His Riches In Glory

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus

Many are missing good things. It may seem that they are choosing this way. But, really, no one wishes to miss a good thing. So why do so many miss out on the good things? Ignorance.

Think of the regrets because of missed opportunities that knocked at the door only once. You have heard stories of folks who missed untold treasures. One fortune was in the old family Bible. The heir had not bothered to open it. Lots of people are poor today because they fail to open the Bible.

A closed Bible is either because of ignorance or plain neglect. We are talking about those who profess to be Christians, but thru ignorance, they are choosing lesser blessings instead of greater ones. A baby will choose the shiny penny rather than the dull $100 bill.

Think of the millions of Christians who are poor spiritually. They are so by choice. It is an ignorant choice.

For example, let us consider Colossians 3:4, 'When Christ, our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.' Have you considered that verse? Does it apply to you or to somebody else? Have you ever really studied that verse? Have you claimed it for your Hope, or are you following the crowd right down the wrong road?

Is this appearing here on the earth, in the clouds, or in glory? We do sense the fact that someday the Lord will appear. The word 'appear' is not used in connection with the hope of Israel. It is used only for The Church.

The Lord does not yet reign on earth. He has no throne here but shares His Father's throne at the present time. Some day soon, He will reign over all the earth. He will have many crowns in that reign (Revelation 19:12). He will wear the crown of every nation on the earth, hence many crowns, for He is The King of kings and Lord of lords, and that will be His Title.

But where did He get all the crowns? Where is the Coronation ceremony? Not here on earth, for He comes from Heaven with the crowns already on His head. Where is the Coronation?

Before coming to the earth, He will rise up from His Father's Throne, and since our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), then we must conclude that He is hidden in the Heavenlies. He is also waiting for the Manifestation there.

The Church has not been invited to the marriage of the Lamb, but it has been invited to the Coronation of the Lord. The marriage of the Lamb will be here on the earth. The bride is Israel, an earth people. The Coronation is in the Heavenly Places, far above all. Christ is the Head of His Church. They are invited to His Manifestation of His powers in The Heavenlies, not to the peoples on the earth.

Then 'shall ye also appear with Him in glory.' What a wonderful time that will be, but will you be there?

Many of us were a child of God for many years before we knew that we could have the adoption as sons and have citizenship in the heavenlies. We were content to remain, children since we knew nothing else. Ignorance may be bliss at times, but God then pointed us as He will you to The Truth.

In view of Philippians 3:20, we changed our address. We have been quickened, raised, and seated with Christ at His Father's right hand. And all that by simple faith. None of us have ever deserved it, but The Father was glad to give as He had called us before the age times. All we had to do was to believe and ask; it's really that simple.

And all that time that we were children of God, We never dreamed that we were saints. But we were not by anything we had done but because of our relationship with Christ. We had died with Him and were buried with Him, and we were resurrected with Him. That made us 'saints.' No person or group of persons conferred that sainthood upon us; it was by God's grace, for you see, we had been clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And God looked upon us then as if He were looking at His own Son. The Son had all our sins imputed to Him, and we had His righteousness imputed to us. This was the one trade in our lives that was a genuine bargain; we all got the best of that deal.

And there is plenty of the same for you in the storehouse of the unsearchable riches of Christ. All you do is ask, and it shall be.

Many wonder why the church during Acts was so different from what they call the church today. If one thinks about it, there are very few similarities. Why are there no longer the gifts of the Spirit? Many say there are but are helpless to prove it when daily the first-century church showed signs, miracles, and wonders. Have you ever seen anybody raised from the dead? Cast out spirits? Be bitten by deadly asps and live? How about making a blind man see or a lame man walk or cure a terminal disease? Do families or the groups you attended ever observe the Passover as they did back then? Why? And why could Gentiles now take part in the services and sit in the congregation, when back during Acts they could not (Romans 9:4)? Do you ever wonder why folks then would be stricken dead when they lied in the assembly but now even preachers get away with lying and adultery, and theft? It just doesn't make any sense. Maybe you were brought up in the traditions of the church and dare not question these things. But wait, according to Scripture, that would be heresy.

Also, the meek were to inherit the earth. What earth and where? Did we have any part in this? We now know that inheritance was for Israel, the Promised Land, or Earth. We also found out that the promise of long life in the land was for honoring our father and mother. So much just does not fit our church lives today.

How about through careful examination of the Books of Daniel, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, one realizes that the Church of Acts period, Paul and the Apostles all knew that they would be going thru the great tribulation before being caught up in the air (not heaven) at the last trump to meet The Lord Jesus. They all knew they would not go to heaven but would be part of the Kingdom here on earth.

For all the years you have been a Christian, 2 Timothy 2:15 has been in your Bible, and you have never really seen it there. If you did read it, it did not mean anything; just so many words. But we pray one day soon, the light will shine upon those words, and you will see it. "Rightly Divide" is the key. Simple, isn't it? Why didn't we all see it before?

All that time, most of us struggled; we had not realized that we were not Jews, as funny as that may sound. Most of our ancestors came from Japheth, not Shem. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not our fathers. Our fathers did not cross the Red Sea, waste 40 years in the wilderness, and then cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. Our fathers were not at Sinai to receive the law. The law was not given to Gentiles but to Israel.

All this most of us did not know. No one had ever mentioned it. When we begin to realize that confusion is just plain ignorance, and spiritually most Christians have been ignorant of The Scripture. In that ignorance, we have been trying to steal by appropriating to ourselves what belongs to Israel, especially her blessings. As for the curses, most are willing that Israel should have them. Often we use an old Bible in which all the good things in the O.T. we see as related to The Church, and all the bad things are to Israel. As the pastor delivers their sermon, we just swallow all of it without question. After all, it was in print, and this is what many believe, so how could it be wrong?

We have to work very hard in order that we may be approved by God, a good workman that need not be ashamed, now rightly dividing the Word of Truth as the Scripture says we should (2 Tim. 2:15). 

As long as most of us do not think about whether we are Jew or Gentile, the passage in John 4:22, which says that salvation was of the Jews, does not bother us. But when we began to rightly divide the Word of Truth and find in Acts 28:28 that the salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles, we need to take another look. That is when we will make the great discovery. The promises made to Abraham are not valid for us today, so we shouldn't want to live as though they are. They have been set aside for a time until Israel wakes up and is ready to receive them. And the Kingdom is all a part of that blessing. The King was rejected, murdered, and rejected the second time at the end of the Book of Acts. That is why Israel is divorced today, and we Gentiles have a calling, blessings, and salvation all our own. We all need to believe what God has said so we can receive all He wants to give us.