Sep 26, 2020 | Why Are You Here?
Before we look at some ways the Bible says we can glorify God today, I want to examine some instances of God being glorified in heaven, where His will is done perfectly. All of these examples come from the book of Revelation, and they include accounts of various beings in heaven giving glory to God. Although the focus of this paper is on human beings glorifying God, there are truths we can learn from all of these scenes that will help us to glorify God more effectively.
The first such instance is described in chapters 4 and 5. Seven times in those two chapters we are told that various groups of beings in heaven give glory to God, proclaim that He is worthy to receive glory, express the desire that He receive glory, or exhort others to glorify God. Chapter 4 begins with John being invited up to heaven (4:1), where he sees the throne room of God (4:2-6a) with a heavenly court surrounding the throne (4:6b-8). Then we read that various beings around the throne give glory to God and also proclaim that He is worthy to receive that glory. “And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”” (Revelation 4:9–11, ESV) They give Him glory, and they proclaim that He is worthy to receive it. The reason why He is worthy to receive glory is that He created everything that exists. Everything and everyone that exists owes that very existence to God, the Creator. He certainly deserves to receive our glory and praise for that fact as well.
The worshipful scene in chapter 4 is interrupted in chapter 5 by something John beheld. He saw a scroll, sealed with seven seals, in the hand of God, but no one was found who could break the seals and open the scroll. (Revelation 5:1-4) We know, from reading the rest of Revelation, that unless the seals were opened, the judgments contained in the rest of the book and the blessings at the end of the book could not take place. The seal judgments would lead into the trumpet judgments, which in turn would lead into the bowl or vial judgments, which would lead to the destruction of the enemies of God and the establishment of the New Heavens and the New Earth. Everything depended upon the scroll being opened. Then it was proclaimed that a Lamb, standing as though it had been slain, who was also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, could open the scroll. (Revelation 5:5-7) God’s plan for the culmination of history would be fulfilled. In response to this discovery, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders sing a new song, praising the Lamb for redeeming multitudes of people from all over the world by shedding His blood for them. Next, John hears the living creatures, the 24 elders and multitudes of angels proclaim that the Lamb is worthy to receive glory, “saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”” (Revelation 5:12, ESV) Then John said, “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”” (Revelation 5:13, ESV) It was because of the work of the Lion/Lamb that God’s plan would be completed. It is no wonder that John hears every creature everywhere offering glory to the Father and the Son. God will bring to a conclusion His great plan for all of time! How could those who love the Lord have any other response to this news than offering praise and honor and glory (which are synonymous terms here) to God?
In the second scene, a multitude that no one could number, from every people group on earth proclaims that salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-10). (That multitude is later identified as a group of people who have come out of the great tribulation and have “washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14)). Next, we read, “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”” (Revelation 7:11–12, ESV) God and the Lamb are here given glory, praise, and worship because of the salvation they have accomplished for these multitudes of people.
The last scene in Revelation in which it is stated that glory is given to God is in chapter 19. Chapter 18 recorded the destruction of the enemies of the Lord on earth. In response to that victory there is great rejoicing in heaven. John writes, “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,” (Revelation 19:1, ESV) Then, a few verses later, as the rejoicing continues, we read that John heard “what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” (Revelation 19:6–8, ESV) The victory over the enemies of God has been won. The time for the marriage of the Lamb has come. All of heaven rejoices and gives glory to God for vanquishing evil. God’s plan for all of time is about to be concluded.
When put together, these here scenes tell us that God deserves glory for several reasons. He created all that exists. He made it possible for guilty sinners to be made right before Him. He brought to a conclusion His plan for all of time so that the New Heavens and the New Earth will be all that God intended for His creation to be.
So far, we have looked at various ways in which God was glorified in the past and ways in which He will be glorified in the future. Now we will look at some ways in which the Bible teaches that we can glorify God today. That will be the topic addressed in the next chapter.
Sep 13, 2020 | Why Are You Here?
Chapter 3. God moved His people to glorify Him.
As stated above, there are two conditions necessary in order for God to secure the end for which He created mankind, which is His glory. First, He must perform deeds which are indisputably deserving of glory. We looked at a number of examples of such deeds done in the past in chapter 2. Second, He must enable people to see and be willing to acknowledge that He is the one who deserves credit for them. There is a sense in which we observed that fact in the accounts discussed in chapter 2. If God had not moved those individuals to glorify Him, they would not have done so. Then why devote another chapter to discussing God’s work in the hearts of people as He moves them to willingly ascribe to Him the credit that is His due? I have two reasons for doing so. First, I want to show Biblical examples of people seeing the amazing works of God, but refusing to give Him glory. These examples provide a contrast against which to view my second reason. That reason is the examples I will cite showing the strong desire of people to give God the glory He is due. The examples provided in chapter 2 highlighted the magnificence of God’s works. The examples we will examine in this chapter highlight the inner motivations of the people involved.
