Chapter 10
A People of His Glory

Jesus Christ was entirely God. He was not a created being. Yet He became a man and lived entirely within man’s limitations. His ability to demonstrate power, walk on water, and carry out countless other divine manifestations was completely due to the fact that He was without sin and was totally yielded to the Holy Spirit. He became the model for everyone who would experience the cleansing of sin by the blood of Jesus.

The forgiveness that God gives puts every believer in a place without sin. The only question that remains is how empowered by the Holy Spirit we are willing to be.

Experiences for Sons and Daughters

Most all of the experiences of Jesus recorded in Scripture were prophetic examples of the realms in God that are made available to the believer. The Mount of Transfiguration raised the bar significantly on potential human experience. The goal should never be to talk with Moses and Elijah, and anyone who has that as a focus would concern me. The overwhelming lesson in this story is that Jesus Christ, the Son of man, had the glory of God upon Him. Jesus’s face shone with God’s glory, similar to Moses’s after he came down from the mountain.1 But Jesus’s clothing also radiated the glory of God, as if to say this was a new era as compared to Moses’s day. In this era the boundaries had changed—a veil could not be used to cover Jesus’s face as it shone with glory, as the veil itself would also soon radiate with the same glory. We influence and impart what God has given us to change the nature of whatever we touch. Remember that touching the edge of Jesus’s garment healed a woman. In this kingdom, things are different.

Only Peter, James, and John were privileged to be a part of this event. It was so extreme that Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about what they had seen until after His Resurrection. His death would satisfy the requirements of both the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah). Certain things have no place in our hearts until we know of the Resurrection through our own conversion experience. Through the Spirit of the resurrected Christ living in us we are designed to carry the same glory. But we still must go up the mountain2—to the place where we meet with God face to face.

Preceding this experience Jesus made the declaration, “There are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power” (Mark 9:1). I do not think He was referring to the Mount of Transfiguration experience, which was only six days later. He was referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit that would become available after His death and resurrection. That is “the kingdom of God present with power.”

Why Not Now?

It is theological irresponsibility to have the great promises of Scripture and put them off into a period of time for which we have no responsibility. It has become way too easy to place everything that’s good into the Millennium and keep the trials and dark seasons for this era. My greatest difficulty with that line of thinking is that it requires no faith to achieve it, and that seems to be inconsistent with the rest of God’s dealings with humanity. It also places an unhealthy emphasis on future generations to the point where we lose our sense of purpose, call, and destiny. While I live to leave a legacy, each generation has been given enough favor from the Lord to consider themselves capable of being the “final” generation that lives in the glory of God, for the glory of God.

One of my favorite declarations in Scripture is found in Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for your light has come!” People stumble over determining the audience to which this command is addressed. Some would put this off into God’s future dealings with Israel, which I believe to be a great mistake. While God’s great plan is being worked out in His people Israel, the command is brought to all who have received His light. What is that light, and to whom has this light come?

Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He enlightens every person that comes into this world. “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. . . . There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man” (John 1:4, 9).

When Isaiah made the declaration to arise and shine, it was a command reserved for those who received the light that Jesus brought into the world. He is that light. And those who received His light unto salvation are required to arise. It is a command. Many wait for something else to happen to them. But He says, “Get up, now! And while you’re getting up, shine!”

This amazing declaration began to unfold in Jesus’s day, because the second part of the declaration was fulfilled—He, the light, had come. But before Jesus left, He told His disciples that they were the light of the world. That statement is often considered figurative language, which is disastrous when God is speaking literally. The church is the light of the world.

When the light of God touches you, you become light. In whatever fashion God touches our lives we become a manifestation of that very reality. It’s one of the great mysteries in the gospel, testifying of its ability to completely transform the nature of everything it touches. This issue of becoming light is not an isolated illustration, which we will see. It is the power of the gospel that completely transforms the nature of whatever it touches.

We actually broker God’s forgiveness.

Jesus is our righteousness. But when we are touched by His righteousness, we not only became righteous, but we also became the righteousness of God.3 Consider this extreme effect of the gospel. We don’t just carry this grace from God. We become a manifestation of that grace. When we think only in figurative and symbolic language we undermine the power of God’s intent. With such extraordinary promises we must not be a people restricted by the boundaries set by a prior generation. We must instead build upon their experience and go where they didn’t have time to go.

