God’s Glory and Greatness, Pt. 1

Ronald Weinland

August 13, 2022

The last sermon series we had has led into this one, as I was kind of hinting on last Sabbath, that they were both connected. This is about the greatness of Almighty God, and a greatness that mankind cannot grasp except that God reveal it to him.

Want to repeat that because it’s going to be repeated throughout this series. It’s about a greatness of Almighty God, one that mankind cannot grasp, not as we do, in any fashion or form, except that God reveals it to us.

So, that’s an awesome thing to understand, how God’s spirit works in our life and gives us an ability to see, to know things that otherwise is impossible, because we’re talking about something that’s of God’s spirit. It’s not something that can be physically discerned. Though people try to understand various things about God, they’re very limited in what they can actually see. We’re exceedingly blessed for what we can see.

So again, for us much of this process began, as we’re talking about this progression here now into this particular series, as we went through the last series. Well, actually, going father back than that, the series about The Fulfilling of Passover, even going all the way back to that as we covered things about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was at that point that God started giving even more so this sense, this understanding of things that He has done through time and with people through time as He has called different ones, and how He’s worked in their lives.

But the most awesome thing of all that He’s been revealing to us and helping us to see more deeply than ever before is that He planned these things long, long ago. Twelve sons, everything that would lead up to that, one with whom God would work. The flood. These things didn’t just come along and God finally decided, “What are we going to do with mankind? They’re living for nearly a thousand years and look at what they’re doing!” It was all by design. It was intended that we learn from that process, of what mankind became like after a few hundred years, and then, finally, having come to see that the best thing to do, because mankind became so corrupt.

It’s exactly what happened to Satan. His mind became corrupt as soon as he sinned. Mankind, because of the way God created us, takes a little longer, in the sense of a process from the time of birth on that leads to a point where the mind can become so corrupted, the human mind, that God can’t work with it. It doesn’t matter if a person is resurrected a thousand times and given life again a thousand times, the same person, they’re not going to change after a certain point. After the mind gets to a certain point it will not change.

Now, the spirit world was different in the sense that once it did, they did, the demons and Satan did sin, that was it for them because they’re made of spirit. Their minds were composed of spirit, in that sense. We’re physical. That’s the unique thing about being in human life, God can transform us over time with His holy spirit working in the mind to create something different. That’s awesome to understand, it truly is, to understand why we’re made this way. Because it’s about a process of a creation, an ongoing creation that’s in those whom God calls. It's in the mind.

There are those who are going to yield to that and there are those who are going to resist it. There are those who are going to become set. Millions and millions, and possibly billions upon billions, who are going to become set to the point they will refuse God. Many have already done that through time. Many in God’s Church over the past 2,000 years have done that. They’ve come to the point where they’ve refused God.

Now, where they stand, that’s between them and God. Some have gone too far. Some knew better by every means that they had at their disposal, if you will, as far as knowledge and understanding. Others, it’s a matter of falling asleep, it’s a matter of drifting away over time, and they just have to be given a different time in which they can be worked with, the Great White Throne.

But it’s not going to be like we used to think, that almost everyone who’s ever lived is going to have the ability to become Elohim. That’s not true. It’s not true at all. Because of choices. Sometimes it’s hard to understand that people could make a choice like that, that they want something different than what God allows, but God’s been revealing that as well over the past decade or so here.

So again, some of these things began, we began to see things a little more deeply in the sense of being in awe. Because that’s what came out of some of that series, being in awe of God, that it wasn’t just a matter of certain ones came along, “Well, I think I’ll call him. And let’s see, how am I going to work with them? I’ll wait three generations and we’ll have someone that has twelve sons. Let’s see, how can I use that one? Oh yeah, twelve in the first resurrection, twelve times twelve thousand…” God doesn’t work that way!

That’s like building a house and not knowing the plans. It’s kind of funny. So, there is this show I saw, just one of them. I think it’s something to do with the ugliest home in America. There’s kind of an award, that if ever who wins it gets like a hundred thousand dollar make over or something like that. Some of these houses, one that was built that I remember being kind of red on the outside, and it was different levels, different things, and the wife gave the husband a hard time at different times because he’s going to build a door going out on the second or third floor, or whatever it is, and it goes to nothing because there is nothing out there yet. But he, maybe in time, they’ll put something out there type of thing.

I think that should have won the award for sure, what I saw, hands down. Because it’s like he built as he went along. There was no design to it. Different levels, even on the floor there were like three or four levels on the first level. If you ever sleepwalk and you get old and you’re downstairs it’s going to be an absolute nightmare!

Anyway, sometimes we can take human characteristics and make God like that. We don’t grasp that God is not like that. He plans. He prepares. He looks ahead much farther than what we can comprehend. There are things planned out into millions upon millions of years already in the God Family.

The whole universe is out there for a purpose. It’s not that all of a sudden we’re going to become Elohim and that we don’t need the universe anymore, it’s just going to disappear, and we’ll all be in heaven in a spirit realm. God doesn’t want that! That’s not what God desires, because there is that within a physical realm that enhances and enriches life in a way that we can’t comprehend beyond that of spirit, in the sense of working with things and dealing with things.

Again, we don’t know all that’s going to be involved in that, but God has an incredible plan of what Elohim is going to do in the universe. It’s out there for a reason and it all starts right here on this little thing, earth. It’s very little in comparison with what God has created out there, things that our minds can’t comprehend. What does that do?

The greatness of Almighty God. To be able to have the mind, the ability to plan, to prepare, to do things so intricately into time. That’s the way it’s been for the past nearly 6,000 years yet now, as far as those whom God has called and His plan of what He was doing. From the very beginning, Cain and Abel, God knows what people are going to do under certain circumstances of life with their minds, the way they think.

We have choice, free choice, and God knows the path. If He worked with in a certain way, He creates a certain environment, there are different ones that are going to respond and have opportunity for that. But the foundational part of it is intricately designed in the sense of God working with and molding and fashioning individuals. That starts to change as we get into the Millennium and the Great White Throne, but that’s another story.

So we started going through and talking about some of those things, about the greatness of Almighty God, and we took an incredible step forward in the sense of being able to understand some of this. Now, in all of this, this is a matter of God’s spirit. It’s a matter of being able to see and grasp and comprehend and be moved by these things, by God’s spirit. Something to pray about, that God give you help to be able to drink in what He’s giving.

