"THE SPIRIT OF GLORY AND OF GOD"
“THE SPIRIT OF GLORY AND OF GOD”
(1 Peter 4:14)
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Sunday, May 3, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
Christianity is under great reproach, persecution and tribulation in nations of the world. This is also true of the United States of America as we see the very foundations of our faith being challenged by the government that once protected our freedom of religion. Every five minutes a Christian is killed around the world. That is over 100,000 innocent lives every year. Additionally thousands are beaten, displaced and tortured every day.
1 Peter 4:14: “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you; on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.”
In every age of the Church, the Holy Spirit of glory has visited those who are called either to the endurance of trial or tempted to lapse into despondency. The times in my life when I felt abandoned, rejected, forsaken and dejected, the Lord moved miraculously to catapult me into another realm of His glory.
The Spirit of Glory visited the lonely Jacob and turned the wasteland and pillow of stone into the gate of heaven. He made the wilderness bright with His glory---resplendent with His presence.
When the heart of Moses was ready to faint under Israel’s repeated murmurings, God set him in the cleft of a rock and made all His glory to pass before him (Ex. 33:22).
When Elijah, the most heroic of the Old Testament worthies, waxed weak as other men,---when in a moment of strange infirmity, leaving work and duty, he could apparently see nothing but unhallowed altars blazing throughout the land---ten thousand knees bowing to Baal and kissing his impious shrine. God made all the elements of nature preach to him of the power he had disowned, and followed these by the ‘still, small voice’ by the Spirit of glory of omnipotence and love rebuked his distrust and revived his faith (1 Kings, 19: 11-12).
When Paul, in a later age, had the thorn in the flesh sent to buffet him---the time and occasion of his trials was made a time of rich communication of divine grace. He was led most gladly, therefore, to glory in his infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon him.
2 Cor. 12:9: “He (the Lord) said to me, My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
This by no means infers that we should go around acting like martyrs, or volunteering to be one. If you have never had trouble in your life, just wait around and it finds all of us. It is when the trouble comes, that we are to be happy, because in the midst of it, a greater weight of glory will be upon us.
There is a condition to this greater weight of glory, “Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 5:15-16).
So it was with John, our Bible hero of today’s message. That aged sufferer, whose ninety years has furrowed his cheek with wrinkles on the Isle of Patmos was now drinking the foretold cup and being baptized with the foretold baptism of his suffering Master and Lord.
He was exiled, forlorn, and un-befriended by man. It was a common custom at this period, among the Romans to transport prisoners to desolate islands. Patmos, at the time of John’s banishment was doubtless more uncultivated than it is now, probably little more than a barren rock, whose ruggedness rendered it all the more suitable for the purpose of a state prison.
Could he be thinking he had poured out his whole life for Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of the Kingdom; but he is now alone and forgotten on this lonely island?
He was set up for the most glorious outpouring of a visitation from His Savior, shared by no mortal, before or since.
John had experienced the heavenly visitation on the Mount of Transfiguration. When the heavenly visitants had vanished, his best Friend was still left. He “saw no man save Jesus only”.
The storms of persecution continued to rage around the infant church and around his unsheltered head; but he was to know, as few have done before of after, the truth of those grand prophetic words “A man” (the Brother man he had loved on earth---the glorified Man now exalted on the Throne)---“A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest---as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isa. 32:2).
The first five opening words indicate the design of the whole Book---“The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” John delighted to honor Jesus in his Gospel, so now in his Apocalypse, the Gospel of his old age, it is still the same Great figure which fills the inspired canvas; not the Revelation of dogmas and doctrines, but of the glorified Person of his Living Lord ---exhibiting Him as superintending all events in the future of His church and the world---overruling all their conflicts for His own glory and the ultimate triumph of His cause and kingdom.
The Book is the Epiphany of Christ;---the glorious Being in the midst of the golden candlesticks---the slain lamb standing before the throne---the Lion of the tribe of Judah---the Conqueror on the white horse---the enthroned Judge.
The earthly cry is “Come Lord Jesus!” The heavenly cry is “Worthy is the Lamb!” Christ is thus “all in all” to the Church on earth and to the Church of the glorified. The evolution of all successive events in history and providence is revealed to be in His hand as the Church’s Great Head and Ruler. “Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns!”
John’s salutation is a simple introduction: “John” ---no assumption of title or Apostolic dignity ---no claim to any prerogative or status---no assertion of his near and privileged relationship with his beloved Lord.
