I Kept Looking…

I Kept Looking

Until I saw His Glory….

I love how Daniel tells us in Daniel chapter 7, how he kept looking as he saw the kings and kingdoms of this earth rising and falling until, “Thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat!…Thousands upon thousands were attending Him…the court sat, and the books were opened.”

And he kept looking, “And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed!” Daniel 7:13-14

Daniel kept looking until he saw His glory!

Like Daniel, I kept looking as I watched Jesus endure and fulfill His sufferings, until I saw the glories that followed! 1 Peter 1:11

I watched as He ascended in the clouds, and I saw His triumphant entry into the court of His Father with the keys of death and hell in His hand! I kept looking as He was presented before the Ancient of Days and was given dominion, glory, and an everlasting kingdom.

Jesus prayed to His Father in John 17, “Father, I desire (it is My will), that those you have given Me may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Wow! It is the desire of our Lord Jesus that we are living where He is, He longs for us to be with Him! And that we would see His glory. Where is He? He is now seated at the right hand of His Father on His throne. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Father has exalted Him to the most-high place and given to Him rule and reign over all the kingdoms in heaven and on earth forever more! He wears the Victor’s crown, and His word is final. All authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth. All will bow down and worship Him. He will judge in righteousness the living and the dead. It is the Lord Jesus’ desire for us to see Him in this place of glory. That the Father did not leave Him in the grave but caused Him to have victory over it! He passed over and did not see death, making a way for us. Because He has gone before us, we no longer have to fear death. But with the same power that raised Him up we will be raised up on that day, and we will receive bodies that will not die, but will live forever more with Him in glory.

But He wanted us to see Him now in His glory. Why? So that we would see that He received His reward. He wanted us to see His glory, in order that we would walk in the full assurance of faith! He doesn’t want us to live in fear, but to be strong and courageous!

He left His throne and laid down His crown to come to earth and become a servant to His Heavenly Father. He obeyed Him even unto death – to the death of the cross. He desired to please His Father above all else. With all the earthly pleasures around Him, He kept His eyes, His heart, and His mind on His Father, and on what He was sent to do. Jesus knew that His Father had entrusted Him with the salvation of all men. The Father had given Him the task of manifesting His Name and revealing to us His heart. Jesus was anointed to preach the kingdom and the word of God to us just as His Father had commanded Him. He did nothing on His own initiative.

And now He has asked us to do the same, to take up our cross and follow Him. He has entrusted us with the message of the Gospel, and to make known His Father’s love. He has asked us to lay down our lives, to wholly submit to His Lordship, to hear our Father’s voice, and to speak His words of Life and Peace. We are to be burning lamps testifying and bearing witness to a kingdom that cannot be seen. Through us we are to shine the glory of the Son.

How can we do this? Only if we are dwelling where He is now. The Lord has made a way for us to live in His glory now. Jesus has given us access into the court of our God and King. He has taken us from the earthly realm and seated us in heavenly places with Him. We have left this temporal realm and now are living in the eternal. Our hearts and minds and affections are to be on heavenly things, on the eternal things. We are to enter into His presence daily, keeping our appointed times with Him. Being filled with His Word and His Spirit. Letting the Lord speak to us. Sitting at His feet as He teaches us. Being still and listening. Allowing Him to transform us by it, that we would be ever changing into the image of His Son. It is not by our religious good deeds, but by the power of God working in us, through the Holy Spirit.

All that this has cost me has been nothing to me to gain Christ. I want to be full of the glory of God. I want to be full of His power, His grace, His mercy and His truth. I want to please Him with my life in all things. I want to know His Word, and I want to let it have its full work in me. So that it isn’t just head knowledge, but that I become it!!! I want to be a living example, Paul said we are to be living epistles. That means that the word we read, the letters that have been written in the Bible, we are living them out!! We speak them with our lives. Everything we do will be a living testimony, a witness to the truth, of the Word of God. We are the evidence on the earth of His victories! Jesus is the King and Savior of the world, and He rules and reigns over the nations. Our lives will let men see Him. That is why we need to see Him in His glory, that is why we need to make our dwelling place where He is.

I pray you would dwell in the Holy of Holies, daily abiding in His Word and in His presence. And may He make you a true witness of the glory of Jesus.

I kept looking like Daniel and I saw His glory, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come! For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” Revelation 12:10-11