Before we look at the examples, however, we will look at a few instances in which people were not willing to give God glory. We have already seen one of them in Chapter 1. It was found in Romans 1:20-27, where mankind was unwilling to glorify God as God and has been reaping the consequences ever since. They had seen, in nature, powerful evidences of God’s power and deity. “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor [glorify] him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:20–21, ESV) The problem was not in the availability or strength of the evidence. The problem was the human heart.
Another example is found in the ministry of Jesus. It involved people who were healed but did not glorify God as they should have. Luke records the event in which ten lepers were healed by the Lord and then walked away. “Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”” (Luke 17:15–18, NASB95 ) Again, the miracle was amazing. The deliverance the nine other lepers experienced was life changing. The problem was the ingratitude of the nine for the kindness of God. These two examples remind us that it is possible to see God’s glory manifested in miraculous ways and then take those acts for granted and not give Him the credit He deserves. The implication that flows out of Jesus’ question is that the others who had been healed should have taken the time and effort to give God the credit for the blessing of healing that they had received. To omit doing so was to deny Him the praise (glory) He should have been given.
A third example is in Revelation. In this case the response of the people mentioned is one of outright rebellion. Following horrendous judgment after horrendous judgment poured out on the earth, some people did give glory to God. “And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Revelation 11:13, ESV) However, after still more horrendous judgments others did not repent. John tells us, “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.” (Revelation 16:9, ESV) This is an indication of the hatred and hard hearts of these people.
So, why do some people give God glory while others do not? Why do some people adamantly refuse to give God glory while others do so willingly, if not joyfully or enthusiastically? Paul gives us the answer in Philippians. After calling his readers to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, he writes, “[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13, ESV) Human beings who do give God glory do so because God has been working in their hearts moving them to be willing to do so.
He commissioned angels to acknowledge the birth of the promised Savior.
The first people to hear of the birth of Jesus were shepherds out on the hills near Bethlehem. The news came to them from one angel who was then joined by many others. “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”” (Luke 2:10–14, ESV) The angels were uniting in expressing the wish that, as a result of the coming of the Messiah, God would be glorified in heaven, and that on earth there would be peace among people with whom God is pleased. It could also be a statement that those things are true. They knew that the mighty Creator of the universe had somehow taken the form of a helpless baby, and that the wonderful plan of salvation, conceived in eternity past and prepared for throughout the preceding centuries, was at that time actually beginning to be executed. The promised and long-expected Messiah had been born. The most important event in all of history had commenced. The angelic host was not only willing, but exuberant, in their desire to glorify God by giving Him honor and praise for what He was doing.
He enabled people to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and respond to Him accordingly.
Years later, when Jesus entered Jerusalem for His Triumphal Entry the crowd was saying something that included an element that was very similar to what the angels had said at Jesus’ birth. “As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”” (Luke 19:37–38, ESV) Since “heaven” and “the highest” appear to be parallel, I take it that they both refer to the same thing. These people did not know what the angels knew at Jesus’ birth, but they knew about the miracles Jesus had done combined with prophecies of the works which the Messiah would perform (such as Isaiah 35:5-6), and they undoubtedly knew Zechariah 9:9. For reasons such as these, these people were expressing a sentiment very much like that of the angels in Luke 2:14. They were praising God because they believed that the promised Messiah had arrived. The one the nation had longed for had finally come. Again, honor and praise are involved in their desire that God would be glorified. So far, angels and people have expressed the desire that, in heaven and everywhere on earth, God would be glorified; that is, given credit for what He was doing.
Numerous doxologies in the New Testament express the desire that God would be glorified. On seven different occasions Paul writes a doxology in which he expresses the wish that God’s glory (praise, honor) would endure forever.[1] Hebrews, 1 Peter, Jude, and Revelation also contain similar doxologies.[2] All of these passages deserve careful consideration but we will look at just three of them, two written by Paul and one by John.
God enabled Paul to see how He was bringing salvation to Gentiles while still preserving a special role for Israel and moved him to compose a doxology in praise of His wise plan.
In Romans 9-11, Paul gives a brief survey of Israel’s role in God’s plan of redemption. In chapter 9, after expressing his own profound love for his fellow Israelites, he reviews the privileges Israel has enjoyed. Then he explains that many Gentiles achieved a righteous standing because they believed in the Messiah, while many Israelites did not receive a righteous standing because they did not believe in Him. In chapter 10, after expressing his love for Israel again, he supports his position that people are made right with God solely on the basis of faith. Then, in chapter 11, he addresses Gentiles, explaining to them that God has not forsaken His people, Israel. “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”.” (Romans 11:25–26, ESV) At the conclusion of this wonderful summary of God’s plan for the nation of Israel is his beautiful doxology summarizing God’s absolute supremacy: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36, ESV) Leon Morris comments on the first half of this verse, “The meaning is nicely expressed in Moffatt’s translation “All comes from him, all lives by him, all ends in him.” Paul is speaking of God as the Originator, the Sustainer, and the Goal of all creation.”[3] God had planned the partial hardening of Israel with the result of Jesus’ being rejected, dying for sinners, and the spread of the gospel to Gentiles. But that hardening will only last for a time, after which Israel will turn to the Messiah. As Paul thinks of the wisdom and sovereignty of God demonstrated in this plan, he responds spontaneously with a doxology. He wishes that God would receive glory, honor, praise (different terms meaning nearly the same thing but used for emphasis) forever. If we think about what Paul has described in the context, how can we respond any differently? “That God is to receive glory means that he alone is worthy to receive credit for the successful accomplishment of redemptive history.”[4]
God helped Paul to recognize that He had converted the “foremost of sinners” to show that none are beyond His reach. The result was Paul’s doxology.
