COMPARING GLORIES: ADVANCING IN ENCOUNTER AND UNDERSTANDING
Ezra 3:12 (NIV 1984) But many ...who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.
Haggai 2:9 (NIV 1984) ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty.
The promise of the messiah was that He would bring Israel back to where King David got them – the pinnacle of their nation. The prophecies pointed to military victories and a political leader, and when Jesus called His disciples, this was what they had in mind. After His death, and even resurrection, there must have been the pain of loss (of political vision, the signs and wonders, the momentum of the ministry), doubts, many questions, and maybe even some guilt, yet the agenda of God was not changed, and with the resurrection and subsequent coming of the Holy Spirit, glory was present in a way never before experienced. However, Jesus would not be present in bodily form, only spiritual, and He had promised this would produce a sense of mourning (Matt 9:15). Perhaps the disciples would be comparing life with Jesus in these two realities.
Pentecost came and went, and the Spirit was poured out upon the disciples. There was a new glory present in and among them, for they had much power and purpose in their mission. It was the same yet it was different, for Jesus was not with them in bodily form anymore. It was very different, but still God.
In our spiritual walk with God He says He will take us from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18). Whatever this may ultimately mean, it certainly refers to how the Lord continues to expand our understanding of His word and His heart. We may get a strong vision for the poor in one season of our lives, yet this may fade a bit and then He give us a strong vision for a certain people group - the nations in the NT is referring to ethnic groups, not merely geographic locations. God’s agenda from the beginning when calling Abraham has always been to bless the nations (plural), and we may have a season where we feel God’s heart for all the nations. This too may fade a bit and God follow it up with a passion for our own nation, which by the way has many people groups. Perhaps there is a season we feel God’s burden and passion for evangelism, and later on we feel His love for prayer, and yet another season may bring us to an awakened understanding and experience of the gifts of the Spirit, and on and on it goes. Each season of emphasis is God’s expanding of our hearts to know Him better. We may move on from one emphasis to the next, and may not feel as passionate as we once felt about where we have moved on from, but make no mistake, the interaction with God’s emotions on a certain subject marks us forever. As we move on to a different expression of glory it will be the same in ways, because the source is the same, but it will be different. It will be different, but it is still God. As God takes us from glory to glory we may feel a sense of loss, but we do not have to feel guilty. Each present glory may very well be more than the last.
