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Glorified Before the Universe, March 29
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest
me to do.
John 17:4
.
By raising Christ from the dead, the Father glorified His Son before the Roman
guard, before the satanic host, and before the heavenly universe. A mighty angel,
clothed with the panoply of heaven, descended, scattering the darkness from his
track, and, breaking the Roman seal, rolled back the stone from the sepulcher as if it
had been a pebble, undoing in a moment the work that the enemy had done. The
voice of God was heard, calling Christ from His prison house. The Roman guard
saw heavenly angels falling in reverence before Him whom they had crucified, and
He proclaimed above the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection, and the
life.” Can we be surprised that the soldiers fell as dead men to the earth?
Christ’s ascension to heaven, amid the cloud of heavenly angels, glorified Him.
His concealed glory shone forth with all the brightness that mortal man could endure
and live. He came to our world as a man; He ascended to His heavenly home as
God. His human life was full of sorrow and grief, because of His cruel rejection by
those He came to save; but men were permitted to see Him strengthened, to behold
Him ascending in glory and triumph, surrounded by a convoy of angels. The same
holy beings that announced His advent to the world were permitted to attend Him at
His ascension, and to demand a triumphal entrance for the royal and glorified Being.
“Lift your heads, O ye gates,” they cry as they near the heavenly portals.... “Who is
this King of glory?” And from thousands and ten thousands of voices the answer
comes: “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle”....
Thus the prayer of Christ was answered. He was glorified with the glory which
He had with His Father before the world was. But amid this glory, Christ does not
lose sight of His toiling, struggling ones upon earth. He has a request to make of
His Father. He waves back the heavenly host until He is in the direct presence of
Jehovah, and then He presents His petition in behalf of His chosen ones.
“Father,” He says, “I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am.” And then the Father declares, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”
The heavenly host prostrate themselves before Him, and raise their song of triumph
and joy. Glory encircles the King of heaven, and was beheld by all the heavenly
intelligences. No words can describe the scene which took place as the Son of God
was publicly reinstated in the place of honor and glory which He voluntarily left
when He became a man (
The Signs of the Times, May 10, 1899
).
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