Reawakening to The Glory of Christ
We just celebrated the birth of Jesus, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Lord becoming human like us. When we look at his incarnation we could become so focused on his humanity and humility that we forget that Jesus is eternally God the Son. He was God from all eternity and will be God into all eternity. We should reawaken and remain awake to the glory of Christ, the Lord of the universe, King of kings.
Is 60:1-3 — Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Eph 5:13-17 — But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Rom 13:11 — And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
1. What Is an Awakening?
What is an awakening? To awaken is to become fully aware of something. When we awake from sleep we become aware of our feelings and the reality around us. “Reawaken” is a verb that means to emerge or cause to emerge again with reference to a feeling or state” (Oxford). It’s the renewal of a feeling or interest (Collins). To reawaken to the glory of Christ means that we must awaken again to who He is. We must again experience and be aware of the glory that has been His for eternity as God and Lord of the universe.
In church history, there have been times that we call “awakenings” such as the First and Second Great Awakenings in America, or the spiritual revivals under Moody and Spurgeon in the U.S. and England. These can be described as times of a deep hunger for Jesus, His presence in our lives, His Word, His Spirit, and His gospel. Spiritual awakenings assume that the previous period is a time of sleep. A time where there is a lack of deep hunger for Jesus’ presence, Word, Spirit, or the gospel. Doesn’t that accurately describe the overall current spiritual culture in our world today?
How does awakening happen? It begins with the reformation in our personal lives through the spiritual disciplines. It begins when we make prayer again the first priority and task in our lives. This renewed practice of the spiritual disciplines leads to repentance and a renewed hunger for Christ in our lives. This brings renewal and fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit into us personally and then corporately into the church. We experience a revival, an increase, and an acceleration of the work of the Spirit in us and in His church. This results in a wider awakening. What God is doing in the church spills out into the culture, and the world is changed.
2. Why Reawaken to the Glory of Christ?
We urgently need to reawaken to the glory of Christ. The world and many people are in a dark place. They need the light and redemption that only Jesus Christ brings. They need to reawaken to the glory of Christ. But for this reawakening to happen in our world a reawakening to the glory of Christ must happen in our lives.
As I said, we can focus so much on and become so used to the humanity and the incarnation of Christ that we forget his glory and majesty, that He is God, the eternal Lord, Creator, Savior, and Ruler of creation. We can become so focused on Jesus as our Savior that we forget that He is also the Lord of our lives.
Sadly, the gospel and teachings of our Lord Jesus are watered down. They are made to fit the culture so that we can conform to the world instead of living the radically different kingdom life. It’s amazing to observe how the Bible has been selectively reinterpreted and how Jesus has been “domesticated” to fit the personal, political, and cultural views of groups and people. Both Jesus and the Bible have been abused as tools to justify and serve personal, social, cultural, and political agendas.
There is also the real danger that we could take Jesus for granted. He is there to serve us and not us to serve Him. He becomes our servant, our tool, our way to deal with life. It becomes a problem when we forget that He is our Lord. We belong to Him. We exist to serve Him. We exist for His glory.
Let us examine with brutal honesty our lives. How much is Jesus truly the Lord, the priority and focus of our lives? Do we really put our faith and hope in Him alone, or do we have other idols in our lives? How do we manage our time and resources? Does He have first priority in our scheduling and giving, or do we give to Him only what is left over, if any?
We all are sinners. We all fall asleep in our awareness of and passion for the Lord’s glory. That’s why we need to reawaken to the glory of Christ on an ongoing basis. We must reawaken to his glory so that we will do everything in the Lord’s Name and for his glory.
3. Let’s Reawaken to the Glory of Christ
So, let’s reawaken to the glory of Christ. Let us reawaken to the eternality of Christ. His glory has existed from eternity past and will continue into eternity future. He came from eternity to humanity and back to eternity to not only save us but also to call us to follow Him as Lord, to be in awe of Him, and worship Him as Lord.
