This teaching is part 2 of teaching number 96, What Does Jesus Desire?
In part 1, we discovered the desire that Jesus has for you and I. He desires for us to come where He is and see the glory He had with His Father in the beginning.
John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (Also John 17:1-5)
Because His glory is so vast and can be described and taught in so many different ways, this writing can only touch on what is the magnitude of His glory, but I will at least give it a start. I’ve been blessed to experience the glory of Jesus over the last 25 years through many different ways, and all of them have changed my life and how I see Him. From the first time He appeared to me and put me on the path of His revelation, I’ve learned that it truly is His desire to reveal Himself to us so that we can join Him in the glory He has with His Father.
An early experience I had with Him that specifically taught me His glory was when He revealed Himself to me as The Creator. From the beginning, I saw Him create the world, enter it, do His works, return to His glory, and then pray for everyone to return to Him. This revelation opened my eyes to the glorified Christ in a way I had not realized. He was before all things and created all things. This experience of His glory changed the way I thought about Jesus. He is definitely not just a man! Seeing Jesus for who He is in His true environment puts a desire in you to serve and worship the creator and not the creature.
This is the glory He desires for us to see in Him, and He will show those who search Him out with all their heart. He has always been from beginning to end and has taken on every role that God needed so that the story of God could be told through Him. That’s why you will see Him throughout the Bible, not just the New Testament gospels. He was often called by different names or descriptions to meet the need that was present.
When you consider that Jesus created all things, you begin to see Him in a different light than they saw Him in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When He appeared as a man like others, even the miraculous works He did couldn’t get some to look past His flesh. They were awed by the works but couldn’t believe in the higher glory of the Son of God.
The part that stands out to most people is the person He was on the earth. Because He put on flesh and mediated salvation for us, many worship that version of Him; it makes sense, but there’s more to Him than just what He did on earth. In heaven, they have a different perception of everything happening on earth.
In God’s presence, Jesus is exalted above all others in glory because no other in heaven or earth could do what He did. You can read this great throne room celebration in Revelation 5, and I encourage you to do so because it will amaze you. This chapter shows the glory and the reverence that heaven gives Jesus for what He did on the earth and beyond.
Jesus is the Lamb of God. He was the only one worthy to receive glory and honor, and heaven sang His song to celebrate Him. This is the true glory He wants you to see and experience with Him. While Jesus was celebrated at times and worshipped on the earth, this celebration in heaven was from those who had experienced a much higher glory. They didn’t see a man; they saw a spiritual creature called a Lamb of God.
Their eyes had been opened to see His glory, a glory that was hidden from those who lived on the earth and who judged Him after the flesh. Why is knowing this important? Because the level of your prayers depends on the measure of glory that’s been revealed to you. The higher the glory, the more focused your prayers become on spiritual things. When you are spiritual, the will of God becomes very clear to you.
The “I AM”
Nothing is more clear concerning the manifestation of Jesus than His sayings concerning Himself being the “I Am.” When looking at His testimony (the Spirit of Prophecy), we see Him confess Himself as one who is equal with God. In reference to the Son, He was sent by God, but inwardly, He was God. That means He sent Himself from a Higher place of glory to live in the flesh and reveal His glory to those who did not know His glory.
His confession of the “I Am” leads Him directly to Exodus 3:13-15, where God revealed to Moses His name. When Moses asked the angel of the Lord who he should say sent him, the angel said to tell them that “I AM that I AM” is His name. This is a direct connection to Jesus in His appearance to Moses. Jesus was “I Am” in the Old and the New. It’s just that His name wasn’t called Jesus at that time. The name of Jesus was reserved for a higher glory after His resurrection from the dead. It would be the name above all names and represented a greater glory than all names before it.
In the New Testament, Jesus also declares Himself as the “I AM.” In doing so, He defied the natural with the supernatural. His thoughts and ways were the image of God; there was no difference between them. He didn’t just try to be like God; He was God, and those who were educated in the scriptures knew exactly what He was saying when He said, “I and my Father are one.” That’s why they killed Him and called Him a blasphemer; because they said, “You, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:33)
In part 3 of this teaching, I will discuss how Jesus is the Word and how that allows Him to be in the beginning with His Father and a man in the flesh. Because He is the Word, He is free of limits and constraints. Today, I desire you to look past the flesh and see His glory. In doing so, your life will take on His likeness and be a pleasure to live. You will be a blessing to others who partake of your revelation. But more than that, your eternal spirit will be glorified with Him, and you will refer to sitting in heavenly places as being with Him in the beginning, living in His glory.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalms 16:11