Anthem of Our Praise

“The Lord Reigns” is the Anthem of our Praise!
Merry Monday by Parris Bailey

“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. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

I am amazed how long it takes me to receive revelation from the Word of God. Thank God the Holy Spirit has been given to me as the Helper, teacher, instructor, stand by or I would never “get it”. In our living room is a 1900 century painting of Saul on the Damascus Road. It shows a horse rearing up with a man on the ground, his eyes blinded by this amazing form of Christ the Risen One. This painting has captured our attention for years and has become the focal point of our Christianity. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly”. Here was Saul killing Christians and yet Christ comes to him and he is forever changed. When Paul is talking about the glory of the Lord he is speaking present tense. Not only a crucified Savior but a Risen one filled with the Glory of God. This became Paul’s mantra-Christ in you the Hope of Glory. Even the Reformation in the 16th century was the rediscovery of the Pauline Gospel, its justifying righteousness, its spiritually, and its liberty. But many today preach a different gospel than Paul’s.
Expositor Bible says: “The transformation here spoken of is not the work of a powerful imagination, which can make the figure in the pages of the gospel live again, and suffuse the soul with feeling as it gazes upon it. But it is the work of the Spirit, and the Spirit is given, not to the memory or imagination which can vivify the past but to the faith which sees Christ upon His throne. Paul is not looking back, but up, he does not remember but he beholds in a glass “the glory of The Lord” meaning to him it is the present exaltation of the Risen Christ. “The Lord reigneth” that is the anthem of his praise. It is his glory that he shares on the Father’s throne, that He is head of the church, possessor and bestower of all the fulness of divine grace, the coming judge of the world, conqueror of every hostile power, intercessor for His own, and in short, bearer of all the majesty which belongs to His kingly office.”
Spurgeon says, “We should not rest contented without an experimental knowledge of the transforming power of the gospel, by the operation of the Spirit, bringing us into a conformity to the temper and tendency of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.” This is the Glory Jesus prayed for the Father to show us! This is the Glory that we are to become fixated on like Paul was on the Damascus Road. It ever changes us, conforms us and changes our whole nature. The veil of the law has been taken away, we can and should forever experience a living and active life transformation in Christ. It is the anthem of our Praise!