Experience the Spirit of Glory, for the Glory of God is Related to the Economy of God

Our God is a God of glory: the Father is a Father of glory, Christ is the Lord of glory, and the Spirit is the Spirit of glory; the glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God.

The fact that God is the Father of glory implies that He has many sons; we are the many sons of the Father, and we are called unto His glory.

The Father, who is of glory, is expressed through His many sons.

Glory is not an aura of brightness or something that physically shines out of someone; glory is God expressed.

As believers in Christ, we have seen the appearing of the God of glory in our spirit and we were captured by Him.

We could not resist this wonderful, glorious One; He is so wonderful, so glorious, and so amazing. His appearing causes us to give in to Him, to receive Him, and to repent for not expressing His glory.

Day by day we are the beneficiaries of the visitation of the God of glory.

By His appearance to us again and again in our time with Him and even throughout the day, we are infused with the God of glory and we express Him.

How can we, sinners who are saved by grace, express God in His glory? No matter how much we try, we cannot express God.

Only the one who has the life and nature of God can express God. Only when we live by the divine life and nature can we express God.

Through regeneration, we have received the life and nature of God, and day by day we can contact God and gain more of God.

The more we simply touch the Lord in our contact with Him, the more we are infused with Him as glory.

Spontaneously, something shines out from within us: we shine Him out.

Christ is in us as the hope of glory, and He is leading us into glory as the many sons of God.

Hallelujah, our destiny is glory, and we are being led into glory to become part of the glorious expression of the Triune God for eternity!

May we remain under the Lord’s shining every day.

May we allow Him to shine in us and on us, and may we receive His rich infusion into our being. We have been called to glory and we will be brought into glory.

The God of all grace has called us into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, and He is bringing us into glory.

The more we behold the Lord in our time with Him, the more we will reflect Him, and we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. Hallelujah!

The Spirit of Glory Rests upon the Suffering Believers in their Persecution for the Glorifying of Christ

1 Pet. 4:14 speaks of “the Spirit of glory and of God”. The Spirit of glory is the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of glory is the One through whom Christ was glorified in His resurrection (Rom. 1:4).

In a very particular way, the Spirit of glory rests upon the suffering believers in their persecution so that Christ may be glorified.

When we are under persecution and in suffering, the Spirit is the Spirit of glory to not only indwell us and supply us bountifully but even more rest upon us for the glorifying of the resurrected and exalted Christ, who is now in glory (1 Pet. 4:13-14).

The experience of the Spirit of glory is quite particular; it is connected to the suffering that we pass through for the Lord while undergoing persecution for Him.

Stephen was one who experienced the Spirit of glory resting upon him; in Acts 7, while he was being persecuted and stoned to death, he lifted his eyes and saw the Son of Man standing in the glory of God in the heavens.

Though he was outwardly suffering under persecution, his face was shining, for the Spirit of glory rested upon him (Acts 6:15).

When we are under persecution for the Lord’s sake and we suffer, the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us for the glorification of Christ.

There is a story concerning a little girl during the Boxer rebellion in the early 1900s in China.

The Boxers were persecuting the Christians and one day they were parading on the street the captured Christians to be put to death.

All the houses had their windows closed and shutters on because they were afraid of these people.

But there was a particular businessman who was curious and, through a little opening in the door, observed what was going on.

He saw that in the parade on the wagon there was a little girl bound and being brought to her death, to be killed; yet she was singing, and her face was glowing.

He was so impressed when he saw this, for he knew she was about to be killed, but she seemed to be happy and singing.

Why was she so happy and why was she so shining?

Later on, he inquired to find out what was happening, and he was saved because of her testimony.

A little believer in Christ, this dear young sister, was being persecuted and suffering, but the Spirit of glory and of God rested upon her to the point that others saw Christ being expressed and glorified through her.

She didn’t even have to preach the gospel: the Spirit of glory resting upon her was the gospel shining out.

Such a Spirit is the Spirit of God expressed through the suffering believers and the Spirit of the experienced God enjoyed by the suffering believers.

The Spirit of Christ is in us (1 Pet. 1:11) and the Spirit of glory rests upon us (4:14).

One of the things this wonderful Spirit does is to reveal Christ and another thing is that He rests upon us to express Christ.

The more we suffer and are persecuted for the sake of the Lord, the more glory there will be upon us.

We should not be afraid of suffering persecution for the Lord’s sake, for the Spirit of glory rests upon us to express Christ and the bountiful supply of the Spirit is within us to cause all things to work out for salvation (Phil. 1:19).

When we are reproached in the name of Christ, we should rejoice, because the Spirit of glory and that of God is resting upon us.

This Spirit of glory is the indwelling Spirit becoming the glory shining upon the persecuted believers.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to indwell us as the life-giving Spirit. We open to You: impart more life into us. Dispense more of what You are into our inner being. Grant us to have the daily experiences of Christ that we need for us to express Him in our daily living. Thank You, Lord, for being the Spirit of glory resting upon us when we suffer under persecution for the Lord’s sake. We do not look at the outward situation and circumstances, and we do not reproach those who persecute us for Your sake, for You are with us. Hallelujah, we have the indwelling Spirit as our bountiful supply and we have the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon us for the glorification of Christ! Amen, Lord, be expressed and magnified through us!

The Glory of God is Intrinsically Related to the Economy of God

The entire Bible is a book of God’s economy, which is His plan, His arrangement to carry out His intention and desire.

God’s economy is to work Himself into the being of His redeemed and regenerated people to be their life and everything so that God and man may be fully one.