God takes this to another extreme in the subject of forgiveness. When you are forgiven, you become a forgiver. Jesus pressed way past my comfort zone by saying, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained” (John 20:23). We actually broker God’s forgiveness. At minimum God is saying that when we forgive people, God moves upon them with His forgiveness. Again, our nature has been changed by the way in which God touched us.

Covenants in Conflict

Under the Old Testament, if you touch a leper, you become unclean. The primary message of that covenant was to reveal the power of sin. But the Law of God was not the answer to the problem of sin. It was incapable of being the solution. It was the tutor that was intended to lead people to Christ. As people discovered they could not become righteous on their own, the Law created such a tension in people’s lives that it successfully prepared Israel for the Savior. And so, touching the leper made you unclean.

But in the New Testament we touch the leper and the leper becomes clean. That’s because the primary message of this covenant is the power of God’s love to make us whole. When we demonstrate authentic love, He backs it up with kingdom power. The one who is cleansed by the blood of Jesus is now able to cleanse; this was in the commission Jesus gave to His disciples: “Cleanse the lepers” (Matthew 10:8).

By the hundreds of millions, people recognize the power of sin. They live under the realization that they cannot change their nature. And so they spend their lives changing the color of their hair, taking off pounds, and learning new skills to somehow quench that internal desire for personal transformation. Some rebel against that desire and surrender to the inevitable by giving themselves over to a sin nature they cannot control. The results are in our newspaper headlines daily.

But the power of sin is old news! The news needed in this day is that the power of the authentic love of God transforms everything it touches. Those changed by His love are true lovers, and those who don’t love others have no evidence of ever having experienced God’s love.4 As we face Him, our nature is changed into the nature of the One who touched us, and we release the power of His love to those around us.

We Must Shine

One of the issues that must be settled in the minds of believers if we are going to obey God’s command to arise and shine is the issue of being glorious. For many Christians, the idea of being glorious sounds prideful or ridiculous. But there is a glory that exists in humanity simply because we were made in His image. There is a glory in animals, the sun, the stars, and all other created things.5 He made it this way.

To downplay our role in these last days and to play small in life restricts the measure of glory we possess and are able to give to God. Our capacity to give glory ends up being reduced by our unbelief in our significance. Our significance is not based on anything in and of us. It is entirely based on the One who calls us to Himself.

Solomon seemed to know this, saying, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2). God warns against boasting in ourselves, but He adds that we are to allow others to do it to us. Honor is a kingdom value. If we don’t know how to receive it correctly, we will have no crown to throw at His feet. Our war against pride is misguided when it is inconsistent with God’s Word. False humility is the most dangerous form of pride as it is often mistaken for a virtue.

When people give me honor, I thank them for their thoughtfulness. But I refuse to respond with the nauseating religious jargon, “It wasn’t me; it was Jesus.” Rather, when I get alone with God, I bring the honor given to me and give it to Him, saying, “Look what someone gave to me. I believe this belongs to You.” There’s no question in my mind about who really deserves it.

It’s just fascinating to me that He enjoys having us be in the line of fire when glory and honor are being released. They affirm our eternal significance and destiny. And if we make the mistake of taking that honor to ourselves, then we have already received our reward in this life. The eternal aspect has been removed. That which is invested into eternity pays eternal dividends. Is it possible that the scriptural standard of going from glory to glory also carries with it the principle of going from living in the glory of man to living in the glory of God?

Jesus added to this command, saying, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). There is a way in which we can shine that causes others to worship God and give Him glory. It was in this context that Jesus taught us that our lights were not to be hidden but put in the open for others to see. Others are attracted to God by our shining.

How to Shine

To learn how to shine in response to God’s command in Isaiah 60 we must learn how God shines. We represent Him. Here is the blessing that Aaron and his sons were to release over the children of Israel.

The LORD bless you, and keep you;

The LORD make His face shine on you,

And be gracious to you;

The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace.

—Numbers 6:24–26

When God shows His favor to people He is giving us a model to follow. He is teaching us how to shine. Showing favor to others is one way to follow His example. Being accepted by God enables us to accept others, once again demonstrating that we become a manifestation of the nature of God’s touch in our lives. In this light Paul makes an interesting statement to the church at Ephesus:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

—Ephesians 4:29, emphasis added

As we have seen, God’s face shines on us when He releases His favor and blessing in our lives. We have been given the power to release life and death through our speech.6 In this place of responsibility we are able to speak words that encourage according to the needs a person has at the moment. But the part of the verse that amazes me the most is that we are able to give grace to those who hear. Grace is divine favor. In a sense we broker God’s favor. It is as though He is saying, To whomever you show favor, I will show favor. Every time you bring encouragement to someone, you release divine favor. They are marked for God’s attention because of your words. That is shining!

