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THE GLORY OF GOD SERIES
THE GRACE AND GLORY OF GOD
Turn to the book of Exodus 34:5 Now the
Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name
of the Lord. This is the occasion when Moses asked, “Lord, show me Your glory.” Now the Lord came down to show him His glory,
and verse 6 says, And the Lord passed before
him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.” Although the word glory
is not mentioned, this revelation of God to Moses is the revelation of the
glory of God. God is showing His glory to Moses. And we have said that there
are five aspects of God’s glory. If we were to grow in these five aspects, we
will grow to understand the glory of God. The first aspect, which we have seen,
is mercy. God proclaims His mercy. Secondly, God proclaims His grace. He says
the Lord is gracious. Then we see the next one, longsuffering, followed by
goodness and truth. So there are five aspects concerning the glory of God
manifested to humanity. If we want to understand God’s glory, we have to move
into these five aspects. We have seen in last message how the Israelites
exalted the mercy of God saying that the Lord is good, His mercy endures
forever, and how the glory of God appeared to them in II Chron.
5.
Today we are going to look at the grace of
God manifested to His people both in the Old and in the New Testament. When God
says that He is gracious, it means that He shows forth His grace. In the old
covenant, the grace of God refers to right standing
with God. It still does refer to that in the new covenant but we will show how
it has changed in the new covenant. In the old covenant it says like in Gen. 6
how Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. We also find Moses saying the
same thing. He said, “If I have found grace in Your
sight, then grant me this request.” Later in chapter 34 when God’s glory passed
by and Moses saw the back part of His glory, Moses quickly ran to the Lord and
said, “If I found grace in Your sight grant me,” and he began to ask for
certain requests from God. So, the grace of God is tied up to the glory of God.
God has to reveal Himself in order for us
to understand Him. It is not just man finding God; it is rather
God revealing Himself. No matter how much we try to understand God with our
finite understanding, unless God chooses to reveal Himself, there is no way we
could have understood Him. Unless God chooses to reveal by His Spirit, we will
never grow and understand. That is why we are to ask for the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation. For God is such that no human mind can understand Him. The only
way is for God to come down to our level and reveal Himself. For Christianity is a revelation of God to
man and not just man finding their way to God. We have set the fact that man cannot come to
know God by himself. All the philosophy of man has never led him any closer to
God. All the great minds and brains that have ever lived and died could not
even come close to a hair breath of the wisdom of God. They have tried to
comprehend this earth and this existence that we are in. You remember Jesus
told His disciples that they are blessed for God has chosen to reveal to them
what many wise men longed to hear what they hear, to see what they see.
See it is only that when God reveals that
we can receive. Without revelation, there is no reception. Revelation comes
first followed by reception. If Christ did not reveal His salvation, we have
nothing to receive. It is the revelation that must come first. And so there is
a progressive revelation from God. The only way we can grow in God is by His
grace. The grace of God is God’s revelation of Himself to us. As He reveals we
receive. And if we are faithful to His revelations, He will reveal more.
Revelation is progressive until we have grown in His fullness.
In the Old Testament, grace is finding a
position with God and reaching into the depths of God. We realize that grace
and holiness are related. Despite the fact that God is holy, almighty, awesome,
majestic, all-powerful, radiant in all His marvelous shining glory, Moses could
still approach God. How is that possible? Moses found grace in the eyes of God.
God bestowed His grace upon Moses to approach Him. In the old covenant, the
grace of God is not something where you just sit around and wait for God to
show Himself to you. Everyone whom God showed grace made an effort. Everyone in
the old covenant whom God revealed has made efforts. It is not that their
efforts earned the merit of grace but their efforts were the signs for their
hunger for God that God looks for. Those who hunger for God will find God.
Those who do not hunger for God will not find Him. Before Noah found grace in
the eyes of God, it is written how Noah was obedient to the Lord and that’s
where we find the word righteous.