The economy of God is intrinsically related to the glory of God, for the very God who wants to dispense Himself into us is being expressed through us as glory.

When He dispenses Himself into us, He is making us glorious!

He is not merely saving us from our sins, from hell, and from God’s judgment; He is saving us to glory, for He is working Himself into us as the God of glory until we’re filled with Him to express Him in glory!

God’s eternal goal is to bring us, His many sons, into glory for the eternal corporate expression of the Triune God – the New Jerusalem (Heb. 2:10; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5-6, 12, 14; Rev. 21:7, 9-11).

God’s goal is not to bring us to heaven, and His goal is not just to get us spared from perdition.

For this, He dispenses Himself as the Father of glory, the Lord of glory, and the Spirit of glory into us, and we are to the praise of His glory.

As a result of our receiving God’s dispensing as the Father predestinating us, the Son redeeming us and saving us, and the Spirit sealing us and being the pledge is that we are to the praise of His glory.

God predestinated us to obtain His glory so that we may express Him; the goal of God’s predestination is our glorification (1 Cor. 2:7).

He created us in His image as vessels of honour prepared unto glory; we were predestinated in His sovereignty to be His vessels of honour to express what He is in glory (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 9:21, 23).

We were created in a very special way, in His image and according to His likeness.

Christ is the image of God and the glory of God is illuminating the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ.

This very One who is the image of God, upon His face is illuminating the glory of God; we are created in His image to express Him in His glory.

We are vessels of honour prepared unto glory.

We shouldn’t be content or satisfied with just our sins being forgiven for us to live a good life on earth. God’s intention for us is to be brought into glory so that we may be His expression to the uttermost. Hallelujah!

Christ’s redemption has fulfilled the requirement of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23-24; Heb. 9:5; Gen. 3:24).

All men have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. Due to this fact, man became sinful and expressed not God but his sinful self.

Our fall into sin didn’t just place us under God’s judgment but also caused us to be short of the glory of God.

So Christ came to accomplish the work of redemption so that we may have access to the tree of life to enjoy God.

The way to the tree of life was closed by a cherubim with a flaming sword, signifying God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory.

But praise the Lord, through Christ’s redemption the way was opened for us to come forward to God and enjoy Him as the tree of life!

The gospel we heard was the gospel of the glory of Christ! It is the shining of Christ to reach us and bring us into Himself.

We have been called into His eternal glory, and His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue.

The all-inclusive Christ dwells in us as the hope of glory; He is the glory living in us. Christ in us, the hope of glory!

Christ is our life, and we don’t know what we will be, but we know that, when He is manifested, we will be like Him, for we will see Him even as He is.

Daily, as we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the Lord’s image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

As we daily come forward to the Lord as we are, we behold Him and reflect Him, and we are being transformed into the same image to enter into His glory.

Day by day we are spending a little time with the Lord, not as a routine or religious ritual but for us to come with an unveiled face to be infused with Him and transformed by Him.

The more we spend time with the Lord in His presence, the more we are transformed into His glory, for we’re infused with the glory of the Lord and He is making us glorious. Hallelujah!

This is not a behavioural change by our improving and correcting ourselves; this is inward transformation by going through an organic process of beholding Christ and being transformed into His image.

Little by little, day by day, the Lord is infusing Himself into us and He is radiating through us with His divine glory.

God the Father is moving within us as the God of all grace so that we may participate in His eternal glory and even become the glory of God (1 Pet. 5:10).

We are becoming the glory of God!

The glory of God in the economy of God involves the high peak of the divine revelation – God becoming man so that man may become God in life, nature, and function but not in the Godhead (John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; Col. 3:4; Heb. 2:10; Rev. 21:10-11). Hallelujah!

God’s intention in His economy is not merely to save us and bring us to heaven but even more, to make us the same as Christ in every possible way for us to express God in His glory.

The glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God.

Thank You, God, for predestinating us to obtain Your glory so that we may express You! Thank You for creating us in Your image as vessels of honour prepared unto glory! Hallelujah, we were predestinated in God’s glory to be vessels of honour to express what He is in glory! Thank You, Lord Jesus, for accomplishing redemption to fulfil the requirement of God’s glory. Thank You for calling us into Your glory and for becoming the hope of glory in us. Keep us beholding and reflecting You today so that we may be transformed into the image of the Lord from glory to glory. Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself as glory little by little, day by day, until we are transformed into Your image and we express You in Your glory. Move in us as the God of all grace so that we may participate in God’s eternal glory and even become the glory of God! Hallelujah for God’s economy which is related to the glory of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 865-866 and 111-112, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 9, entitled, The Temple of God Filled with the Glory of God.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The glory of God and the Economy of God, article by Ron Kangas in Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Grace of God in the Economy of God, article by W. Lee in Affirmation and Critique.
  – The persons of God and the three parts of man, a portion from, The Economy of God, ch. 5, by W. Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God made man a vessel he / With a spirit, soul, body. / God to man his content be / That through man His glory see. / Man does have God’s image true, / Noble in his status, too. / But God’s life man also needs / Divine nature to receive. (Hymns #1404 stanzas 1-2)
  – Changed into His likeness! / He the Spirit is! / If the Spirit governs, / He’ll fulfill my wish. / As a glass, beholding / With uncovered face, / I can see His glory / And reflect His grace. / Gazing on His glory, / Face to face to see; / Constantly beholding, / Ever would I be. (Hymns #399 stanzas 2, 3, and 5)
  – Christ as life will be the content, / Heading up all things in light; / All the saints will be the vessel, / To express His glory bright. (Hymns #981 stanza 3)