Glory of God

The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Quite obviously, as you follow Psalm 19, there shines through this little thought then, that you and I can look upward, we can look at the splendor and the majesty of God's creation, to all the stars and all their wonder and all their brilliance.

The heavens declare the glory of God. It's the Apostle Paul when writing to Titus, you remember Titus 2 and 11, the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared. What's he speaking of? The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared.

I suggest to you that in Psalm 19, it's creation that declares the glory of God, whereas Titus 2 and 11, it's Christ who shows the grace of God. What have we read? To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be made known by the church, the manifold wisdom. Just quickly, when we think of these three and this thought in particular, nothing has caused man to wonder so much as a glimpse up there of the glory of God.

If you and I just stop to think, David in Psalm 8, when I consider thy heavens, it's a remarkable thing, just an absolutely remarkable thing. He made the stars also, Genesis 1, just part of a verse. And what is it we're talking about? Down through the years, I won't bother with numbers, but down through the years, individuals have looked up and they've tried to count and they've had it all figured out.

And yet as time goes on and as equipment becomes more sophisticated, now what do we know? That there's no end to the universe as we know it. It just goes on and on and on. It's not just a few hundred stars.

It's not just a few thousand stars. There's something like a hundred billion stars in our galaxy, and that's only one of a hundred billion galaxies, and there's no end to it. There simply is no end to it as far as man can see.

And then the wonder of it all, I understand the galaxies come in different types. There are cluster galaxies, there are spiral galaxies, and some of you know that spiral galaxies up there would remind us of what's seen in the telescope is the same as what's seen in the microscope, spiral nature even of the DNA. The fingerprint of God is all the way through.

We can only look heavenward and wonder. The heavens declare the glory of God. That's creation's work.

The grace of God that bring us salvation to all man hath appeared. That grace is not seen in the stars and not seen in the constellation, not seen in the galaxies. Grace is not seen in creation.

Grace is seen in Christ, and I doubt if any of us can possibly or would ever possibly understand what it really means that the eternal Son of God should have stepped into manhood and come down. It's beyond us, brothers and sisters, beyond us to fathom it. But the grace of God that bring us salvation hath appeared.

The wonder and mystery of it all is that the walk here upon this earth, God manifest in flesh, the grace of God to human beings, he hath appeared, but here we read this to the intent that now, now, unto the principalities and powers, we look that way to see the glory of God. We look backward to a life lived here upon earth, a life that led to Calvary to see the grace of God. But what's the viewpoint of Ephesians 3 and 10? That principalities and powers, you appreciate that term as we look at it in our Bible.

It is inclusive, it is sometimes used rather of the angelic order in the good sense. Sometimes used, as we'll see, in the bad sense, but however it is used, it is used not of human beings, but of realms of angelic beings, spirit beings, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers might be made known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Will we keep it in mind in light of the afternoon reading that this great wonderful creation of God called the church, this great marvelous thing that is called the mystery, where God brings Jew and Gentile together, but more so than that, might I say to you when God brings together in one body and elevates it to such a position.

And it's made up of what? Not all the greatness of galaxies and stars and wonder of that. It's made up of individuals like you and me. It's a display of the manifold wisdom of God.

May I remind you, may I remind you that Satan, the anointed cherub, his aim at the very beginning when we go back to Isaiah 14, I will be as the most high, the self-exalting one. The self-exalting one is the one who is cast down. Since then, will we keep it in mind, Satan, who wanted what rightfully belonged to God, has become the enemy of God and ever against God.

In contrast to Satan, will we remember this, that the Son of God, the eternal Son, the Lord Jesus, leaves that place that's rightfully his, and in contrast to Satan, he comes down even to the death of the cross. And you can go through your Bible and you'll appreciate this, that Satan who is against God is a Satan who is against Christ. But what has God done? What has God done? Satan steps into the garden where God has put a man and a woman, and you know the rest of that story.

But God steps in in grace, and God steps in through Christ, and the pawns that Satan used, the nothings and the nobodies, if you like, the insignificant creatures of earth, God takes these. But more so than that, disobedient children of Adam's race, sinners by our very nature, God comes in, God brings salvation. But now what does God do? God takes this company as one great body called the body of Christ, the bride of Christ.

As we come to our epistle that we've been looking at, this company now is elevated with Christ, taken from where to where, taken from here to there, lifted up. You'll remember that was Satan's objective, to be lifted up, to be exalted. But he's cast out.

But God in the manifold wisdom of God incorporates those undeserving sinners into that which is the very body of Christ, and Christ is the head. But I suggest to you that verse 10 is telling us this, that the church now becomes a great object lesson to the spirit realm. There isn't time to go into this aspect of it today, and you'll appreciate as I do that it's seen here in the universal or the body sense.

But nevertheless, the point would be this. This that God has done and this that God is doing is being watched. And Christians, I just quickly remind you, we are being watched.

I take it now to the local aspect. We are being watched. We're being watched by an unseen world.

We're being watched by an unseen realm. I would just quickly suggest to you that's why in 1 Corinthians 5, where you have so many lovely principles coming in, please remember the angels are introduced. It takes us back to the garden.

It takes us back to creation. You go to 1 Timothy 2, where again we have something of assembly order and the silence of the sisters. You remember creation is brought into the picture.

You remember angelic beings now are being brought into the picture because they were there to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. I would just as a side point suggest this. It's vital, it's vital that what we do, how we behave, I'm thinking the practice of the local assembly, all of this be in absolute conformity to principles that are given in the word of God.

We've no right to do what we think. We've no right to change what God has given. We are being watched.

We are the great object lesson that God has given to a spirit realm to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. What have we done this morning? What have we done? We've gathered here conscious, conscious of this. None of us deserve to be here.

None of us deserve God's salvation. What are we, poor sinners linked to a man who failed and failure in ourselves, undeserving and yet it should touch the heart of every one of us. God loves us.

Christ died for us. We're linked to the man in the glory. We're one day going to be forever with the man in the glory.

God's going to take us up. God's purposes are certain but we are being watched to the intent that now may the Lord help us then to be faithful to his word, true to his will, obedient to his command. May we go on to live to please God until the shout is given.

May God bless us.