So, let us define holiness and
righteousness. Those two words are confusing to many people because we think
that they are the same thing but they are different. Give me a definition of
holiness.
Tremendous favor in the sight of the God.
Righteousness is right standing in the
sight of God.
That’s probably the basic Christian
problem. The bible has two different Greek words and two Hebrew words for
holiness and righteousness. Therefore, they must convey two different concepts.
What is holiness? Holiness is a state without sin. What is righteousness? Righteousness is without sin too. See that’s
probably a situation in all Christians’ lives. What is holiness? Holiness is
someone set aside apart onto God. What is righteousness? Righteousness is right
standing. Setting apart is another Hebrew word and another Greek word
altogether. Holiness and righteousness - how do we differentiate the two? What
will be a good definition of holiness? When we say God is holy, the first thing
people think is sinlessness. See we all think in
negative terms. What is light? Absence of darkness. In
this definition, we do not define what light is. We actually define what it is
not. What is faith? Absence of fear. That would not be
a definition. That would only be a definition of what it is not. Defining what
it is not helps us to define what it is.
So, what is holiness? Without
sin. That is only part of a picture. Sinlessness
and freedom from sin is not holiness itself but it is a result of holiness.
Sometimes a person may not be sick although there is a virus attack because the
body’s defense mechanism is successfully fighting that attack. But if the
body’s immune system is not strong enough, the body succumbs to the viral
attack and the person becomes sick. So, the fever is not the exact cause but it
is a symptom of the virus attack. So, what is holiness? Is it the absence of
sin? That is just the result of or the symptom of holiness. We have not even
got the definition of holiness. What exactly is holiness? One of the most famous commandments in the
bible is be holy as God is holy. If holiness is not just being without sin,
then what is it? Holiness is being like God. That is the definition of
holiness. See we have no measurement for holiness except God. If there is any
measurement of holiness, it is His attribute, His nature, and everything that
He is. Holiness is being like God, being like who He
is and what He is. God’s nature is a nature of love, and the very expression of
perfection. He cannot stand imperfection, sin or disobedience. God is the very
expression of that which is harmonious; that which is melodic, and that which
is perfect. So, holiness is being like God. The result of being like God will
be the absence of sin. So it is not something negative; it is something
positive. The more you talk like God, think like God,
believe like God, the more godly you are then the more holy you are. Holiness
is being like God. So, we have defined holiness. The measurement of holiness is
God Himself. He is the very personification of holiness.
Now lets deal
with righteousness. Righteousness is comparing ourselves
with the commandments and the laws of God. So righteousness is the obedience
that we demonstrate to the given commandments, statutes, ordinances and
testimony of God. Whatever spoken word and commandment God has given to live
life in social life, in spiritual life, in personal life, in business life, in
ministry life, in proportion as we obey them that is the proportion that we
have moved into righteousness. See the commandments show the right standing in
God. So, righteousness has to do with works while holiness has to do with God.
Righteousness relates to the works. Holiness refers to the nature of God.
Righteousness has to do with your faithfulness to God’s commandments.
Let me give a few bible stories as an
example so that you can relate to that. You remember how Noah is considered as
righteous. What does that mean? While the world was falling into sin and
disobeying God’s command, he was obedient to God’s commandments. He kept God’s
commandments diligently. So, he was righteous in his generation. He is a
preacher of righteousness. What does that mean? He teaches what people must do
in order to be obedient to God. He tells people to keep God’s commandments. But
nobody listened to him.
Then we read in the New Testament how
Joseph was a righteous man. At first, he wanted to put Mary away secretly. He
was a righteous man until God had to reveal to him in a dream that He is doing
a special creative work in Mary’s womb. Joseph was considered righteous in the
sight of God. What does that mean? Joseph was a person who followed the Jewish
customs and laws as much as he knew. He was one who is faithful to all the
commandments as much as he knew.
What about Zacharias and Elizabeth who were
also called righteous? What does that mean? They were obedient to all the
Jewish laws and customs and they kept them faithfully as much as they know how.
