“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters                                             cover the sea” – Habakkuk 2:14.

Each year when the Feast of Tabernacles comes around in Israel it seems that the glory of God draws especially close.  Indeed this celebration demonstrates God’s glory with the dazzling and sparkling decorations on the individual tabernacles or sukkot.  This festival also speaks of God’s glory in that it is the festival of the Lord’s appearing (Jn. 7:6-11), bringing with it the end of the present age.  Let us probe just a bit into the subject of
God’s glory.

WHAT IS GLORY?

The Hebrew word for glory is kabod.  This word is indicative of things like heaviness, preciousness, purity, perfection, splendor, richness, beauty, and majesty.  Sometimes the best way to understand a word is to look at its opposite.  The opposite of glory is shame, disgrace, reproach, etc.  This whole realm of shame, disgrace and reproach is the lot of people who are without God. They do not perceive much of God’s glory, although it is clearly manifested for all to see.  The Bible says in Psalm 19:1-2: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”

So, the glory of God is all around us in the world and in the universe.  We can thank God that this beauty can still be seen in spite of the devil’s age-old plan to destroy all traces of it.  While the believer can see some of God’s glory, there is actually a satanic plot to keep it from the unbeliever.  The Bible tells us about this: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:1).  Sometimes these eyes open just a bit when there is a birth or a death, or when God works on their behalf and these folks are miraculously delivered from some great disaster.

Not only do unsaved people fail to see God’s glory, but they often pervert that glory.  The Bible says in Romans 1:22-25: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles…They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen” (cf. Psa. 4:2).   One may object that most people do not serve images in this day.  Yet, graven images still abound everywhere in our world, and are on the increase.  They have just become a lot more sophisticated. Unfortunately, man in his sinful and idolatrous state will never experience the true glory of God.  In Romans 3:23 it is said: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….”

GLORY IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

When we compare the Old and New Testaments we see that their “glory” is somewhat different.  In the Old Testament we see that the glory was a departing or passing one.  For instance, Moses was only able to see God’s back, and while Moses’ face shone from that experience, the glory was fading.  We see that Moses actually put a veil over his face so that people might not perceive that the glory was fading (Exo. 34:33;  2 Cor. 3:13).  Likewise, the glory of the Tabernacle and Temple was a veiled glory.  This veil that covered the Holy of Holies was miraculously torn in two at the death of Jesus, signifying an end to the Old Covenant order of things (Matt. 27:51).

After Christ’s death on the cross the way into the glorious Holy of Holies was opened for all people (Heb. 10:19-22).  Because of that event, the New Testament glory can now be an increasing glory for all believers.  It is a face to face glory, as symbolized in the cherubim of the ark, who continually faced each other.

The apostle Paul deals with the matter of New Testament glory in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.  In this great passage he tells us that if the ministry engraved in stone that brought death was glorious, how much more glorious will the ministry be that brings life.  In 2 Corinthians 3:11 he asks: “And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts.”

Well, how can we fully possess this New Testament glory?

STEPS TO GOD’S GLORY

We see in the Bible that the glory of God is revealed primarily in Jesus Christ.  In 2 Corinthians 3:7 we read: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  Jesus Christ is the “King of Glory” (Psa. 24:8).  The Bible also says of him and of his presence in our lives, that he is the “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

So the first step in our receiving God’s glory is to let Jesus come into our lives.  This is what is known as the “new birth,” and is discussed by Jesus in John 3: 1-21.  Once we have accepted Jesus into our lives, we have started on the glory road.  We see many scriptures indicating that glory is the goal of the believer.  In Romans 8:30 the apostle says: “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” 

The second step on the glory road is to constantly seek the face of Jesus.  In 1 Chronicles 16:11 we have this advice: “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.”   In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul says: “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.”   We see by this that as we look at Jesus we are daily changed from glory to glory, and Jesus’ glory is an ever-increasing one.

There is much said in scripture about “seeking God’s face.”  In Psalm 27:8 we read: “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’  Your face, LORD, I will seek.”   Then in Psalm 17:15 we see the final result of those who seek God’s face: “And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.”  Indeed, the Book of Revelation pictures these seekers for us: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:4).

There is a third and final step in seeking God’s glory.  We must be willing to take up our individual cross and follow the Lord.  Indeed, this is the true path to glory.  In John 17:1, Jesus prayed about his approaching crucifixion.  He said: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”  How interesting it is that in Jesus’ mind the final path to glory lay in the cross.  Through the long centuries, Satan and his followers have sought glory by exaltation, but Jesus and his followers have sought glory by the cross, by dying and crucifying self.  The apostle Paul once summed it up this way: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

In Exodus 33:20 God said to Moses:  “…you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”  We have an apparent contradiction here.  We have just been commanded to seek God’s face and yet we are told that we cannot do so and live.  As we see, this apparent contradiction is resolved in the cross.  When we take up his cross, as we are commanded to do, his crucifixion becomes a reality for us.  We no longer live, but are in a real sense dead, at least so far as the flesh is concerned.

Paul summarizes this for us in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Truly, the cross of Jesus is our path to glory.

Although it is not a popular subject today God has called his people to suffering.  The scriptures tell us that we are joint heirs with Christ only if we suffer with him (Rom. 8:17).  The apostle says in the very next verse: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”  In 2 Timothy 2:12 he says: “if we endure, we will also reign with him….”

In our comfort-oriented Christian world it might help us to consider the Holocaust.  If it took a Holocaust and the deaths of six million Jews to begin the restoration of Israel, what will it take to begin the restoration of the church?  Jesus has called us to suffering.  It is our gift from the Master.  In Philippians 1:29 we read: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him….”  It is our joy to bear our cross with Jesus.  Peter states: “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet. 4:13).

Yes, through the cross and even in spite of our particular crosses, the joy and glory of God is emerging.  John tries to sum this up in 1 John 3:2.  He says: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”  With all this in mind, may we Christians take up our crosses, and as it is said in 1 John 3:2, may we also “…rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

                                                                                                           -Jim Gerrish

 

This article is a condensed and updated version of a  sermon presented years ago at the Narkiss Street Church in Jerusalem.  Publication date, 2003.