~The Power and the Glory
God is omnipotent. Graham Greene's novel “The Power and the Glory” written in the 1940's is a significant reference to the Lords Prayer which stipulates that God's kingdom, His power, and the glory shall rule now and forever. It can thus be inferred that God’s religion will withstand any force against it since God wants His people to inherit His Kingdom. By declaring that the kingdom, the power, and the glory belong to God, we are naming specifically that God is the creator of all things. We recognize that God is sovereign and rules over all things and that nothing can happen without God's knowledge and we attribute all glory and honour to God alone. Through His creation, and redeeming deeds, God reveals His glory. The response of God’s people is to exalt Him. God is glorified and shares His divine glory with His people by uniting us to Christ. Glory is more frequently used to convey God’s unique presence, as seen in the pillars of fire and glory or the glory that filled the Tabernacle. I Chronicles 16:28-29 “Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” This scripture demonstrates how we can glorify God through two separate deeds. First, we attribute or offer Him glory because that is what He deserves. Nobody else is worthy of our adoration, which we surrender to Him. Second, we are to “present a sacrifice”, a living sacrifice to God as part of the worship that honours Him. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord; that is my name; I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” As we stand before God in the glory of His holiness, we present to Him agreement, obedience, and submission, recounting His virtues and glorifying Him. Accepting everything God says, especially what He says about Himself, is the first step in praising Him. We praise God by actively naming that the very things we often desire rightly belong to God alone. We also acknowledge that God holds the power to do everything we just prayed about in the preceding lines of the Lord’s Prayer: bring God’s kingdom to earth, provide for our daily needs, forgive our sins, and deliver us from evil.
Psalms 93:1 “The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.” God’s power is not an arbitrary, ruthless strength; but rather a power that is always exercised in love and in righteousness. This kind of power gives us an understanding of the word, “Glory.” His power is a majesty which fills all who believe in Him, and who obey His Holy Word with wonder and awe. Only the God Whom the Bible reveals, could create out of nothing a world with plants and fishes, and creatures, and man, and give them life, and keep them in going order. Psalms 29:1-2 “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in