Early in his first letter to his young protégé, Timothy, Paul offers praise to God for his salvation and transformation. He proclaims that, in his case God has changed the “foremost” of sinners into His ambassador. He then declares that God did this with him so that in Paul God would have an eloquent example of the change God can bring about in anyone’s life, even if he or she is a “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.” He concludes his rehearsal of the enormous change that God had brought about in his life with this beautiful doxology: “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17, ESV) Paul did his best to put into words a description of the greatness and majesty of the God who had wrought such a radical transformation in his life. He acknowledged God’s power and then expressed the desire that He would receive honor and glory (probably a hendiadys, both terms being near synonyms here) forever and ever. When we consider the way God showed His grace and sovereignty in the transformation of Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle, how can we respond any differently? It was extremely important to Paul that God would receive the credit He so richly deserved for what He did for him.
He revealed to John some of the wonderful aspects of our salvation which involved how He loved, redeemed, and exalted guilty, vile, and hopeless sinners, again resulting in a doxology.
It was also important to John that the Lord would be glorified. At the end of his introductory greeting in the Revelation John wrote a doxology: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5–6, ESV) The stated basis for this doxology is much briefer than those of Paul noted above, but that brevity does not indicate unimportance. What John includes in this doxology is of immense importance. John says our Lord loves us. The wonder of that fact can easily be taken for granted if we forget that He loved us even while we were His enemies. (Romans 5:8-10) He has freed us from our sins. (Romans 6:14) We are free from their power over us and free from the penalty for them. He did this by shedding His blood for us. (Romans 5:8) He has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father. (1 Peter 2:9) Translations vary as to their understanding of these terms, but in any case, the point is that we have a very high status and we are authorized to serve as priests serving God. That is an enormous privilege. When John thought about the power and grace of God that were demonstrated in the salvation that has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not a surprise that he would break out into the doxology we read in verses 5-6. Acknowledging what He has done by giving Him glory and recognizing His dominion are appropriate responses to all His great works.
Taken together these three doxologies are a powerful testimony of the wonderful works of God and the intense desire of New Testament writers to give Him the glory for what He has done. Over and over again, God’s people express the desire that He would be glorified everywhere and forever.
God enabled His people to see His glory as important enough to be a basis for prayer.
Another evidence of the fact that God has placed within the hearts of His people the desire to glorify Him is the fact that they have seen it as a basis on which prayer was offered. “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!” (Psalm 79:9, ESV) In verses 1-7, the Psalmist laments the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of her enemies and pleads with God for deliverance. Next in verse 8, he asks God to forget her former sins. Then in verse 9, he calls out to the Lord as the “God of our salvation” and asks Him to deliver the nation for the glory of His name. Unquestionably, Asaph, whom the superscription names as the author, is concerned for the deliverance of his people, but that is not his only motivation. If granted, Israel would praise God for His forgiveness and deliverance, and the surrounding nations would also see the power of God. Moses had based His plea that God would not destroy Israel because of their disobedience, on the same premise (see Exodus 32:11). The word “glorify” was not used in that context, though the idea is certainly there.
God moved His people to progress from gratitude to a determination to glorify Him.
In Psalm 86, David thought about God’s sovereignty and consequent ultimate victory. On the basis of that recollection he was convinced that God would meet his current need. With that in mind, David asked God to teach him how to be obedient. As David thought about God’s character and faithfulness, the spontaneous response of his heart was, “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” (Psalm 86:12, ESV). It is no wonder that he purposed to glorify the Lord’s name (by honoring it) forever. This is the kind of response all of us should have to an awareness of the character and works of our God. Moses, David and Asaph were passionately concerned that God would be glorified.
He moved His people to pray that He would be glorified.
Another way in which we can see the desire of God’s people that He would be glorified is the fact that they prayed that He would be glorified. One prayer to that end is the refrain seen in Psalm 57:5 & 11. “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” (ESV) The superscription of this Psalm tells us that it was written by David when he hid from Saul in a cave. Verses 1-4 and 6-10 of this Psalm contain cries for God to deliver David from his enemies interspersed with expressions of trust in God’s faithfulness. Both of these sections conclude with an expression of desire that God’s glory would be over all the earth. It seems as though, as David thinks of his immediate need for deliverance, his mind goes to a future time when such deliverance will no longer be necessary, and he expresses his desire for that day to come. The very same refrain is found in Psalm 108:5, as David prays that the Lord of all the earth would fulfill His covenant promises to him (vss. 6-9). I think the motivation for David’s desire for God’s glory to be over all the earth here is because he knows that when that occurs, David will no longer need to fear his adversaries.