See righteousness relates to the commandments. Holiness relates to the person
of God. Having defined holiness and righteousness then we can move on from
there.
See in the old covenant before God reveals
His grace and glory, He sees how we have obeyed His commandments. See the glory
of God is revealed in measures. God has a standard measurement before He
reveals His grace. God’s standard measurement is if people cannot be obedient
to His revealed commandments then they cannot be obedient to any further
revelation of Himself. He that is faithful in little
will be faithful in much. He that is faithless in little, how can he be
faithful when God gives more? So, God does not reveal Himself to the unfaithful
ones. God reveals Himself to those who were already faithful to what they know
and to the written Word that they received. If we are not faithful to the
written Word, do not talk even about hearing God’s voice or having a vision.
See God has a standard of measurement before He reveals more of Himself. We
need to understand how the grace of God comes. We cannot just sit around and
wait for God’s grace when we have not been obedient to God’s commandments or
are not keeping God’s written Word. If we know what to do and do not do it, we
are unrighteous. We have not been faithful. We have not been obedient. So, we
need to be obedient first.
Let us see how the grace of God comes on
Moses’ life, the very one that received this revelation. In Exodus 33: 12 Then
Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet
you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ If you
want to grow in God’s glory, you have to grow in God’s grace. This is God’s
graciousness; how His grace is given and imparted and what He bases it on. How
did Moses reach the stage where God says, “I know you by name, Moses and you
have found grace in My sight.” How did Moses reach
that stage? The basic thing that Moses had done was that he was obedient. He
was obedient to God’s commandments. He was a person who obeys God and seeks
after God. He is not just satisfied to keep the law of God. He is someone who
presses further. You can see his character in Exodus 33 when he said, “Show me Your glory.”
There are usually three groupings of
Christians. The first group is content with doing the barest minimum. They feel
being nominal Christians is enough. The second group has great plans to do all
that is there but stops short when it comes to actually carrying the plans out.
The third group says, “I will do all that is there,” and they keep seeking for
more to do. When Reinhard Bonnke
and his team were organizing a crusade and getting all the churches to
co-operate, they got three different responses. One group said they want to
have nothing to do with that crusade. One group said, “We are for it all the
way.” The third group says, “We will watch and see if it is good and then, we
will come in later.” When we get into this church project, sometimes we have
three responses. One group that says, “It can never be done.” Another group
says, “Let us go for it.” The third group says, “We will watch and see if all
work out. If it does, we will be there.”
I was thinking about this little parable
of the chicken, cow, and pig. They were talking how they serve man. One day the
chicken said, “I have been a blessing to man. I give them eggs.” Then he looked
at the cow and asked, “What about you?” The cow said, “Well, I have been a
blessing to man too. I give them milk.” Then they turned and looked at the pig.
The pig looked back at the chicken and the cow and said, “It is very easy for
you to talk. If I were to serve man, I have to give my life.” But that is the
way some people are – they are just satisfied to give their eggs everyday. Some
people will give their milk and say, “That’s it. That is as far as I will go.”
But sometimes it takes sacrifice. All over the world, you will find ten percent
of Christians doing ninety percent of the work for the rest of the Christians.
Paul would say, “Brethren, this should not be.” Also, Christians should be
mobilized to do their part in God. We
need hearts that are more than willing to go all the way with God.
Many years ago when we were preaching the
Word of Faith message, the persecution was so heavy that we hardly had any
friends. No one wanted to associate with us because we were so controversial.
Controversial not because you want to be controversial but because you believe
what the Word of God says. We preached that message of faith even though it was
not a popular message. We went through all the storms. Now after ten years
later, the message has become acceptable today. Some guys later came around and
said, “We are with you all the way.” Where were they when we were in the line
of the enemy’s fire? That is the way it is. We need the Calebs
and the Joshuas who know the Lord and go for
it.
