“What does it mean to be glorified?”
(Reese Howells question concerning Romans 8:30 in the book Reese Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb, p.38)
“…as a Person, before He comes to live in a man, He must be given full possession of his body… In fact, the Church knows more about the Savior, who was only on the earth thirty-three years, than about the Holy Ghost who has been here two thousand years… I had never seen that He must live in bodies, as the Savior lived in His on earth…
“…He said to me, ‘As the Savior had a body, so I dwell in the cleansed temple of the believer. I am God, and I am come to ask you to give your body to Me that I may work through it. I need a body for My temple (1 Cor. 6:19), but it must belong to Me without reserve, for two persons with different wills can never live in the same body. Will you give Me yours? (Romans 12:1) But if I come in, I come as God, and you must go out (Col. 3:2-3). I shall not mix Myself with your self.’
“He made it very plain that He would never share my life… It meant every bit of my fallen nature was to go to the cross, and he would bring in His own life and His own nature. It was unconditional surrender… I knew I had to be cleansed; I saw there was as much difference between the Holy Ghost and myself as between light and darkness…
“He was not going to take any superficial surrender… it was a breaking, and the Holy Ghost taking control. Day by day the dealing went on. He was coming in as God, and I had lived as a man, and ‘what is permissible to an ordinary man,’ He told me, ‘will not be permissible to you.’
“He took plenty of time to show me exactly what it would mean: the life He would live would be for the world. Was I willing for that?... He knew exactly what he was offered: the choice between temporal and eternal gain. The spirit summed the issue up for him: ‘On no account will I allow you to cherish a single thought of self, and the life I will live in you will be one hundred percent for others. You will never be able to save yourself, anymore than the Savior could when he was on earth. Now are you willing?...
“Then the Spirit spoke again. ‘If you can’t be willing, would you like Me to help you? Are you willing to be made willing?... It is God who goes so far as to give us repentance. It was God who helped me to give up my will. There were some things He had asked for during the week that I was able to give, because I was the master of them; but when He asked me to give up my self and my will, I found I could not, until He pulled me through.” (p.38-45)
Romans 8:28-30- The process; predestined, called, justified, glorified.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
30 and whom He predestined [4309], these He also called [2564]; and whom He called, these He also justified [1344]; and whom He justified, these He also glorified [1392].
(NAS)
4309 proorizo (pro-or-id'-zo)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
from 4253 and 3724; to limit in advance, i.e. (figuratively) predetermine:
KJV-- determine before, ordain, predestinate.
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) to predetermine, to decide beforehand
2) in the New Testament, used of God decreeing from eternity
3) to foreordain, to appoint beforehand
2564 kaleo (kal-eh'-o)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
akin to the base of 2753; to "call" (properly, aloud, but used in a variety of applications, dir. or otherwise):
KJV-- bid, call (forth), (whose, whose sur-) name (was [called]).
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) to call
a) to call aloud, to utter in a loud voice
b) to invite
2) to call, that is, to name, by name
a) to give a name to
1) to receive the name of, to receive as a name
2) to give some name to one, to call his name
b) to be called, that is, to bear a name or title (among men)
c) to salute one by name
1344 dikaioo (dik-ah-yo'-o)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
from 1342; to render (i.e. show or regard as) just or innocent:
KJV-- free, justify (-ier), be righteous.
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) to render righteous or such he ought to be
2) to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered
3) to declare, to pronounce one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be
1392 doxazo (dox-ad'-zo)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
from 1391; to render (or esteem) glorious (in a wide application):
KJV-- (make) glorify (-ious), full of (have) glory, honour, magnify.
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) to think, to suppose, to be of opinion
2) to praise, to extol, to magnify, to celebrate
3) to honor, to do honor to, to hold in honor
4) to make glorious, to adorn with lustre, to clothe with splendor
a) to impart glory to something, to render it excellent
b) to make renowned, to render illustrious, to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become manifest and acknowledged
John 7:37-39- On the “last day”, the fulfillment of the great day of the feast of Tabernacles, the Spirit will be given in GREAT measure when Jesus is finally glorified in His saints, “on that day” (2 Thess. 1:10).
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast [see the Bible study The Feast of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. [See John 4:1-15; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Rev. 21:6, 22:1-2, 17- This also includes the river of life.]
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"
39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
(NAS)
John 2:23-25- In this passage, Jesus would not fully entrust, or commit Himself to some who had believed in His name. We would say they were Christians today because of their belief in Him. There was something within them, though, that was not yet fully committed to Him. By the way, the word “believed” in verse 23 is the same Greek word interpreted “entrusting” in verse 24. Even though they were “believing”, or “had faith in” Jesus, the Bible says that He, on His part, was not yet “believing”, or “had faith in” them. They “committed” themselves to Him, but Jesus would not “commit” Himself to them. He could not fully place His confidence in them at that point because of the condition of their hearts. I have never heard anyone preach on this.
