Into the buckets on the waterwheel of eternity, God is faithfully and ceaselessly pouring out His glory.\u00a0 This glory ever descends in these buckets down to His people and His purposes that it might generate in us that power – that evangelistic love and service – that sends this glory back up and into the glory-fount of the Father, from whom all glory flows.<\/p>\n
This process \u2013 the eternal circulation of God’s glory and our participation in it – is essential glorification.\u00a0 To continue with the metaphorical waterwheel, glorification is the process by which God’s people reach into the buckets, which God has sent down, and pull out a portion of His glory that He has poured in. We pull out a handful of His sacrifice, or faithfulness, majesty, or love, forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, righteousness – we reach in and pull out God’s exhibition of Himself and we show it to the world. We make Him known.\u00a0 We exhibit the character and attributes of God – His glory – to the world.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, mankind, it can be said, plays dual roles in this glorification process.\u00a0 We understand that we are called to glorify God.\u00a0 We are called to reach into the buckets and pull out God\u2019s expression of Himself and make this known to the world, in love.\u00a0 We should also understand that God\u2019s glory is expressed from within us through the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 We are called to reach into the buckets and also to be the very carriers of His glory.<\/p>\n
Consider this: the buckets into which God so faithfully pours; the carriers of God\u2019s glory are made of four materials.\u00a0 Four carriers, or facilitators, of God\u2019s glory<\/span>:<\/p>\n We can see much of God and learn much from Him in observing His creation.\u00a0 God makes Himself known in creation.\u00a0 Creation carries the glory of God.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 From the soul-stirring beauty of the autumn sun rising over the Atlantic to the worship-inspiring majesty of the galaxies in perpetual motion; from the first breath of an infant child to the changing of the seasons and the complexity of the cell, creation glorifies God.\u00a0 It makes Him known.<\/p>\n When we\u2019re told that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, we must know that this Word is the perfect proclamation of God, Himself.\u00a0 Jesus Christ is the perfect proclamation of God.\u00a0 Christ is the image of the invisible God.\u00a0 Christ is the<\/em> perfect representation of the Father\u2019s perfect nature.\u00a0 Our Father is made known in Christ Jesus.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 The way, the truth, and the life of God are magnified in and are one with Christ.\u00a0 No greater expression of the Father\u2019s love can be had than what we have in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 There is no truer glorification of God than Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Jesus Christ, it can well be said, is the embodiment of glorification.<\/p>\n God is made known in the Bible.\u00a0 It carries His glory.\u00a0 We learn of His attributes and His character.\u00a0 We read from this word of His will and His ways.\u00a0 The holy scriptures are a proclamation of God Himself<\/em><\/strong>; they glorify Him in that they make Him known.<\/p>\n In addition to what He\u2019s revealed to us through the words and pages of the Bible – though not necessarily to be held with the same esteem – it is also expressive that we have a collection of books testified to by their historicity, fulfilled prophecy, and manuscript evidence.\u00a0 Our God has not only revealed himself to us through its pages, He has also sustained it through the millennia and has given us wonderfully sound reason (historicity, fulfilled prophecy, and manuscript evidence) to stand upon it and proclaim truth from it.\u00a0 The Bible is the third material of which the buckets, the carriers of God\u2019s glory, are made.<\/p>\n So we see that God\u2019s glory is carried to us through creation, through Christ, and through the Bible.\u00a0 These are three of the four elements that make the buckets which hold His glory.\u00a0 The forth carrying material is us<\/em>.\u00a0 God is glorified through us.\u00a0 God is made known through us. \u00a0Christ says to the Father in John 17:10, I am glorified in them.<\/em>\u00a0 You and I.\u00a0 Our holy Savior has chosen to make Himself known through mankind.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 We are the carriers and magnifiers of God\u2019s excellencies.\u00a0 Though God could receive praise from the stones, He has given you and I breath for this purpose.<\/p>\n The first and greatest commandment is \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Fulfillment of this command is observed only<\/em> in our glorification of God.\u00a0 It is only in making God known that we proclaim our love for Him.\u00a0 In our studies, and in our relationships, and in our worship, and in our employment, and in our love for our neighbor, and in our commitment to living the life of Christ, we love our God.\u00a0 Loving God is the destination \u2013 glorification is the path.\u00a0 Loving God is the matter \u2013 glorification is the manner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Into the buckets on the waterwheel of eternity, God is faithfully and ceaselessly pouring out His glory. \u00a0This glory ever descends in these buckets down to His people and His purposes that it might generate in us that power – that evangelistic love and service – that sends this glory back up and into the glory-fount of the Father, from whom all glory flows.<\/p>\n God powers the waterwheel with the blessings of His glory; His essence.\u00a0 This glory produces further power within mankind, by the workings of the Spirit, which, when reflected in our living – our evangelistic love and service – brings the praise and glory back to God.\u00a0 The proper image-bearing of the Christian will shine God\u2019s glory on the world around us and thereby send it back up, manifold, into the glory-fount of the Father.<\/p>\nGod is glorified in creation.<\/h2>\n
God is glorified in Christ.<\/h2>\n
God is glorified in the book that He has left us.<\/h2>\n
God is glorified through us.<\/h2>\n