The Fire of God's Glory

This is from the blog Daily Meditation:

Leviticus 9:24: And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

The earth has seen many manifestations of God. The first time it was recorded that God came to the earth, Adam and Eve ran away from the presence of the creator, because of their sin (Genesis 3).

At the end of time a similar thing will happen on the day of judgement when the bible says that the heaven and earth will flee from the presence of the great one who seats upon the throne (Revelation 6:12-17, 20:11).

When Jesus manifest for judgement in the sky the people of the earth will tell the mountain: fall on us, protect us from the wrath of the holy one. Sin in any shape cannot stand before the glory of God as the experience of Isaiah showed (Isaiah 6:1-8).

In the focus verse, the glory of God has manifested as fire to consume the sacrifice. But there was a fire from the presence of God, which consumed the two sons of Aaron (Leviticus 10:1-2), because they burned unapproved fire in the presence of God.

The bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31, 12:29), and our God is a consuming fire. Ananias and Saphira fell into the fearful hand of God (Acts 5:1-10). When they presume to lie to Apostle Peter, they fell down and died. An angel struck down King Herod who presumed to accept the title of god (Acts 12:21-24). He fell down and maggots eat him up on the spot.

Those are the manifestation of God in wrath. But there are manifestations of God in prosperity and provision in the bible also.

In the forty years of the journey of the children of Israel in the wilderness, the millions of them ate food prepared in the bakery of heaven, released to them as manna every morning (Exodus 16:35).

Elijah also had a similar experience. While running away from Jezebel (1Kings 19), famished and tired he slept under a tree. And twice an angel brought food and drink to him, woke him up for him to eat and drink.

While the food of angels was delivered from heaven to the Israelites in the wilderness daily, and it sustained them for forty years, the meals taken by Elijah sustained him for forty days of constant walking into an encounter with God, in supernatural experience of fire, earthquake, wind and the still small voice.

Though there was fire, but it was written that God was not in that fire.  Though God manifests himself in supernatural fashion, he is not tied to any manifestation, but his word. The devil also have lying wonders (2Thessalonians 2:9) (wonders for the purpose of deception), so because something is amazing does not mean it is divine.

The ultimate revelation of the glory of God to us was in Jesus, who is God the word, the truth (John 14:6). John wrote: in him was life and the life was the light of men; we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth (John 1:1-5, 14-17). He was the ultimate manifestation of God. God has decided to elevate his word above his name. He has chosen to confine himself with his word.

However, because the devil has some wonders of his own does not mean that God is not even much more superabundant in wonders. Jesus is even called wonderful (Isaiah 9:6).

When the Holy Spirit which Jesus manifested in the second chapter of the book of Actswas seen (Acts 2:1-4), it was as fire, when cloven tongues as of fire appeared and sat on all the disciples. When the presence of God manifested on Mount Sinai it was with lightning and smoke, and earthquake (Exodus 19:18).

He told Moses who asked God show me your glory, no one sees my face and live (Exodus 33:18-23). There is a fieriness to God that is beyond comprehension.

The fire of the presence of God can serve two purpose, to empower or to judge. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah is an example of the fire of God judgment coming upon a place (Genesis 18:17-21; 19). They were noted for their sexual immorality, consumed with illicit passion they were therefore consumed by the fire of God’s judgement.

Isaiah experienced some positive things about the fire of the presence of God (Isaiah 6:1-8). When he met God in a vision. He wrote that in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.

He was confronted with the absolute holiness of God, he felt deserving of speedy judgment right there considering how unclean he felt. He said: woe is me, because I am a man of unclean lips in the midst of people who have unclean lips. Because he recognised his need, confessed his helplessness, he received grace. An angel came to him with a coal from the altar before God and touched his mouth with it to purge him of his iniquity.

Jesus was described by John the Baptist a one who baptised with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16). And in the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit manifested as cloven tongues as of fire. It was heaven fire coming to abide on all who expressed commitment to Jesus Christ at that time by obeying his word to stay in Jerusalem to be endued with power from on high (Acts 1:8, 2:1-4).

When Paul met a group of disciples, and they said they only knew the baptism of John, he found it necessary to instruct them about believing in Jesus before introducing the Holy Spirit to them (Acts 19:1-7). The Holy Spirit, the holy fire, manifested in their lives in the name of Jesus. He said that those who believe in him will speak in tongues, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Mark 16:15-18).

The Holy Spirit is the manifestation of the presence of God, which makes the reality of heaven available upon earth. He is the manifestation of the glory of God, just as Jesus was while on earth, where he introduced the Holy Spirit as another comforter, another helper, another one like himself (John 14:16-18).

The divine helper moves people to places in God where they cannot go on their own, in purity (away from sin), in knowledge (away from darkness), in power (away from being oppressed). All because it is not enough to just know the right things, you need to be the right person, through the changing power of the Holy Spirit.