Because He’s giving us an ability to see something on a level that, candidly, we have never known because of where we are in time, because we’re getting ready to go into a new time. A lot of things are to be set, fully prepared to launch more effectively into that era, that time when Christ will be King of kings. So again, we’ve learned how God has meticulously planned and brought about His purpose in the lives of so many through time.

This series is entitled God’s Glory and Greatness, Part 1. Pretty simple.

In that last series when we were talking about humility and seeing ourselves, God blessed us even more so beyond what we had covered already about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and talking about things to do with Esther and Mordecai, because that entire thing happened because God had planned it. The ruler, Vashti, Esther, Mordecai who were brought out of captivity…or brought into captivity, I should say, and remained in that region of the world after the captivity. Some returned to Jerusalem and Judah to begin to rebuild around Jerusalem and so forth, the walls and those things that are covered in Ezra and Nehemiah. Others still lived in that region, hence the people of Mordecai, the Jewish people that were there. So, that’s how we came upon the story of Esther.

So again, it wasn’t just something that developed, that just happened over time and God decided to have a book inspired to be written about it. It’s like, “This will make a great part of the Bible!” No, it’s all planned.

Let’s begin back in Exodus today, Exodus 19. I’m going to look at how these terms are even specifically used about God’s glory and greatness in a couple of places, or a few places anyway. This is one place where we can learn something that at least, hopefully, we begin to see and understand in a better way what this series is about.

Now, this account is in that time period of the ten commandments being given on Mount Sinai. We’re going to back up here a little bit in Exodus 19 then and read what leads up to this.

Exodus 19:16—Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings, lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud. So, these things shook people up. What they saw physically shook them up.

We can read about the story but to grasp it fully, we can’t. We can try to appreciate what it might have been like. But this was kind of a terrifying thing to witness, that kind of power that was there all contained around Mount Sinai and on Mount Sinai and what they saw and what they heard. Just that sound of the trumpet, it’s written in such a way it had to be almost terrifying to hear something that powerful that was going off.

It says, the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. So, a trumpet used to call. Moses told them what they were to do. And so, this is a part of that process. Now was the time.

Now, Mount Sinai was completely in smoke; you couldn’t see the mountain, just in the sense of what was from the certain elevation on up. All smoke. Smoke that was shooting up. It’s like being next to a volcano and seeing all this smoke that’s shooting up in the atmosphere. That’s kind of what they were seeing. …it was completely in smoke because the Eternal descended upon it in fire.

So, we know He didn’t descend, but He created that to appear that was descending, because again, spirit is spirit, God is spirit and can’t be seen. But He blessed them to see something. Now, just because God’s presence comes along, if in spirit wherever He would choose to be in spirit, this doesn’t happen. He made it happen. This is what He made happen because He was there and wanted them to see it.

It says, Because the Eternal descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended up like the smoke of a furnace… So, that means it’s like it’s being hot. We can think of a volcano. So again, a furnace, it shoots smoke because it’s hot, and so it rises up into the air higher and higher depending on the heat and the weather.

It says, and the whole mountain shook greatly. So again, it wasn’t enough that they heard this incredible thundering sound of a trumpet and the thunder that was there and the earth that was shaking and the smoke that was descending up. Terrifying, as far as a human being seeing, because they’d never seen anything like this.

Now, they saw some things before this, not too long before this of water separating, and things happening there along the way that were incredible in itself. This, that was a matter of salvation for them. Dry land, getting away from Pharoah, they were happy to get, make the difference there because they thought they were dead until that opened up. This is a little different. They’re being told, “You’re coming into God’s presence.”

Verse 19—Then when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder… See, they were already trembling before, and now this is happening. It was long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God, it says, answered him by voice. Then the Eternal came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Eternal called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

So, now we’re at Exodus 20 here. This is when God, very powerfully so, it goes through a part of the story and then it kind of backs up here and this is what God did when He gave the power for them to grasp, hear something of law, of the ten commandments.

Exodus 20:1—Then God spoke these words, saying, I am the Eternal your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other Elohim, that’s what the word is, other gods. Elohim is about a family, and a lot of the things out of Egypt and different places, they were about different gods and families oftentimes, and even that which in different cultures and so forth, a lot of times they have these different ones like the ones of Zeus and different ones that are related to each other.

So, because that was their common thing of false gods around them, God’s saying don’t have any, in essence, false Gods, any Elohim before Me. Because He is the Almighty God and begins to reveal some of these things on a very limited scale, if you will. Again, this is all physical to them. Nothing spiritual at all in here for them. They’re not called to something spiritual.

Then I’m going to read part of this in Deuteronomy now, part of the story, rather than going through everything that’s said here. Deuteronomy 5, this is the second account of the giving of the law. That’s what Deuteronomy is about, the second giving of the law.

Deuteronomy 5:22—These words the Eternal spoke to all your assembly in the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness. So, they’re being reminded of what was given. “Here is what was given.” Moses is going through this with them telling them about their history. Now they’re coming to a point in time where they’re getting ready to go into a promised land and so they’re going through this book, this portion here of Deuteronomy, of what was given.

He’s reminding them of what happened at the time of the giving of the law. It says, and with thick darkness and with a loud voice, and He added no more. Then He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. So, it says this is what God gave, He gave no more, then basically called me up, wrote these on two tablets of stone. And of course, they know what they did, the partying and everything that was going on and the golden calf and the breaking of the tablets… anyway.

So it was, when you heard the Eternal from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, and you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Surely the Eternal our God has shown us His glory and His greatness. The reality is, no, He didn’t. He did on a physical plane, but not His true glory and greatness by any measure. Because they’re carnal, physical human beings and their ability to see is extremely limited in the sense of what they were able to witness. They simply witnessed something on a physical scale as much as they did the water parting. They got to the other side, and they were already murmuring and complaining. It doesn’t take very long because it’s all physical.

They’re not being moved by God’s spirit to change, to be called to change, and so forth. It’s a relationship with physical human beings that don’t like God’s law. “The carnal mind is enmity with God. It is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be.” That’s them. That’s all mankind until God begins to draw us, work with us, and open our minds.

…we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. So again, limited understanding in the sense we know that God made a voice come from that, but that God doesn’t communicate that way. He does to human beings. He had to manifest Himself as a physical human being and communicated through the mouth of a being that was standing before Abraham. Abraham was able to visit. Then Melchizedek, same thing, speak and they could hear because it’s all physical.