Psalm 115 begins with a prayer that God would glorify Himself. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1, ESV) This desire introduces the rest of the Psalm. Verses 3-8 of this Psalm give reasons why God deserves to be glorified. He is completely sovereign (3b). Conversely, the idols worshipped by others are lifeless. Idolatry is utterly foolish. Having demonstrated the inability of idols to do anything, the Psalmist calls Israel to trust in the LORD (vss. 9-15). He closes with an assertion that he and his fellow Israelites will bless the LORD forever (vss. 16-18). As the Psalmist considers the love and faithfulness of God combined with His great power, especially in contrast with lifeless idols, he asks God to glorify Himself, to make sure He is given the credit for being who He is and for doing what He has done. That way, the nation will see the reason for trusting in the LORD, and his people will be motivated to bless His name forever. What could be more important to us than that God glorifies Himself so that we see Him clearly and respond appropriately?
Conclusion.
The chief end of man is indeed to glorify God (and enjoy Him forever). In the past, he has performed many deeds and has revealed His matchless attributes. They all demonstrate that He deserves the credit/glory for them. He still uses some of those ways to show that He deserves glory. Furthermore, He has worked in the hearts of people enabling them to observe what He has done and moving them to delight to give Him the credit that He is due. What are some ways in which the Bible teaches that we today can glorify God? We will look at some answers to that question in the next chapter.
[1] Romans 11:36; 16:27; Galatians 1:3-5; Ephesians 3:20-21; Philippians 4:20; 1 Timothy 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:18
[2] Hebrews 13:20-21; 2 Peter 3:17-18; Jude 24-25; Revelation 1:6
[3] Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 429). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
[4] Beale, G. K. (1999). The book of Revelation: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 194). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.
Aug 15, 2020 | Why Are You Here?
Chapter 2. Actions or attributes for which God has been glorified in the past
In chapter 1 we saw evidence demonstrating that the chief end of man is indeed to glorify God. What has God done in order to secure the accomplishment of the end for which He created mankind? Generally, there are two conditions that are necessary in order for someone to be glorified (to receive credit) for admirable behavior. First, someone must do notable good deeds or demonstrate significant character qualities which demonstrate that the person under consideration is worthy to be glorified. Second, one who observes these deeds or character traits must be willing to acknowledge the connection between the deeds or the traits and the agent who performed the deeds or possesses the traits, giving the appropriate credit or glory. God, Himself, has sovereignly determined that both of these conditions would exist (and He will do so in the future). Obviously, no human being could compile anything even remotely like a comprehensive any survey of the works of God that merit His being glorified. As I wrote in the previous section of this paper, I am limiting my citations to those in which the Biblical text explicitly says God is glorified. In this chapter we will survey Biblical records of amazing deeds that God has performed and manifestations of His attributes in the past for which the Bible tells us He was glorified.
God gave Abraham amazing promises.
Chronologically, the first action in which the Bible explicitly says someone gave God glory was Abraham’s response to the promises of God to him. We are not told in Genesis that Abraham glorified God, but Paul tells us in Romans that he so did when he describes Abraham’s faith. Abraham glorified God as he believed in the Lord. Speaking of Abraham, Paul wrote: “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”” (Romans 4:18–22, ESV) To say only that Abraham glorified God by honoring and praising Him would not do justice to the use of the term in this context. Abraham believed in the Lord. Regarding this event in Abraham’s life, Moses wrote: “And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:5–6, NASB95) God made an amazing promise to Abraham. At that point in the narrative Abraham had no offspring and yet God promised that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham responded to God’s promise with faith. In the previous paper I wrote, “God’s glory consists of those unique attractive attributes that distinguish Him from everyone else.” It makes sense that “to glorify God” would involve responding to Him in the light of the attributes exhibited in the manifestation of His glory. That is what Abraham did. He responded by believing in the Lord.
God demonstrated His power over Pharaoh and his army.
The next time we are told that God was given glory was in the account of the Exodus. When Israel had approached the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army was closing in upon them and the people were terrified, God said to Moses, ““And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.” (Exodus 14:4, ESV) “And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”” (Exodus 14:17–18, ESV) God manifested His mighty power by causing the sea to part allowing Israel to cross it on dry land and then by causing the sea to close in over Pharaoh and his army. This was certainly a notable feat which was good for the Israelites, and it was showed that God was worthy to “get glory over Pharaoh and all his host.” There is no indication that the Egyptians verbally acknowledged God’s existence or sovereignty but they certainly knew that He was the LORD, the great I AM. Furthermore, Israel gave credit to the Lord for His victory although that is not explicitly stated in the text.
He uncovered and punished sin in the nation.
