Greater Glory!

This past Sunday we looked at the story of Moses in Exodus 33 and 34 where he had an encounter with God on top of Mount Sinai. It is an incredible story as he experienced the very presence of God.

29 ... when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai … he did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29-30)

Moses, after having spoken with God, physically reflected the glory of God. So much so, that the people were afraid to look on him. Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church, gives us further insight into these verses in Exodus ...

7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 
9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 
10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 
(2 Corinthians 3:7–10 NASB95)

The glory that Moses had pales compared to the glory that we have as sons and daughters of God. The glory of God that rests on us is greater than the glory that rested on Moses.

If you look at the life of Jesus as described in the Gospels, He worked many incredible miracles over His 3 1/2 years of public ministry. So much so, that John had this to say about all that Jesus did ...

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25).

During His public ministry, Jesus modeled for us what it means to live a Kingdom lifestyle. The way He lived set a precedent for what the normal Christian life should look like. This being true, consider what Jesus said concerning us ...

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father (John 14:12).

When we look at these verses do we understand the significance that God places on each of our lives? I like what Bill Johnson once said, "Too often we put off for eternity what God is calling us to walk in today." You and I, as believers in Christ, carry the very glory of God. We will not only do the works that He did, but we will also do greater works. Since the creation of man in Genesis 1 when men were created in the image of God, we are called to bear His image and release His glory into the earth.

God is calling us up into a place where we see life from His perspective and understand that we are co-laborers with Him to bring about His will on earth. We are vessels through which God can release His grace into the earth today. God has called us, not to a principle, but to a lifestyle: we are people made in His image, we represent an aspect of His nature that the world needs, and each of us carries a unique aspect of who God is.

As you carry the glory of God, release His resurrected life into the world around you and be a blessing to everyone that you come in contact with. You are incredible! After all, you bear the image of God for the world to see.