The Meaning of Glory. “The whole earth is full of God’s glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) GLORY: the weighty splendor of God’s personal presence; GLORIFY: to acknowledge and applaud the reality of God’s presence in the world; to make his presence heavier, clearer, more obvious, more credible, less hidden; to live in a way that preserves God’s …
The Mystery of Glory. We worship you for your holiness, we give you thanks for your goodness, we praise you for your glory! Glory: the weighty splendor of God’s personal presence. The bottom line is that the weight of God’s presence outweighs the world; His presence is more substantive and heavier than the universe. As …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. Z is for Zacchaeus – The main character in a brief story in Luke 19. He was a rich embezzler with good climbing skills. Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the Roman IRS, a Jewish man with no conscience who got wealthy by collaborating with the hated Roman occupiers. …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. Y is for Yahweh – “So Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I go to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I tell them?’ Then God said to …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. X is for Xerxes – An unlikely savior of the Jews; the moody, insecure King of Persia in 4th century BC; one of the protagonists in the book of Esther; was also known as Ahasuerus; his name means mighty man. Hmmm. Xerxes was a two-fisted drinker who always seemed …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. W is for Wait – An activity motivated and sustained by hope; an unlikely source of satisfaction and fulfillment. An empty, passive exercise in resignation? No. An ulcerating, thumb-twiddling act of idle impatience? Nope. The listless art of biding one’s time? Ditto. Most of us don’t know what waiting …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. V is for Victory – One of my favorite gospel songs goes like this: “Victory is mine; Victory is mine; Victory today is mine; I told ol’ Satan, get thee behind; Victory today is mine.” That’s right, spiritual victory is assured, mission accomplished. As Jesus said on the cross, …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. U is for Ur of the Chaldeans – The ancient city in southern Babylonia, and patriarch Abraham’s birthplace and homeland growing up. Ur was a bustling urban center of advanced culture. Numerous excavations, mostly between mid-19th century to mid-20th century, have uncovered quite a sophisticated city. There was an …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. T is for Thief – Anyone who takes something in a sneaky, furtive way. Surprisingly, Jesus called Himself a thief once, and Scripture claims that He was to return in glory like some super-villain, a thief in the night, stealing His children away (Rev. 16:15; 1 Thess. 5:2). A …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. S is for Shepherd – A somewhat surprising symbol for leadership throughout scripture. A shepherd was pretty much at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, way below minimum wage. Shepherds were chronically underemployed, relegated to grunt work, underappreciated and overlooked by polite society. He had to sleep outdoors, make …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. R is for Rending the Curtain – If you were a priest in the Temple during Jesus’ time, imagine how awestruck you would have been every time you gazed upon the holy curtain, the “veil” at the entrance to the Holy of Holies. This particular curtain was not your …
A Whimsical Dictionary of Surprising Influences. Q is for Quail – “They asked, and He brought them quail.” (Psalm 105:40) A choice game bird that has blessed Sinai residents for over 3,500 years; an unexpected sign of God’s presence and care, overlooking the grumbles for the time being; an example of God’s lowliness, lowering Himself to …