Joseph Prince - Step Into God's Greater Glory
Praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. The first Sunday of 2014. We are excited. Are you excited? Amen. I was seeking the Lord for the theme of the year and I said, "Lord", in the month of December it was getting, you know, Christmas and all that and God has not given me. So last year, last two years, you know, I always receive the theme sometimes even like weeks before. Last year it was days before but at least days. And finally this week, I won't tell you when. It wasn't last night. It was this week I was saying, "Lord, I prayed and I've asked you, I still don't have the theme. I'm not gonna make up a theme". Because, you know, I say that, "But I trust you". I said, "I throw myself on your mercy and grace. I have to rest in you".
So I went to bed and I had a dream. And in the dream he gave me "the year of," so clear. And then he gave me the verses, all the verses came out. All I gotta do when I woke up, I'm telling you the truth, all I gotta do, I wish that he will do this with every sermon. I just have to write down all the verses and the verses you're about to see is from him, okay? And this is what I saw. I saw a year of darkness, but then in the theme of the year, this is what God said to me: "It's gonna be the year of greater glory, the year of greater glory".
All right, the year of greater glory. So I saw the entire year of greater glory displayed in front of me in my sleep, and then he gave me verses to back it up. We have a picture of the year of greater glory, and this is, the artist is the only one I shared with and we did this only yesterday. Take a look. This is what I saw, by the way, as I shared with him. Glory, why glory? Yeah, you saw that? What you saw just now, the Lord spoke to me, all right? Want to see again? All right, why is it the year of greater glory? Watch carefully, especially the O. Hmm. So this is what I saw in the Spirit. But I saw these words, "The year of greater glory". Do you know how sin is... the next thing I saw the Lord gave me this verse, all right, Romans 3:23, all right? Now I'll explain to you what is greater glory. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".
When you think about it, what is the glory of God? What is the glory of God? Sin is defined as falling short of the glory of God and all have come to that place of lacking, falling short, being deprived of, forfeited the glory God. One translation says, I think it's the Jerusalem Bible that says, "All have sinned and forfeited the glory of God". In other words, there was a time that man was clothed with splendor, magnificence, dignity. I like Vine's expository of Greek words. Vine defines glory, which is in Greek "doxa". He defines it as an appearance that commands respect. You're gonna have greater of that this year. It will be seen in your families, it will be seen in your workplace. It will be seen everywhere you go, all right? And the word "doxa" is defined in the New Testament, "Always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honor and glory".
So if God gives you glory, that means what? God will always have a good opinion of you, resulting in praise, honor and glory. In the New Testament, it's always a good opinion, all right? This is Thayer and Vine both are amazing Greek scholars, all right? Both of them say the same thing that in the secular literature of Greek, all right, doxa can be used good or bad, glory in terms of good or bad. But in the New Testament always, always a good opinion concerning one resulting in praise, honor and glory. So we lost glory. We lost the good opinion of God. We lost his good opinion of us. We lost our good opinion of him, most of all. That's the worst. Amen? We sin but God loves us. Can I have a good amen?
So to be restored to glory, that means what? We are restored to the good opinion of God. We now have a good opinion, always a good opinion, all right? Glory means always never, no exception, always a good opinion concerning one resulting in praise, honor and glory. Another meaning of glory is splendor, brightness of the moon, sun, stars. We always understand this. It also means magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace. It also means majesty, the kingly majesty which belongs to God as supreme ruler. And we all know the greater glory is alluded to in Haggai. Prophet Haggai mentioned that, Haggai chapter 2, "The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts," all right?
So God is saying very clearly, the glory that will come in the end. Now literally, the time of Haggai, they just came back from Babylonian captivity. So the older, the very old ones, they still remember the tabernacle... sorry, the temple of Solomon before it was razed to the ground. They still remember the glory, the magnificence and splendor of that beautiful temple of Solomon. So they wept. When Nehemiah and all the rest, they started building, okay, Ezra came back under Zerubbabel. They built Zerubbabel. By the way, it's a kingly tribe. He came from the same line as Jesus. You find Jesus's name, all right, in Matthew and Luke. You find Zerubbabel in his ancestral line. Zerubbabel was the leader and he commissioned them to rebuild the temple, the temple of Nehemiah actually. But when the old folks who saw the temple of Solomon saw the temple that they rebuilt, it was nothing compared.
So they wept. They say that it's nothing compared to the former, all right? But then Haggai, a young prophet, God sent him to them and he said, "Hey, stop crying. The glory of the latter temple". He wasn't referring to the temple that was standing in front of them. It was a prophecy. "The glory of the latter temple shall be greater than the former". So there's a twofold application of this verse. Number one, referring to the temple of Herod in the natural, because you know why? The one that this temple is built to will come as man and walk the precincts of that temple, the temple of Herod. So even the temple of Herod is nothing compared to the temple of Solomon, but Solomon never had Jesus in his temple.
