Psalm 8:4-6 – “What is man, that You are mindful of him; and the son of man, that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, or a little lower than Elohim, than God Himself. You have crowned him with glory and honour and made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands. You put all things under his feet”.
Notice that word ‘crown’ there means: to put on a royal headdress of sovereignty. When God created man, He created us for sovereignty in the earth. We're created to have dominion over the earth; and we're created in order to make the work productive, and fruitful. He said: You crowned him with glory & honour. Glory means: the shining nature of God. Honour means splendour, and majesty, and magnificence; sovereign power, dignity.
Notice how we've been designed, how God created us; we've been crowned. God has put upon us the evidence of majesty, and kingly glory - as His sons, and representatives of a royal king; with the shining nature of God, and all honour & splendour. We cannot comprehend what we were like before the fall. It can't easily be understood - the majesty and magnificence of Adam, and how jealous the devil was of him, desiring to steal from him what he had, because it was what the devil wanted.
So firstly then, we're designed, or created, for great honour, great glory. God has not changed His plan. He still plans to put upon us, and bestow upon us, great honour and great glory. Right now, that glory comes within us, and Christ within us, the hope of a greater measure of majesty and glory to come. Secondly, the believers will receive different realms of praise and honour in the kingdom.
1 Samuel 2:30 – “The Lord of Israel says (He's speaking to Eli) that your house, and the house of your father, would walk before Me forever; but now be it far from Me, those who honour Me I will honour. Those who despise Me will be lightly valued”.
God makes it very clear that, if we honour Him in our life, then He will put honour upon us.
Matthew 25:21 – “The Lord said to the servant: well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your Lord”.
The faithful servant receives praise, approval and a reward – ruler of many things. God looks not on our outward actions; He looks on the motivations of our actions.
1 Corinthians 4:5 – “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness”
Everything that's covered now - when the Lord comes, there will be an exposure of them. He will reveal the counsels or the motivations of the heart; then, everyone's praise will come from God. That word ‘praise’ means to ‘commend’ or to ‘approve’ a person. It's saying that you can't really tell with people, what they're like; you can't see into the motivations of their heart. He says: don't judge things before the time - you can't even really see for your own life very clearly; so, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes. When the Lord comes, then He will bring out into the light everything that was hidden. He will also expose what motivated people to do what they did; and then they're either: rewarded, praised, commended, and honoured; or they are dishonoured, their shame is manifest.
The Bible is very clear: some will receive great honour in the kingdom. The Old Testament gives you some examples, so you can get a glimpse of what eternal realities are like. If God wants to honour you, He can lift you up; He is able to put amazing honour upon your life. Solomon received great honour from the Lord.
1 Chronicles 29:25 – “The Lord exalted Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been seen on any king before him in Israel”.
That's an amazing scripture! Notice that God exalts (or lifts) him up - promotes him. Always, before promotion, comes humility; a massive requirement in our lives is we develop a humble heart. Jesus had a humble, and a meek, heart. Those who humble themselves, God will lift them up. Solomon humbled himself in his early days and you can tell that by what he asked God for, which from a wise and understanding heart. It says that God bestowed on him such royal majesty, as hadn't been seen on any king before him in Israel. The Queen of Sheba heard about him, and she came to see him. She looked at his majesty; at the way they came up, and into the house; at the servants, and how they were dressed; and every aspect of Solomon's kingdom - and it said: it took her breath away! She said: I've heard so much of it, but it's just far greater than anything I could've imagined!