October 2, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 2 Chronicles 11-15

Weekly Memory Verse: Ephesians 2:10

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I read through the chapter today, and would encourage you to take your time on it.  Look in the back of the book at the index where the cross references is listed.  Rick listed 46 Bible references to back up what he said in “day seven”.  There is simply too much to quote all the references, so I am going to hit the high point and encourage you to read through today’s chapter in “The Purpose Driven Life” to get the rest of the story. 

Rick discusses the Glory of God in the beginning of this chapter.  Our purpose here on earth is to glorify God, yet we haven’t received much instruction on just how to accomplish that feat.  Another thing that is not clear is what the “Glory of God” really consists of.  If I were to try to describe the glory of God, it would have to be that it is the essence of God, it is the truth of God’s power manifested through Himself to man through signs, wonders, and nature itself.  Look at some of the verses that Rick quoted regarding God’s glory:

Psalm 19:1 (NASB95)
¹ The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Genesis 3:8 (NASB95)
⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Exodus 33:18-23 (NASB95)
¹⁸ Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

Exodus 40:33-38 (NASB95)
³³ He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work. ³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; ³⁷ but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. ³⁸ For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

1 Kings 7:51 (NASB95)
⁵¹ Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

1 Kings 8:10-13 (NASB95)
¹⁰ It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. ¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. ¹³ “I have surely built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever.”

John 1:14 (NASB95)
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Ephesians 2:21-22 (NASB95)
²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NASB95)
⁶ For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

Exodus 24:17 (NASB95)
¹⁷ And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.

Exodus 40:34 (NASB95)
³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Psalm 29:1 (NASB95)
¹ Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Isaiah 6:3-4 (NASB95)
³ And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

Isaiah 60:1 (NASB95)
¹ “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Luke 2:9 (NASB95)
⁹ And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

Revelation 21:23 (NASB95)
²³ And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. ^[1]

When you think about the Glory of God, it is almost humanly impossible to describe it.  In these verses we can see how that God revealed Himself to man, and how that man wondered over the awesome presence of God.  Yet the Glory of the Lord is a concept that is difficult to understand.  In Revelation, it is clear that God’s glory removes the need of light in the new heaven and new earth.  It is difficult to describe because God’s glory is the essence of all life, without Him, life would not exist, think about that one.

Romans 11:36 (NASB95)
³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Proverbs 16:4 (NASB95)
⁴ The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.

Hebrews 1:3 (NASB95)
³ And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

John 1:14 (NASB95)
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 Chronicles 16:24 (NASB95)
²⁴ Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

Psalm 29:1 (NASB95)
¹ Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Psalm 66:2 (NASB95)
² Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious.

Psalm 96:7 (NASB95)
⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB95)
¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Revelation 4:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”^[2]

God’s glory is revealed through Jesus Christ His son.  Jesus lived His life here on earth for the purpose of glorifying the Father.  Therefore everything which exists anywhere in the universe does so only because God allowed it to happen.  God created all things, and all things are in debt to Him and expected to give praise and honor to Him.  Humans have one unique ability that the rest of creation does not have.  We have the ability to worship God through an act of our will.  We have the ability to glorify God through a cognitive decision based upon our desire to glorify Him.  The rest of nature glorifies God by simply living out its lives.  For example, a flower does not need to be told to grow and bloom, it does so naturally.  Rick gives the illustration of ants, they aren’t told to perform their service, or make a decision whether or not they will gather food, they simply live and perform to the best of their ability. 

Romans 3:23 (NASB95)
²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^[3]

Rick makes an interesting statement on page 54-55, anything that does not glorify God is sin.  I wonder how often that I have read that verse, memorized it and not made that connection.  Sin is the essence of a person exercising their personal right not to glorify God in what they do.  Rebellion is the desire of  a person to exercise their own glory and not God’s.  Therefore, every single sin that ever existed does so because it is rooted in refusing to bring Glory to God. 

I am going to wrap up here, most of the verses that are left are in the text of the book, it will be necessary to look in the index under day 7 in order to find other references.  I would encourage you to look at them and spend the time looking up the references.  It makes this study of the forty days to go from being a shallow general study to a deep study of the word of God.  Rick designed his book so that the curios would be entertained by it, and drawn into a deeper walk with God, and so that the serious can be fed by it and engorged with the meat of the word of God.  Your choice, dabble in the book, or make full use of it in drawing near to God.

I am out of time, but quickly, look into the chapter for an outline of the rest of the book.  He covers the following topics:

1. “We bring God glory by worshiping him.”

2. “We bring God glory by loving other believers”

3. “We bring God glory by becoming like Christ.”

4. “We bring God glory by serving others with our gifts.”

5. “We bring God glory by telling others about him”.

Read the chapter, think about it, and pray the prayer that Rick includes in the book.  In short, if you haven’t accepted Jesus as Lord, glorify God by praying for Him to enter your life. Believe that God created you for a purpose, and that He sent Jesus to die for your sin, now simply accept Him as Lord and commit to follow Him.

Father, as we consider the tremendous chapter that Rick shared in the book, I ask that each of us will be encouraged to live our lives for You.  Redirect our thinking so that we realize that we are not here to serve ourselves, but to live our lives for Your glory.

In Him,

Joe Turner.