So Jesus would walk in the temple, the precincts of the temple of Herod. So in the natural, the glory is greater because the glory is tied up the with the man, Jesus. The Bible says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So they beheld his glory. Now, to behold the glory means what? Glory can be seen. And that's what the Lord impressed on me really strong as I was preparing this to tell y'all, all right. All of you have glory, all right? But it's the year of manifested glory. Greater glory means people are gonna see the glory in your life, amen? You know when you look at a star, okay, you cannot stop but lose a breath for those who watch for the first time. They see the star.
All right, the word that describe it is glory. You see glory. You see magnificence. You see splendor. Can I have a good amen? Okay, are you with me? But there's a prophecy that the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former. The latter one is the New Covenant. And in the New Covenant we all know, in 2 Corinthians 3, real quick, "For if the ministry of condemnation". How many years have we been sitting under ministry of condemnation? All these years, we've been hearing condemnation, condemnation, condemnation. And if you look at the context, it refers to the Ten Commandments, the ministry of death, a few verses earlier, engraved on stones. Nothing but the Ten Commandments was engraved on stones. It was the Ten Commandments that was engraved on stones and the apostle calls it the ministry of death.
How many years believers have been under that? But you know what God is saying? "You people are so used to ministry of condemnation, it's almost like you don't know how to have an altar call unless you condemn people, make them really feel bad and then you tell them get right at the altar call. And you say that it's glorious". Yes, it had glory. It has a certain kind of fading glory. You know the old revivals and all that that use a lot of sin consciousness, they had glory. The Bible doesn't say there's no glory. "If the ministry of condemnation had glory". Those who frightened the living daylights, those who bring you and hang you over the fires of hell until your backside burn, you know, before they actually come forward, all right? I mean they use sin consciousness and that's glory. God did not say there's no glory. There is glory but it's a fading glory. God is saying, "You ain't seen nothing yet". Because the glory of the ministry of righteousness, what is it? It exceeds much more in glory. So it's the year of greater glory.
All right, Isaiah 60. This is the main crux. We're coming to it. "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you". God is saying, "Arise, shine". In Hebrew, "kumi," arise. Shine, "ori" from the word "or," light. "Kumi ori,"this is what Jesus said to the girl who was dead, Jairus's daughter. He held her by the hand and he looked at her and said, "Talitha, little girl under the Tallit, Talitha, kumi, arise," and she arose. So God is saying to you, "Arise, shake yourself from that stupor, that slumber, that laziness, arise". Amen. "And shine". You don't shine until you arise. Arise, shine. Why? "For your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people".
This is what I see, folks, for the year 2014, I see the world getting very dark. "But the Lord will arise over you and his glory will be seen, will be seen upon you. His glory will be seen upon you". What does that mean? You see the glory of God is in us. Christ in us is the hope of glory. But this time, this year, greater glory, it will be seen on us. I said it will be seen on us. Doesn't matter what people say about you, doesn't matter what people blog about you. Doesn't matter what your relatives say about you, all right? Your response, "Let the glory of the Lord be seen upon you. Let them see the glory of God on you". Like what I always say, you know, the dog can bark and bark and bark at the moon; the moon just shines, and that's the best response. The best response, shine, amen. The best response to your critics, shine.
And notice the word, "will be seen, will be seen," amen, this is what I mean the year of greater glory. That's why I had it underlined, because the Lord keep on making this verse jump out at me. He says, "This is what I mean, greater glory, it will be seen. It will be seen upon you. It will be seen upon you". Now, "Darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness will cover the people". Notice, not cover you. "Darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you". Hey, this year the Lord will arise over you. You, compared to the people, you compared to the earth, you are among the people, but darkness, deep darkness is upon the people, but the Lord will arise upon you. And his glory will be seen upon you, right?
If this entire auditorium here is pitch dark and somebody just light a match, even though it's a small match, a small light, you can see it from far away from the top there. Am I right to say that? All right, you will shine even brighter when there's darkness. So darkness just sets the stage, amen. Something's gonna happen once his glory will be seen. Next verse, "The Gentiles will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising".
Now I want to tell you first, Isaiah 60, all right, for those who are watching, has twofold application like most prophecies. The natural application, there's a natural application. One day this will happen to Israel, all right? That's why the word "Gentiles" is there. In the natural application, it is for Israel in the last days, okay? But in the spiritual application, it is for the church. We are grafted in the commonwealth of Israel. So it says, in other words, Gentiles here will be, "unbelievers will come to your light". And kings, you can call them the VIPs, to the brightness of your rising. "Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you". Why? The glory of the Lord. I said the glory of the Lord will be seen. They will all come. The Bible says, "Your sons shall come from afar, your daughters shall be nursed at your side".
Friend, listen, this talks of family blessings this year. I'm talking about family blessings this year. Your sons will come from far. You know, sometimes, "from far" may not always mean geographical location. Sometimes they are in the house, but their hearts are far. Well, they will come from far. Can I have a good amen? "Your sons shall come from afar, Your daughters shall be nursed at your side". Verse 5, "Then you shall see and become radiant, Your heart shall swell with joy, all right, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you". I don't know what you see in this, but in typology, "sea" actually means the nations, the nations. We have touched on that before.
