Understanding God's Heart - Many Sons to Glory
It is very important for us to understand that God wants us to be like Him, and that He wants to bring many sons to glory. I was going through a trial once, and during that time, I saw Christ in a vision, as He was walking through hell. His face was so sad because in all our afflictions, He is afflicted (Isa. 63:9). I said to the Lord, “Why ever did You create this earth? Think how much better off You would have been.” In answer to my question, I was lifted up to heaven, where I saw a company of those who were very much like the Lord. Then He said, “To have them, it was worth it.”
Hebrews 2:10 speaks of the Lord being perfected for the work that the Father had sent Him into the world to do: “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Our goal is much higher than we have realised – the goal is glory.
God calls the generations from the beginning of the world. For each generation, He has a specific purpose. In my generation, it was enough to be saved and baptised in water and in the Holy Ghost. I never heard about glory, kings and priests, or the First Resurrection. In fact, we were all consoled by the fact that we were going to be “raptured” very soon, and that we would not have any problems with the Great Tribulation (which, we thought, was for the sinners, backsliders, and those unfortunate people who would be left behind). That erroneous view was quickly adjusted by the Holy Spirit.
We are now living in a generation that is going to have a far higher calling and experience of God than my generation did.
We are now living in a generation that is going to have a far higher calling and experience of God than my generation did. Daniel proclaimed that knowledge would increase in the Last Days (Daniel 12:4). Just as he prophesied, there have been quantum leaps in knowledge in the secular world as well as in the spiritual. God has been opening up His Word in a fresh way. He is revealing the wondrous things that He is going to do in these last days of the Church Age. Scripture tells us that men’s hearts will fail them for fear because of the things that are going to come to pass upon the earth, and so having a clear vision of what God will do is vitally important.
When I was in the Cameroon years ago, God spoke to me about the need for teaching about kings and priests, the First Resurrection, and the Millennial reign of Christ upon earth. Then He said, “You must not only have vision for the Millennial reign, but also for the ages to come.” God began to speak to me about His glory, and this is what I want to impart to you by the Holy Spirit.
The darkness is increasing, and so many babes in Christ will be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. The Lord, on the Mount of Olives, was asked by His disciples, “What are the signs of Your coming?” and He said, “See that ye be not deceived” (Mt. 24:4). Therefore, the milk of the Word is not sufficient for these Last Days. While we will see the cup of iniquity come to fullness, we praise God that we are also going to see the glory
of God come into His people.
Thus, we have before us the goal of the glory of God, which is manifested in the Person of Jesus Christ. We have to put the goal ever before us, knowing the steps to reach that goal. The Apostle Paul was an apostle born out of time; in other words, most of his writings are applicable to the Last Day Church. He said in Colossians 1:27, “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.” That is not just speaking of the salvation experience.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:10, we also read, “When He [Christ] shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” This glory, essentially, is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He shines forth from His saints.
We must never lose our focus – Christ, and all that He is. We know that in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom (Colossians 2:2-3). Therefore, wisdom is an aspect of the glory of God. As wisdom increases, humility increases. Not only are our eyes opened to see the awesome wisdom of God in His creation, but we also begin to see Him in one another. We learn to appreciate, respect, and revere one another as being part of God’s Church, the Body of Christ, and those sons and daughters whom He loves.
......continue reading part three of the series or return to part one.
This article is an excerpt from Dr. Brian J. Bailey’s book, The Glory. It is the second part of a series featuring Chapter 17, “The Glorious Church in the Last Days”. It has been printed with covering permission from the late Dr. Brian J. Bailey.
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