In these days among Christian believers one of the most commonly used word is 'Glory'. Most of the time we do not know what exactly it means. Many times we talk about the Glory of God and sometimes we say,"Oh! The Glory of God is here or the Glory of God is being poured out.". In Hebrew, the word used for God's glory is "DOXA", which means All that God is, All that God has and All that God does. When someone says "Oh! The Glory of God is here" we do not know what fraction of that Glory was manifested. May be it is to the ankle level, knee level, or waist level and so on, according to the prophet Ezekiel's vision.
In the scripture we find Moses praying one of the most unique prayers. He is the only one who cried out to God and said, "God, show me Your Glory." Moses had witnessed the mighty miracles that God performed - had seen the Red sea divided, manna falling from heaven and God bringing Israelites out of the hands of Pharaoh. In spite of seeing all these mighty works, Moses still cried out to God and was saying that these things that I have seen are good but they don't satisfy me. I want to see You, I want to see Your Glory. I want to know Who You really are, Your very nature. And God responded by saying that you have found favor in My eyes and I will do this for you. After this we know how God revealed Himself to Moses on the mountain - ". . . The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin... " Exodus 34: 6,7.
When Moses asked God to show His glory, God revealed to him His character, His Nature. The Glory of God is the very character of God. God Himself coming, revealing and manifesting Himself. So God granted the desire of Moses and revealed His glory to him. We find that Moses was the only man under the Old Covenant, who saw the manifestation of God's glory in that way.
I find something very thrilling in the Bible. Moses had to struggle to reach such a position in God and then ask God to show him His Glory. But in the New Covenant Age, Jesus made it very simple. Jesus said that anyone can see His Glory and the requirement was - Only Believe. He made the path so simple to see the manifest presence of God, the mercy, the goodness, the longsuffering and the power of God when He said "Only believe and you will see the Glory of God." That is the full manifestation of Who God is - All that God is, All that God has and All that God does. Isn't this wonderful! Friends, we are living in such times where God wants to show us His Glory and all that we need to do is Only Believe. Just believe in God, believe in Jesus.
We will study about believing - what exactly do we need to believe? There are two things that we will discuss about believing. The first is believing in the works of God and the second, believing in God Himself, in the Person of God. Many times people believe in the works of God. They come to the Church or attend special meetings believing that they will get healing, deliverance, miracles or some blessings. And when they see and experience the work of God, some go ahead and believe in the Person of Jesus but some don't. Let me illustrate this to you from the Word of God. In John 4:46-53, we find "So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" (John 4:49). Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way. As he was going, his servants met him and told him, "Your son lives!". Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at the same hour, at which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth.
The noble man walked a long way and came to Jesus believing in the works of Jesus that Jesus would heal his son, but you know what did Jesus tell him "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." This man came believing and yet Jesus told him unless you believe... What type of believing was Jesus talking about? He was talking about different kind of believing, anyway Jesus told this man "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way and as he was going he met his servant who said your son is healed and the noble man enquired what time his child got well and the servant replied yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. The noble man realized it was the same hour Jesus spoke the word, your son lives. Now notice very carefully the Bible goes on to say that after this miracle this noble man himself believed and his whole house also believed in Jesus. This is the second kind of believing. First this man believed in the works of Jesus but now he believed in the Person of Jesus.
When he came to Jesus all the way for his miracle, he believed in the works of Jesus and when his son was healed he and his entire household believed in the Person of Jesus. Friends, that's how it is. Many times we believe in the work of Jesus but we need to believe in the person of Jesus. You see this happening several times in the Gospel.
Lets see another illustration. Jesus healed a blind man in John chapter nine. That man also believed in the works of Jesus and then he believed that Jesus was a prophet and Jesus was a righteous man. His faith was in progression and finally when Jesus met him He asked him "Do you believe in the Son of God?" (John 9:36). The blind man asked, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" And Jesus said unto him, "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee". And he said, "Lord, I believe", And followed Jesus. This time he believed 'in' Jesus.
We find a similarity in the story of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Martha believed in the works of Jesus but when Jesus had to tell her that He is the resurrection and the life, and she needs to believe in Him. When she believed 'in' Jesus, she saw the Glory of God, and saw her brother who was dead coming back to life.
Friends, even as you are reading this article I want to encourage you, if you are believing in the works of Jesus then go ahead and start believing in the Person of Jesus too. Say, "Lord, I believe in You, I believe in Your Person, I believe in Your Character, I believe in Your Word, I believe You are God, I believe You are Holy, I believe You will never leave nor forsake me, I believe You will protect me from all evil, I believe You will keep me Holy and You will present me pure before the Father, I believe in You Jesus and I believe in Your works too."
People came to Jesus and said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" to which Jesus replied, "..believe in Him whom He (Father) sent." All we need to do is believe in Jesus whom the Father has sent, Believe in Him in whom the Father believes, in whom the Father is well pleased. So let us believe in Jesus. This believing in Jesus, this faith in the Person of Jesus pleases God. The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. All our praying is good, our sacrifices are good and even the works that we do may be good. But it is faith that impresses and pleases God. See how simple and easy God has made it for us. All that we need to do is just believe in Jesus. Believe in the Person of Jesus and believe in the works of Jesus.
May God bless this message to your heart and put faith in your heart. Amen!
S. R. Manohar