So, in the same way concerning the
commandments and the laws of God, we need to be people who would go to the
second mile. There are some whom what I call the half
miler. They will only go half a mile. Then they will sit down and their coffee
break takes a lifetime. Then there some who what I call the
one miler. They do everything the Lord says then they have their coffee
break. But then there are those forget their coffee break and go for the second
mile. The first mile is just merely fulfilling our duties but the second mile
is making our offerings and sacrifices.
That is the way God has established His
system. Righteousness is complete obedience to all the commandments of God. And
Moses was one of them. At the end of Exodus chapter 40:16 Thus Moses did;
according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did. Verse 19 And
he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on
top of it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 21, as the Lord had
commanded Moses, Verse 23, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse
25, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse 27, as the Lord had
commanded Moses. Verse 29, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
It looks so redundant to repeat as the
Lord had commanded Moses several times but God is making a statement here
about Moses’ character. You see Moses had to be very careful when he saw the
vision of God in the Mount. He had to come down and make exactly the pattern
that he saw and he did exactly. He has that type of heart. Moses was not a half
miler. He was not a miler. He was a second miler. He would go for the second
mile. He would go for more for God. You see Moses saw God judging the
Israelites. Originally, God desired all the Israelites to be kings and priests
but in the end, only one tribe the Levites remained in the priesthood. Moses
was concerned. Although God says that He would send His angels to go with them
because of His grace, Moses wanted more.
Lets read the background chapter 32:34 Now
therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you.
Behold, My angel shall go before you. So God has
promised His angel. Originally, God wanted to be with them but now God says,
“If I go with them My presence is so strong they will
all die off.” So God says, “I will send My angel with
you.” Moses was not satisfied; he is a second miler. So in Exodus 33 when a
pillar of cloud appeared and God was speaking to Moses, he said in verse 13 Now
therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way,
that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that
this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My presence
will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from
here.
Moses is going for the second mile. Most
Christians would have stopped at the first mile. He said, “Lord, your angel is
not enough. I want You. You said that I have found
grace come with me.” Moses had a secret hunger in his heart for the extra of
God. So, when he says to God, “Show me Your glory,”
God started showing His glory. In Exodus 34, God appeared and God walked by and
proclaimed His glory. Did you know what Moses did the moment God pass by? That
shows that he must be preparing for that in chapter 34:8 So
Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshiped. Then he
said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O
Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked
people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” You
know what Moses was saying. It looks like he premeditated it. I mean when he
says, “God, show me Your glory,” and God says,
“Alright, I will show you My glory.” So he waited and when God’s glory came, he
already had in his heart to intercede for the people. So when God’s glory came
he quickly said, “Lord, you must come with us.” He is not interested in just
going half a mile or one mile. He is interested to go all the way.
Here is another example in the life of
Daniel. That story in Daniel chapter 1 is very familiar to people. Almost
everybody knows the wonderful blessing that we can claim. Verse 15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared
better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the
king’s delicacies. Then verse 17 As for
these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and
wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. These kids
were ten times smarter than the rest. They had knowledge in the arts, science,
and literature of the Chaldeans. Grace does not come
by just sitting down saying, “I am a half miler.” We see here that all the
young men were taken and Daniel was among them. They were all actually Jewish
young people. Daniel had to be obedient first before he could receive God’s
grace. You do not receive God’s grace and then you become obedient. You are
obedient first and then you receive more. So, God has a standard procedure to
impart grace. He looks at us and seeks to impart more grace. See God reveals
Himself proportionally. We cannot know Him unless He reveals Himself to us. But
does He reveal? How does He make a choice since He is no respecter of persons?