We have seen this day, that God speaks with mankind, yet he lives. So, God can speak to mankind, and we still live. Awesome! Now, we’re not moved by that in the same sense as what they were. They were in awe of something. They had seen different things over this period of time. They’ve experienced a lot of things. Manna, right at forty years now, getting close to that. All the things that had happened to them in the wilderness. Physical things. They saw how God chastened them from time to time, all the snakes that came out in the camp, killed thousands, until they wrapped one around a pole and they were told to go look upon it and when you look upon it, you’ll not die.

We still have the snake on a pole on nearly ambulance you see, nearly every hospital. Incredible, things that mankind doesn’t grasp.

Verse 25—Now, therefore… So, look at this, what’s being said. Why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Eternal our God anymore, then we shall die. So, this is their response.

Moses is reminding them of things that happened, they’re responding and talking about, “Yes, we heard, and we lived. And surely, we’ve seen His greatness and His glory.” This is how they’re responding to Moses. Then they go on down and saying, “But why should we die? Just because we’ve heard God once,” type of thing, basically, their response to Moses was, “this great fire, even that it’ll consume us; if we hear the voice of the Eternal God anymore, then we shall die.” So, this is how they responded very early on after the commandments had been given.

Verse 26—For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Well, how would they know? But again, they’re a very physical mind here and it’s like, to have something like this happen of God and this power that we witnessed from this Mount?

So it went on, verse 27—You go near and hear all the Eternal our God may say. So, Moses is reminding them of all these things and what they said. So, they told him, Moses, in essence, “You go and hear what He has to say and then you come tell us. What He does is too great for us, too terrifying.”

…and then tell us all that the Eternal our God says to you, and we will listen and do it. Right. So, they have a good history, don’t they, after the encounter there on Mount Sinai, of how well they listened over the next few decades. Not too good.

So, we have this example of when the 10 Commandments were given and God showing forth His greatness and His glory, but the carnal, if you will, physical nation of Israel couldn’t receive it nor grasp it. They saw something physical, and that’s what they saw. It wasn’t a matter of their minds glorifying God and seeing the glory that they were so moved by that it would change life, or that people would want to respond to that in a positive way in honoring Him and loving Him and being moved by what He has to say.

No, “Moses you go up and then you come back and tell us, and we’ll listen to you, and we’ll do it.” Not a good track record.

So again, as stated in that introduction about the greatness of Almighty God, it’s one that mankind cannot grasp except that God reveal it to him. Having the ability to see something physical, hear something physical or whatever it might be, doesn’t mean you see God or see His glory or see His greatness by any measure.

Let’s look at what, in Hebrews 12, look at what God blesses us to see when considering the contrast between a carnal physical people who are on Mount Sinai and us, and what God has revealed to us.

Hebrews 12:18—For you have not come to the mountain that may be felt. Now, there is an incredible contrast here that Paul is giving. Moses, in that time of the commandments, they saw something, but they didn’t grasp it. They really didn’t.

Now, spiritually then Paul comes along and says, “Look at what happened at that time and look at you and what this means for you.” For you have not come to the mountain that may be felt, that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, and whirlwinds, is what it’s talking about here.

It’s just like when there is such fire. I saw one on TV the other day. They had a helicopter farther back taking a picture and the helicopter had even gone between it, but it was so massive fire on all the sides and it was twisting and turning and incredible sight to see that kind of heat coming altogether. It was sucking in, this power, this power in the air to go up and into a higher area of fire shooting up into the sky. It was awesome to see something of that, that power. You could see because it was far enough back, you could see how everything from every direction was being pulled, the flames were being pulled into that. Massive!

Here we have something here happening around Mount Sinai where they witnessed fire, they witnessed mostly smoke above that, but they saw those kinds of things, in a sense, and that’s what it’s talking about here, because of what that kind of thing does, it’s physical.

So, he refers to this, mentions this, so with darkness and whirlwinds and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words… So, even here he’s explaining, “You heard this voice of words.” Because it wasn’t God. God utters things from here. It’s a matter of the mind, the word of God, the spirit of God. That’s how God communicates. It’s not by something physical. Even Paul here addresses this in a different sort of way, in a unique sort of way, because they heard a voice of words because of what God had created physically for them to hear.

And so, yes, it originates from God, but it’s not God, if you understand the difference, what I’m saying here. Because He doesn’t talk like that. He doesn’t communicate like that. We communicate with God all the time and He doesn’t talk to us. We don’t hear voices. If you do?

“And the voice of words,” this is what you heard. …the trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure (bear) what was commanded.) Now, this has both a physical and a spiritual aspect to it. Physically, it was terrifying to them, and they really didn’t want that. But it’s also made clear that they couldn’t endure the word of what was told to them anyway, the commandments. No man can unless God calls him and gives them help of His holy spirit because “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” It’s just the way we are as human beings until a change begins to take place.

(For they could not endure (bear) what was commanded, that even if a beast so much as touched the mountain, it was to be stoned or struck down with an arrow.) So, a javelin, an arrow, it’s a word that can be used either way. So, basically that was what they were told. If something were to happen and they touched it, “You stay away. You do not touch it. You do not move but a certain distance up, and that’s it.”

They were terrified of it anyway. Paul here is adding a little bit more as to how incredible this was, that they were given such instruction that nothing was to touch it. If an animal had touched it, it’s to be destroyed.

(So terrifying was the sight Moses said, I was exceedingly fearful and trembled.) That’s Moses, after all he had done, after all his experience with God and God speaking to him, giving him guidance and direction, and instruction. Yet his response was like this. So, he had first the burning bush, and then he went down, told to go down to Pharaoh, and first met up with others who came out representing him. We know the story of the staff and it turning into a snake and others who had snakes; and that turned into a snake and consumed the others.

So, he had a lot of things that he witnessed. Then the ten plagues that had happened. Then coming through the Red Sea. All these things. But when Moses got there this terrified him. Incredible. So, it had to be very terrifying indeed, yet God was working with him spiritually as well as physically, obviously.

But then it goes on. This is what Paul gives because this is for the Church. This is for us to grasp and comprehend and see that’s important spiritually. Seeing it physically is not what it was all about.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God. Now, just to grasp what that’s saying; to see that in the mind is an awesome thing, because we don’t see it physically, but we know what it means. We understand what it means that we’re brought before God’s presence, to what He’s called us to, to become a part of: Jerusalem. Incredible! Then in time it’s going to be accomplished and fulfilled and fully built. That’s what we’ve been brought it.

