This Sunday we will be gathering for a special candlelight service at 10 a.m.; where we will be singing some traditional Christmas Carols, lighting the final advent candles and hearing some thoughts about the glory of the Messiah. The apostle John in speaking of Jesus says: ”we beheld His Glory”… what is the glory of God? Well, that which is majestic and beautiful; it can't be trivial or mundane, it must be awesome in every meaning of the word.
We all have our opinion on that which is glorious; and interesting enough the word in the Greek means “opinion”, someone's value of worth. God has His standard of Glory; that which is majestic, holy and praiseworthy. As I consider the glory of God, there are different levels of being involved in God's glory 1) to be an eyewitness to God's glory 2) to participate in the glory of God 3) to experience the glory of God.
1. Eyewitness to the glory of the Messiah
The Bible says that the first eyewitnesses were humble shepherds who were in the field near Bethlehem. These shepherds had probably seen some beautiful starlit nights, but on that night when a whole host of angels appeared to them- now that was something to behold; that was glorious.
The first level of experiencing Glory is to be an eyewitness/ spectator; to understand that God is near. It's great to be an eyewitness to the glory of God but there is another level where we enter into the glory.
2. Entering Into the glory of Messiah - being a participant
The shepherds were challenged to go to the next level of glory, to be a participant in the glorious birth. They were challenged to look for the sign, a Baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a feeding trough. And as they saw the Christ Child, as He lay in that bed of straw – they looked through the eyes of faith; and saw the Son of God and were amazed at His glory, that the Son of God would come to earth.
3. Experiencing the Glory of the Messiah
Now we move to the last part; and that is to experience the glory of God for ourselves. The shepherds believed so firmly in the glory they had seen, they told everyone they saw of the glorious birth of the Son of God. And the Bible says that ”All” who heard marvelled- the shepherds were eyewitnesses of the glory of Jesus, they entered into His glory by seeing the Christ Child and they experienced all of His glory by sharing His great glory with others.
God is calling us into His glory….. He is calling us through His Son to enter into His eternal glory through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. How can we get there? As the old Christmas carol says “Where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in”… God is calling you to be an eyewitness of His glorious Son, to enter in by faith and to experience the glory of the Christ Child.
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “Glorious Messiah.”
Blessings,
Kevin
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