A Sea of Glass

“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." (Matt 16:28)

It can’t be made plainer than this. The Son of Man came in His kingdom while the disciples still were walking this earth. On the day of Pentecost Christ established His kingdom of Heaven in man. Not in tents made of man, but in holy dwellings erected by God.

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matt 13:43)

This is now! Our usual excuse is: “I don’t feel like I am shining”. Personally, I am an expert on exclamations like that. Abraham took it a step further. He threw himself to the ground laughing when God told Him how He judged Abraham and what eternal repercussions Abraham’s life would have. However, who are we to argue with God and His righteous judgments? He is the doer, so if He has whispered to you that you are going to be an intercessor who is willing to lose everything for the sake of others, and you don’t exactly feel that way, well, it is going to happen anyway. Abraham saw Moriah afar off. So do we.

Our emotions fluctuate. I shouldn’t be too difficult to agree on that. Hence the author of the epistle to the Hebrews finds it important to accentuate: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebr 4:12)

The Proverbs puts it like this: “…above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (4:23). Even though our emotions and soul life are manifestations of Christ, those expressions are not our true identity. Our true identity is like a sea of glass mixed with fire (Rev 15:2), that is, our spirit joined one spirit with His. The sea of glass is our inner spirit tranquility which is mixed with pure love which burns with an eternal flame, which seemingly is a paradox, but not in the Kingdom of the ascended Christ.

To make us completely safe in our new identity, which of course is us shining like the sun, the living and active Christ, who is the word of God, assists us in discerning between our soul life (appearances) and our spirit life (faith). By faith we see through appearances and acknowledge our new too good to be true self in Him.