PROGRESSION FOLLOWS REVELATION

Monday 5 May

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17 (NKJV)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 (NKJV)

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)

What do grace, faith and glory have to do with one another?

There are two important things we can observe that are the common denominators between them all. Two words in fact sum it up best. They are PROGRESSION and REVELATION.

Let’s look at progression first. The definition of progression is ‘forward or onward movement’. The prefix ‘pro’ means forward or in favour of. This is the will of God for everybody. Jude 1:20 AMPC in regard to praying in the Spirit it says, ‘But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [MAKE PROGRESS, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit;’

Remember the personality of the Word and the Spirit both came from the Father which is why both have the ability to build you up and therefore cause you to make progress.

Acts 20:32 confirms this, ‘And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.’

The ‘word of His grace’ tells us where the content to discover more grace lies. James says ‘He gives more grace’ and Peter says this ‘grace and peace is multiplied to you through the knowledge of God…’ Hold that thought.

There is meant to be a progression of grace.

John 1:16 says ‘And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.’ In other words ‘grace heaped upon grace’ as the AMPC version says. This indicates a building up of grace, creating progress in every area of our lives.

We have seen progression in grace through the word which brings us to our second point: REVELATION.

Looking at the phrase from faith to faith we clearly see progression. If we rewind back to verse 16 and the first half of verse 17 we are told where the locale of this faith resides.

‘I am not ashamed of the gospel’ for in it (the gospel) is the righteousness of God REVEALED from faith to faith’

Did you catch it? The progression of faith is only possible through the revelation of the gospel of Christ. It’s the same for 2 Corinthians 3:18 where it says we are ‘transformed from glory to glory.’ This is so powerful but again like we saw previously, the revelation is what makes the progression a reality.

What are we to look into? The mirror of the Word. Who do we see there? Ourselves, who have been born the person of the Word Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:23 says we are ‘not born of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God who lives and abides forever’.

No wonder the Bible says ‘as He is, so are we in this world’. How do we explain this simply? The gospels are the revelation of Jesus Christ. The epistles are the revelation of the New Creation in Christ. Selah.

2 Corinthians 5:17a tells us ‘if any man be in Christ, He IS a new creature.’

PROGRESSION is always preceded by REVELATION. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit are two definite sources to build us and reveal truth to us so we can all go from grace to grace, faith to faith and glory to glory!

APPLICATION

Have a daily consciousness that your ability to progress is in direct relation to the revelation of God’s Word you have and be committed to continually increase in this knowledge.