THE GLORY
TO FOLLOW
What is glory? The word runs like a river through all that scripture says about the ‘day of Christ’ and its synonyms, including ‘the world to come’, the ‘day of rest’, ‘the times of the restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began’ (Acts 3:21, NKJV). So much so the ‘day of Christ’ (1 Corinthians 1:8) could well be called the ‘day of his glory’.
Undoubtedly, God’s glory is also his grace and his salvation. 1 Peter 1:10-11 makes this clear, speaking of the Old Testament prophets’ inquiry as to what person or time ‘…the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories (or glory) to follow.’
Importantly, it is his own glory that Christ will blaze forth at his appearing (Titus 2:13) which is the start of that glorious day when He will judge the quick and the dead and govern the world (2 Timothy 4:1). Indeed, it seems we are saved by the Lord’s ‘first’ appearing in grace (Titus 2:11) mainly so that we can look for his ‘second’ appearing in glory (Titus 2:13).
You see, you can’t see the ‘great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13) without seeing also the fullness of his glory. Indeed, He wants you to both see his glory and be with Him in it (John 17:24, Colossians 3:4).
And just as the glory of the risen exalted Christ will be put on show for all the world to see so it will also be fully revealed in us who believe. Romans 8:18 plainly states the ‘…sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us’. Indeed, our present ‘light affliction which is but for a moment’ is ‘working for us a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory’ (2 Corinthians 4:17).
But what does God’s glory really mean? Is it just his gracious act in forgiving and pardoning our sin through Christ’s death on our behalf? No, it’s more. For in Numbers 14:20-21 the Lord relents and pardons Israel for her rebellion, then tells Moses:
I have pardoned according to your word. But as truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
Mere pardon then is not God’s idea of glory. But receiving we sinners in grace (Romans 15:7), and restoring fallen mankind and the damaged earth to what both should be, is. And so also is resurrection. Indeed, just before raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus told Martha:
Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? (John 11:40).
And when that dead and buried man walked out from the tomb God’s glory is what she saw. But even resurrection does not exhaust the meaning of the glory of God. There is far more. God’s glory outshines the sun. Perhaps the Bible’s most superlative description of God’s glory is found in Revelation 21:23 speaking of the New Jerusalem:
The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
Saul was knocked to the ground by a glory brighter than the noon day sun in midsummer when the risen, fully empowered, fully glorified Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:13). In an instant he was changed from a hateful persecutor of believers to a loving servant and on the spot commissioned as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Such is the effect when our Lord reveals Himself in glory to just one man. What will it be like when He displays his glory to the whole world? Because that is what He will do in the ‘day of Christ’ - Isaiah 40:5: ‘The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh (people) shall see it together’. Surely, His blazing forth of his glory to everyone on earth will have the same effect as it did on Saul. This will be in his day, his day of glory. Didn’t Jesus say that ‘the world through Him should be saved’ (John 3:17 NASB)?
Furthermore, if we are saved then already we have the glory of God within. 2 Corinthians 4:6 states: ‘…for God has ... shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’.
Now, in one sense, God’s glory has always shone for, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’ (Psalm 19:1) and they have been doing so from creation until now. What’s more, God is so glorious that when He unveils Himself the power is such men fall ‘as dead’ before Him. The Apostle John, Daniel, Saul and others did and the Prophet Isaiah cried, ‘Woe is me for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.’ (Isaiah 6:1-5).
All these were holy men - they were “separated” unto God. Yet they were convicted to the core of their inherent sinfulness when the Lord shone in glory upon them. So, imagine, what the effect of the Lord Jesus Christ’s displaying the full glory of his Person to the world will have on sinners in his day, the imminent ‘day of Christ’ to come.
What’s more, even now it is the Lord’s glory, the power of his presence, albeit in veiled or diluted form, that keeps believers in this life and preserves them unto the next.
All said it is no wonder one website writer tells us: ‘…glory is one of the buried treasures of lost humanity. It is an imprisoned splendour. The purpose and the power of God's glory delivers the keys for releasing his glorious life in a manifested demonstration of spiritual living and creative work’.
The bottom line is that without God’s glory man is not what he should be. As Romans 3:23 states: ‘… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’. And God is determined to put that right. You see, it is God’s glory to restore human beings to the glory in God and of God they were created to have in the first place. Of course, that glory was lost through sin in the Garden of Eden. But Jesus Christ was born as a man, overcame our temptations and poured out his blood in death to restore the glory we have lost.
For the record, the word glory is used 148 times in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and from Deuteronomy to Malachi and on numerous occasions in the New Testament. It is the very essence of who God is and very soon He will shine it so powerfully the whole world will see and be changed in its light.
Believe it or not, it seems God finds his ultimate glory in you and me, those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and give themselves to his purposes. Hebrews 2:10 tells us that Jesus ‘in bringing many sons to glory’ was Himself ‘made perfect through sufferings’. In 1 Peter 5:10 we learn that the ‘God of all grace (has) called us unto his eternal glory’. And in 1 Peter 1:6-7 the Apostle declares that our faith, ‘though tested by fire may be found to praise, honour and glory at the revelation (i.e. appearing) of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13, 2 Tim. 4:1).
So, we are his glory and He, of course, is ours. What’s more, God so delights in his glory that He wants you and me to have it as well.
John Dudley Aldworth
You’re welcome to contact me at the email address below.
Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com