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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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