Again when he repeats his name in verse 9, it is only with the touchingly simple addition of “John, brother and companion in tribulation”. How many of us are willing to identify with other Christians in their tribulation? How quickly the church judges one another when trouble comes! However, in that place of being totally alone with the Lord, the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon us. “Be happy”.
I count it all joy at each intersection of my life when I felt judged, rejected, and abandoned. In the worst of those times, was when the Lord visited me, called and commissioned me in the ministry. These times have always happened just before the Lord releases a greater weight of glory.
Recently I have been judged that I should have stepped down when we lost the church; and due to my age. Smile --- I count it all joy! I have not been released as Pastor of a church in Katy, TX. I am not looking for a release, but if the Lord spoke, I would not resist Him. I am walking forward until He gives me a new address or a rocking chair. I will continue as I am today in grace and peace.
Our hero today utters the opening benediction of his Revelation, “Grace and peace” from the Holy Trinity (vs. 4). The Father is described as “Him which is and which was and which is to come;” the great I AM in the eternity of his unchanging nature. The Holy Ghost is described in the plenitude of His gifts and grace, under the seven-fold symbol of perfection—“the seven spirits which are before His throne”. He closes with a more lengthy adoration of the Divine Son:
“The Faithful Witness” --- He who came to bear witness to the truth---the Revealer of the Father.
“The First-begotten of the dead”---the conqueror of the last enemy---the first-fruits of them that sleep.
“The Prince of the kings of the earth”---the mighty ruler seated on the throne of the universal empire, and of whom it had been prophesied, “I will make him My First-born. Higher than the kings of the earth” (Ps. 89:27)
“To Him that loved, us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
The Holy Spirit’s great work is to glorify Christ. He is given to us that we too might bring glory to Christ. He comes to show forth Christ’s truth and grace, not speak of Himself. (John 16:14) He reveals no other truth, gives no other grace, but what is in, from and by Christ.
Whatever he hears he speaks (Jn. 16:13). What the Holy Spirit hears is the whole plan and purpose of the Father and Son concerning the salvation of the church. He makes Christ glorious in our eyes. The Holy Spirit will declare them to us means that the Holy Spirit will make them known to us.
Rev. 1:6: “He has made us kings and priests to God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
John interrupts the narrative in order that he may add one sentence with reference to that Great event to which all theology---all history---all time points. “Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, Even so Amen.”
This past ten days we have watched as escalated prophecy unfolds before our eyes.
- An earthquake in Nepal shakes the tallest mountain on the earth. (Heb. 12:26)
- Volcano in Chili erupts still spewing fire (Andes Mountains/Pacific Ocean) (Isa. 64: 1-2).
- City in the U.S.A. becomes a jungle and wilderness of lawlessness using children. (1 Ti. 1:9).
- Israel is persecuted by the nations of the earth with the Psalm 83 nations bombing and preparing for war at her borders.
- The president of the United States is conspiring for Iran to become a nuclear nation. Daniel 11:27: “Both these king’s hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.”
- Hillary Clinton said this week that women are denied abortion because of deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural bias. Thus she is denying the authority of the Holy Scripture.
- The Supreme Court of the United States has been deciding if the law of God concerning traditional marriage should be changed to the image of corruptible man, thus changing the law of God.
- The Gog/Magog nations around the Black Sea continue to form a coalition.
Daniel 7: 25-26: “…He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. The Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”
To the Church of the United States of America are we like John, “your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, who was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
It was on the Lord’s Day when this revelation was made. What a day!
Whether it was in his dungeon-vault, or in the traditional cave, or if he wandered companionless on the shore, listening to the music of the Aegean waves, we are not told. But of this we can be assured, John had never seen such a Sabbath. What sights! What sounds! What forms! What scenery!---fit recompense surely for years of conflict and toil. The solitary place was made glad. The most magnificent sanctuary made with hands has never witnessed such glory.
The worshipper---one lonely exile. His temple---a rock in mid-ocean. The theme he listens to---the church militant,---its sufferings---its triumphs---its eternal rewards.
He heard the great trumpet voice, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.”
What Christ was to John, He is to His people still. He converts our times of trial into seasons of splendid Glory.
Driven by the windy storm to the crevices of the Rock of Ages, we fall in the arms of our Savior. He turns the earth’s darkest spots of sorrow into the bliss of foretasted heaven!
The Word of God says that we are to be rejoice, be happy when men revile, persecute and reproach the Church. Through the ages, these have been the times when the Spirit of glory has rested powerfully upon the beloved.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. I entered into the labors of Memories of Patmos by John Ross MacDuff. Comments and conclusions are my own.