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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Pastoral Pings ~ From One Glory to Another

          I contend that the creation puts on display the glory of God (Romans 1:20), and that our fascination with specific expressions of creation like sunrises and sunsets, the pounding surf of the ocean, and the beautiful painting of stars across the night sky, is really a reaction to the characteristics of God expressed in the things he has made.

          The more we rely on the creation to make us feel good with its sights and sounds, the less we will ever know God. We will fall into the terrible sin Paul warned us about of worshiping the creature instead of the Creator (Romans 1:25).

          On the other hand, the more that creation tells us what God is like in his majestic glory, and the more we go seeking after God to know him better than the creation could ever tell, the more we will delight in knowing the person of God (Psalm 37:4). Rather than only knowing the expressions of God in creation while denying the God who so expresses himself, we will delight in the God of creation while receiving every nuance of the glory of Jesus Christ expressed in all that he has made.

          One day the fascination Jesus’ brothers feel with the wonders of creation will pale in comparison to the wonder of seeing our Creator face to face and becoming just like him (I John 3:1-2). Then we will realize that the way that sunset made us feel was because of what it was revealing of Jesus, and at that time we will receive an even greater experience of that feeling from seeing Jesus in person.

          We will realize that the way we felt standing at the seashore listening to the pounding surf was our soul’s reaction to the immense glory of the Lord Jesus Christ expressed through his creation. When we are with Jesus in person, seeing him face to face, seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord (II Corinthians 4:6), we will know that the glory beaming from the presence of Jesus Christ so exceeds the glory that was so wonderfully expressed in the pounding surf that we will never need to stand by the seashore ever again.

          The heavens declare the glory of God now (Psalm 19:1) in order to call us to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in the breathed-out words of God in the holy Scriptures (II Timothy 3:16-17). While many people read creation and believe that God had nothing to do with the things he made, those who understand the glory of God in creation turn to the book of the Creator, the Bible, the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and come to know their God, their Creator, their Redeemer in a way that continues growing in this lifetime, and leads into the eternal joy of God’s presence (Psalm 16:11) where we will “know fully, even as I have been fully known” (I Corinthians 13:12).

 

© 2012 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, Canada, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

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