Several years ago one of our young men was in court for a crime he committed before his conversion. I testified on his behalf. He had already spent time in prison for a previous crime and could be sent back for a long time. His life had been transformed by Christ, which was publicly noted by both the judge and the prosecuting attorney. But the prosecutor still asked that he be sent to jail.

They found him guilty and sent him to a conservation camp for six months. I was hoping they’d let him go without any prison time, because for the first time in his life he had a good job and was a contributor to society. I wrote a letter to the judge stating that while I was hoping my friend wouldn’t have any more time in jail, I thanked him for taking a stand for justice, and I told him that we appreciated his work for our community. I also thanked him for the mercy he showed in such a short sentence. He wrote back with thanks, saying, “We don’t receive letters like this.” Honor was due, and it was a privilege to give it. And it takes so little time to give it away; it’s one of the ways we shine.

We are witnessing the power of honor in society. We can give it even before a person is born again. City life is changing through this simple tool. Whether it’s the business person who invests hard-earned dollars into our city or the waitress who works long hours to take care of her child at home, they are all hungry for significance. And that need is met through honor.

Giving Away the Farm

It’s commonly said, “You can’t out-give God.” And it’s true. He makes sure that we receive mostly according to what we’ve given away. But it’s not simply because God gives back to us according to what we’ve given. It’s largely because He changes our nature when He touches us, to the point that we actually produce the very thing we gave away. That is not to say any of it originates with us; all good gifts come from God. Period. But what a man sows, that shall he also reap. Some are too insecure to sow honor. It is almost as though they think that they will be lacking if they give it away. Not so. All heavenly commodities increase as they are released. Those who show mercy have mercy returned to them. It’s how this kingdom works.

Furthermore, shining is an act of giving away who we are. Yet who we are never diminishes. The light of God doesn’t lessen the more we shine. It actually gets stronger. If we have received something from God, we shine as we give it away. It’s the act of releasing internal realities and experiences that help to redefine the nature of the world we live in. Internal realities become external realities. That is the act of shining.

This is why we must discover this truth, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21, NKJV). I won’t write a check if
I don’t know that I have money in the bank. It is the discovery of the treasure that is in us through encountering the face of God that enables us to write checks that are consistent with His account, not ours. Peter said to the lame man, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee” (Acts 3:6, KJV, emphasis added). He then wrote a check that only God could back up. That is the way this kingdom works.

If we have received something from God, we shine as we give it away.

At one point Jesus invited all of humanity to come to Him and drink. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. . . . ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37–38). The picture drawn by Jesus is once again very extreme. If I take a drink of refreshing from Him, a river of refreshing flows from me! A drink becomes a river. There is an exponential increase in everything that God releases into our lives as we release it. It grows through use. The waters of refreshing that pour through us don’t diminish as we give it away. The opposite is true. Our heartfelt capacity to give increases in the giving. What is seemingly small on the outside becomes eternally significant once it’s on the inside—the kingdom within. Receiving grace from God defines the kind of grace we can distribute.

This river is actually the Holy Spirit Himself. He is in us as a river, not a lake. He’s not merely with us to comfort us and abide in us. He is in us to flow through us to transform the nature of the world around us. This is what Peter released to the lame man at the gate. He gave what he had. In his survey of his inheritance in Christ, he discovered a river that can never run dry. It flows from the temple of God, getting deeper as it flows,7 and works to change the course of world history—through you and me.

At some point we have to believe in the significance of God’s touch in our lives. Many stand in line for prayers of impartation, week after week, hoping to finally get something powerful. It’s noble to have such hunger to travel around the world in order to receive from great men and women of God. I do it and believe in it. But the frequency must not be tied to unbelief that God has not released what I’ve asked for in previous encounters. To keep us from being impartation junkies, He sometimes places His biggest impartation in something like a time-release capsule. It’s a strange picture, but it is true. There are times where God touches us so significantly that it’s effect has to be spread out over time, or it might distract us from His purposes. Our faith cannot depend merely on our felt experience. It must be on the promises of God.

Releasing the Kingdom

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. But when He spoke, the Word became Spirit. And that Spirit gave life.8 This passage reveals one of the ways that the Spirit of God is released into a situation: through declaration.

