Exactly
what do we mean when we say those things? If we had to specifically explain
what we meant in each of those cases, what would we say? Exactly what is the
“glory of God?” When we enter into glory, just what are we entering?
The
reason that we use the word so much in the church because the Bible also uses
it a lot, and no one uses the word more than Jesus Christ. In the gospel of
John chapter seventeen, as Jesus and the disciples left the upper room where
they had eaten their last meal together and were walking from to the Garden of
Gethsemane, Jesus stops.
Chapters
fifteen and sixteen of John’s gospel contain many words of advice and counsel
that Jesus had spoken to his disciples, but now in chapter seventeen, Jesus
pauses and lifts his eyes to heaven.
He
prays, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify
You…I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do.
And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You
before the world existed” (John 17:1, 4-5 BSB).
Jesus
knew that he was on his way to face his arrest and execution. His days on earth
of teaching his disciples and the people were over. Except for the crucifixion
and his resurrection from the dead, he had completed all that he came to earth
to accomplish.
And
now he prays, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may
glorify You.”
What
did He mean?
This
of course was not the first time that Jesus had spoken of glory.
Jesus Speaks of
Glory
Quite
early in his years of ministry, Jesus had said to some Jews who were accusing
him of speaking as a demon, “I do not seek My own glory. There is One who seeks
it, and He is the Judge… If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One
who glorifies Me is My Father” (John 8:50, 54 BSB).
Throughout
his time on earth, Jesus spoke much of glory. He uses it in several contexts
and speaks of glory not only in relation to the Father, but also receiving it
unto himself and promising it to those who believed in him. He uses it not only
as a noun, or an adjective to describe something, but also as a verb, as some
action we should bestow upon another.
Jesus
is quoted as using the word glory,
glorify, glorious, or some other form of the word dozens of times. What did
he mean? Unless we are able to have a clear definition of what he is saying, we
miss a clear understanding of much of his teaching.
Meanings and
Nuances
The
difficulty for us in defining this word however, is that it is used in many
various ways and with many different shades of meaning. The word[1]
cannot be defined by one simple explanation.
This
makes it difficult, but there is also a value in it for us, since it gives the
word glory color and a richness. If we think about this word a bit, and see how
it is used in various ways in the Scripture, it will open up to us appreciation
for not only what Jesus taught us, but also for what is a major theme of the
Bible.
It
was, for instance, the word that the multitude of angels used when they
announced the birth of the Messiah to the shepherds in the fields: “Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men.”
When
the first angel appeared to tell them about the birth of Jesus, “the glory of
the Lord” shone all around the shepherds, so much so that they became afraid of
what was happening to them. But after they had gone to find the baby and were
again returning to the fields to tend to their sheep, they returned “glorifying
God” (Luke 2:9, 14, 20).
What
does all this mean?
Glory Means
Light or Brightness
We
often equate the word glory with brightness or some sort of light, as we
imagine the shepherds experienced. It is as Peter described the appearance of
Jesus on a special day when he and two other disciples were given the privilege
to witness the transfiguration of their teacher.
As
the gospel writer Matthew describes it, “The face of Jesus shone like the sun,
and His clothes became as white as the light.”
Peter
himself, and the two other disciples with him were surrounded by a “bright
cloud” (Matthew 17:2, 6). One of the others with Peter was John, who later
wrote, “We beheld his glory” (John 1:14).
Paul
even uses the word glory is also used even to describe the sun, moon and stars.
“There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is
of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of
the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for
star differs from star in glory.” (1 Corinthians 15:40 ESV)
Glory Means To
Magnify or to Give Praise
Jesus
once told a man who had long been paralyzed, “Get up, pick up your mat, and go
home.” After Jesus said these words, the man suddenly rose to his feet and did
just what he said. The people who saw this happen “were filled with awe, and
glorified the God of Israel” (Matthew 9:8).
When
thousands of people saw Jesus give the mute the ability to speak, the crippled
restored, the lame walking and the blind seeing, they were amazed and glorified
God (Matthew 15:29-31).
Even
at the moment that Jesus died and cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your
hands I commit My Spirit,” there was something about his manner of dying that
caused a Roman centurion, who witnessed this death give glory to God. He
exclaimed, “Surely this was a righteous man” (Luke 23:47).
