-G-

GLORY. Glory is used in six ways in the Bible: (1) It means praise (Lk. 2:14; 17:18; Ac. 12:23; 1 Co. 2:7; Ep. 1:6). (2) It refers to God's holiness, exalted magnificence, and divine perfection (Jn. 1:14; Ro. 1:23). (3) It refers to the splendor and wealth of a king and his kingdom (Mt. 6:29; 19:28; 25:31; Jn.12:41; 17:5,22,24; Ro. 9:23; Col. 3:4). (4) It refers to the brilliant light which surrounds the presence of God (Ex. 16:10; 40:34,35; Le. 9:6,23; Nu. 14:10; 1 Ki. 8:11; 2 Ch. 7:1-3; Eze.10:4; Mk. 13:26; 9:29-31; Lk. 2:9; Re. 1:16; 21:11,23). (5) It refers to beauty (Is. 28:1; 63:1). When the Bible says believers will be with Christ in glory, it refers to all of of the above--the praise, splendor, wealth, light, and beauty which are in Christ's presence and kingdom. (6) It refers to boasting (1 Co. 1:29,31; 3:21; 4:7; 5:6; 2 Co. 5:12; Ga. 6:13). [See Heaven, Kingdom of God, Majesty, Millennium.]

GOD SPEED. An old English phrase for greeting (2 Jn. 10). The same Greek word is translated "hail" (Mt. 26:49), "rejoice" (2 Jn. 4), "greeting" (Ac. 15:23; Jam. 1:1), and "farewell" (2 Co.13:11). The Apostle John (2 John 10) is saying that Christians should not give false teachers hospitality or even a normal cheerful greeting. [See King James Bible, Separation.]

GOG (high). The Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39 refer to a military alliance which will attack Israel from the north in the latter days. There are six reasons we believe this refers to Russia:

What is Gog and Magog?

1. The name points to Russia. "Gog is a word for ruler. Magog is the Hebrew word rosh, which means head. Dean Stanley, in his exhaustive History of the Eastern Church, published half a century ago, has a note founded on Gesenius, the great Hebrew scholar, to the effect that the word rosh should be Russia. Bishop Lowther made the statement that rosh taken as a proper name in Ezekiel signified the inhabitants of Scripture from whom the modern Russians derive their name. You see, Russia was first called Muscovy, derived from Meshech. I am sure you detect that the names Meshech and Tubal certainly sound like Moscow (Russia's capitol) and Tobolsk (a chief city of Siberia)" (J. Vernon McGee, Ezekiel). Russia is divided into eastern and western parts by the Ural mountains. This mountain range runs 1,300 miles from the Arctic ocean to Kazakhstan, a southernmost republic of the former Soviet Union, and is the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia (Funk & Wagnalls). It is interesting to note that Moscow lies in the European side of Russia, while Tobolsk lies in the Asian side. By selecting these two cities of the "land of Magog," God has covered the entire region which has made up the U.S.S.R.

2. The location points to Russia. Ezekiel tells us exactly where this enemy of Israel lives--to the north (Eze. 38:6,15; 39:2). A quick reference to a modern map reveals only one large power to the north of Israel--Russia.

3. The size of the army points to Russia. "even a great company ... like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands ... a mighty army" (Eze. 38:4,9,15). Israel has many enemies other than Russia--especially the neighboring Arab nations, but no Arab enemy can field an army as mighty as the one Ezekiel sees descending from the north.

4. The alliance points to Russia (Eze. 38:4-6). Gog does not come against Israel alone, and these which are said to be associated with him remind us of Russia and its former communist satellites. Gomer refers to "the people descended from Gomer (Ge. 10:2); they settled in the north of the Black Sea and then spread themselves southward and westward to the extremities of Europe" (Young). Thus Gomer probably refers to the former East European satellites of Russia, such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Poland. Togarmah was a son of Gomer, son of Japheth (Ge. 10:3) and settled in Armenia (Young). "Armenia, a former kingdom of NE Asia Minor; generally understood to include eastern Turkey and the Armenian S.S.R.--a constituent republic of the Trans Caucasian Soviet Union" (Funk & Wagnalls). This refers to the southern republics of Russia.

5. The equipment points to Russia (Eze. 38:7). The northern enemy of Israel appears as a great provider of war materiel. Who has been equipping Israel's many enemy nations for decades? It is Russia. Libya, for example, has an awesome stockpile of Soviet- supplied weapons.

6. This power's hatred of Israel points to Russia. Of the great world powers today, none have expressed as much hatred toward God and Israel as Russia. One of the chief propaganda cries of Russian communism was "Zionism is Racism." In 1984, the U.S. ambassador dealing with human rights under the Helsinki Accords said, "Berlin was once the world capital of anti-Semitism; I am afraid that today it is in Moscow."