The next instance in which we encounter the subject of God being given glory is in the account of Achan taking booty after the fall of Jericho. After Israel conquered Jericho and then was repulsed in their attempt to defeat Ai, Joshua cried out to the LORD asking for the reason for this disaster. “Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”” (Joshua 7:6–9, ESV) Joshua is accusing God of bringing the nation into the wilderness to kill them. He then asks how this will affect God’s name or reputation. Joshua is told that the reason Israel was defeated was because they had sinned. It was then determined by lot that the fault lay with Achan, who was summoned to Joshua. “Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”” (Joshua 7:19, ESV) No one outside of Achan’s family, except for God, knew of his disobedience. The omniscient God knew. He brought it to light and decreed his judgement. Joshua called Achan to give glory (in the form of honor) to God by confessing his sin. Until he did so, God was being blamed for unjust treatment of Israel. When Achan confessed his sin, he was blamed (and punished) for what he did and God was vindicated. God was given glory in that He was shown to be just. What God did was right. This was a great benefit to the people of Israel because it helped them trust the Lord’s faithfulness. As long as Joshua and the nation did not know why God had not enabled them to conquer Ai, they were in danger of thinking that God was not being faithful to His word. When Achan confessed his sin and the nation understood the reason why they had been defeated, their confidence in God’s faithfulness was restored. Giving God glory/credit He was due in this instance brought about the difference between Joshua and Israel believing in God’s faithfulness or doubting it.
He announced the arrival of the Messiah.
Chronologically, the first New Testament record of humans glorifying God comes at the end of the account of the announcement to the shepherds of the birth of Jesus. After they went to see Jesus, “[T]he shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:20, ESV) Although “glorifying” and “praising,” are not precisely synonymous terms (there are other ways than praising to glorify God), they do overlap in meaning to a large extent, and are often found together as descriptions of peoples’ responses to the work of God. Praising God is certainly one way of glorifying Him. What the shepherds had seen and heard convinced them that God had fulfilled His promises about the coming of the Messiah. Thus what they had seen and heard manifested not only the splendor, majesty, and power of God, but also His faithfulness to His promises. Their actions of praising and glorifying God were appropriate responses to give Him the credit which He was due.
Jesus performed miracles and taught the people as no one else did.
On several occasions, accounts of people glorifying God came in response to the miracles of Jesus. For example, when a paralytic was brought to Jesus, the Lord began by declaring that the man’s sins were forgiven. When He was accused of blasphemy for such a statement, Jesus offered evidence of His ability to forgive sins by healing the man. Luke records the results of the miracle. “And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”” (Luke 5:25–26, ESV also in Matthew 9:8 & Mark 2:12). The healed paralytic was glorifying God and so were the people who had seen the miracle. Matthew’s record of the responses adds a bit more insight to what was happening: “When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” (Matthew 9:8, ESV) In that miracle the man who had been healed and the observers had seen miraculous evidences of God’s forgiveness and power and goodness (proven by the miracle). They responded by glorifying Him (acknowledging that He was the source of what they had seen) and holding Him in awe.
Luke records other examples of healings that resulted in God being glorified. One concerns a woman who was crippled. “Now he [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.” (Luke 13:10–13, ESV) This woman had been a cripple for 18 years! Jesus simply laid His hands upon her and she was able to stand upright immediately! That was amazing. It is no wonder that she glorified God for her healing. Undoubtedly she was praising God by giving Him the credit for her being healed.
Another example is of Jesus healing a man who was blind. “As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” (Luke 18:35–43, ESV) Jesus simply spoke the word and the man received his sight. Again, the response was the same.
Matthew tells of a time when Jesus healed many people of various diseases. “And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:30–31, ESV) In this case, not only was one person healed but “great crowds” of people brought folks with all kinds of maladies, and Jesus healed them all. No one doubted in light of this amazing demonstration of the power and goodness of God. Again, giving God the credit (including praise) must have been involved in what they did.
Luke records an even more spectacular event. “Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”” (Luke 7:11–16, ESV) Not only did Jesus heal lots of people with various diseases, but here He actually brought a dead man back to life! This was astonishing beyond amazing.
Sometimes it is specifically stated that Jesus is the one who was glorified. Very early in His ministry, people glorified Jesus in response to His teaching. After He was tempted by Satan, Luke makes this simple comment, “And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” (Luke 4:15, ESV) Matthew gives us a bit of background for this verse. “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” (Matthew 4:23, ESV) Even at this early stage in His ministry people recognized that His teaching was different from what they had heard, and of course His teaching was accompanied by miraculous signs. The end result was that He was “being glorified [praised] by all.” A few chapters later in Matthew we read why His teaching was so obviously different. At the conclusion of Matthew’s record of the Sermon on the Mount we read, “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” (Matthew 7:28–29, ESV) He did not need to quote other leaders for He spoke with His own authority. His healing of every disease confirmed his authority.
On one occasion we read that glory was given to God and to Jesus. It is in the account of the raising of Lazarus. When Jesus received word from Lazarus’ sisters that he was ill, Jesus commented, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”” (John 11:4, ESV) John does not record people glorifying God after He raised Lazarus, but the implication is surely that at least some of them did. An astounding miracle had been performed and of that there was no doubt.
God enabled the Apostles to perform miracles.
