MANIFESTATION OF GOD’S GLORY

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” – Romans 8:19, kjv

Today, Capstone Capsule borrows from Kenneth Hagin’s Timeless Teachings on the MANIFESTATIONS of the GLORY of GOD.

“But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). Notice that when Stephen looked up to Heaven, he SAW the GLORY of GOD. Have you ever seen God's glory? … Scripture has much to say about God's glory and uses words like cloud, brightness, smoke, white, bright, shone, and glistening to describe it. Let's look at some verses, beginning in the Old Testament.

Exodus 16:10 says, “The glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.”

In Exodus 40:34–35 we read, “Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon.”

Ezekiel 1:28 says, “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”

In the New Testament, we see where Jesus' face “did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Matt. 17:2). When Saul was on his way to Damascus, a great light shone round about Him, and he could not see “for the glory of that light” (Acts 22:11).

What's the purpose of these manifestations?

Acts 2:17, 19 – “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh… And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.” Some people think these verses are talking about bombs falling and people being killed. But that can't be so. These verses are telling us what God will do in the last days. He's not a murderer. It's the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10 – not God.

These verses are referencing signs that God has put on this earth concerning His Presence, which are:

The blood of Jesus: Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22).

Holy Ghost fire: Tongues of fire sat upon everyone in the Upper Room (See Acts 2:3.)

Vapor of smoke: “And the house was filled with smoke” (Isa. 6:4).

God wants to demonstrate signs in the earth through the outpouring of His Spirit….Why will God use these signs? Well, why did God deal the way He did with Israel? It was because they were spiritually dead. He had to appeal to them through their physical senses because they had no spiritual perception. He had to do something that they could see.

Today just as then, sinners are spiritually dead, so God has to go through their physical senses to reach them. And the purpose of these signs is to attract attention to the power of God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. During my ministry we had some supernatural things happen – and not just people being healed or baptized in the Holy Ghost.

Contend for the Glory: Supernatural manifestations … will happen in the last days. I'm not talking about healing. Thank God for healings and miracles. But God is going to manifest His glory in unusual ways. Men and women will stand for days like statues under the power of God. People will fall under that power, and God will raise them up from the floor!
We're on the verge of this happening. So stand in faith and contend for the manifestation of God's glory!