When shall Gog and Magog attack Israel? (1) It will occur in the latter days (Eze. 38:8). (2) It will occur when Israel is regathered (Eze. 39:8). This points to the times in which we are now living. Since 1948 Israel has again dwelt in the land. (3) It will occur in conjunction with Israel's conversion. In Eze. 39 we see that God's judgment upon Gog will result in Israel realizing that He is their God. (Eze. 39:7). We know from other prophecies that this conversion of Israel will occur during the Great Tribulation (See Ze. 12-13). (4) It will occur at the time when Israel feels secure from danger (Eze. 38:11). Obviously Israel does not feel secure today. The tiny nation is armed to the teeth; and, while doing an admirable job of defending itself, there certainly is no letting down of the guard for Israel today. When will this time of safety be? It will probably be when Antichrist makes the peace pact with Israel described in Da. 9:27 and 8:25. Israel will be deceived into thinking the pledge of Antichrist will guarantee them safety. It is then that Russia and her cohorts will move. Since Da. 9:27 says the Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel in the middle of the seven years, we can be reasonably certain that the battle of Gog will occur in the first half of the Tribulation. [See Antichrist, Daniel, Great Tribulation, Last Days, Prophecy, Second Coming, Revelation.]

GRACE. There are chiefly two ways grace is used in the Bible--saving grace and serving grace:

SAVING GRACE is the free, unmerited favor of God. Biblical grace means the unmerited eternal salvation of God which comes freely to the believing sinner as a freee gift through the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is receiving the opposite of what we deserve. It is the free forgiveness of sin and the offer of free imputed righteousness which was purchased by Jesus Christ (Ro. 3:24--4:6; 11:6; Ac. 15:11; 2 Co. 8:9; Ep. 1:7; 2:8-9; 2 Th. 2:16; Tit. 2:11; 3:4-7; He. 2:9; 4:16). Salvation by grace means salvation is not attained or maintained by human works; rather, it is the free gift from God through faith in Christ's blood. This is the Gospel of the grace of Christ (Ga. 1:6). It is Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone.

Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is the Gospel preached by the Apostles and revealed to us in the Word of God. Paul described the Gospel in Romans 3:24--4:6. It is the Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone without works of any kind. Paul also carefully described the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. Again, there is not one word about works or sacraments. The Gospel is salvation through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Period. It is Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, no works, no sacraments. Praise the Lord!

When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Barnabas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" they replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Ac. 16:30,31). Nother here about works or sacraments or church or priests.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught the same thing, of course. When the crowd asked Christ, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" he replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (Jn. 6:28-29). Again, nothing here about works or sacraments. John 3:16 says "whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Salvation is through Christ alone by grace alone via faith alone, plus nothing and minus nothing.

The common error made by false gospelers is to attempt to intermingle grace and law, faith and works. They do this by redefining grace. Many who profess to believe in salvation by grace actually teach that salvation is achieved by a mixture of grace and works. This was the error of the false teachers in Galatia (Ga. 1-5). In rebuking their error, the Apostle said that by attempting to mix faith and works, law and grace, these teachers had placed themselves under a divine curse (Ga. 1:6-9). This was also the error of the Jewish legalizers whose teachings the Apostles condemned in Acts 15. These false teachers admitted God's grace was necessary for salvation, and they spoke much of the necessity of the blood of Christ and for need of His power in order to live a holy life. They went beyond this, though, by teaching that grace is to be mixed with obedience to the law in order for a person to be saved. A great number of false teachers today promote the same heresy. The Apostle Paul vehemently fought against this error. He emphasized repeatedly that salvation is by grace ALONE through faith ALONE without works or sacraments or law-keeping (Ro. 3:21-28; 4:4-6; Ac. 15:7-11; Ga. 2:15--3:29; Tit. 3:3-7). He also taught that true faith produces good works, but the fruit of salvation, good works and righteous living, is never to be confused with the reality and basis of salvation, which is Christ alone and grace alone (Ep. 2:8-10; Tit. 3:3-8). [See Eternal Security.]

SERVING GRACE is the enablement God gives Christians to make them able to serve Him (Ac. 14:26; Ro. 12:3,6; 15:15; 1 Co. 1:4; 3:10; 15:10; 2 Co. 1:12; 9:8,14; 12:9; Ga. 2:9; Ep. 3:7,8; 4:7; He. 12:28). God gives the Christian everything he needs to live a good life and to fulfill God's will. A person cannot receive serving grace until he receives saving grace. God offers to believers serving grace for everything in the Christian life (2 Co. 4:15; 8:1,6,7,19; 9:14). As a Christian grows he should learn more and more to lean fully upon God's grace for the ability to live his Christian life, instead of trying to serve God in his own strength.

Saving grace comes through the blood of Jesus Christ and is received by trusting that blood (Ro. 3:24,25). Serving grace comes through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and is received by prayer and by walking in obedience to the Holy Spirit (Ep. 3:7; Ga. 5:16; He. 4:16). [See Adoption, Eternal Security, Gospel, Hope, Jesus Christ, Justification, Love, Mercy, Propitiation, Redemption, Repentance.]