What excites God?
Did you ever consider that God can be inspired and excited? If we want to know what people are really excited about, we look at what they devote their lives to. We can get an idea of what excites and inspires God by looking at His creative output—His catalog of creative masterpieces.
God created a material universe, its key characteristic being that it is inhabited by multiple trillions of spheres of fiery light.
That material creation was wrecked by the rebellion of Lucifer, the light-bringer who turned to darkness.
When God set out to repair the damage on planet Earth, the first phrase He uttered—His first quote in the entire Bible—was, “Let there be light.”
Psalm 104:2 says God covers Himself “with light as with a garment.” Revelation 1 tells us His eyes are like a “flame of fire,” He holds “seven stars,” and His face is as the “sun shineth in his strength.” Revelation 22:16 calls Him the “bright and morning star.”
So what excites God? It would seem obvious that at least one answer to that question is that light excites Him. He loves brilliant, shining, luminous, sparkling, radiant, gleaming, dazzling things.
Suns of God
James 1:17 calls Him the “Father of lights.” Because He created the material universe, He fathered all those lights.
Paul related the principle that physical stars have different levels of brilliance to make the point that spiritual stars also have different levels of brilliance (1 Corinthians 15:41).
The closest star to Earth—our sun—is so bright that looking directly at it will damage your eyes’ light receptors and possibly blind you. In order to compare our sun with other stars, scientists have given our sun a luminosity measurement of 1 solar unit. The nearest star to Earth after the sun is Alpha Centauri A, which has a luminosity of 1.519 solar units. That means it is 52 percent brighter than our sun. The brightest star visible from Earth is Sirius, with a luminosity of 25.4 solar units!
There is a star out there, however, 45,000 light years away, called lbv 1806-20. Not only is it 150 times larger than our sun, it is the brightest star ever discovered, with a luminosity of 38 million solar units!
Sons of God
As magnificent as the celestial lights are, James 1:18 illustrates something greater: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
What that verse is saying is that, though God is the Father of the material universe, He can be your Father through a spiritual begettal process. Other verses show us that God giving us His Spirit is what makes us begotten children in His Family (see Romans 8:16).
These verses in James show that, as brilliant as the physical universe is, nothing excites God more than spiritual light.
Think of the English-language homonyms sun and son: There are suns of God, which are fiery, brilliant and inspiring; then there are sons of God, even more fiery, brilliant and inspiring.
How many solar units would a son of God be? Could you even measure it?
What does it mean to take on spiritual light? It means taking on God’s luminous character: 1 John 1:5 says, “… God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” There is nothing dodgy, sinister or questionable about God’s character. He is perfect, holy, righteous—everything that He wants us to become.
God fathered that great expanse of physical light through creating it by fiat, but He fathers this greater creation of light by begetting these individuals! What makes this creation greater is that God is creating His luminous character in other beings—a character with no shadow of turning—100 percent light!
Herbert W. Armstrong called this aspect of creation “the supreme creative accomplishment.” He wrote in Mystery of the Ages, “So mark well this super-vital truism—that perfect, holy and righteous character is the supreme feat of accomplishment possible for Almighty God the Creator ….” When you consider the masterful design of the material universe, that’s quite a statement.
God the Father imbues us with His Holy Spirit—His luminous nature and character—and we grow in that, as a begotten cell grows within the womb. Comparing James 1:17 to verse 18 helps us to understand this truth: God is the Father of lights and is the Father of us, greater lights!—because of the intimate relationship formed between God and us through the begettal process.
In The Epistles of James booklet, Gerald Flurry writes, “The limitless stars are impressive to anyone—but all that is trivial compared to God begetting you! … We were begotten by the Father! … Sure the universe is magnificent and luminous—but it is just material stuff. It means nothing compared to a son of God! … God’s supreme creation isn’t the universe—but His masterpiece of re-creating Himself in man.”
Firstfruits
Now, there’s something more brilliant and more luminous about what God is creating through this begettal process. James 1:18 speaks of the “firstfruits of his [creation].”
Think of this in terms of light: The spiritual creation, or the spiritual God Family, is more dazzling and brilliant than the physical creation, and the firstfruits segment of that Family is more dazzling and brilliant than the rest of the Family.
That is what we celebrate on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost shows us how the firstfruits occupy a greater light among God’s spiritual creation. In The Epistle of James booklet, Mr. Flurry also says: “What is it worth to be begotten by that Father who created all those lights? That magnificent Creator God made you a firstfruit—the highest, most wonderful calling you could ever have! That calling is a zillion times more important than anything the Hubble telescope can show us.”