He looks for the second miler. Those who are not even faithful are not even
considered. Such people are not even on His waiting list. So to get on God’s
waiting list by being obedient with all of our heart to all the commandments
that we know. Being faithful day in and day out to whatever commandments God
has given. Just be faithful and press for more of God. All the Jewish young men
who went to
Look at Joseph in Genesis. When he was
tempted and bribed, he chose to be righteous then the reward came. So grace
always goes to those who chose to be righteous, who chose to be obedient, who chose to be faithful. And get on the waiting list of
God. And when on the waiting list of God, let there be a hunger for God in your
heart. We cannot get it but we can position ourselves ready to receive it. We
cannot get what God does not give. But we can position ourselves in a place
ready to receive. That is why Isaiah 40: 31 says they who wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength. The waiting and positioning is by righteousness. As
we are faithful and righteous in all these commandments of God then we will be
able to position ourselves to receive the grace. In the old covenant, to
receive God’s grace, we have to be placed in right standing before Him. That is
God’s grace shown in righteousness. Holiness is flowing with the nature of God.
When we have righteousness and holiness, both His grace and His glory can be
poured in our lives. So, we have defined holiness and righteousness.
When Jesus came in the new covenant,
something took place. He came and lived the righteous life for us. He lived
everything that needs to be lived. He obeyed all the commandments of God; He
was righteous. What happened next is marvelous. When Jesus died on the cross,
He made it possible for that keeping of God’s commandments to be imputed and
imparted. Imputed is the transfer of position; imparted is the transfer of
substance. Whatever is supposed to be imputed on Him is imputed on you. It
means that the position that is supposed to be placed on Him is now placed on
you. But imparted is transference of substance. But something strange or
interesting took place when Jesus came. In the new covenant, Jesus made it
possible for righteousness to be imputed and imparted which was not possible in
the old. And for the first time after Jesus came, righteousness is referred to
as a substance that is freely imparted.
Let me give some scriptures in the book of
Rom. 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense
death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus
Christ. For the first time, you find that righteousness is written as a
gift. This is the first time you hear it as a gift that can be imparted. When
Abraham looked forward to Christ’s coming, he believed
God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. It was not imparted but it
was imputed on him. Impute is more of a term used in accountancy. For example,
something that is not yours is accounted to you as yours. So it’s a legal
aspect that has been done. But Abraham did not taste of it. It was imputed positionally to be his. But when Jesus Christ came, it was
not only imputed; it became possible to be imparted. Righteousness became
something that could be imparted and experienced. And for the first time you
read of it like in the book of Philippians 1 of righteousness working as a
substance. Phil. 1:11 being filled with the fruits of
righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. So, when Jesus came
something took place. Whatever it is that God gave, He now not only gives it positionally, He gives it as a substance that can be
bestowed inside our spirit. And that is how grace became a substance. Grace in
the old covenant was originally just a position but now, it is a substance
imparted to our spirit man.
We have the outworking of the grace of
God. We have the outworking of the righteousness of God. We have the outworking
of the substance of Christ Himself in the new covenant. This is something that
the old covenant could not conceive of. We have in seed form the ability to
keep all the commandments. What is righteousness? It is the keeping of the
commandments of God. And what is the substance of righteousness? It is the
substance of God’s ability imparted in such a manner that it could become a
part of us. And suddenly for the first time righteousness is linked up with
holiness because it is God’s very substance in Christ. Before that, there was
no link. Righteousness had to do with the commandments of God whereas holiness
is being like God. But for the first time, there is the link in Christ Jesus.
Mercy and judgment came in Jesus Christ. And the substance of God’s being, God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, all suddenly became
possible through the divine channel of God’s Holy Spirit. When we grow in the
grace of God in the new covenant, we automatically grow in the glory of God. In
the old covenant, the people who experienced God’s glory are those whom God
shows His grace. See as they find grace in God, God shows Himself.
As they are obedient in righteousness, God shows His grace. And when God shows
His grace, they see more glory. As they see more glory, they are changed and
transformed. In the new covenant, the same principle applies but in a different
manner. As we grow in the substance of God’s grace, we grow in the substance of
God’s glory. In the old covenant, the glory of God is like a cloud inhabiting a
place. In the New Testament, the glory of God is placed right into our spirit
man when we are born again.
