Title: Glory of God
Contents
Let's see the glory of God.
main text. Isaiah 25: 6-9, John 11: 32-44
May 15, 2007 (Tuesday) ‘Preach’
Let's see what God's people have found in the Bible and how they are implementing what they found. What is Isaiah's vision in the Old Testament, and what Jesus will do to Lazarus in the New Testament.
What is Isaiah's vision?
The message of the prophet Isaiah is connected with the society and attitude toward the kingdom of God. The contextualization of this message is grounded in prominent social structures and confessions of faith surrounding their theology. This means that the prophets often understand Israel's policies or the religious life of the people of Israel as the basis for criticizing them. There is a message calling for creative change. This message has two forms: a theological confession of faith devoted to the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and a social life of faith that considers people.
The format of the theological message sees their religious lives through the events of Israel's history in the Word of God. It implicitly includes the religious life of a migrant in Egypt who understood God's Word only worldly, and the confession of faith of the Israelites who persevered and kept their faith despite all kinds of tribulation as the Babylonian captives.
The form of the social message reminds us of the attitudes of people from below who are structurally disadvantaged outside the actual leadership of Israeli society as it is forming, and those around them who have been displaced from its social institutions. People around him recognize the kingdom of the Messiah and turn to the faith community of the Hebrew people. The Hebrew people's faith community points out the habitual and subjective religious exclusive behavior of those around them who have not entered the system, points out the narrow confession of faith with prejudice, and presents a biblical life of faith.
Old Testament prophets criticized society's institutions and called for improvement. In the message of the prophets, we must meet the word of God calling us to Mount Zion, which symbolizes the temple, in order to overcome social alienation. According to the early Israeli beliefs, the Hebrew people, who were economically and politically oppressed by being immigrants to Egypt, had to look to the land of Canaan, the promised land of God. In the later Israeli beliefs, during the Babylonian captivity, looking at the temple in Jerusalem, they expected a friendly message. The Hebrew people who heard this message as the gospel must have confirmed the covenant in the temple.
The gospel encourages listeners and readers to look forward to the outcome of the covenant on its subject. The message in the faith of later Israel even foresaw the completeness of the combined faith of both oppression and freedom at the time of liberation from Babylonian captivity. So, the gospel is the freedom from the oppressed state of being socially alienated, and theologically, we can meet God from the world.
The gospel to society does not separate real life. God proceeds with the work of the world and leads to the kingdom of God. The gospel for society does not focus on the idealistic life of faith in the kingdom of God, but it does not avoid the life of Christ's suffering. The gospel of society reinforces its message by experiencing the structures and institutions of society in general. The prophets reinforce the message of those who are unable to influence the religious life of the Hebrew ethnic community oppressed by Egypt or the social institutions of Babylon.
Those who theologically recognize the Word of God as the mystery of revelation tend to be still around to practice the Christian life. But what makes this trend the focus of future theology is that God is perceived as a faithfulness to enter this lower world and indwell it, destroying its fragile humanity and forming a mature measure of leadership in Christ. So the gospel of revelation is seen in the dichotomous confession of faith. This confession is a declaration proposition. It is a declaration that ‘we were not God’s people before, but now we are God’s people’. It is the confession of faith of the Egyptian settlers and the Babylonian captives. In society from below, he understood the Hebrew people ‘Habiru’ who were with Moses who were oppressed during the rule of Egypt and ‘Oklus’, the weak ones of the crowd that followed Jesus. Nevertheless, it is impossible to separate them in the Word of God.
Isaiah urged the world to be transformed into the kingdom of God.
How did Jesus expect Lazarus’ life of faith to be revealed?
The Hebrew people and their groups who met Jesus Christ meet a new system and structure. From the level of confession of faith of the Hebrew people and their groups who were expecting the Messiah in the early church, they were formed as new believers through baptism with water and the Holy Spirit, not through circumcision of the flesh. They became God's people. They are called to see the light of liberation, liberty and life through the word of God in their oppressed state, in captivity; I was able to testify to the scene of the calling.
The Gospel of John is a ‘book of miracles’. It is the story of Lazarus who hears the gospel proclaimed by Jesus and restores his life. Through Lazarus, the glory of God, who is the light of life, is revealed, and the people around him are participating in the declaration of Jesus Christ, in which that glory is embodied. Those who hear the proclaimed gospel will follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whose fulfillment of the resurrection has already been determined in this world.
Jesus tells us ‘If you believe, you can see the glory of God.’ The historical Jesus, who met Martha’s dedication, came to Mary as the Son of God and made their religious life and confession a reality. Jesus Christ met Lazarus, who was lying in a tomb with his whole body tied up, whose religious life was not perfect due to the Jewish theological prejudice against God. Jesus Christ unleashed the theological prejudices and ignorance of Lazarus, and began the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with Lazarus as the Son of God. Kyungin Seminary Seminary students, you must become Christians who save yourself, your family, and your nation, and build the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And we must see the glory of God. Through you and me, those who do not know Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hear the news of the resurrection and come to God and preach the gospel to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And let us see the glory of God.
Jesus prayed that people would be transformed into God's people through Lazarus and that God's glory would be revealed through them.
We must strive for the Kingdom of God to come to this earth. We must live as witnesses of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of life. We are to be Spirit-filled believers who glorify God.
And I bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to see the glory of God.