I've learned that we must SEE God's glory (Isaiah 66:19)

In Isaiah 66:19, God promised to send messengers "to the coastlands afar off that have not heard my fame or SEEN my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations."

This is a staggering verse to consider, and what's even more staggering is that the truth contained here is not isolated to this text, but is contained in the entire plot line of redemptive history. In this immediate context, the previous verse states, "the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and SEE My glory." Although this will be an extremely brief snapshot, I will point out two other contexts in hope of bringing this truth into greater light.

As a young believer I was stunned to see how often God stated that the works done in redeeming His people from Egypt were that His Glory would be SEEN. Even for a Calvinist (well 4 and a half pointer anyway) it is a difficult truth to swallow - I mean, doesn't God redeem for His people's sake? But, look at what Exodus 14:4 states, "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I WILL GAIN GLORY FOR MYSELF through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." Do we really take that in? What is God's motivation in bringing judgment on the Egyptians so that Israel would be freed? Why is He doing this? It is clear that His ultimate motivation is to GLORIFY HIMSELF - that His glory would be SEEN AND KNOWN by all Egyptians, by Pharaoh, by His people.

And, I was stunned by 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 as I heard this text preached by John Piper and later in reading the works of Jonathan Edwards. The text reads, "The god of this age has BLINDED the minds of unbelievers, so that they CANNOT SEE the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

In this passage, Paul says that unbelievers are BLIND - the very essence of unbelief is not seeing the glory of God. Conversion is God saying, "Let the light shine out of darkness" in our hearts. Staggering! What about praying a prayer or going down an altar? Or, what about CORRECT DOCTRINE, or even mentioning REPENTANCE and FAITH here?

This LIFE - this SIGHT - that God gives is the CAUSE of faith and repentance, and if we don't see this, then our debates about "Lordship salvation" become a misguided rambling about HOW MUCH we must repent, how much we must believe - frankly, it exhausts me. We must go to the heart of the matter - a person who has been given spiritual life, had the blindness removed, WILL believe, they WILL repent, because the heart must go after what it finds most beautiful, and now, God has created a worshiper of Him through the work of the Holy Spirit. Apart from this blindness of God's glory being supernaturally removed by the work of Spirit giving spiritual sight, there is no conversion. Seeing the glory of God is not something isolated to one judgment, to one prophecy, etc - that the glory of God will be seen is God's pursuit from the garden to the city and must impact all of our theology.

Well, to say the least, MUCH more could be said on this point, and as time allows, I will strive to add posts that help anyone reading my humble blog see the importance of seeing the glory of God and living with the heart cry "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise!" And, by His grace, I hope to improve in the same.

One note for those who read the previous post. I sought a significant amount of counsel, not of WHETHER I should pursue full-time ministry, but HOW. I simply thought it was a given that full-time ministry is the direction I should pursue and that decision was not come upon lightly. But, while some did encourage me to continue that direction, others encouraged me to also continue pursuing business, to "cast my nets wide" in BOTH and see what God brings. There are lot of factors that time does not allow, but I will say that while I am not shutting the door on full-time ministry in the least, I have deciding to continue pursuing business as well. Frankly, I did not foresee that change, but some who I spoke with made some excellent points that greatly impacted my thinking on what it means for me to seek first the kingdom. And, in the coming months, there will likely come a time when I will be at a fork in the road on being bi-vocational in ministry, or full-time. We shall see what God brings and continue to write out plans "in pencil."