ISAIAH 40:5: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
I don’t need to say it, but I will – “Our world is upside-down. It is all out of order. The God who made everything to reflect His glory and to receive glory is ignored, refused, blasphemed, and if believed on at all, exists to be our servant; to answer our prayers and make us happy.” But that is only for a season. There will be a time when God will make all things new. What we read in the Revelation will become seen reality – Then I saw a new heaven and anew earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true”(Revelation 21:1-5). And it is this truth that enables us to live in this upside-down world with hope, not despair; encouragement, not discouragement; and joy, not inward turmoil.
One of the most difficult disciplines we do as Christians is keeping our hearts and minds on the unseen world, not the seen. The Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of this importance – So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). If we fail to “see beyond the seen”, we lose two key perspectives. First, we forget God is sovereignly in control despite what we see. We live by faith which means despite what we see, we know God is in control. But if we keep our eyes on the seen world, we lose this perspective and our hope.
Another perspective lost if we look more to this world by sight instead of the next world by faith is our identity in this world. Remember, this is not home – These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland (Hebrews 11:13-14). With every look at the messed up world, take two upward to the eternal world. This will keep us living for what we don’t see and that, friends, is the Biblical definition of living by faith.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for that Day of Days when You reveal Your glory to all.”
QUOTE: “Let the day of seeing the Lord’s glory stir us to live daily for His glory.”