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed [4100] in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing.
24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting [4100] Himself to them, for He knew all men,
25 and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man.
(NAS)
4100 pisteuo (pist-yoo'-o)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
from 4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ):
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, to place confidence in
a) used of the thing believed, to credit, to have confidence
b) in a moral or religious reference
1) used in the New Testament of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul
2) to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith
3) mere acknowledgment of some fact or event: intellectual faith
2) to entrust a thing to one, that is, his fidelity; to be entrusted with a thing
Romans 1:20-25- This passage speaks of those who “knew God.” The Greek word for knew is ginosko. It means “to come to know, to get a knowledge by perception, to become known, to understand.” It is also a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman (compare Gen. 4:1). These are those who have been given revelation knowledge by the Spirit of God, not “unbelievers”. They did not glorify God in their lives, but instead glorified self because they suppressed (“to hinder the course or progress of”) the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). They were given over to their sin by God. Like those in 2 Thessalonians 2, they rejected the truth for a lie to their own self-destruction.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
(NKJ)
How was Jesus glorified? Through death!
1 Peter 1:10-11- Sufferings are first, than glory.
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry,
11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
(NAS)
1 Peter 4:12-14- Joining Christ in His sufferings is the only way to glory.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.
14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
(NAS)
14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
(NKJ)
Hebrews 2:7-13- God is bringing many “sons” to glory.
7 "Thou hast made him for a little while lower than the angels; Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast appointed him over the works of Thy hands;
8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
9 But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 saying, "I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."
13 And again, "I will put My trust in Him." And again, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."
(NAS)
Romans 8:16-18- Jesus is our example. There will be no glory if there is no suffering. This passage contains what I like to call “a big if” in verse 17. The receiving of the inheritance is based upon following Christ and joining Him at His cross.
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to [“in”] us.
(NAS)
Hebrews 13:12-13
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
(NAS)
“Before He comes to live in a man, He must be given full possession of his body…”
(Reese Howells)
(See the Bible study Consecration)
“…it was on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1873, that I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash of electric light, and what you see, you can never unsee. There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness. God admits you by the one into the other… You know how I have been withheld from attending all conventions and conferences; man’s teaching has, consequently, had little to do with it… it was made clear to me that He who had thus cleansed me had power to keep me clean. So I just utterly yielded myself to Him, and utterly trusted Him to keep me.”
(Deeper Experiences Of Famous Christians by James G. Lawson, p.211)
“Before there can be fullness there must be emptiness. Before God can fill us with Himself we must first be emptied of ourselves. It is this emptying that brings the painful disappointment and despair of self of which so many persons have complained just prior to their new and radiant experience. There must come a total of self-disvaluation, a death to all things without us and within us, or there can never be real filling with the Holy Spirit.”
(Keys to the Deeper Life by A. W. Tozer, p.49-50)
Hebrews 10:4-5- The preparing of our individual and corporate Body of Christ.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for me;
(NAS)
Sanctification
“Up to that time I had always had fear of the searchings of the Holy Spirit. I was afraid of the new places of abiding because I could never refuse them, and while there is the least fear there is not perfect liberty. People may think they have no fear when really they have never been tested. I thought I would have no fear of going against the world and its opinions and that it was the easiest thing to be dead to it- but it was the greatest error I ever believed. I had to be pulled through inch by inch; it was the process of sanctification, when the self-nature and all its lusts had to be exchanged for the divine nature (Romans 6:6, 2 Peter 1:4). Daily I decreased and He increased.”
(Reese Howells, Intercessor, p.138))
Romans 6:4-7- Through the glory of the Father, we can walk in “newness of life.” This happens after the Holy Spirit leads us into a death of self.
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
(NAS)
“The Holy Ghost took me through grade after grade. The process of changing one’s natures (replacing the self nature with the divine nature) was very slow and bitter. It was a daily dying and showing forth the life of Christ, but that life was the life of a victim. Christ was the greatest victim on one side of the cross but the greatest Victor on the other. The daily path was the way of the cross; every selfish motive and every selfish thought was at once dealt with by the Holy Spirit. In my boyhood days the strictest man I knew was my schoolmaster, but how often I said that the Holy Ghost was a thousand times more strict. The schoolmaster could only judge by actions, but the Holy Ghost was judging by the motive.”
(Reese Howells, Intercessor, p.112)
“In the light of His purity, it was not so much sin we saw as self. We saw pride and self-motives underlying everything we had ever done. Lust and self-pity were discovered in places where we had never suspected them. And we had to confess we knew nothing of the Holy Ghost as an indwelling Person. That our bodies were meant to be the temples of the Holy Ghost we knew, but when He pressed the question, ‘Who is living in your body?’ we could not say that He was. We would have done so once, but now we had seen Him.
