GOD

In a word – GLORY

Here is another of those familiar words.  “What does it mean?”  “Well, it means ...er ...I don't know how to explain it.  It's ...er ...I know what it means but I can't put it into words.”

Of course it is not only a Bible word.  Perhaps you join in “Land of Hope and Glory” on the last night of the Proms – great tune, but whatever do the words mean?  You may know Kipling's “The Glory of the Garden.”  Perhaps you tried to learn it at school.  Perhaps you think of the rays of the sun as its glory.

So what do we mean when we say or sing in church, “Glory be to the Father”?  Or when we say “for the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are Yours”?

The dictionary helps with words like “honour, praise, majesty, splendour.”  It's a start.

St Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, about “God, who has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  This is the Christian's experience.  We understand and appreciate the majesty and splendour of God through our knowledge of Jesus, and give him the honour and praise.

But wait a moment.  The Isaiah prophesied that “he had no beauty that we should desire him.”  People did not flock to Jesus because of his physical appearance.  On the Cross he was despised and rejected, mocked and derided.  Yet Christians see that very figure on the Cross as demonstrating the glory of God!

The Jews gave it a name – the Shekinah.  It was the physical manifestation of the presence of God, such as they saw in the desert, the pillar of fire in the night, going before them in their wanderings.  Remember that it was also a pillar of cloud during the day.  The glory was the fire and the cloud.  God manifests his glory both in the raising of Lazarus to life, and in the Crucifixion.

God is present with us in the “fire” situations and in the “cloud” situations – hadn't you realised?   You may have had a wonderful experience, sometimes called a mountain top experience, when Jesus was very close to you – a “fire” situation.  Many also experience an awful trauma, one never to be sought after or repeated, they hope.  Then as they look back weeks or years later, they see it was a “cloud” experience of the glory of God, when Jesus was just as close.

As Halloween approaches...

Have you ever wondered what a Christian is to make of the unseen world of evil and the occult?  Where do evil spirits come from, anyway?

The Bible takes the unseen world of evil spirits very seriously indeed. It tells us clearly that evil spirits were once part of the created angelic order (Genesis 6).  They were not created as evil beings, for all of God's original creation was good (Genesis 3:1).  The Bible relates how a number of angels, headed by Satan, or Lucifer, rebelled against God's authority and fell (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19).

Satan, who disguised himself as the serpent in Eden, is leader of the fallen angels, and opposes himself to God.  But evil and good are not co-equal!  Thus the idea of 'dualism' (belief in the equal and permanent existence of evil alongside the good) has no place in the Bible.  Unlike goodness, evil has a beginning and an end.  Satan's final destruction is already assured (Revelation 12:12; 20:10).

So what is the world of the occult, then?  The word 'occult' comes from the Latin: occultus, 'secret', 'hidden', and is our intrusion into the forbidden territory of superstition, fortune telling, magic and spiritism.  Its downfall one day is promised us through Jesus.  His early ministry established a bridgehead against the evil unseen world: no wonder the hostile, and sometimes violent, reaction of the demons!  (Mark 1:23-27; 32-34).

But Jesus had no fear of demons, and neither should you, if you are a Christian.  Further, it is important not to become obsessed with the unseen world – don't let it intimidate or fascinate you.  Occult films can have deeply disturbing after-effects on people.  Avoid them.  A Christian has better things to think about.

While the occult world is certainly there, we are wise not to imagine, as some do, that every sin we commit, every bad habit, illness or misfortune we meet is due directly to an attack on us by Satan himself, and that therefore we need to be 'exorcised'.  Terrible damage has been done in this regard by Christians who mean well but who are uninformed.

The kingdom of spirits is real, but so too is Christ's authority.  Before Christ, the spirits shrink and retreat.  Magic spells and charms have no power over the true Christian (provided we do not open ourselves to their influence) for “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) 

If ever you are frightened by anything occult, remember some sound biblical advice:  resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7).  But remember, a Christian has no business dealing in anything occult.  All occultism is to be ruthlessly shunned (e.g. Leviticus 19:31; 20:6; 1 Samuel 28; 1 Chronicles 10:13; Isaiah 8:19, 20; Acts 19:18-20.

Remember: the demonic world is very real, very powerful, but it is also already doomed and defeated. (Colossian 2:15; Hebrews 2:14, 15).  Why?  Because the death of Jesus Christ has achieved this victory.