The Lord, our kind Shepherd, guides us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. He does this because He will not share His glory with another, nor will He allow His name to be profaned, Isaiah 48:11. This is a wonderful, wonderful truth.
Dear friends, our Father does all things for His name’s sake. He raised up Pharaoh to demonstrate His power in Him, that His name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth; as it is written, ‘For this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth,’ (Exodus 9:16). And, ‘Then the Lord said to Moses, ”Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”’ (Exodus 11:9).
Our God uses vessels of wrath prepared for destruction to demonstrate His wrath against wrongdoing and against all sin, and to make His power known, (Romans 9:22); Conversely, He makes known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called…’ (Romans 9:23-24). He uses vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy to accomplish the same thing, to proclaim His name throughout the whole earth.
As vessels of mercy, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, whom we have from God, and we are not our own, (I Corinthians 6:19). ‘…For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people,”’ (II Corinthians 6:16). God jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us, (James 4:5). He has given us the Holy Spirit that He might help us, comfort us, and be our guide into all truth. Surely our Father will accomplish everything He has said; surely He will keep His Word. Of course He will; and therein lies our faith, in the integrity of God; He will fulfill His Word for His name’s sake, that He might not be found a liar.
The mystery of God is unfolding upon the earth and in the heavens. It has been unfolding since the beginning of creation, and will continue until the end of all created things; then will come a new heaven and a new earth, when the first heaven and the first earth have passed, (Rev. 21:1). Then the mystery will no longer be a mystery, for we will know fully just as we have been fully known. But, for now, we are a part of His mystery.
Beloved of God, we are a chosen race in this glorious mystery, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession; and He has called us unto Himself in order that we might proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, (I Peter 2:9). And, in proclaiming His excellencies, we demonstrate that He will not share His glory with another, nor will He allow His name to be profaned.
Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day,” (John 6:37-39).
By God’s doing we are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, (I Corinthians 1:30). For this reason, that we are in Christ Jesus by the will of God and by His own doing, we may always have confidence that He who has begun a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus, and that He will guard all that we have entrusted to Him until that day; for just as Jesus said, “This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day,” (John 6:40).
For His own name’s sake God will fulfill His Word and accomplish His will; all we need do is believe Him, and obey Him; He will do the rest. It is an absolute certainty that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, (Romans11:36), and that He will not share His glory with another, nor will He allow His name to be profaned, Isaiah 48:11; what a wonderful, wonderful truth.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 