Preparing For God's Glory

Preparing for God’s Glory

Isa 40:3-5 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD ; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." NIV

Intro: The Glory of the lord is first mentioned in the remarkable and dynamic stories of Exodus. Isaiah mentions the Glory of the Lord to be revealed to all mankind. We need to prepare for the Glory of the Lord by beginning to understand the aspects and concepts of the Glory of the Lord.

The bible speaks of Glory in many different forms. For the purpose of this one sermon I only want to deal with one.

Isaiah is referring to a specific form of God’s Glory. He is not dealing with any of these aspects:

• Glory as defined as honor, reputation, dignity or praise

• Glory as an endowment of blessing, power and life

• Glory as the heavenly dimension where the magnitude of God’s dwells called heaven.

Isaiah is speaking about the concept of Glory as the invasion of God’s reality into a human life.

We can read about this glory in Numbers 14:

Setting: The 12 spies had just returned from exploring the Promised Land. Ten spies gave a negative report that the people believed and only two spies, Joshua and Caleb, gave a positive report of conquering the land.

Num 14:10-12 But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites from above the Tabernacle. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people reject me? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? 12 I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation far greater and mightier than they are!" NLT

At this point Moses began to intercede for the people asking God to change his mind and forgive the people for their rebellion against divinely appointed authority and their unbelief in God!

Num 14:19-22 please pardon the sins of this people because of your magnificent, unfailing love, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt."

20 Then the LORD said, "I will pardon them as you have requested. 21 But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD’s glory, 22 not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they tested me by refusing to listen. NLT

Num 14:25 Now turn around and don’t go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness… NLT

Notice that God sent the entire Hebrew nation in to the wilderness.

Isa 40:3-4 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD

Def Wilderness:

• Place were few people dwell

• A place of aloneness

• Of imposed confinement

• Of personal inconvenience

• Of social ostracization

• Of unfriendly surroundings

• A place where God meets with you

• This is where God gives you a message that is formed from your life happenings and living rather than your church attendance, bible reading or your library.

Aspects of the Wilderness:

• No one can mentor you through a wilderness event. God wants to give you a strong voice to proclaim His Glory, so you are on you own. People around you may pray with you, they may even encourage you a little. However at some point you will be on your own to believe, accept, change, renew, or establish the Glory of God in your wilderness. None of the following stand outs for God had a mentor while in their wilderness event: John the Baptist, Elijah, Job, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Naomi, David or Paul

• To give you a voice God must snuff out all the other voices you listen to. There is a time to read and listen to other voices but in the wilderness you will need to hear directly from God. Then your voice will be anointed so others will hear your cry from the wilderness on God’s behalf.

• The wilderness is a long hard Journey, never a quick trip across town. You may have many hard experiences while you are in the wilderness. We stay in the wilderness until we are prepared in our spirit to hear the voice of God. At that point we will experience revelation knowledge for our life challenge event.