The King of Glory

When God crowned His glorious creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) by creating man and woman as dual expressions of His very image and likeness, He saw that “it was very good.” (Gen 1:31). Man and woman together were completely untainted by sin, selfishness, or corruption of any kind, but that was short-lived. God said to Adam and Eve, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:16&17) The tincture in the poison of that deadly fruit was selfishness, a desire to replace God’s perfect Lordship with a corrupted focus on self…so mankind, created uniquely to reflect the very character of God Himself to all creation, revolted against that purpose and sunk into the oblivion of self-worship…an oblivion that only God could rescue him from, at a cost so great as to defy explanation. God’s One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, described by the apostle Paul as “the last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45) came into this world to reverse the effects of the curse…the very curse that we had brought upon ourselves, and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). It should not surprise us, therefore, that self-less-ness characterizes Christ at every point, from His birth as an infant in a horse trough, to His death on a cross. “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master,” (Mat 10:25) Jesus said. God’s purpose for each one of us is to mold the character of His One and Only Son within us by the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit “to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13), which is why Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23&24). Make no mistake about it, our flesh, our old natures which are, in fact, an aberration of who we were originally created to be, will not go down without a fight…every minute of every hour of every day. We must be intentional about this sanctifying work as we partner with God’s Holy Spirit; there is simply no other way if we are to be successful…which is why only our love for Jesus Christ is a motivator sufficient to the task…and that love will only develop as we surrender completely to Him and exercise our God-given wills to yield the throne of our lives to the rightful King, “the King of Glory” (Psalm 24:7-10) without hesitation, without reservation, and without stipulation. This is the critical proposition for every human being. Will you stop…and listen to the voice that spoke you into being…will you let that voice resound in your life…will you follow that voice, the voice of God Almighty, out of the “dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Col 1:13)…for…”The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” (Proverbs 4:18)