Mount Zion. It says it in different ways. The same sort of thing, the government of God that comes from God, and yet it’s far greater than any Mount Sinai. This is the fulfillment of those things that were physical, to teach us something on a far greater plane that we’re able to see.

…the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. There are times in my life where I have looked back and thought about different things and sin. We all have sin in our lives as we’ve been called into God’s Church and things we’re to conquer and overcome. There are those things in times past that I thought about, that I realize, you know, if the angelic realm sees us sinning before God that’s a horrible thing. We should be honoring God in everything we do, and yet we find ourselves as weak physical human beings.

But what a horrible thing that they have to see the bad examples, and we have them in our lives. We have things where — didn’t intend to touch upon some of this, but I figured it would come out—that I have heard (going to find out the truth in it all) that on an Atonement that someone had passed out some candies and said it was okay, that an elder told them it was okay on the Day of Atonement if you ate some.

I have to say, no, it is not alright. I’m going to go ahead and find out if an elder did say that and who it was, because I’m going to gladly address it. Because you’re dead wrong and that’s nothing but sin and it’s sick and perverted and distorted, and it’s against the word and ways of God. You eat nothing and you drink nothing on Atonement. You put nothing inside your mouth. Just because you’re having a difficult time, whatever it might be, staying awake, perhaps, is that it? Because that’s part of the story, supposedly. I don’t know. But I have to get to the bottom of it to find out.

But I think, what a horrible thing, to this point in time that we haven’t grown enough to know the difference of what you’re to do and not to do on the Day of Atonement! You don’t drink a little bit of water. If you do, your fast is over with. On the Day of Atonement we’re not to have any. Now, unless you have certain kinds of medical conditions and if you don’t take a medication you’ll be dead before it’s over with. That’s not God’s purpose. But if you’re not going to be dead, and it’s not going to hurt you, well, you have to judge that yourself.

But as a whole the majority of the Church, we don’t do that. It’s a day of atonement. It’s a Holy Day. It’s a High Day. There are things we’re not to do and we’re not to have anything cross our lips – and not cheating in the shower either. Because I’ve heard of things like that in times past, “Oh, just a little bit.” No, it was a lot and you sinned when you did it.

Doesn’t that scare the crap out of us? To sin on the Day of Atonement? A time that pictures that we’re to be at one with God?! At one with God. Seeking to be obedient to Him in what we’re doing. Anyway, like I said, I’ll find out one way or the other and I’ll address it because that’s inexcusable.

I guess I was talking about in the context of having the angelic realm see God working with physical human beings who are to become greater than they are. That’s what we’re here for, to become Elohim, God, in the God Family. So, personally, I want to be, I strive to be, though I can’t do it perfectly, strive to be, want to be, even before them watching, because they see us. They observe God’s people. They’re out there doing things that we have no idea of, things of protection in a physical world. Anyway.

So again here, what we come to is a …a heavenly Jerusalem. We need to see that in our minds, in our being, what God has called us to. Because it’s all about a calling, it’s about our opportunity and what’s before us. …to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn.

What an incredible thing to be in this period of time in the first 6,000 years, to have many at this time even, some, I don’t know how many, so I use “some” because we’re not all called to that point in time and purpose. But to be a part because of a unique time in a transition. Some will live physically in the Millennium, others God has called specifically to be worked with, to be a part of the firstborn, the Church of the firstborn. The Church over the past 2,000 years has been called to this purpose, to become a part of those who are going to be first resurrected after Christ into God’s Kingdom.

…registered or “recorded” as the word means, in heaven. So, look at those who have gone before us. That’s what it’s talking about. Do we see it? Do we see all those who have paved the way and a little bit here and a little bit there has been given and then built upon, and then we have a book of their lives and the history? It’s awesome! They went through very hard things to prepare the way for us and those who went before us, especially in the last 2,000 years within the Church. Incredible, the advantage we have because they paved the way.

I think of things that some of them have gone through. None of us have gone through anything comparable to many of them, truly. The hardships, the difficulties? We get in a vehicle, and we drive for ever how many hours or shorter to come to services. If it’s hot outside we can turn on the air conditioner. We get to a building and it’s hot outside, but we have air conditioning, or it’s cold outside and we have heat. They had to work. Well, they couldn’t even get air conditioning, but they could work on the heat part when it was cold outside with wood and things that they could burn and whatever.

They had that portion of it, but they had to work harder. To eat? We’re running late on something we can go by, I think some had to go by Wendy’s quickly here earlier to grab something. They didn’t have that. They didn’t have Chick-fil-a, Burger King, something quick like that, or a nicer restaurant you could sit down in and order something off the menu. They had to do things from scratch. I mean, scratch, scratch; something that we probably would find a hard time eating we’re so spoiled because of the way they had to store and prepare foods and the like.

…the Church of the firstborn recorded in heaven, to God the Judge of all. We’re in God’s hands and God judges all. Judgment comes from God. “Judgment now is upon the Church of God.” It’s not on the world. That’s what it means; that’s what it’s talking about. We’re under judgment as soon as we’re called, as soon as we’re given God’s spirit, as soon as we promise before God that our lives are His. Not ours. We’re not to have, in the sense, our own opinions and ideas that are at odds or against what God tells us and gives to us Sabbath by Sabbath by Sabbath, Holy Day to Holy Day.

…God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, perfected in other words, to a point, as it’s swinging back around and talking about the Church of the firstborn recorded in heaven, because, again, it’s about seeing what we’ve been called to.

…and to Joshua, the Mediator of the new covenant. That in itself is so profound – God’s purpose in His Son. Again, we can understand and have for a long time in a lot better way on a spiritual plane, that God had planned that long ago. Candidly, God gave that to us as well during PKG, that Christ hadn’t eternally existed, but God had planned him, purposed his life.

Everything was built upon that. Chief cornerstone. Before anything was ever created, anything, he was determined. Why? For us. Because God had determined us too, those who would become a part of a human family in time, whom God could call, work with, baptized, given of His holy spirit, and one day become a part of Elohim.

“And Joshua, the Mediator of the new covenant.” Not something that was physical. Because even in the law, I mean, think about it, what could they see? They only saw a law that to them was physical. “No other Gods.” Well, they didn’t do very good with that one either over and over again because they adopted various things of some of the nations around them and different ideas about their gods and brought it into them and sinned against God.