When we follow the example that Jesus gave us and say only what the Father is saying, our words also become Spirit. He is released into the environment as we speak. This concept is consistent with the whole of Scripture. “The kingdom of God is . . . in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). When the Holy Spirit is released into a situation, the King’s dominion is manifested. The Spirit always works to demonstrate liberty and freedom,9 which are signs that the King is present.

There is also a release of the Spirit through acts of faith. Faith so impressed Jesus that it caused Him to announce that certain stories of faith would be told throughout eternity, wherever His story is told. Realizing that faith brought about extraordinary miracles, and the miracles happened because of the Holy Spirit’s work, it’s not hard to see how the Holy Spirit is released through acts of faith. An act of faith is an action that is an evidence of the faith a person has. I have witnessed people who did not receive healing until they attempted to do what was impossible for them to do. The miracle was then released in the act.

Sometimes the Spirit of God is released through touch—more specifically, the laying on of hands.10 The power of God dwells within a person.11 Laying our hands on someone who is sick releases the power of God to destroy the affliction. When it’s a proper place to touch, I like to lay my hand on the location of the disease or injury. I have felt tumors disappear under my hands. One woman had a tumor in her abdomen that was so large it was as if she was six months pregnant. I laid my hands on her abdomen and the tumor disappeared.

We give away what we have, and as we do, the world around us conforms. It is a superior kingdom.

Perhaps the most unusual way to release the Spirit of God is through a prophetic act. This is where an action is taken in the natural that has nothing to do with the needed miracle. The prophet threw a stick in the water because a borrowed axe head fell into the bottom of the river. The axe head floated to the surface and was recovered.12 There isn’t a natural law that says that sticks in the water make iron float. Yet when it is an act that is directed by God, it will always release the Spirit of God to accomplish His purposes.

This particular manifestation is especially important for those who only like to do what they understand. God loves to address this weakness in us.

Giving What You Have

Jesus slept in a boat during a life-threatening storm. Some said it was because He was exhausted. I don’t think so. The world He was dwelling in has no storms. Paul would later find language for Jesus’s example saying that we live in “heavenly places in Christ.”13 Jesus lived from heaven toward Earth. That is the nature of faith. When it came time to stop the storm, He did so by releasing peace. He had it to give. Because His peace was authentic and was truly dwelling in Him, He could release it over the storm. And the storm was no match. Like Jesus, we have authority over any storm we can sleep in.

Every time you bring encouragement to someone, you release divine favor.

Through declaration His internal reality became His external reality. The peace that was ruling in Him soon became that which was released to rule around Him. That is the nature of the Christian life. We give away what we have, and as we do, the world around us conforms. It is a superior kingdom.

The Glory of God Becomes Manifest

The wonderful part of shining for God is that He backs it up. He literally shines through us when our glory is used for His, and our efforts are surrendered to His purposes. This is the role of co-laboring with Christ.

Let’s look at an extended selection from Isaiah. Notice that God’s glory is released as His crowning mark upon a people who shine as He assigned for them to do:

Arise, shine; for your light has come,

And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness will cover the earth

And deep darkness the peoples;

But the LORD will rise upon you

And His glory will appear upon you.

Nations will come to your light,

And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Lift up your eyes round about and see;

They all gather together, they come to you.

Your sons will come from afar,

And your daughters will be carried in the arms.

Then you will see and be radiant,

And your heart will thrill and rejoice;

Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you,

The wealth of the nations will come to you.

—Isaiah 60:1–5

Through this prophetic promise God provides specific instruction about our approach to life and what kind of results He is looking for through that approach. We are to live intentionally, knowing the kind of impact we are to have even before we see it for ourselves. The ramifications of this prophetic word go far beyond most of our hopes, dreams, and visions. Isaiah declared entire nations and their leaders would be transformed. We’d then see the wealth of the nations released to the church for kingdom purposes. But all the fruit and breakthrough provided in these promises are connected to one thing—the manifest presence of God upon His people. It’s the manifestation of His glory.

Herein lies the challenge—we are commanded to arise and shine in the midst of deep, depressing darkness that covers those around us. God responds to our obedience by releasing His glory. Our shining attracts His glory! And it’s His glory released that brings about the greatest transformation in lives, cities, and nations.

We once had a spontaneous prophetic song (a song of the Lord) in which the Lord said, “Did I not fill the tabernacle of Moses with My glory? Did I not fill the temple of Solomon with My glory? How much more will I fill the place that I build with My own hands? My beloved, I am building you!”