Glory Means
Wealth
Sometimes
the word glory is used in the Bible to describe one’s wealth or the wealth of
the nations. For instance, when Satan tempted Jesus, he told him if Jesus would
worship him, he would give to him “authority over all the kingdoms and all
their glory” (Luke 4:6).
In
Revelation, when John is describing the heavenly city of the New Jerusalem, he
writes that into the city will be brought “the glory and honor of the nations”
(Revelation 21:26).
Glory Means To
Bring to Completed State
The
word glory is also used to describe the destiny of those who are believers in
Christ. Even the destiny of the earth is tied to our own glorification. Paul
writes that “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to
corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans
8:21 ESV).
He
also writes on the process of our growth and development in the Christian life,
our glorification being the final stage of our growth. “Those He predestined,
He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also
glorified” (Romans 8:30 BSB).
In
some manner, this process also was applied even to Jesus Himself. In many ways
this is unlike our own experience of course, but in other ways it is similar.
John, referring to the time before Jesus had been resurrected, spoke of Jesus
as “not yet glorified” (John 7:39).
When
Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son,” he was speaking of
the moment when his task on earth would be completed in its fullest sense.
This
glorified Jesus was the One of whom the disciples spoke when later spreading
the news of His resurrection. Peter referred to Jesus as one whom “the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified (Acts 3:13).
The
writer of Hebrews makes a distinction between before the resurrection of Jesus
and after it. While on earth, Jesus “did not take upon Himself the glory of
becoming a high priest, but He was called by the One who said to Him: ‘You are
My Son’… Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And
having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who
obey Him and was designated by God as high priest (Hebrews 5:5, 8-10 BSB)
In Old Testament
The
New Testament Greek word for glory or
glorious corresponds to an Old
Testament Hebrew word [2]
that is translated in much the same way.
“Arise,
shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you”
(Isaiah 60:1).
“It
is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it
out” (Proverbs 25.2 BSB).
“For
when a man dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after
him” (Psalm 49:17).
The
Hebrew word for glory is used in all the same ways as the Greek word is in the
New Testament. At the very root of its meaning, the Hebrew word means “to be
heavy.” This meaning relates to our
present understanding of the word glory, because in some ways, we can
understand that the heaviness of an item can be seen as a function of its
quality.
If it Ain’t
Heavy, It Ain’t Glorious
In
the days when food was bought in the market, the weight of the food often meant
more than the volume. A low quality grain, for instance, will weigh less that
the same volume of grain of a higher quality. We actually use the same
criterion today.
As
an example, a University of Nebraska publication states that “For U.S. No. 1
yellow corn, the official minimum test weight is 56 pounds per bushel. If test
weights drop below this standard, the grain price is discounted.”[3]
We
also often use weight in everyday life to test its quality of various goods. In
these days of articles made of cheap plastic, if we lift an item and feel that
it weighs more than its plastic counterpart, we immediately equate this having
a higher-quality.
Interesting
isn’t it that Paul says at the judgement, God will “test the quality of each
man’s work.” It is not weight in this case that God will use as a standard, but
whether or not it will endure the test of fire. Nevertheless, it is interesting
that he likens those works that will endure as those that have weight: gold,
silver and precious stones. Those that will not endure the test are those of
lighter weight: wood, hay and straw.
Taking
all of these uses for the word glory into consideration, perhaps the best
definition that we can give the word, at least when it refers to people, is
that it is describing their true and intrinsic value. When all externals and
distractions are removed, the glory that is revealed displays the rightful significance
and what is important. “Glory” has to do with the completed state of one whose
life is founded in Christ and the quality and nature of the heavenly kingdom.
God’s Glory in
Us
Glory
is something that God has in mind for all those who believe his words and who
have patterned their lives to live by them. As Paul says, it is God’s intention
to “present Himself a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish,
but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27).
“No
eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined what God has prepared for
those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4)
“Our
citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who, by the power that enables Him…will transform our
lowly bodies to be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21-22).
It’s
an amazing thought. John also writes of this in his letters:
Behold
what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called
children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we
will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be
like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him
purifies himself, just as Christ is pure. (1 John 3:1-3 BSB)
Present
Consequences
Did
you notice the final part of that quote from the Apostle John, “Everyone who
has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure?”