So, from number one all the rest of the way through. Then they sure didn’t see the things about God. But then we get down to the last six commandments and human beings don’t do well with that. They just don’t. Probably one of the ones that’s been abused the most is adultery. Sick world! Sick world. The mind of mankind, not understanding a design that God has given and why God gave it.

So again, that was very physical to them because that’s all they could see. Christ, what an awesome thing, that when he came along, when God gave him life and he matured and began to preach, especially more so in that last 3½ years, of things that he gave, and he gave the spirit of the law, even things that people still at that time didn’t understand. Some of it the early disciples didn’t fully grasp and comprehend although they grasped and comprehended much because God’s intent was to continue revealing more and more and more the closer to the end of this age that we were to come before Christ would return.

We’ve been given so much. But what we’re able to see now is so much greater than ever before. But it’s in the mind, and the more we’ve been given to see, the more we should be able to glorify God, to see the glory and the greatness of Almighty God.

I think of technology alone that we see things today in a way that in all the time before, decades and thousands of years, that mankind never grasped. To look into the heavens to see what’s up there and what we see by comparison, and yet even what we see is puny. It really is. But we see so much more.

That’s kind of the way it is as far as what God has revealed about Himself and about His plan and purpose through time. The closer we’ve gotten to the end, the more that’s been revealed. All for a purpose of preparing for His Son.

Not calling us into a time, not returning at a time when mankind is still out there with wooden wheels on carts with whatever pulling it, tilling the land with those instruments that were made, behind a mule or behind an ox or whatever it is, and the land beating you up because it’s not easy to be behind one of those things, and the earth and what it does to you when you hit a rock and the jarring it does to the human body. You’re going along and you’re getting jarred around. Pretty strong people that had to do those things compared to us today. We’re pretty puny compared to our ancestors.

That isn’t the kind of world that God was going to start a Millennium with. It’s one where advancement is brought right up to a brink of time to give mankind the ability to use technology in a massive way, but going to so misuse it that he’s going to begin to destroy the earth, and would if God didn’t intervene. But it’s necessary to thrust us into the next period of time.

So, all timed by God. What an awesome thing. Do we see that to the greatness and the glory of God, what He’s able to do. For 5,800 years mankind basically lived in the stone age, in a sense, if you understand what I’m saying, compared to what we live in now. You couldn’t go flip on a switch and lights come on. You couldn’t go jump in a vehicle.

Look at what Mr. Herbert Armstrong went through, the period of time he lived, going back not only to the twentieth century but the nineteenth, at the end of that, and his life and what he lived to see as a child. If you read his autobiography, what it was like to go out west in the vehicle they had. They didn’t have paved highways. They didn’t have roads in many cases, very much of what you could recognize as a road. They travelled out there and were so excited to be able to do so.

…and Joshua, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Why does it say that? What is it talking about? Well, that’s where the first offerings are spoken of, and he offered to God that which was pleasing to God. That was a beginning. We went through a series like that talking about those kinds of things. But it all comes down to Joshua because that’s what it’s about. Pictures what he was going to do and what it meant that he died for every one of us, that he spilled his blood to the earth so we could be forgiven of our sick, sick, perverted, disgusting sins, the things that resist and refuse God.

So indeed, again, the true greatness and glory of God cannot truly be seen and grasped in genuine appreciation, thankfulness, and understanding, if you will, and one of awe except that God give it to you, as much as He gave you understanding of the Holy Days, the Sabbath, and on and on it goes. So it is, our ability to see Him and to grasp His greatness and be in awe of Him, to love Him, to understand what He’s given to us, all that He’s gone through to give us what we have. It’s how we think.

I think of the physical creation. You can’t help it when you go through something like this. I can’t help it, anyway.

Psalm 19. How could something like this not come to mind when we think of things like this and think about God and the majesty, the greatness. But we go beyond seeing it, we go beyond understanding it, why it’s there. Because that’s what helps us to see more and more of the glory and the greatness of God Almighty.

Psalm 19, Psalm of David. We’re very familiar with it. Verse 1—The heavens declare the glory of God. It’s not a matter of just seeing it physically. That doesn’t begin to get it. Mankind has always been able to see the heavens. Everyone who’s ever lived and looked up has seen the heavens, day and night, the things that are there, the moon, the sun, the stars. It doesn’t mean they grasp God. It doesn’t mean they see God. How blessed are you that you do, that you can, that you can go out, walk in an area, and you can see God?

I can’t help it, that’s my favorite time to pray. I remember the first time that I was able to experience that in a unique way. Because we kind of learn, in one respect, that you do it in a closed room or whatever, and that’s great, that’s one way, that’s one place. But it’s like you have to be on your knees and you have to have your arms stretched out. Now, I might do that a little bit, but I don’t do it for a long period of time because it’s hard. They had to help Moses hold up his arms. So, we’re weak as human beings.

But just to walk and pray to God? It’s like in the past there are people who have thought you can’t drive in your car and pray to God. Yeah, you can.

It’s like the Bible. There are people in the world that used to think, maybe not today like they used to but there was a time when, “You can’t write in it! You’re desecrating the holy word.” The Bible, it’s a book. It’s a book. The words inspired by God, come from God, yes, what He’s written is true and holy, not translated well – some of that’s not so holy because it comes from human beings – but anyway, I hope you understand what I’m saying. But the mind of man sometimes is kind of funny that way, physical.

I’ve known of people who thought it was wrong to write in a Bible. Man! We come into God’s Church, and we have markings in there, things written in there, so much so that it’s like, “I don’t want to lose this. I’m putting a reward in the front page. If I ever leave it somewhere I want someone to get a hold of me because I put a lot of work into those markings. I’m the only one that can translate some of it!” No… Anyway.

So, we go through a lot of things like that, and so it is with prayer. There have been funny ideas that people have had about what you pray about, how you fast. Atonement! We know it’s for, basically, it’s a whole 24 hours, sunset to sunset, and we know what day it is, but then it’s like all other fasting has to be like Atonement. You can’t do anything else. It’s got to be like Atonement, and you’ve almost got to be shut up in a room.

Well, I hope you don’t have to be shut up in a room on Atonement. But anyway, if you want to shut up in a room and pray and do different things, that’s awesome. I hope you understand what I’m saying. But sometimes people have equated the fact that if you have a fast it has to be from sundown to sundown. I remember the first time, I don’t remember the exact timing, but I remember I started preaching on that and telling people no, if you want to start at 10:00 in the morning until 10:00 in the next day, that’s fine, too.

