On earth as it is in heaven

A. W. Tozer once wrote, “God has not finished with His saints till He has brought them to a place where they honor Him on earth as He is honored in heaven.”  What a high task that has been placed before us!  This statement begs the question, how is he honored in heaven?  Well, John gives us a quite vivid picture of what that looks like in Revelation 5:11-14.  There we read,

“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”  And I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”  And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Can you even imagine?!  What a scene that John has painted for us!  To have gotten to glimpse that for even a second must have been altogether glorious and terrifying at the same moment.  Now, how do we bring that about here on earth?  We have to be empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to do so.  You see, Christ’s beauty was too much to simply stay with one ethnic people in Israel.  In Isaiah 49:5-6 we read, “And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him – for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength – he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

This is how we bring about God’s honor “on earth as it is in heaven.”  We are to be a light to the nations and spread the beautiful gospel to the people whom we come into contact with each day.  This is how we spread the glory of God throughout the world.  Tozer said, “He can honor us only when He knows that His glory is safe in our hands.”  Oh that He would deem my actions adequate for protecting His glory in my life as I share it with others.

I challenge you to live a life that is worthy of being honored by God as you honor Him by spreading His glory throughout the world as you share the gospel with others.

Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done…

I am finding great encouragement this morning in the book of Isaiah.  Chapter 43 begins with one of my two favorite passages in the whole Bible.  God reminding Israel of the fact that He is their one and only Savior, and He intends to protect and guide them brings me great encouragement and insight into the character of God.  In conjunction with that truth, this morning I am also being encouraged and challenged by verses 18-19.  In which, Isaiah reports God as saying, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  I read a commentary on this passage that made a statement that struck me as quite profound, but very true.  The writer said, “God intends our past to be a guidepost not a hitching post.”  How true is that statement!

God had done amazing things in Israel’s history, and the nation look to those things to keep them going.  Who can blame them for remember the things that God had done up to that point in history?  He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt.  He had led them to conquer the Promised Land.  He had sent them judges, kings, and prophets to guide them through daily life.  God had done amazing things in and through Israel.  But, God did not want the old things that He had done to become the driving force and focus of the people of Israel.  I believe the same can be said for us.  God is my one and only Savior who has done amazing things both in and through my life.  However, I can’t hold to those things of the past simply because they were great in the past.  God still has great things to do in and through me: great, new things.  He has called me as a witness (Is. 43:10) for Him in my context.  I have been entrusted with a message that must be proclaimed.  I cannot let my remembrance of the former things He has done prevent me from doing the new things He is calling me to.  While what God has done in the past was, and is, great and awesome, I cannot pine for the old things.  I must press forward knowing that God has great things in store for His glory.