in the Bible all along.
So our topic today is going to be this honor and glory, how to receive it, how to use it and also how to forfeit it. With this information, we can be assured of our divine glory given to us by Christ Jesus.
Our first scripture today is going to be one of my personal favorites, Isaiah 60:1-4:
“Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen on you.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.
And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Right in verse 1, there are several things for us to see. First we see an imperative statement: arise, shine. Before we can shine, we must first arise. When we arise in Christ Jesus, that’s when we can shine with His light. It is never our own light, but always His light. As we look to Jesus, we will arise out of our pit, out of our self and out of our sin, and His light will permeate our entire being and we will shine.
We are made an excellent promise, that our light is (present-tense) come and that the glory of the LORD is (present-tense) risen upon us. Take note of that word “glory” used in this verse, because it is the Hebrew word kāvôḏ, a word for the Divine Glory of God which encompasses within it, not only glory, but also honor, riches, splendor and dignity.
This makes sense because when we truly realize that this is the glory of the LORD that is risen upon us, then we see that all of these things must be included because God has all of these things.
Next in verse 2, we see that in contrast, the world will grow darker and darker. Darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness shall cover the people, but even in the middle of that, the LORD will rise on us and His glory will be seen on us.
Now the darkness that covers the earth, is the Hebrew word ḥōšeḵ which means “obscurity”, as in an unknown or unimportant thing or person, lacking honor; in other words – the very opposite of kāvôḏ. The gross darkness that covers the people, is the Hebrew word ʿărāp̄el which means “a dark cloud”. When you are covered by a dark cloud, you can’t see, you wander in darkness, and even the world considers a dark cloud as a symbol of misfortune. So with the people under a dark cloud, and the earth suffering dishonor, the situation is very grim – but look at the second half of the verse… In the middle of all that darkness, those of us who have received and know Jesus Christ will shine as a brilliant light, we will shine with the very light of the LORD, and that glory and honor will be seen on us! This is not just an ethereal honor for us to receive when we arrive in Heaven one day, but it is something tangible that even the people of the world can see upon us even now here on the earth.
Verse 3 tells us the end-result of this divine glory on us, that the people of the world will be drawn to us, and not only people, but even kings will come to us. The reason they will come is precisely because the glory of Christ Jesus is attractive. Just as how everyone wants to be around someone who is the life of a party, when the people of the world (who are in gross darkness) witness someone who is manifesting the kāvôḏ of God and all of the benefits contained within it, it will be like a thirsty man who encounters a flowing fountain of water.
How then do we receive this divine glory of Christ into our lives? Some think that it comes from good works, or that we must earn it or “pay for it” through suffering. Well, the good news is that it is a free gift from Jesus to us. He earned it so that we could freely receive it. He paid for it because we were utterly incapable of paying for it. In John chapter 17, Jesus prays a prayer – an amazing and wonderful prayer – for all of His followers here on earth. If you are a follower of Christ today, then you are included in the prayer of Jesus in John 17. Now in verse 22 and 23 of this prayer, Jesus utters these words:
“And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.”
Do you see that word “glory” there? It is the Greek word doxa, which is the same as the Hebrew word kāvôḏ. Jesus s saying in these verses that the very same Divine Glory which He has received from the Father in Heaven, He has in-turn given it to us. And why did He do it? So that we would be one with Him and with the Father in Heaven. And why would He care about us being one with Him and the Father? So that the world would know that He loves us! It is purely an act of Divine love!
The final topic that we must study today is how to forfeit the glory of God. You see my friends, His grace makes it available continually to all who are willing, but it is possible to give this divine glory away. What I am about to share with you is the very reason why so many believers today are not experiencing the riches and glory of Jesus Christ in their lives today. Turn now to Ecclesiastes 10:1:
“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking smell: so does a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.”
This verse is fairly straight-forward. Just as a dead fly can ruin the perfuming ointment, so also can folly spoil the wisdom and honor we have received from the LORD.
Folly is defined for us earlier in Ecclesiastes as longing or striving for anything other than Jesus.
We know that Jesus is our wisdom from 1st Corinthians 1:30, and that wisdom apart from Him is no wisdom at all.
Now that word “honor” used here In Ecclesiastes 10:1 is actually the Hebrew word kāvôḏ again, so we can plainly see that folly on our part can actually spoil the glory which we receive from Christ. Now so we are clear on this… This is not saying that we must earn God’s love, approval or glory! What it is saying is that He gives us His glory freely just as we read in John 17:22 earlier, but that we can also freely choose to spoil it by our own decisions. He gives it to us, and we often choose to give it away, because we value our own desires more than the glory He has given us.
Now the good news is that God will continue to make His glory freely available to us, and even if we give it away many times, all that is required is for us to truly repent (change our mind) and He can restore us completely. Not that His glory is cheap, because Jesus paid a very high price to make it available for us. In-fact only when we realize how truly valuable and priceless that His glory is, will we then value it sufficiently and true repentance can take place.
My dear friends, what I have shown you today is the real secret to experiencing the glory of Jesus, not only in Heaven, but on this earth as well. We have read it all plainly in the scriptures. Through the finished work and completely payment of Jesus Christ for you on the cross, His glory is freely available to you today; you need only to make a conscious choice to receive it and guard it.
Jesus has invested in each of us, He believed in us enough to follow through with the torture and pain of the cross to redeem us and make His divine kāvôḏ glory available for us. It is a very precious gift and a very special blessing which most believers fail to experience because they do not value it or guard it, and so it gets easily ruined and stolen by the enemy; like a gold bar left out in the open for anyone to steal.
In closing today, what do we do if we feel we have lost or forfeited the glory of God? There is a beautiful verse of scripture that I want to show you in Jeremiah 31:4:
“Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.”
To understand the significance of this verse, we must realize that Israel has repeatedly and consistently been spiritually unfaithful to God. He has in times past referred to their numerous Idols and massive Idolatry as “harlotry”.
However we see in this verse that God says that He will rebuild Israel and He calls Israel a virgin! This is an amazing statement! Picture a virgin pure and white, this certainly is not consistent with the image or a harlot. What God is saying here is that even if you today believe that you have forfeited your God-given glory, even if you have given it away, there is a restoration and a hope for you in Jesus Christ.
Return to Him and refocus your life on Jesus and He will rebuild and restore every single bit of your honor and glory. He will restore your purity and make you clean again. Come to Him honestly and let Him clean you up, He is faithful to accomplish it, for He has promised it.
I encourage you today, see clearly what the Word of God is saying, believe it and receive it. The glory of Christ is yours this very day.
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