Conclusion - 5 The Glory

To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 16:27)

This is the glorious climax of the final exclamation of Paul at the very end of his letter to the Romans. It is not only a summary of and finale of what he wants to convey to us in this letter, but it is also something of a synopsis of the history of the great war between God and his archenemy who defected from the highest position of trust and honor in the whole universe.

These last three verses cover the whole history of the earth as well, from its beginning to the future eternity that we can experience with God on the earth restored and made new. They point out that there has been a mystery that has been hidden from mankind for many ages – since the fall of man really. But during those ages of mystery we were not left clueless about how God felt about us. God spoke important truths and interacted with those on earth through various means and at various times more directly. He used prophets in particular to communicate His thoughts and desires to His people on earth. Much of the Old Testament Scriptures is the records of what some of these prophets had to say on behalf of God as well as stories of how God interacted with those living on earth.

But all during those times God's will and His ways and attitudes toward humanity remained a mystery. People were baffled by the seemingly strange symbols that God used to reveal things about Himself. People became confused by the language and commandments of God reading much of their own cultural assumptions into the things God was trying to convey to them. The Old Testament Scriptures are often referred to, especially by those that He chose to be His people during that time period, as the Law and the Prophets. But even though the Jews had a long history of direct attention and divine favor from the God of heaven and they had the written words reminding them of all that God had tried to do with them, still the nature and disposition of God toward humans remained largely a mystery. Very few during the Old Testament period caught on to the true beauty and attractiveness of the glory of God.

But things changed at the appearance of Jesus the Christ (or Messiah – the one sent to rescue). Jesus was sent by the Father to change this situation, to radically disrupt our paradigms, to shatter our assumptions about a distant, frightening, intimidating God that appeared all too much like many of the other pagan false gods evolved from the imaginations and fears of selfish men. Jesus came to unmask the mystery that clouded our hearts from knowing the real truth about how God feels about humans. Jesus was sent to show us what the Father really is like and how passionately He desires to have us in close, intimate relationship with Himself. Jesus came to explode the myths about God that have haunted humanity ever since the days of sinful Adam, and to shine a brilliant light that would expel the deep darkness created by the myriad lies of Satan about the Father.

The mystery has been dark for long ages, not because God wanted the truth about Him to be hidden from us, but due to the enormous mass of lies under which we have been buried – lies both about God and about the real truth about ourselves. This mystery has continued to be a mystery because of the blindness of our own hearts, not because God has been hiding from us.

Even during those long ages of dark mystery God had stated quite plainly at times that the real problem has always been with us, never with Him. Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2) It is this separation that has created and amplified the mystery for all the long ages past and for too many even yet today. For the core of the reason there is a mystery to begin with is our unbelief about the real truths about God and how He relates to those who rebel against Him.

The unmasking of this mystery became very intense in the life and example of Jesus while He lived among us here on earth. It was not just his sinless behavior that was helpful for us to see, but far more important was the attitude that He revealed about how God feels about sinners. The interactions of Jesus as He encountered all sorts of people in all kinds of situations was intended to show our hearts the real grace that fills the heart of the Father and the passion with which He desires to attract us back into a loving, trusting relationship with Him.

For those who feel determined to resist these revelations about the heart of the Father, the truth will continue to remain a mystery. In fact, sadly these people will find themselves becoming angry and scandalized by the revelations of the heart of the Father whenever they encounter them either in the stories of Jesus or in the lives and teachings of those being transformed into His image and likeness. For the real truth about God, His grace, His compassion, His unconditional love and forgiveness is so abrasive and contradictory to the things we have believed about Him in the past that without a radical new birth experience we cannot embrace them or believe them authentically.

But when a person surrenders to the love and becomes overwhelmed with the beauty and passion that emanates from the heart of God for each of His created children, that person is empowered to suddenly begin to perceive the glory of God as revealed in the life of Jesus as well as being able to experience it in their everyday relationship with Him through the presence of His Spirit. Instead of living in constant resistance to the love that is the life current that powers all of the universe, they will come into proper alignment with it so that it will become a source of life-giving power instead of pain-producing irritation. The things they once ridiculed and resisted they now embrace with enthusiasm and passion.

In the revelation of this mystery will be found true wisdom. I believe that most of us have very little real perception of what wisdom really means. We have some vague ideas of what we think wisdom is, but until we encounter a personal, radical, disturbing conversion experience in our deepest heart and thinking, we are unable to even perceive what constitutes true wisdom. Instead, we often believe that wisdom is the high intellectual constructs that we have created in our own intense study of various subjects including the study of God. We think that because our minds are acute and we have figured out how many things seem to fit together that we have found wisdom.

But real wisdom has far more to do with a vital and on-going interaction with the mind of God who is the only real source of wisdom than it has to do with figuring out how things work or the accumulation of enormous amounts of knowledge.

If we were to have our eyes opened we would be ashamed to see that we have created multitudes of false gods and worship all sorts of false idols just as much or more than the pagans and heathen did centuries ago. It is just that we do not use the same terminology for them as the pagans did so we don't often realize that we are worshiping things that have no wisdom in them.

Repeatedly throughout the Old Testament God pointed out the foolishness of those who worshiped idols that couldn't see or hear or think. And at times He even likened His own people to be just like the idols that they worshiped – not able to see or hear.

Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see; who have ears but do not hear. (Jeremiah 5:21)

Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 12:2)

This is the real cause of the truth about God being veiled as a mystery for long ages. It is a mystery largely because we live in a state of rebellion that has been going on far longer than even this world has been around. And on top of that we were born with a rebellious nature inherited from our ancestors and infused into our human nature by the sin of our parents in Eden.

But God is in the process of unveiling the mystery about Himself and the most prominent way that He has chosen to do that is through the revelation of Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. That is why the presentation of Jesus through preaching, teaching and living with Jesus in the heart is a powerful means of bringing light to shine in the hearts of those still enshrouded in the shadows of the mystery. And as we perceive the real truth about God and how He feels about His created beings, we also begin to see the wisdom that we have been lacking in our blindness of rebellion against Him.

As the wisdom of God becomes more evident to our hearts, the resulting amazement, gratitude and expressions of life and joy all add to the great concert of honor and praise from the rest of the universe which brings glory to the reputation of God. What I see here in this last verse of Romans is Paul's invitation for each one of us to join in this great, stirring, life-changing symphony of praise and worship that will prepare our hearts more deeply to glorify God throughout all of eternity.

To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.

(next in series)