It's almost like, “It doesn’t sound right. It’s supposed to be from sunset to sunset.” No, Atonement is sunset to sunset, the Sabbath is sunset to sunset, but you can fast at other times. Is there a time you can pray and other times you can’t? I’m sorry but I’m just going through some of our history. We’re far more mature today, and so, some of these things affect us. Some of the things we’re talking about here, what we see, what we don’t see, what we grasp and what we don’t grasp.

Anyway, let’s go back. I’ll start in here again. Psalm 19:1—The heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament shows His handiwork. So, what an awesome thing to be out in it.

Oh, I didn’t follow through. Bricket Wood, beautiful campus there in England and they had the trees, the cedars of Lebanon, beautiful trees. The trunks, the branches that come out from them, majestic looking. They really are! The green, like a pine or whatever, the way it grows on there, cedar, but it’s unique the way it follows. It’s like a flat plane almost, as it were, in different layers. Beautiful trees spoken of over and over again like we have in times past, but they’re majestic.

So, to be in that environment and a beautiful, manicured lawn and a beautiful environment, and then back toward the back side of the campus there you go down into a lower area, it’s Japanese gardens. The bridge, the water there, various fish that are there, and the azaleas at that time of year, they had colors that you don’t see over here. To go through there, that was one of my favorite times of praying. But I had to come to a point where I realize that it’s okay to be out here walking and praying to God.

Because our minds, we weren’t really taught that in many ways. We had these different closets and so forth set up for us at Ambassador College where people could go into them and close the door and go in and pray. Some of that created it’s own problems because of human nature; because people want to set a good example, they wouldn’t want to come out right away, even though they maybe had only a very short prayer. But gotta look good. So, after a while you hear someone snoring because they wait there so long.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. So, can we see God in things? You know, the Sabbath day, one of the things it’s to do is to remind us of God’s creation. It reminds us of that seven, first seven days. Then if we look to the end of that period of time, us, we were put here then in the midst of it all. And of course, that seventh day then dedicated to God and we’re to think upon those kinds of things.

What a more appropriate thing than to be in God’s creation and pray to Him when you see the things that are out there. And you know what? It can help you to be thankful for what you see. That you have the ability to see the things you do, to drink it in and thank God we see color, we see plants, we see flowers, we see birds, we see so many things. It helps to relieve a lot of stress when you can be in that mindset. I hope that makes sense to you.

The heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech. Awesome! It’s like if we’re listening, we’ll hear it. Do we see it? God put it all here for us to enjoy because He loves us. What more could we ask for? Sadly, there would be people who would.

Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. So, it’s not a matter of different language and where you are in the world, everyone has the ability to look at the same thing, God’s creation. It glorifies God, shows the glory and the majesty of God, the greatness of God.

They can’t see it. They can’t see it like you see it. They can grasp certain physical things out here and be in awe of various things, and some of them can even talk about God. But they cannot see what you see.

We see God, God’s plan, Gods purpose, and why we’re here, what it’s all about, where it’s all going, the expansion of it all that we can’t even begin to grasp.

There is no—I love this—There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. God is in it all! Everything you know of; everything you look at.

I can’t help but think of this wall, a wall. We see it, we can touch it and hit it, and it’s solid. But it’s not solid, in one sense. If you got small enough, smaller, and smaller, and smaller, most of that is air. Most of that is space. We can’t comprehend that. It’s because these little things are swirling around so fast.

It’s like a helicopter blade. Have you ever looked at that and see how it goes around and around, but you can still see through? But it’s not going near as fast as these little dudes. Then we see something solid. With the helicopter it’s going pretty slow, you can see through it. But if it were going fast enough, which man can’t make, but anyway, it’d be solid like this here is. That might be oversimplifying it.

That’s hard for us to grasp because you start looking into space and we understand there is more space than there is if it were, you know, you start looking at the pieces that are out there. There’s far more space. Mind-boggling how much space there is out there.

That’s the way this wall is and everything we see that’s physical. This body, it’s mostly space. We’re just not small enough to see the space here.

Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun. The power of God? We can’t comprehend that.

David was able to see the greatness and glory of God from a spiritual vantage point to a point, but nothing like we’re able to today.

Let’s turn over to Psalm 8, because this is where David really begins to zero in on some of this. So again, some people marvel at things they see, some will even relate it with God. Not a lot, but some do, but still don’t see what you’re blessed to see.

Psalm 8:1—O Eternal, our LORD, How excellent is Your name in all the earth. That’s what we’re to see, “How excellent is Your name in all the earth.” We’re so blessed to have what we have, so blessed to have the life that we have.

How excellent is Your name in all the earth, who has set Your glory above the heavens! So, the glory of God Almighty. In other words, the purpose of God’s creation goes far beyond what we can see physically, and that’s what this is about. “Who has set Your glory above the heavens.” Because it’s all for a purpose, all by design.

Verse 3—When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained… Isn’t it amazing he had no idea what the stars were? He had no idea what this was all about. They saw them. They didn’t grasp the distance. They didn’t grasp the things that we see. They didn’t grasp that things are whirling around, that there’s a pattern, that there are laws that are out there throughout the universe from one galaxy to another.

The Milky Way galaxy that we’re within, they could see that white not knowing that that white is made up of stars. They couldn’t see that from the physical eye, things that we know today. And so, what were they able to see? Enough that he knew it came from God. Enough to know that God put it there. Enough to glorify God on his behalf, on his part as he thought about God, because he gave God the honor and the glory for what He had done because of what was there that glorifies us.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? “Why would You have anything to do with us?” I sometimes still wonder that. I see us for what we are, and I loathe human nature. I loathe my human nature. But then I think of the plan of God and how He’s working with that and why we had to be this way, be made this way, and it becomes more of a marvel, and it glorifies God even more. Because there is no other way to create Elohim except that we go through this process. It’s incredible! It’s awesome! It’s beautiful!

“What is man that You are mindful of him?” Now, if we can really see that way and think that way we’re not going to be as selfish. If we really believe this with all of our being, “What is man…?” To treasure life that we have for ever how long we have it, to be thankful we see what we see in God’s plan and purpose. How many have ever seen that? And we have it? Who are we?