Let us reawaken to the deity of Christ. While it is right and good to recognize Christ’s immanence and accessibility, we must also honor His transcendence and deity. Make no mistake, He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15); in Him all things were created (1:16); and in Him all things hold together (1:17). We follow not merely a good teacher from Galilee but the Head of the Church (1:18), the first to be resurrected (1:20), and the Reconciler of all things (1:20–22). What a difference this makes in how we approach Him, our posture before Him, our attitude toward His Word, and our lives of worship lived for Him.
Let us reawaken to the sinlessness of Christ. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Heb 4:15). Jesus Christ submitted to every commandment of God. He loved His Father with all His heart, soul, strength, and mind, and He fully loved His neighbor as Himself. He faced the same temptations and difficulties we face. He walked in our shoes and then did the unthinkable by dying in our place. When we hunger and thirst to know our Lord in a deeper and more intimate way, it is essential for us to meditate on His glorious perfection. When we struggle with our own sin and failure, we must remember the sinless One who was obedient unto death in order to find true forgiveness, hope, and assurance in Him.
Let us reawaken to the ascension and glorification of Christ. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). He is seated at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name … God place all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything …” (Eph 1:20-22). He is Lord and Ruler of the universe.
And He is coming back. Let us reawaken to the coming of Christ in glory (Mt 24:30-35). His glorious return will be terrible and wonderful. The glory of Christ the King will become evident to all peoples of the world. May the wonder of His glorious return draw us deeper in devotion to our Savior and King.
Let us reawaken to the exaltation of Christ. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil 2:9-11). The glorious, majestic One who was with the Father before the world existed emptied Himself so that He might rescue us from sin and restore us to God. He asked that we would be one with each other, as He is one with the Father so that the world might know that He is the Son of God. It is the commandment that He repeatedly gave us: love one another. The most evident way to display that love is by treating others as more important than ourselves. Jesus lived His life as the very example of sacrificial love. He is glorified by the obedience of our lives. Let’s go low by loving one another well so that we might lift Him high; then, the world will see Christ the Lord in us!
4. How Do We Reawaken to the Glory of Christ?
How do we reawaken to the glory of Christ? Let’s turn to Habakkuk chapter 3. His prayer is a guide for how we can pray to reawaken to the glory of Christ. “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (v 2).
We must observe and reawaken to his glory and splendor — His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden (vv 3-4).
We must observe, reawaken and stand in aw of his deeds — He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed—but he marches on forever … In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. (vv 5-12)
We must observe and reawaken to his salvation — You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot (vv 13-14).
And when we observe the Lord’s fame, his deeds, and glory, we tremble and fall down in awe and worship — I stand in awe (v 2) … I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us (v 16).
When we observe the Lord’s glory this makes us rejoice even when all seem dark and despairing. — Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior (vv 17-18).
Where do we find our strength in these times? When we reawaken to the glory of Christ then — The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights (v 19).
We observe and reawaken to his glory by practicing the spiritual disciplines, by practicing the Lord’s presence every moment, by rejoicing in the Lord always, by doing everything in his Name and for his glory. Then his glory and presence give us strength.
Do you desire to reawaken and see the glory of Christ? Then pray for a reawakening in your own life, in the life of fellow believers, and in the Church. Are you longing for the greater power of the Holy Spirit in your own life, and are you convinced that you cannot go on without that power? Then pray and ask the Father for the Spirit. Surrender to the Holy Spirit. Surrender all to Jesus. Pray, pray, and pray again because that is how we will reawaken to the glory of Christ. During these 40 days of prayer, set aside at least half an hour each day to pray for this awakening, and keep on praying until this reawakening comes.
When was the last time you were on your knees in worship? Or facedown to the ground before the glory of the Lord in awe and terrified wonder? And then come amazing grace and love, the Lord, the King of the universe, comes, touches us, and says, “Get up, do not be afraid.”