Despite
the fact that all of these promises from God to bring us into his glory are not
based on our own actions, the Scriptures repeatedly teach us that our
activities here on earth do have eternal consequences. I have also consistently
taught that in this church. I do not know how it is possible for anyone who
claims to be a Christian to think that they can live by the standards of the
world and expect God to ignore this fact.
Peter
rebuked the people of his day, telling them, “You have spent enough time living
as the world.” [4]
Present
Distractions
Then
how is it that we are to begin to learn to live in glory? To again refer to the
quote from John, the first step is to place our hope in Jesus. I am not
speaking only of our hope for life after we die, but our hope for this very
day! If your life now is to have any
value, you must come to the realization that fulfillment will not come from the
world—it cannot come from there. The
joys of the world are mirages and illusions. The best that the world can offer
are temporary distractions.
And
that is just what Satan tries to do—he wants to distract us from what is truly
important. He tries to get us to chase the dream that one more consumer item,
just a little more travel, perhaps even a new marriage will give us
fulfillment. It’s a lie. They are all lies.
The
devil offered all the glory of the world to Jesus, and Jesus told him, “Be
gone! Away from me!”
Jesus
knew that the glories of this world were illusions. The sooner that we also
come to realize this same fact, the sooner that we will come to see that we
need to look beyond this world for answers.
Attaining Glory
But
if we are to look beyond this world for fulfillment in living, how are we to do
it? It may be fine to speak of working for the glories of heaven, but if we
cannot yet access heaven, how are we to seek fulfillment there?
We
cannot, but God can do it for us:
God’s
divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the
knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these
He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you
may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4 BSB)
Here
is what Paul wrote to the Colossian church: “Therefore, since you have been
raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For
you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is
your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians
3:1-3 BSB).
I
spoke on this a few weeks ago when I told you that it takes death to learn how
to live. We do not need to wait for these bodies to die to begin to learn. We
can die now—not that our present bodies need die, but we must consider
ourselves dead to the things of the world.
Our
citizenship is in heaven.
Suffering that
Leads to Glory
We
may not like to hear it, but even our present sufferings have a place in
leading us into glory. Sufferings in this world come from many various sources
and in many ways, but for the children of God, He intends our sufferings to
build within us more of His own glory.
Peter
encourages us, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace,
who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you,
secure you, strengthen you, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10 BSB)
Paul
also encourages us:
Therefore
we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self
is being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary affliction is
producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison.
So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 BSB)
I
consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will
be revealed in us (Romans 8:18 BSB)
When
Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
(Colossians 3:4 BSB)
A
phrase we commonly hear in these days is that “the world is coming apart!”
People are worried. All that they thought was secure has failed them. Many are
wringing their hands, hoping that things can soon get back to “normal.”
But
what they do not realize, all of this upheaval is normal for this world. The world has not only begun to come
apart. It has always been coming apart. The only reason it has managed to limp
along all of these thousands of years is because God has allowed us to patch up
problems, to delay a present crises for the next generation to face, or to put
bandages here and splints there. God has allowed us to do this so that all who
want to come to Jesus will have opportunity.
“The
Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness,” Peter
writes, “but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to
come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
But
we know that it is not only the world as a whole that is suffering, perhaps you
are experiencing your own form of personal suffering. Perhaps you have
difficulties and struggles happening in your private life that few know about.
You are wondering why God is allowing these things to come to you.
The
answers to our “why” questions will come later. For now it is best to
concentrate on “what.” What does God want you to learn through this experience?
What is God building in you?
For
now it is best to concentrate on building our confidence that God works all
things together for the good of those who love Him, and for those who are
called according to His purpose.
And
God has a calling for you, a calling that will bring you into a full
understanding of the glory of God, a glory which He intends to also bestow upon
you.
[1] Strong’s
Concordance 1391 dóksa (from dokeō, "exercising personal opinion which
determines value") – glory. 1391 /dóksa ("glory") corresponds to
the OT word, kabo (OT 3519, "to be heavy").
[2] kabowd:
glorious
[3] https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2017/why-grain-test-weights-matter
[4] For you
have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the
Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and
detestable idolatry. 1 Peter 4:3
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