So, how blessed are we? I mean, we ought to be in awe of those kinds of things. That has to do with seeing God, seeing the glory and the greatness of Almighty God.

What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? Verse 5—For You have made him a little lower than the angels. So, there was certain understanding that he had; he knew there was a difference there. To what degree, how much, we don’t know, but he knew that we weren’t like them. We are physical. They are different beings that can manifest themselves all of a sudden and be there. How much they knew and understood about those things, we don’t know, but he knew this.

The reason I’m saying that and pointing that out is because he was still very, very limited in what he saw, but he saw the glory and the greatness of Almighty God to the degree God had blessed him in his life in what he had. But since that time God has just been giving more and more and more.

…and You have crowned him with glory and honor. What a thing to see! We have been given glory and honor on this earth. Minds that we have, nothing else created has that ability to think, to reason, to build, to work and produce things in life. But we do. And to know that it comes from God is a marvel. It just reveals then more and more. That’s what he saw, God’s glory and greatness.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands. So again, what an incredible thing to acknowledge about God, to see, to see about God. “You’ve given him to have dominion over the works of Your hands.” There is nothing greater. We have ability to conquer, to work with the things that are created out here. Now, if you go up against an elephant, you’ve got to use your mind. To go up against a lion, you’ve got to use your mind. But you can do it. Nothing greater than us because we have this mind that we’re supposed to use more.

You have made him have dominion, that’s what that means, “rule” over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet. What an incredible thing that God gave him to see, to know, to understand. Because God gave him to write this. God gave him to see and to write this. All the Psalms that he wrote, he was a prophet. All the Psalms that he wrote God put into his mind. He didn’t come up with these on his own. God gave it to him, and then he did it, he put it down in words. He’s saying it in songs. But God gave it to him in his mind because there are things here that go beyond that God reveals later on what they’re about. There are things that Christ spoke of that David wrote about, that David didn’t understand, but Christ gave the understanding later on. We’ll see some other things here, which we already know of.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Eternal, our LORD, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Because he saw that God did it. He could see that in his being. Now, everybody on earth can’t see that. They don’t acknowledge that. They don’t really see it. Even those who speak of it in traditional Christianity, they don’t see it, not like you see it. Because you see it beyond what it is, it’s purpose, it’s design, what it’s all about. They don’t.

How much do you treasure that? How much are you in awe of that, of what God’s given to you? Because you should be in awe.

So, basically to this point in time David could only see the present truth. He couldn’t see what we see. He couldn’t grasp what we grasp. So, he was given a lot of things that he never ever saw the spiritual part of it. Things about the Messiah he never fully saw, some of those things that were there, that are written, because they’re for another time when God would reveal them. Christ revealed some; some of the apostles spoke of others, and on and on it goes.

So again, what an incredible thing that we’re blessed to see God’s purpose in His creation, which, in that respect, then helps us to glorify and see the glory and greatness of God in a greater way than the world can. There are just some things we take for granted. There are just some things we don’t think about and don’t meditate upon and understand in the sense of our thinking, of appreciation of what we’ve been given, what we have.

So again, he could see the glory of God in the creation. We see God’s purpose, again, of Elohim. On and on it goes. Again, awesome!

I wanted to mention something here because I heard about this a while back and thought, that’s amazing. It’s about Voyager 1. I don’t know how many of you know about Voyager 1, but I want to mention some things here and just talk a little bit about the physical part of it because I can’t help it.

It was sent out back in 1977. It was originally sent out to explore outer planets of the solar system, however, it remained operational long past the expectation of what it was given to do. Now, I also marvel of what was put in that thing, because the technology it got it out there, but it wasn’t very great compared to what we have today. It didn’t have modern things in it that could have given it the ability to do a whole lot more than what it’s able to do today. But anyway, that’s another story.

We’ve come so far since 1977, of something that’s going out there kind of like the old typewriter. That’s kind of what it’s like if you threw a typewriter out in space. Anyway, the technology, it’s incredible where we’ve—how far we’ve come.

It’s been travelling now for 45 years and is now some 14.5 billion miles (23 billion km) from earth. Now, that’s kind of a… We think of a straight line, and the reality, it’s not travelling in a straight line. If we look at certain things out there we think that something that’s shot out there, it goes like this, it just goes farther out there in a straight… No, it’s following an orbital type path of a straight line. That’s kind of hard to wrap your head around because of the way things rotate within the solar system even, within the galaxy. Anyway, that’s a whole other thing. But it has travelled that far in distance.

At that rate it will be about 20,000 years before Voyager 1 would be able to pass the nearest star. At the rate it’s travelling. It’s astounding! 20,000 years. And you think, there won’t be any human beings alive at that time. There will be the Elohim, and some day we’ll have the ability, “Yep, there goes Voyager 1! Boy, we were so far back, weren’t we, back in those days.” We can’t even comprehend time like that, of what we’re going to be doing in God’s family. We just take it as a matter of faith, but it’s all out there and there’s more to do than what we can begin to grasp, more to be revealed than what we can even begin to think. Our minds can’t contain it in this body.

Just a couple more things here. It’s speed is a little over 38,000 miles per hour. It’s moving along pretty quick, 38,000 miles per hour or 61,000 km per hour. And at this rate of speed, again, incredible to think it’s going to take that long for it to get past the nearest star.

Now, another thing I find kind of interesting. I remember a long time ago the first time I ever spoke about different things having to do with the incredible things that God has created out there, some of the stars that exist out there that we have discovered (we think we’ve discovered). And right when they think they’ve discovered the largest one they learn that their calculations weren’t totally right and new instruments have come along and they’re able to measure things better, and they find something else that’s actually larger.

Anyway, so this story keeps changing as to what’s really the largest out there. But anyway, I’m just going to tell you who’s at the top of the list right now. Basically, it’s (and there’s a little debate over this), currently that goes to Stephenson 2-18. See, you don’t have to remember that, but that’s the biggest one they’ve found out there so far.

But it’s a star that has a radius of 2,150 times that of our sun. Now, how can you think about…? What do you mean, 2,150? Well, it goes on to show here in this particular one article I went through, it’s with a volume of 10 billion times bigger than the sun. Doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a big number.

Another way that I like it’s put in perspective here: If placed where the sun is, the outer portion… In other words, if that star were placed right where our sun is (well, we wouldn’t exist), but anyway, if it were here the outer side of it, the outer portion would reach out past the planet Saturn. And that doesn’t mean a whole lot to us either, but that’s nearly 1.8 billion miles through it’s diameter. 1.8 billion miles or 2.9 billion km in diameter.

