Glory

6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected— even children in the third and fourth generations.” Exodus 34: 6-7 (NLT) When you sow into the spirit you sow life not death. Faithful means to remain loyal and steadfast; that which can be relied on. God remains loyal and steadfast to His word. God is someone who can be relief on. But this pertains to us too- we are also called to being loyal. The more we are engrafted in Christ, the more we are reliable. The good news is that even when we are unfaithful in His faithfulness God will remain close to us.  Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1 (NLT) Resting in grace is the unmerited favour of God towards us that is in Christ Jesus. It gives us confidence and boldness. Grace not only initiates salvation, it is the arena in which the whole of the Christian life is lived. Nothing makes us as bold as saying “I am a child of God.”  Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:3 (NLT) 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8  (NLT) Let us learn obedience through suffering, and let us endure hardship with patient endurance in the place where the Lord has placed us so that we can join the army of Christ as a good and faithful soldiers and servants to our life’s end. For suffering is often the badge of honour of a faithful man or woman of God. If we as believers are not willing to endure hardship, we will never accomplish much for Jesus Christ. Accomplishing things for the kingdom takes a different level of consistency and sacrifice.  Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. 2 Timothy 2: 4 (NLT) 10 Therefore I [am ready to] persevere and stand my ground with patience and endure everything for the sake of the elect [God’s chosen], so that they too may obtain [the] salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with [the reward of] eternal glory. 11 The saying is sure and worthy of confidence: If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny and disown and reject Him, He will also deny and disown and reject us. 13 If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:10-13 (AMPC) When we fall, when we are faithless and do not endure, it does not change who God is – He remains faithful. Because God’s faithfulness is more than enough for us, we can draw near and rest in His presence. 

5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7 Longsuffering God’s long-suffering—His patience—is grace to us. While we yet live, we have an opportunity to trust Christ in repentance and faith. God is exercising his restraint from receiving payment for our debt If we don’t understand His character we won’t understand what grace really means. Why is this important? 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:20-23 Because every one of us are in sin and in debt to God – we have a spiritual debt that is so deep we will never be able to get out of it. The good news is that Jesus repurposes our debt. He has redeemed us. God’s forebearance delays the payment of the debt. God is not seeking to wrathfully avenge; rather He desires all to come to repentance. Gods forebearance shows His patience with us.  7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:7-11 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 2 Peter 3: 9-15 11 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.  2 Timothy 2:11-13 We should be encouraged by God’s patience and return to him in repentance.

In order to have a personal relationship with God, we need to understand His character. That means knowing His attributes. How does He define Himself? His character is revealed from Genesis to Revelation. Developing our understanding of His character occurs when we meticulously read Scripture and contemplate the essential Bible study question: Who is God? The Bible clearly states how God defines Himself. Let how God defines Himself challenge your conception of Him.  4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:4-7 There is a tension that we must deal with in God’s attributes. How can God be the kind of God who punishes sin and one who abounds in lovingkindness?  Wrestling with this tension helps us grow in appreciation for the finished work of the cross. God is gracious, compassionate, full of love and faith but also too righteous to overlook sin, wickedness and rebellion.  Romans 3:26 | It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus. For all the Glory Moses saw he wasn’t allowed to see God’s face. God’s glory revealed in the law was incomplete – it contained an unresolved tension, which is why the glory revealed in the gospel far surpasses it. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory”—the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that’s something Moses could never say. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 The light, knowledge, and glory are reflected “in the face” of Christ. Rather than man being assigned virtues, or work, God intended us to seek a relationship with His Son. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:7-18