So church, the abundance of the sea here, also in the natural, I don't know whether you realize this, but these last few years, Israel has found untold amounts of gas just offshore the seas, the Mediterranean Sea, under its ground and in the seas of the Mediterranean. So we are in the times. I said, we are in this time. Darkness is covering, all right, abundance of the sea is turning to Israel. The wealth of the Gentiles will come to you. Now, this is not the first time that during dark times wealth come to God's people. In fact, when God showed me this, I was a bit hesitant. I said, "God, I seldom preach on wealth. I seldom preach on money. I know people call us the prosperity church, but, you know"? I say that "I don't want to, you know, I don't want to preach on money".
And God says, "You do what I tell you to, all right? And you leave those", I do not know he said "hypocrites", alone. Like I said, people who don't want you to have money, all right... see, we are all against greediness, avarice, self-centered, prosperity, but we all must have a heart to prosper, to sponsor the kingdom, amen. To be a blessing, blessed to be a blessing, okay? But if all you can think of is how to use this message, for me, I, and little Jimmy and my family, all right, then it's always the same story. You find that you are putting your money into a bag full of holes, okay? 'Cause God's kingdom is not there at all, amen? So that is not what we are talking about. But the fact remains that during this time when God's glory is on you, the wealth of Gentiles will come to you.
So I say, "God, okay, I'll say it". Then he told me, "Study the word 'glory.'" So I studied the word glory and "kavod" in Hebrew now. All right, kavod means glory, honor, abundance, riches, dignity, and splendor. And the Lord says look at the first mention of this word kavod. Do you know what's the first mention? Would you like to see the first mention? All right, it's the story of Jacob. Look at this, Genesis 31, "Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, 'Jacob has taken away all that was our father's,'" which is an accusation. It's false. "And from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth". Kavod, glory. The first application of glory in the Bible, in the holy Scriptures, refers to wealth. The word "kavod" for glory comes from the etymology, comes from the word called kavad. Say, "Kavad". In other words, the root word is kavad. Kavad means heavy. Giving glory to God is giving him weight, presence, amen, importance in your life, significance in your life. Okay, church?
I'm winding this down. And the first time... by the way, this is kavod, this is the first mention of kavod which is glory. It comes from the root word kavad which means heavy. And the first time kavad is mentioned, would you like to see, heavy? What rock do you think it will be? Look at this, this is the first mention. "Abraham was very rich," kavad, heavy, "in livestock, in silver and in gold". This is the first mention of the word heavy, kavad. Kavod, glory, we saw was about wealth, Jacob's wealth. Here Abraham was very kavad, very heavy, very glorious in livestock, in silver and in gold, wow. And it's the year of greater glory. Ha, ha, ha! Wow! Wow! Praise the Lord!
Okay, one last verse and then we'll close. The last verse, look at Jesus prayed a beautiful prayer in the upper room. Jesus prayed a prayer in the upper room for you and I, for your children, for your family. And this is the prayer he prayed, and I'll close with this. He says to the Father, he's talking to the Father. "And the glory," he told the Father, "the glory, the kavod, the doxa, the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one". Do you know that "I have given them" is in the perfect tense? Real quick, once again in the Greek, perfect tense means it is done once and for all, never to be repeated, but the results of that one-time act is efficacious today and forever, okay? Do you have the glory?
Some people say, "Well, one day when I go to the glory". Glory is always heaven for them. No, Bible says it became him to bring many sons to glory, all right, in Hebrews. We are already brought to glory. The only glory we are waiting for is the glorified body. That's the only thing we are waiting for. When Jesus comes again, we're gonna have our new body. Forever young, forever healthy for all eternity, okay? That's the only thing we're waiting for, but do you have the glory of God? "I have given them," past tense, perfect tense actually, given once and for all, never to be repeated. "I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one". Perhaps the disunity in the body of Christ we see is a lack of understanding that we have the glory. So we are trying to compete with each other, all right, trying to be more glorious or this or that or whatever when actually we should just rest, love one another and let God take care of the glory, amen? Praise God.
"I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me". Can you believe that? He told the Father that you have loved them as, in proportion to, in the exact amount, as you have loved me. Can you believe that, that God loves you today exactly as he loves Jesus? I choose to believe it, Lord. Thy Word is truth, wow. Friend, live in this love. Live in this glory. "The glory you gave me," Jesus said, "I have given them". I want all of you right now, all right, to pray this prayer just with me. Put your hand on your heart, say:
Father, you gave Jesus that wonderful glory. Jesus, in turn, gave us the glory you gave him. I receive that glory now for my spirit, for my soul, for my body. Glory within, glory without, glory all around me. Glory on my children, glory on my family, glory on my ministry, glory on my career, glory on the church. I receive it. I possess it. Glory is mine. In Jesus's name, amen.