By comparison, our sun has a diameter equal to 109 earths side by side. So, if you went from one side of the sun and put 109 of our earth’s together you’d finally reach the other side of the sun. We can’t grasp that. But to think of the might and power of God to put things out there for purpose and by design, that we aren’t even told yet, we can’t grasp it.

Stephenson 2-18 has a diameter that would require 460,000 earths put side by side to reach from one side to the other. Now, this place is pretty big. You get on a jet plane, and you travel around the earth, and you know you’ve been some place. It’s not going to be a pleasant ride. It’s going to be long; you’re going to have to make some stops to get fuel because they’re not going to do it in the air.

Anyway, we live on a big earth, we think, but it’s kind of puny. And to think of something this size, 460,000 earths, we can’t comprehend numbers like that. Only takes 109 to get through our sun, but 460,000.

So again, mankind sees things out there, but to grasp what it is, to grasp God, to grasp things about God, they just can’t because it’s a spiritual thing to see that portion of it, of what we see. I hope you understand that.

Hebrews 2 because we’re going to look at Psalm 8 again and how it’s magnified in Hebrews. Now, we know this, what we’re going to go into, because it’s Psalm 8. But how it’s magnified in Hebrews sometimes if we’re not careful some of this is going to escape us. Because the reality is that David wrote something that wasn’t fully grasped and comprehended that Paul later speaks upon, but it’s far greater and more is added to it. More of the purpose of God’s creation, more about the glory and the greatness of Almighty God and what He’s doing. Because see, it all has design and purpose, and that’s what we ought to be in awe of.

So again, Hebrews 2 reveals and magnifies Psalm 8 in a far greater spiritual and/or (if you will) spirit plane than what’s given back there.

Hebrews 2:5—For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. So, time, the ages to come, the world. It’s not just talking about the earth.

But one testified in a certain place, saying, What is mankind that You are mindful of them, or the son of mankind that You visit? Which is a word that means in the Greek here, “to attend to or visit” them? This is God’s focus. We’re here for an incredible purpose.

You stop to think about the world around you, they don’t see that. They don’t grasp that. People talk about going to heaven or hell and they talk about “Old Whatshisname, he’s up there fishing and he’s always loved to fish. And he’s going to be…” or playing golf, shooting from one cloud to the other I guess, I don’t know. You talk about a green, they’re white! But anyway, I’m sorry, and they’re using green balls to find them. Because they just don’t know, and they can’t help it.

And you see what you do, what you have. Your ability to comprehend and see God in all these things is an awesome thing. Don’t sell it short. Try to see it for what it is. Because we can begin to take these things for granted and not realize there is an incredible distinction and difference between what the world can’t see and what we do see.

What is mankind that You are mindful of him, or the son of mankind that you visit (attend to) visit them? You have made them a little lower…and it doesn’t say “than the angels,” there are some things that sometimes even as we go through it God just continues to reveal and give more and more.

You have made them a little lower than Elohim. That’s what the word is. Incredible to understand what it comes from. …and crowned… Word also means “encompassed” or “surrounded” as it were, with glory and honor. That’s what it’s about. Yes, we’re crowned with it, but we’re surrounded by it, by glory and honor of God Almighty. And then we’re able to have that in our lives as we change, as we grow, a glory and honor that God begins to give to us.

See, we shouldn’t try to glorify ourselves in this world. And that’s where pride gets in the way, where people try to lift themselves up, their ideas, their thinking, their ways of seeing things, their thoughts. That’s why we went through that series. That’s all a bunch of garbage. Unless it’s with unity and oneness with God it means nothing. And matter of fact, it’s against God, it works against God. And that’s why we have to be ever so careful of our way of seeing things or our opinion. Because sometimes they’re really dangerous, they really are, especially when they conflict with God.

So, we have to think about those kinds of things and bring them into subjection. Because the glory is that which God will give to us by coming into greater unity and oneness with Him. The more we have of God in us, that’s glory. It’s the glory of God that He wants to share with us, greatness that He wants to share with us. So, God, that identifies Him, glory and greatness that is hard to even give full accounting of because we can’t. We can only go so far.

David was able to go so far. We’re able to go so far. Paul was able to only go so far in some of this. There are things we know today that Paul didn’t know because God continues to reveal things as we go farther and farther into time.

So again, crowned or encompassed or surrounded by glory and honor. That’s what this is saying. And not “to set him over,” but it means “to rule over.” That’s what the words mean, to reign, to have dominion of the works of Your hands. That’s what’s being said here, of everything that God has established, it’s for us to share in. And we’re to have the dominion of it.

And what an incredible thing to understand that it wasn’t talking about angels. There was a point in time that that’s… It’s beyond that. “We’re made little lower than Elohim.” We’re not Elohim. We’re begotten to become Elohim when God calls us, but that’s what we’re to become, and that’s what this verse is talking about.

Putting all things in subjection under their feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now, “at the present,” is what the Greek word means, at the present we do not yet see all things put under them. Now, this is not something that David went into. It wasn’t given to him to see this. It wasn’t given to him to know this. And I think, incredible what we’ve been given to see and to know

But we see Joshua… No one could see that until it was there, our Passover. So, David couldn’t see it, not even as something prophetic. But we see Joshua, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Sometimes people translate things because one thing is said in one area one way, in another the other. But it’s to cause us to think, it’s to help us to think, and what is God telling us and why?

…crowned with glory and honor. So, what’s in the future? Surrounded by, crowned with glory and honor. That’s what God wants for us. He wants us to see what He is, what He has, and He wants to share that with us. Incredible!

…crowned with glory and honor so that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. So, we see him crowned with that and that’s what God wants to give to all of us who yield to Him, who want Him, who receive the impregnation of His holy spirit, who seek to be transformed, who work at being transformed, who work to obey Him, who love Him, and on and on it goes.

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make… So, this is speaking of God Almighty and what His purpose is. So, we see that purpose. …to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

So again, it helps us to understand and grasp something that, again, takes Gods spirit. To understand why Christ had to live a physical life, why he had to die physically, to understand what that means on a spiritual plane for all of us and that we all come into that same family. He is the first of the firstfruits to inherit all things. And we went through that series as well then.

That’s what we are to receive, to inherit all things that God has placed out there. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!