The One
This special firstfruit calling is further explained in Malachi 2:15: “And did not he make one? …” This scripture in Hebrew reads “the one,” and make means to fashion, accomplish, make or produce by labor. In God’s spiritual creations, this one group holds a particularly special place. In a family of light, their brilliance will stand out.
Isaiah 56:5 furthermore explains what “the one” is: “Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” This firstfruits group receives a name better than of sons and daughters born into God’s Family. As brilliant as a son of God is, the firstfruits are even more luminous!
In Isaiah’s End-Time Vision, Mr. Flurry writes, “How will God give us a name better than of sons and daughters? The firstfruits are called to be the Bride of Christ. We will be on the ‘mother’ level and help Christ lead the ‘children of God’—or those who are not in the firstfruits calling. The firstfruits are those called before Christ’s Second Coming. Those called in the Millennium and Last Great Day will be likened to the children in God’s Family.”
That explains what it means to be the one! “Didn’t the Father make us the one Bride of Jesus Christ? He carefully selected each one of His very elect to marry His Son. … We must struggle to get that into our minds—that we are to marry the Creator of the universe! … We are the one Bride; there will never be another. We have to struggle to keep that great, stirring concept in our minds. We are the one. Nobody in the world will ever compare to the one” (The God Family Vision).
Clothed in Light
The Bride has a special place and name in the Family of God. Again, this is a family that will outshine the universe, so just imagine this Bride’s splendid brilliance!
In Revelation 19:6-7, this Bride is described as one who has made herself ready. So she is granted to be “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white”—or bright (verse 8). She is clothed, like her Husband, in light. When Christ thinks of His wife, he thinks of a woman who radiates light (Revelation 12:1).
The firstfruits will achieve this brilliance of light when “the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). In The Epistles of Peter: A Living Hope, Mr. Flurry explains this verse: “Thayer’s Lexicon says … ‘I will give to him the morning star, that he may be irradiated with its splendor and outshine all the others, like the morning star.’ That’s right! God is going to give His firstfruits a measure of glory that He won’t give the others. It will burn brighter and exceed the glory of everyone else who is added to the eternal firmament of God’s Family.” If you go outside during the day, you only see one star—the sun. It outshines all the other stars. That is how the firstfruits Bride will outshine all the other lights of God’s sons. Mr. Flurry continues: “And the very elect remnant will shine with greater glory than the Laodiceans who repent in the Tribulation.” There are even different levels of brightness within the Bride level!
Christ’s Bride is also described in Ezekiel 16. In verse 9, God mentions anointing this special woman with oil, which is a type of the Holy Spirit, as well as being fuel for lamps to produce light. Verse 10 shows how she is clothed with fine linen and covered with silk, both glossy, reflective fabrics.
Shine Even Today
Verses 11-12 reveal the brilliance with which this Bride will shine—being adorned with jewels, bracelets, earrings and a crown. She prospers in a glorious kingdom (verse 13), but notice verse 14: “And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty ….”
The Hebrew for “beauty” can mean brightness. That brightness is already going out. The Bride of Christ today should be renowned for her brightness—for the light that she shines.
Revelation 19:7 says that the “wife hath made herself ready.” One way the bride does that is by putting on that light today! Paul said we must put on the “armour of light” (Romans 13:12).
“Ye are the light of the world,” Jesus Christ said (Matthew 5:14). He did not say “ye will be,” but rather “ye are”! The firstfruits already give off a special light. If this woman were not radiating this light, would she capture Christ’s attention?
Psalm 45:11 says, “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.” Those of us called out today should certainly want to exude a brightness and spiritual beauty that makes Christ desire to be married to us.
We have a responsibility to show forth that light today!
“Some stars are greater and more luminous than others,” Mr. Flurry writes in John’s Gospel: The Love of God. “God really wants us to have a lot of glory! He wants you to have the most ‘star glory’ possible when you are born into the God Family. But even today, we should shine with a certain glory. Our faces should shine with happiness! … I believe that, in a general way, we may be able to determine how much star quality and brightness we will have in the future by how much our face shines today in happiness and joy.”
What is our “star glory” today? What is our “luminosity”? Are we outshining those stars in how we live and radiate? Are we capturing the attention of our Husband? If we radiate and capture His attention, then we will help Him spread that light to this entire Earth and throughout the cosmos as His Bride of light!