Not all of the records of people glorifying God were in response to accounts of miracles performed by Jesus. In Acts, Luke records the same kind of response being given following the healing of a man who had been lame from birth (Acts 3:2), but this was through the ministry of Peter and John. After the council instructed Peter and John to stop preaching in the name of Jesus (although Peter and John refused to obey them) we read of the council, “When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened;” (Acts 4:21, NASB95) When the people saw the miracle, they knew that behind it was the power and kindness of God. He deserved the credit and they said so.
God converted all kinds of people.
When news spread around that Paul had been converted people glorified God. Of Paul’s early post-conversion life he said, “And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.” (Galatians 1:22–24, ESV) When the believers in Judea heard of the amazing transformation that God had brought in Paul’s life, they responded by glorifying, praising, honoring God for what He had done. They knew that such a change in Saul of Tarsus was every bit as much a miracle as raising the widow of Nain’s son from the dead. In a spiritual sense, that is exactly what happened to Saul when God took a man dead in trespasses and sins and made him alive in Christ. What an amazing feat that was!
Believing Jews also glorified God in response to the news of the conversion of others. After the believers at Jerusalem heard from Peter that the household of Cornelius had believed and received the Holy Spirit, we read that: “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”” (Acts 11:18, ESV) Years later, when Paul returned to Jerusalem from his third missionary journey and gave the leaders of the church there a report about his efforts, “And when they heard it, they glorified God. (Acts 21:20, ESV) In both cases, when Jewish believers in Jerusalem heard that God had granted Gentiles repentance leading to salvation, they glorified God. “Praised” is the sense of “glorified” that best fits the context here. As in the case of Saul of Tarsus becoming Paul the Apostle, the conversion of these Gentiles was understood to be the result of the amazing work of God.
God continually sanctified His people.
In His High Priestly prayer Jesus said to the Father, “All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” (John 17:10, ESV) James Boice suggests five ways by which Christ is glorified in His people. “How is Jesus glorified in us? There are several answers. First, he is glorified in us by saving us. … Second, Jesus is glorified by our trusting him in this life…. Third, Jesus is glorified in his own people to the degree that we live a holy life…. Fourth, we glorify the Lord by our confession of him before the world. … Finally, we may glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by our efforts to extend his kingdom, that is, not just by our speech but also by our activity.”[1]
Referring to the suffering Paul had experienced (2 Corinthians 4:7-12) and of the promise of the resurrection and eternal life with Jesus that had motivated him (4:13-14), Paul wrote, “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:15, ESV) He knew that as more people were brought to faith in Jesus the response would be that God would be glorified, praised for what had happened.
As Paul thought about the response the saints in Jerusalem would have to the offering going to help them from the believers in Corinth, he wrote, “By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,” (2 Corinthians 9:13, ESV)(.) As believers in Jerusalem received the gift from their brothers and sisters in Corinth, who were mostly Gentiles, Paul knew that they would glorify, praise God for the gift.
“As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 8:23, ESV) “The delegates are said to be “the glory of Christ” in that they were “an honor to Christ” or “a credit to Christ” either by their exemplary lives and service or because they were trophies of Christ’s saving grace; or in that they were an embodiment or worthy reflection of Christ’s glory; or in that they were “men in whom Christ is glorified”; or in that they promoted Christ’s glory (cf. 3:18; 8:19).”[2]
All of these effects in the lives of fallen, sinful people can only be explained by the regenerating work of God in the hearts of people. For that He deserves the credit. Each of these examples of Christian growth and godly living occurred because of God’s powerful work in the lives of those mentioned.
God superintended the death of Jesus and of Peter.
Near the end of His earthly ministry Jesus was the source of God being glorified by means of His death. After observing the way Jesus died, we read: “Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.” (Luke 23:47, AV The ESV translates the Greek verb as “praised” but the normal translation of the term is “glorified.”) By recognizing and acknowledging the character of Jesus demonstrated in His death, the centurion (whether he recognized it or not) gave glory to God by asserting Jesus’ innocence.
During one of Jesus’ last appearances to the disciples after His resurrection, He said to Peter: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”” (John 21:18, ESV) John then explains the significance of that statement. “(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)” (John 21:19a, ESV) In both of these cases there is no doubt about the fact that God, in His gracious sovereignty, superintended the deaths of both Jesus and Peter to bring glory to Himself.
Jesus ascended into heaven and took His place of exaltation.
On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus made an amazing offer. He said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”” (John 7:37b–38, ESV) Many years later John explained what Jesus was talking about in that offer. “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39, ESV) Likewise, when John reflected on the events involved in Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, John wrote: “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.” (John 12:16, ESV) When Jesus took up His exalted place in heaven He was given the honor that was due Him. Paul elaborates on this exaltation in Philippians. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11, ESV)
Conclusion
In chapter one we saw that the chief end of man is to glorify God. In this chapter we have seen instances in which God performed amazing deeds and demonstrated His attributes in clear ways that manifested His worthiness to receive glory. The fact that people did indeed give Him glory is implicit evidence that God had worked in their hearts to cause them to be willing to give Him the credit that was due Him. In the next chapter we will look at explicit evidence showing that God worked in the hearts of angels and people moving them to desire that God would be glorified.