In His nature He was just like Jesus. He would never live for self, but always for others. We were people who had left all to follow the Savior, and had forsaken all we had of this world’s goods to enter a life of faith, and as far as we knew we had surrendered our lives entirely to the One who died for us. But He showed us, ‘There is all the difference in the world between your surrendered life in My hands, and Me living My life in your body… He made it clear that He was not asking for service, but for a sacrifice. ‘Our God is a consuming fire’; and if God the Holy Ghost took possession of these bodies, then His life was going to consume all that there was of ours…. How much there was in us that still wanted to live our own lives, that shrank from this ‘sentence of death’…
Why had He manifested Himself to us in this way? He made that quite clear. It was because there was a work to be done in the world today that only He could do (John 16:8)… We had thought that there was some virtue in our surrender; that we with thousands of others, would be the people to evangelize the world in this generation. But now He had come and we were out of it, except in so far as our bodies would become the temples in which He would dwell and through which He would work. He said, ‘I have not come to give you joy, peace, or victory. I have not come to give you any blessing at all. You will find all that you need in Jesus. But I have come to put you to the cross, so that I may live in your body for the sake of a lost world’ (Col. 3:3; 2 Cor. 4:10; Gal. 2:20)…
There are times in God’s dealings with His servants when he sets apart for Himself not just individuals but companies, baptized as it were, by one Spirit into one body for one God-appointed purpose, and this was now one of them.”
(Reese Howells, Intercessor, p.258-262)
Romans 6:19-22
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification [38].
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
(NAS)
38 hagiasmos (hag-ee-as-mos')
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
from 37 [see below]; properly, purification, i.e. (the state) purity; concretely (by Hebraism) a purifier:
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) consecration, purification
2) the effect of consecration: sanctification of heart and life
37 hagiazo (hag-ee-ad'-zo)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
from 40; to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
1) to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or to hallow
2) to separate from profane things and to dedicate to God
a) to consecrate things to God
b) to dedicate people to God
3) to purify
a) to cleanse externally
b) to purify by expiation: to free from the guilt of sin
c) to purify internally by a renewing of the soul
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8- Sanctification is God’s will.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality [4202];
4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.
7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification [NIV- “but to live a holy life”].
8 Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
(NAS)
4202 porneia (por-ni'-ah)
from 4203 [see below]; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively, idolatry:
1) illicit sexual intercourse
a) adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, etc.
b) sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
c) sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11,12
2) metaphorically, the worship of idols; used of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols
4203 porneuo (porn-yoo'-o)
from 4204; to act the harlot, i.e. (literally) indulge unlawful lust (of either sex), or (figuratively) practice idolatry:
1) to prostitute one's body to the lust of another
2) to give oneself to unlawful sexual intercourse; to commit fornication
3) metaphorically, to be given to idolatry, to worship idols; to permit oneself to be drawn away by another into idolatry
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14- Sanctification and the gaining of the glory of God.
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
14 And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(NAS)
1 Peter 1:1-2- Sanctification, a work of the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ [see Ezekiel 36:27 below] and be sprinkled with His blood: may grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.
(NAS)
Ezekiel 36:25-27- The Holy Spirit moves us to obedience.
25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk [“cause you to follow”] in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
(NAS)
Hebrews 12:14- Without being sanctified we will not be able to see the Lord.
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification [“holiness”] without which no one will see the Lord.
(NAS)
2 Corinthians 6:17-17:1- The conditional promise of the Lord to His children
17 "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.
18 "And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me," says the Lord Almighty.
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
(NAS)
Hebrews 10:9-10- In the breaking of our wills, we are sanctified through Christ, establishing the covenant within us.
9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Thy will." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(NAS)
Ephesians 5:25-27- The sanctifying (preparing) of the Bride can only occur as we preach the truths of God's word. As those who have been given authority by the Lord “for such a time as this” follow the Lord's example and give themselves up for the church, they will in turn be purified by the word that comes forth. They will then be presented back to the Lord, just as Eve was to Adam in Genesis 2, as the pure bride of Christ!
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her;
26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 that He might present to Himself [as He did Eve to the first Adam!] the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing [see the Bible study The Church Without Stain Or Wrinkle]; but that she should be holy and blameless.
(NAS)
John 17:17-19- Sanctified by the truth. Our sanctification, my obedience, affects others around me. As I submit to His Lordship in my life, I will become a vessel of honor (John 2:6-7) that the Lord can pour out His life (see John 6:53-”..you have no life in yourselves.”) into for my sake and the sake of others.
17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. [See the Bible study The Gospel Word Of Truth.]
18 "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
(NAS)
Romans 15:15-16- The priestly duty of proclaiming the word in order to sanctify others. (See the Bible study The Priestly Duty.)
15 But I have written very boldly to you on some points, so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God,
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
(NAS)
1 Corinthians 6:11
11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
(NAS)
1 Timothy 4:4-6
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude;
5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.
(NAS)
2 Timothy 2:21
21 Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things [see the previous verses for “these things”], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
(NAS)
Comentarios