Lets turn to II Cor.
4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has
shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God is not only in heaven. The glory
of God is in our spirit. That is why from time to time, if you ever spend time
in His presence, the glory comes out through your eyes, through your words and
through your being. In
Paul says in II Cor.
4:7 we have this treasure. What treasure is he talking about? The glory of God. See the grace of God is tied to the glory
of God. The impartation of God’s grace
is the impartation of His substance and of His very glory. He says we have this
wonderful treasure, wonderful substance in earthen vessels inside us building
in us. And that is why in verse 8 We are
hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. Why, because the glory of God
cannot be crushed. Then he says we are perplexed but we are not in despair.
This not a statement of defeat; it is a statement of triumph. We are
persecuted but not forsaken because the glory of God is in us. And he says we
are struck down but we are not destroyed because the glory of God bubbles
forth from within us. And I like what he says in verse 16 Therefore we do
not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is
being renewed day by day. This is the precious experience of the glory of
God inside us. Verse 17 For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. The more pressure is exerted on us on the
outside, the more the glory of God flows mightily on the inside.
We close by looking at four Greek words
for power – exousia, dunamis,
kratos and ischus.
The word exousia
relates to the authority of a believer. Jn. 1:12-13
says that as man has received Him He gave power or exousia.
Exousia is the power that belongs to
you in Christ. It is what you release in His name.
Dunamis Acts 1:8 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall receive dunamis. Dunamis
refers to the power of the Holy Spirit. Every time when it is used in the
New Testament, it refers back to the power of the Holy Spirit.
The word ischus
refers to a different realm of power. Kratos
also refers to a different realm of authority.
But let me just summarize for you the
definition. In the book of Acts 19:20 So the
word of the Lord grew mightily (kratos) and prevailed
(ischus). Verse 20 is a play of Greek word. It
says the word of the Lord grew kratos and
ischus. Ischus relates
to the power of God in various workings that we have defined in our teaching
series on “Revival of Word and Spirit.” Kratos relates
to invincibility and ischus to
efficiency. But there is more that we want to look into here. You notice in
verse 20 kratos relates to the power of
the Word. It says the word of the Lord grew kratos
grew mightily.
As we look at the word kratos
for a moment, turn to the book of Eph. 1:19. There is a play of Greek word
here. And what is the exceeding greatness of His (dunamis)
power towards us who believe according to the working (ischus)
of His mighty power (kratos) which He worked in
Christ. Now turn to Eph. 3 this time Paul only uses one word in verse 16 that
He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might through His Spirit in the inner man. There is a play of Greek word again. He says
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory. See the working
of God’s glory in our life will be the operation of all these four different
realms of power. The glory of God comes
from being filled with kratos and dunamis through His Spirit in the inner man. It
comes from Christ dwelling in your heart through faith. It comes from being
rooted and grounded in love. Here is where kratos
is related to the power inherent through the written Word of God.
Now the four words are combined into
twins. Exousia and kratos
flow together. Dunamis and ischus flow together. There are four Greek words for
power. One is exousia, which means authority.
One is dunamis, which refers to the power of
the Holy Spirit. Exousia
authority is like a policeman wearing his badge and stopping a
twelve-wheeler truck. He signals to the truck driver to stop and he stops. This
does not mean that the policeman had the power to stop the truck; he only has
the authority to stop the truck. But if it had been dunamis,
it would have been different. If Samson wants to stop the twelve-wheeler truck,
he would just rip off one of the wheels. Then he would have stopped the truck
but in a different way. He uses dunamis the
power of the working of miracle.
Kratos means the power in the Word. In Eph. 6, there is a play on the word
kratos when he talks about being strong in the
power of the Lord. The armor of God is tied to the Word of God. The helmet of
salvation is the word of salvation. The breastplate of righteousness is the
word of righteousness. The girdle of truth is the word of truth. The shoe of
the gospel of peace is the word of peace. The shield of faith is the word of
faith. The whole armor is tied up to kratos
the Word of God. So kratos is the power
that is inherent in the Word.