[1] Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John: an expositional commentary (p. 1285). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
[2] Harris, M. J. (2005). The Second Epistle to the Corinthians: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 612). Grand Rapids, MI; Milton Keynes, UK: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.; Paternoster Press.
Jun 25, 2020 | Why Are You Here?
Robert M. Spicer
Introduction
Why are you here on this planet at this time? Knowing the answer to that question is always important, but knowing it during a time of uncertainty and upheaval, such as we are facing during this coronavirus pandemic, is crucial. It is important at all times because without a purpose or goal for our lives we wander aimlessly through life. In times of major upheaval like we are facing right now it is crucial that we have the right purpose for our lives and that we keep that purpose in mind constantly. It is easy at a time like this to lose our bearings, wondering what is happening or what we should do or what the outcome will be. If we choose a wrong purpose we will end up disappointed and disillusioned. Suppose your purpose is determined by your vocation. You are a teacher, a plumber, a nurse, an attorney, an IT worker or whatever. If you lose your job or retire, have you lost your purpose in life? Suppose your purpose is determined by relationships. You are a wife and/or mother, husband and/or father, son or daughter, friend or neighbor. If the connection involved in those relationships changes by the passing of years or by circumstances beyond your control like alienation, distance or death, what will happen to your purpose for living? Suppose your purpose is determined by accomplishments. You are striving for success, wealth, status, approval of others or pleasure. If you fail to measure up, has your life no meaning? If you reach those goals will you still have a reason for your existence? Having the right purpose for our lives is always important. We must know what that is and keep it firmly in mind and clearly in view.
One of the most famous attempts to address the question of why we are here was the answer given to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism written in London in the 1600’s. The question was, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer was, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” In this blog I plan to concentrate on the first half of that purpose statement, “to glorify God.” In this paper I hope: 1. to explain what it means to glorify God, 2. to show that the Bible teaches that glorifying God is the chief end of man, 3. to give examples of ways in which Scripture says we can accomplish that purpose, and 4. to show why glorifying God is so very important.
Before I begin, I should note that this study is the second half of the one begun with my previous blog, “Behold Your God,” which was posted several months ago. In that blog, I examined the use of “the glory of God” in the sense of glory that God possesses as a part of His essence, a reference to the manifestation of His attributes. In this blog I plan to examine the topic of “the glory of God” in the sense of glory that is given to Him by others. What does “glory” denote in that sense? In other words, what does it mean “to give glory to God” or “to glorify God”? (They are synonymous phrases.) Obviously, no one can add anything to God’s essence or attributes. What people can do is respond to Him appropriately in light of His manifested attributes. They can draw attention to those attributes, help others to understand what they say about God, and respond to Him accordingly. That response might include adoration or praise or honor or fear being given to Him. It might also include obeying Him or confessing sins. One way or another those actions are what the Bible means by giving Him glory (honor, praise etc.) so that others will see His glory (His manifested attributes). As we go through this paper I will frequently take note of the various nuances the phrases “glorify God” and “give God glory” have in each passage to give an understanding of the full range of meanings those expressions can have. As in the previous blog, although I am convinced that the concept of glorifying God is found in multitudes of verses in Scripture, I have limited my survey to those passages where the actual terms are found in the original languages of the Bible.
The glory of God is indeed the chief end of man because of what the Bible says about that act. There is no statement in the Bible declaring that the glory of God is the chief end of man. If it is so important, why would that clear declaration not be made, not once but many times? I think the reason is that God wants us to use our minds, to think. He does this on more than one occasion. For example, the word “trinity” is never found in Scripture. Neither is the word “triune” and yet the orthodox church affirms that God is one in essence but three in persons. We do that because the Bible distinguishes between the persons. When Jesus was baptized, the Father said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) The Father was distinguished from the Son. The evening before He was crucified Jesus told His disciples that He would soon be going to the Father who had sent Him but He would send the Helper who would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. (John 16:5 ff.) He was referring of course to the Holy Spirit. Jesus is distinguished from the Father and the Holy Spirit. Yet we believe God is one in essence because of passages like Deuteronomy 6:4 which, tells us that the Lord is One. In other words the Bible teaches that there are three persons but one essence of God. The Bible teaches the triunity of God indirectly. We are to know what the Bible says, and we are to think about what it says.
Similarly, when John the Baptist, sitting in prison, heard the evaluation various people were making of the ministry of Jesus (that He was a prophet), he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Him if He was the One who should come (the Messiah) or if they should wait for another. In response, Jesus did not say, “Yes, I am the Messiah.” Instead, He said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”” (Luke 7:22–23, ESV) Jesus knew that John knew what the Old Testament prophesied, that when the Messiah came he would do the very things Jesus had been doing. (Isaiah 35:5-6 & 61:1-2) Jesus expected John to put two and two together and get four. He affirmed his messiahship, but He did so indirectly. Likewise, the Bible teaches that the chief end of man is to glorify God, but it does so indirectly. We will begin to see how it does so by examining what the Bible says about the importance God places upon glorifying Himself.