The Pharisees knew the scriptures but they lost out of the person of Jesus. Because it is not just about what you know but who you know. And Jesus said that the scriptures point to him (John 5:39).

He defined eternal life as knowing the true God and Jesus whom he has sent (John 17:3). And knowing Jesus is firmly linked to knowing the Holy Spirit because you cannot respect Jesus and disregard his Spirit, the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9).

Lightning Destroyed Georgia Guidestones - Act of God

God's Glory

This is from the blog Daily Meditation:

Psalm 57:11: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

The psalmist is expressing desire for God to show forth himself on the earth, asking that his glory will be above all the earth, that his name be exalted. When Jesus taught on prayer he said that we should pray to our heavenly father: let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). We are to seek that the will of God to be exalted on the earth.

With Adam and Eve in their sin (Genesis 3), there was the throwing down of the will of God, the will of God was jettisoned, trampled upon, disregarded. The will of God was rejected. But in Christ we are to actively in the place of prayer seek that the will of God be done. Through that we are removing ourselves from the rebellion of the first Adam.

When God said that they  should not eat the fruit of the free of the knowledge of good and evil, they were convinced by the devil that God was exaggerating, that the tree only had good and not evil, he sold them a half truth, and caused them to eat the poison of disobedience to God. Now all that has got to change, man has to be called back to loving God, which Jesus defined as obedience. Jesus told the disciples if you love me, you will obey my commandment (John 14:15-23). That will lead to God being exalted in our lives.

Paul wrote that at the name of Jesus everyone knee must bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:5-11). The name is exalted and everything else would have to bow to it. The destiny of the earth is in the direction of being covered by the glory of God and man was to be the medium for this. But man allowed himself to be distracted into selfishness, and was disqualified from being conduits of the glory of God. Selfishness is the alternate motivation to the love of God, and when it comes to manifesting the glory of God, motivation is everything.

When the psalmist said: “be exalted oh Lord”, what he wants is for God to “come out,” for him to be manifestly exalted, show himself for who he really is, for public knowledge, to leave no shadow of doubt about who he is. Otherwise the fools will continue to say that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). But God is exalted above the earth, there will be no gainsaying.

There was no hiding place in the land of Egypt when the God was ready to deliver his people by his mighty outstretched arms (Deuteronomy 26:8). Though Pharaoh was headstrong, he was no match for God when He is ready to show his supremacy. In judgement, Egypt was forced to its knees, when God was ready to set his people free, manifesting his glory as the earth had never seen.

The magnificence of God was shown in Egypt so much that the children of Israel became an object of fear (Psalm 105:26-45, Exodus 15:14-16, 23:27-28). He became the exalted in their lives, his manifest presence in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, was upon the assembly of the people all the time. He covered them with his protection and grace.

Jesus’ life was about God’s glory. He did not seek his own glory or try to make a name for himself; rather God rewarded him with a name greater than any other name, when he laid down his life. Jesus said that he who seeks to protect his life will lose it. As he laid down his life at God’s request, he was reward with a higher life, resurrected life.

Paul said that it is required in stewards that they are found faithful. And Jesus was faithful to God. He was all for God’s glory. He said to God: I have glorified you on the earth. He said that he had to go about his father’s business; he has to go about doing the will of his father (Luke 2:49).

To God is all the glory in all things because we are nothing more than earthen (earthly) treasures with heavenly treasure in us (2Corinthians 4:7).

God’s glory should be uppermost in our mind and not just our own desire and will. We should be ready to do is bidding; seek to magnify his name. Paul told Timothy: preach the word, in season and out of season, whether it is convenient or not, do the work of an evangelist (2Timothy 4:1-8). He wants him to seek the eternal reward that will come when Jesus will appear and reward the faithful with eternal portions.

Since we walk with a God we do not see, and so walk with him by faith, we have to serve him also by faith, seeking for the reward beyond the veil of time, the realm of what is seen. The writer of the book of Hebrews says: wherefore we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28).

There is a kingdom that we are working towards on this earth (and working for the king); there is a glory that we must manifest, a fire we must set, a task we must fulfil, and we need to lay aside every sin and the fear, the weight that easily besets us to be able to do that (Hebrews 12:1-2). There is a race set before you, a mandate of heaven you must fulfil. As bearers of the glory of God, our service becomes an outlet of his glory. Wherever we sit, there should have a deposit of the glory of God there, whoever we touch should experience God’s glory.

Miracles happen when cloth items were taken from the body of Paul; devils were cast out, and the sick were healed (Acts 19:11-12). The shadow of Peter healed the sick that were lined up on the street (Acts 5:15-16).

The manifestation of the sons of God which Paul talked about is all about unleashing the glory of God like never before on the earth through God’s vessels (Romans 8:18-21), who are dead to themselves by alive to God, dead to human acclaim but fully given to God, having no eye for human gain but eyes set on God. They will lead many from hell to heaven with the banner of the grace and power of God. They will not be afraid or back down, they will not be shaken, and they know that there is a kingdom that cannot be shaken.