When you do your devotion and meditation,
the power released is kratos. Kratos power is related to exousia
power. They are linked up like twins. Exousia
is what we are in Him, your position in Him. And this is where Eph. 3 helps us
to understand kratos. Kratos
is the working of Christ in us. That is why in Eph. 3 you read how Paul pray that you will be strengthened (kratos)
with dunamis from the Holy Spirit
that Christ may dwell in your life. But Christ is already in your life since
you accepted Christ. The Ephesians were already
baptized in the Holy Spirit. But we are talking about a continual growth of
Christ in our life. Christ is established in us but Christ has to continually
work in our life. Every time when Jesus said, “Abide in Me,” He also says, “Let
My Word abide in you.” See kratos power has to
work in you. There is no way you can abide in Him and He
in you without the Word. The power of the Word works in establishing that
Christ life in us. You may be in Christ but is the fullness of Christ life in
you? The life of Christ in you is proportional to the working of kratos in your life. That is one working of
the glory of God in our lives. That is why in II Peter it says if you want
grace and peace to multiply he says get the Word of God. When you get the
knowledge of the Word in your life, kratos
changes your life. The more the kratos change
your life, the more Christ is in you. We are in Christ and Christ is in us
through His Word. Abide in Me and let My Word abide in
you. His Word abiding in us is the working of kratos
in our life. Heb. 4:12 the word of God is sharper than a two-edge sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God is cutting us so that Christ
may be full in our lives. The glory of God is in many people’s lives but it is
not able to come forth because of a lack of kratos
in their lives.
Then over here we need some scriptures to
understand ischus. Dunamis
refers to the dynamite of the Holy Spirit. It should be translated as power
all the time. We have taught about it as ability but we want to go into
details. I Peter 4:11 notice in verse 10 he talks about the grace of God so he
is still on the subject on the grace and the glory of God. Verse 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to
one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks,
let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone minister, let him do it as with
the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through
Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.
Now here the word ability is the word ischus.
If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ischus
which God supplies. Of course, all the different powers are related. Just
as kratos is Christ in us through the
Word, dunamis is the power of the Holy
Spirit so ischus is the tangible dunamis that becomes a part of us. It is the ability
of God that has become so much in your life. He is the Holy Spirit yet now it
is you. He has become a part of you. And of course, ischus
relates to the power of prayer, just as kratos
relates to the power of the Word. As we wait on God, there is a spiritual
tangible change. As we move into ischus more
and more, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are imparted to you and you operate in
them so much that ischus and the gifts of the
Holy Spirit have become a part of you. It is very hard to divide ischus and you any more. It has been absorbed as
part of you.
Let me illustrate it. When a little child
grows up with a talent for music, at first, you could differentiate the talent
and the child. But as the child develops that musical talent, the talent becomes
the life and the profession of the child. Music becomes the child’s very being.
You could not divide the child and the talent any more. So ischus
is the inworking of the Spirit in our lives. His
graces, His ability that He places in our lives had become a part of us so much
so that you cannot differentiate that which is of you and that which is of God.
You have become that part of the working of God and vice versa. At first when
you eat physical food, you could separate the food from your body. Even when
the food is in your mouth, you could still separate it. But once the food gets
absorbed into your blood stream and become the building materials of some of
your cells in your body, you cannot say that the chicken is still inside you.
No, it has become a part of you. So there is a point when that which is
imparted becomes that which is us. This ischus
is the inworking of the Spirit of God in our life. So
dunamis is the power of the Holy Spirit and ischus is the Holy Spirit working in us.
All these four exousia,
dunamis, kratos and ischus constitute the working of God’s glory in our
life. As we grow from glory to glory, more substance of God’s power is imparted
into our spirit man and we grow in His grace.
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