The hands of man built every house of God in the Bible. God always helped by giving the instructions on how it was to be constructed. But God Himself is actually building the church as His eternal dwelling place. If He filled the houses He didn’t build with His glory, how much more will He fill the one He is building? It’s not right to put that event off into the future after Jesus returns. It has to be now. Some words have power for any generation that will take responsibility for them. How do we know this is for now? Because in the Scripture it occurs when deep darkness is on people. It describes a time like now. Furthermore, the release of His glory is promised to the group of people who have the capacity to arise and shine with divine purpose. This can only happen to the people to whom the light of God has come. We are that people, and Jesus Christ, our light, has come.

If you’ve spent time in the Old Testament, you’re probably familiar with how dramatically God displayed His presence in the houses built for Him by men. Studying these events should help put God’s promise to fill His church into an even better context for you. We must remember that inferior covenants cannot provide superior blessings. For example, because it is in Scripture, we often take for granted the things that were released to Israel in the wilderness on their way to the land of promises, not only the miracles of provision and victories in battle but also the abiding presence of God in the cloud and the fire. They weren’t born again, they were living in rebellion, and yet God was seen among them. That all happened under an inferior covenant. We need to look at these things and ask, “If He did that for them, how much more will He do for us?”

Looking in a Mirror

The glory of God ought to be seen upon His people. It makes little difference to me whether it is a physical manifestation that is seen by the natural eye or it is something that people perceive through the eyes of their hearts.

There is an unusual lesson found in the third chapter of 2 Corinthians. The apostle Paul is discussing Moses’s experience with the glory of God and how Israel insisted that he put a veil over his face because the glory frightened them. Paul then says, “The veil is taken away in Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:14, NKJV). That means that whatever was hidden under the veil is now available for all to see. The fear element that Israel struggled with has been removed because the Spirit of Christ has come to make us free.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

—2 Corinthians 3:17–18, NKJV

The freedom that the Holy Spirit brings releases us to behold the glory! And strangely, that glory is seen as though we were looking in a mirror. In other words, that is what we look like. That is what the Holy Spirit’s job has been—to make us glorious. “That He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27). Jesus is returning for a bride whose body is in equal proportion to her head. The command to arise and shine is the process through which we are able to step into the reality of who God says we already are.

Rediscovering Our Message

I can threaten people with hell and have a measure of breakthrough in getting converts. Hell is real and must not be ignored. But that is not plan A. It is plan B. Plan A is, “The kindness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). This truth must affect our attitude. When this concept affects our approach to humanity we are much more likely use our favor to serve them effectively, which better represents life in the kingdom.14

We are entering a period of time where we will see more and more people coming to Christ because of His face shining upon the people of God. Sometimes it will be His raw power that manifests through us, and other times it will be His selfless love with works of kindness. But His face will be seen, as it must.

The face of God will be encountered over and over again. It is shining on the church right now. It is time to see and be enlarged, for it changes our capacity to represent Him in this world as it changes the nature of who we are. We tend to manifest His likeness in equal measure to how deep our encounters have been.

A fear of God is about to come upon the church. We’ve experienced it at times because of trial and discipline. But there is something that is about to overtake the people of God that comes from a revelation of His kindness. This kind of blessing does not promote arrogance. On the contrary: there’s such an overwhelming sense of His goodness that we are undone. We will become a trembling group of people because we consciously live so far beyond what we deserve. This is not to imply that problems and conflict will be gone. It just means that for the first time in history those problems will consistently yield to a church with authority. It is the contrast that is spoken of in Isaiah 60—darkness covers the earth, but His glory is upon His people. That realization will provoke us to fear God in a new way that ultimately stirs up the nations around us to come to Christ. We become the “city set on a hill” (Matthew 5:14). There is a realm of the blessing in God that has not yet been experienced. And it is the Lord’s intent to release this upon His people before the end comes. This blessing enables us to function more like brokers of His world rather than beggars for His invasion.

Psalm 67 captures this prophetic picture of God’s heart for His people as the method He would like to use to reach the nations. We can be groomed by His Spirit through divine encounters to be qualified to carry such a responsibility. The face of His favor is available for those who are desperate. He longs for us to be able to carry His likeness into any setting. His blessing upon us will bring the fear of God back to the nations. Let’s become candidates for this mandate by embracing the quest for face-to-face encounters with God. The time is now.

God be merciful to us and bless us,

And cause His face to shine upon us.

That Your way may be known on earth,

Your salvation among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!

For You shall judge the people righteously,

And govern the nations on earth.

Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

Then the earth shall yield her increase;

God, our own God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us,

And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

—Psalm 67:1–7, NKJV