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Cana was the name of the town where Jesus did His first miracle. Most people are familiar with the account of Jesus
turning water into wine. Many, however,
miss the declaration at the end of the account, that in this miracle Jesus “manifested His glory.” We often assume that God’s glory has an
ethereal, mystical or otherworldly quality that makes it intangible and unobservable
in this world’s realm. I assure you, the
wine was neither intangible nor unobservable in this narrative. The headwaiter himself tasted the wine and
could only conclude that the bridegroom had saved the best wine for last.
It has been ingrained in most Christians over the years (and rightly
so!) that we are to do everything “for the glory of God” (1 Cor.
10:31). We believe this in our hearts,
we articulate this in our teaching, we pray this in our services, we write this
in our books and we sing this in our worship songs. And yet, somehow, we have bought into the lie
that God’s glory is reserved only for the sweet by and by, beyond the sunset, when
we all get to heaven - “O That Will Be Glory.”
In other words, the Devil has convinced us to postpone the glory of God,
unwittingly, to some unknown and indistinct time in the future.
Satan knows very well, and concedes the fact, that his time is
short. He understands there is nothing
he can do to stop the wheels of God’s ultimate righteousness and justice in the
end. Temporarily, however, while he is
permitted to continue his work of deception in this world, he labors and strives
to prevent the manifest glory of God from being unveiled. His goal is to keep a lid on the glory of God
for as long as he possibly can. And we
are doing a good job of helping him!
Right now, the heavens are showing forth the glory of God and making
the work of His hands conspicuous (Ps. 19:1).
Right at this very moment the glory of God is on display for all to see. “Since
the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and
divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made.” Satan cannot silence the voice
of all creation. But he has become quite
proficient at shutting the mouths of men.
It’s quite simple, really. First
he lulls us into a state of suspicion and thanklessness - doubting God’s
goodness and failing to acknowledge Him in all of our ways. Next, our ingratitude convinces us to substitute
strange speculations, absurd assumptions and man-made theories to explain away all
the observable evidences of God’s glory.
Eventually we begin to “exchange the glory of the immortal God” for the entirely
inadequate, insufficient and impoverished “stand-in” of mortal man. “Professing to be wise, we become fools.” And this is happening in the Church!
How readily we buy into doubts and reservations about the way God
behaves in our lives. Since He doesn’t
always meet with our expectations,
perform in keeping with our thoughts
or act according to our ways, we
allow ourselves to believe that God is holding out on us for some reason. We slowly seep away from the purpose of His
glory in our lives, and gradually sink into the mire of our own self-service. This descent from glory eventually requires
us to make God in our own image - without glory in this world and only a wistful
hope for it in the next.
But when Jesus came, He blew the lid off. He lived in a way that openly exposed the
manifest glory of God right in the middle of all the inglorious mess man had
made. John boldly declares “We saw His
glory!” And not only did they see it
with their eyes, they heard it with their ears and touched it with their hands. The glory of God in the life of Jesus Christ
was powerfully tangible and undeniably observable. On one occasion, that Glory became such a clear
and present contrast to “business as usual,” that it brought the Apostle Peter
trembling to his knees saying, “Go away
from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
As the Church of Jesus Christ, we are His Body here in the earth. And as the Body of Christ, we also are here
to remove the lid that Satan has clamped down to suppress the truth. You and I were created in Christ to expose,
disclose, unveil, reveal, make public the manifest glory of God! “He
predestined us . . . to the praise of the glory of His grace.” There must be a quality about how we live, the
things that we do and the manner in which we speak that far transcends any
earthly explanation or natural means.
Indeed “to God be the Glory” - right here and right now!
In Jesus our King,
Pastor Scott
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