Winter
2005
The
Restoration of the Glory of the Lord
Wade E Taylor
“I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire.”
Revelation 3:18a
This “gold” that is to be refined in fire, is
the “divine nature” of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is our lives, purified, with all the dross and sediments
removed in the “refiners fire” so His life might
be revealed through our lives.
Another aspect of our being “tried in the fire”
is to prepare us to be a container of His “glory.”
“Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory
of the Lord is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord
shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.
And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the
brightness of your rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3
This refined “gold” is the result of all of the
dealings and struggles of life, along with the chastenings
and scourgings that we experience in order to be prepared
for the revelation of the glory of the Lord, through our lives.
Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians
3:14). The “goal” that Paul is pressing toward
is his “place” (level of attainment) in the kingdom.
He understood that he had to be “made ready” for
this.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made
herself ready.” Revelation 19:7
“I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians
3:12b
Jesus ascended in glory, and He is releasing and imparting
that glory, in these last days.
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
II Corinthians 3:18
This “open face” is the result of the “veil”
having been “rent” when Jesus died on the cross,
so we can again enter into the manifest presence of the Lord.
The purpose of our beholding “as in a glass” the
glory of the Lord is the “shield” that allows
us to have as much glory as we can handle. As our capacity
increases, the level of glory that we experience will also
increase.
The Apostle Paul was on his way to persecute the Church when
the Lord suddenly appeared in such glory that he fell from
his horse and was blinded. The manifestation of glory was
so great, that he had to be prayed for to restore his sight.
Much of what Paul said of his “pressing toward the
mark” was that he never forgot the manifestation of
glory, and he contended for the experience of His glory.
The higher meaning of the word glory is “mirror.”
When the glory comes, it is like a mirror, in which we see
the reflection of ourselves in contrast to the eternal, and
how far I am from what I should be. We need the glory, not
because we have prayed enough, or that we did all the right
things. Rather, we need the glory so we can truly repent.
There is an example of manifest glory and repentance in Isaiah,
chapter six.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, (when I came to
the end of my dependence on the earthly) I saw also the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train (His
glory) filled the temple.” Isaiah 6:1
Those of royalty wear robes that trail behind them. The Lord’s
robe, the train of His garment, fills the temple. We are the
temple, so this tells us that He is much closer than we realize.
Heaven in not a distance, rather, it is a dimension into which
we can enter.
“Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings.”
Isaiah 6:2a
These “six wings” are three sets of wings, which
reveal an overcoming life. With two, their “face”
is covered, as Jesus is the head. With two, their “feet”
are covered, as we are to walk in submission to His will.
Now, we can “fly” in a cooperative relationship
with our Lord.
These “seraphim” are the overcomers in Revelation
3:20 who are with the Lord in His throne. “To him that
overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne.”
“And one cried to another, and said, “Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His
glory. And the posts of the door, moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” Isaiah
6:3-4
The “posts” of the door is the barrier (closed
door) between the earthly and the heavenly. As worship flowed
up to the Lord, these posts (hinges on the door) moved, and
the house was filled with smoke - the glory of the Lord. In
the functioning of the heavenly, and in the reflection of
glory, Isaiah saw how short he was of the relationship with
the Lord that was available to him, and he said,
“Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah 6:5
True repentance will result in deliverance. An angel came
with a “coal of fire,” and all that was unlike
the Lord was purged, and his life purified. “Gold tried
in the fire” comes through a repentance in the presence
of the glory of the Lord.
Ezekiel 1:4 reveals the functioning of the glory in the last
days.
“And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of
the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and
a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as
the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”
“Their wings were joined one to another; they turned
not when they went; they went every one straight forward.”
Ezekiel 1:9
This relates to the “seraphim” in Isaiah 6:2,
and is a type of the functioning of the corporate Body of
Christ.
“Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel
upon the earth by the living creatures, with its four faces.”
Ezekiel 1:15
The “four faces” speak of our coming into spiritual
maturity. The “lion” speaks of authority, the
“ox” or “calf” speaks of sacrifice
and commitment, the “man” speaks of relationship
and fellowship, and the “eagle,” spirituality.
The “wheel” is my life fully “submitted”
to the Lord, and “moving” in harmony with Him.
“Let us get up early to the vineyards.” Song
of Solomon 7:12
The wheel, and the will of God, are interchangeable, and
speaks of the functioning, or moving in the purposes of God.
“The appearance of the wheels and their work was like
to the color of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and
their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in
the middle of a wheel.” Ezekiel 1:16
We are living in the last days and the Lord is preparing
a people – “Come My beloved, let us go forth.”
This is the wheel within the wheel, my life merged into His
life in order to become the expression of His life.
It is this “wheel within the wheel” that will
greatly affect the earth in the end-times. There are forerunners
whom the Lord is preparing, who will greatly affect the world
systems of our day.
The greatest visitation this world has ever seen is about
to begin. There is a two-fold purpose – the out-calling
of a people into an end-time cooperative relationship with
the Lord, and the judgments on the nations, which will begin
through the functioning of the “wheel within the wheel.”
This glory is a moving glory. Not only are we cleansed and
purified in glory, (Isaiah 6:5), but we are changed, “from
glory to glory” (II Corinthians 3:18). This is the wheel
within the wheel that will lead to the establishing of the
government of God in the earth.