CHAPTER 13
ROADS OF
GLORY
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s
glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-
increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Germany
After the Walls Came Down
Six hundred thousand footsteps marching on the snow-covered square, 300,000 voices cheering the uplifted cross! After almost fifty years of atheistic oppression under the boot of communism the cross was welcomed in East Germany. For as long as I live, I will remember the cheers
and welcome of the cross.
I’ll never forget the sea of people passing it hand
over hand toward the front of the crowd or the
pushing and shoving of those men and women
in the freezing night. Trying to get to the cross,
to touch it or carry it.
It’s late tonight and again Joshua is sleeping and
I’m recounting the historic and glorious events
of today and visit with Jesus, my road companion and Savior.
Oh, Lord, I feel at home tonight. I feel one with them. We could not communicate, but in our eyes and countenance we knew each other’s passion, commitment and our common bond – the
belief that some things are more important than life. Thank
you, God, for letting me is part of this struggle. They had
risen in peaceful defiance, ready to die and we had
come to join them. Oh, Jesus, I feel such emotion and joy
in my body. I have a taste of how heaven must be! Oh, I
weep with joy thinking of this awesome welcome for
your cross as I recall how often it has been rejected or
ignored. But tonight, here, the crowds cheered it and
meant it.
Should I never live another day, I
have lived! I have seen, felt and
touched the impossible which
has come to pass. That wall I
prayed to come down eight
years ago is now crumbling!
Glory, I’m glad I lived to see
this day! Oh, I adore you, my
Jesus, and at least for one
day in one place you are welcomed.
In the Presence of His Glory
In 1979, my daughter Gina, my friend Mike Ooten and I were in Iquitos, Peru, which is nestled along the Amazon River. The awesome adventure of taking the cross by boat down the Amazon lay ahead. After an evening swim and back in my room, I began to read 1 Samuel. I study a part of the Bible on every trip. Just as I want others to be blessed, I too hunger and thirst for all the fullness of God and his Word.
The words in 1 Samuel 2:35 seemed to leap inside of me: “And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed forever” (KJV). Flashing through my mind was the fellowship God had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God walked with them, spoke to them and listened to them as they enjoyed paradise together. I though of the horror of sin that came – but oh, how God must still want to fellowship with us.
Lying in bed, I prayed: Lord, if there is anything You’d like to say tonight, You can speak whatever is in your heart and in your mind and I will do it for your glory.
Words cannot express the passion in my heart for God to reveal his thoughts. It was two o’clock in the morning when I went to sleep.
At three o’clock I was suddenly awakened. It was as if I could see far beyond the room into outer space. A distant fiery glow grew closer and larger as it swirled toward me. I tried to cry out, but I couldn’t speak. Neither could I move. The mighty wind of the golden glory of God was rushing in and I was being swept away.
A host of people and angels was just beyond the golden swirl of glory. The brightness just behind the glory was blinding – silver and ultra white – then these words appeared before my eyes: “Arthur, proclaim that the glory of the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
These words stayed before my eyes during the rest of the vision. From the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, like ocean waves, the glory swept over me. All strength left my body and I lay as dead for four hours. I cannot tell all that I saw, but I experienced the glory of the coming of the Lord. How indescribably wonderful!
God’s Glory on the Walk with the Cross
If you asked me to close my eyes and say what comes to my mind when I think about walking with the cross around the world, it would be the faces of those who gather around the cross. The faces are of many colors and the people speak hundreds of languages. They may be smiling or they may be weeping, but they know that they are feeling the presence of the Lord.
The CROSS
By Arthur Blessitt
Page 26
