Saturday, August 6, 2011

For His Glory

Rev 1:5b,6 " To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

For our blessing and for His glory. That is what is happening in Revelation. I think it is important to keep in mind that all of the stuff that I will read and hear are for that purpose…to bring blessing to the readers and hearers and doers, but beyond that, to bring glory to the One who loved us and died for us and cleansed our sins with His blood and (this is wild) made us kings and priest before God the Father. The focus here is Jesus. He is the One who is going to be glorified in what is to come. He is the One who has power and force and dominion forever, in an unbroken age, for eternity.

The things that I am reading and are about to read are extremely profound. As I think about just this verse, it blows me away. Here is a Guy who knows who I am. He knows my deepest thoughts. He knows everything that I do. He hears every word that I say. He knows all about my motives. He knows what a sinner I am far beyond even what I realize. And He hates sin. He despises it. Yet He loves me. He loves me so much He did something that no one else could do to get rid of my rotten thoughts, deeds, words and motives…He shed His blood. He sacrificed Himself. This was not an execution as one person I came across recently said. It was His own willful act. He wanted to do this because Jesus knew that the only way that I would be washed from my deadness (that is actually what this word means…washing a dead person) would be through a totally pure agent. The OT laid out the system of sacrifices and it required a pure, unblemished animal every year. But this was not sufficient to take away sins. (See Heb 10:4) The only thing that could do it was a pure, unblemished, holy, sinless person. And Jesus was that Person. Jesus was that sacrifice. And His blood makes me totally and completely clean. This is how deep His love is for me. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." There is no greater love. There is nothing that can exceed it. It really is immeasurable.

His love is so great and His sacrifice was so complete that I can now stand before God as a king and as a priest. I am a holy ruler. I am not looked at as a dead sinner, but I am an alive, pure, spotless king and priest in God's eyes. A commander and an interceder. Wow, the position that I have before God right now is unexplainable. It really is not something that I can fully comprehend. Yet it is a position of authority and power. Crazy…a position of authority and power before the God of all creation? Yes.

The question is: Do I realize this? Do I live like this? Do I claim this?

One other question: Why? Not for my glory. Not for my dominion but for the glory and dominion of the One who did this for me. My kingship…my priesthood has to point back to Jesus. All the glory all the power is His.

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