Chapter 1. It is important to God that He is glorified
God created people for His glory
As I said above, nowhere in Scripture do we find the statement that the chief end of man is to glorify God. However, we do find something close to that in a verse in Isaiah. In Isaiah 43:1-4, the Lord expresses His love for Israel. Then, in verses 5-7, He promises to regather them from the nations into which they will have been dispersed. “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”” (Isaiah 43:6–7, ESV) God had created the nation of Israel for His glory. Although this text speaks specifically of the nation of Israel, as we will see in the next sections of this chapter, the implication is that God has created everyone for His glory, but the way they will glorify Him will differ depending upon their relationship with Him.
God commands people to glorify Himself.
The next piece of evidence that we will consider, that indicates that it is important to God that He is glorified, is the fact that He commands people to glorify Him. After David looked at the adversity that God had brought upon him, and then experienced deliverance, he exhorted his people with these words: “You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!” (Psalm 22:23, ESV) Although David was the human instrument who spoke these words, ultimately God was inspiring David to write them. God was commanding (the verb is imperative) the people to glorify Himself. Since “glorify him” is parallel with “praise him” and “stand in awe of him,” I believe these ideas explain more specifically what was meant by “glorify him” in this verse.
Isaiah also records a command to give God glory. After portraying the future judgment of God upon the whole world, the righteous everywhere (east and west) are commanded to give glory to God: “Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.” (Isaiah 24:15-16a, ESV) What is the response that those who love the Lord are called to have? They all are to glorify the Lord. In response to the command issued in verse 15, verse 16a records people giving glory to God by singing songs of praise to Him. The form of glory being given to God here is that of praise.
Jeremiah utters a similar call to the nation of Israel in his day. “Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.” (Jeremiah 13:16, ESV) This verse comes near the beginning of a song in which Jeremiah is pleading with his people to turn back to the Lord lest they end up in exile. They were exhorted to give glory to God, to give Him the honor that was due Him as their God in order to avoid judgment. The meaning of glory here is not praise. Jeremiah is calling his people to turn from their sinful behavior and honor and obey the Lord. The whole book is replete with examples of the way Israel was dishonoring God by their disobedience. They were being exhorted to repent and live lives of obedience which would honor the Lord. The glory they were being called to give was in the form of responding to God in the light of His character and commands. This is consistent with the meaning of “glory” we saw in the previous blog. In that paper “glory” referred to the manifestation of God’s attributes or character. The glory that Jeremiah was commanding them to give to God was a response to the glory that was a manifestation of His character (covered in my previous blog); that is they were to glorify God by living lives that reflected His attributes.
The New Testament also contains commands to glorify God. As Paul concludes a warning to the Corinthians not to use their bodies for immoral purposes, he writes, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, ESV) Then, later on in the same epistle, at the end of a section instructing the Corinthians about the matter of Christian liberty, he concludes: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV) In this passage the meaning of glorifying God is the same as in the previous passage in Jeremiah. People were being called to glorify/honor God by obeying Him, by responding to Him in the light of His character.
In prophecies of the last days we read what an angel declares to everyone living on the earth: “And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”” (Revelation 14:7, ESV) Since “give him glory” seems to be parallel with “worship him” I take it that the meaning here is primarily that the people are being called to worship/praise the Lord, the Creator of all, because He is finally executing judgment on the earth which is described in verses 8-11.
He commands heavenly beings to glorify Himself.
God’s commands that He be glorified are not limited to those directed to human beings. Psalm 29 is an example in which heavenly beings are called to glorify God. “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” (Psalm 29:1–2, ESV) The body of the Psalm extols the mighty power of God over nature. It does so in two ways, first by naming some of the elements in nature over which He exercises His power, and second, by stating that the instrument by which He exercises His power is simply His voice. He just speaks and the waters (29:3), the mountains (29:6), lightning (29:7), and the wilderness (29:8) all obey His bidding. The heavenly beings are called to glorify the LORD because of His mighty power demonstrated by His deeds. In this case the form of glory they are to give to God is that of praise/worship as they ascribe glory (give credit) to Him.
God is (rightly) jealous of His glory being given to others and He imposed severe penalties on those who did not give Him the glory He deserved.
Two indications of the value God places upon His being glorified are the facts that He is jealous for His glory and that He imposed serious consequences when people have refused to give Him the glory He deserves. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire on the altar and were immediately executed by God for doing so. “Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.” (Leviticus 10:3, ESV) Nadab and Abihu dishonored God by not sanctifying Him by following the directions He had given for the offering of incense. He is holy. He is the mighty creator God of the universe. When He speaks He is to be obeyed. By their disobedience they did not glorify Him by treating Him according to who He is. They were executed as a consequence.
Apparently that lesson was not learned by all of the priests because years later a similar kind of attitude was found in the sons of Eli the priest. So the Lord sent a prophet to Eli saying: “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor (Hebrew glorify) me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.” (1 Samuel 2:30–34, ESV) The severity of this sentence of judgment shows how very important it is to God that He is glorified, obeyed, and treated with respect and reverence, especially by the religious leaders of the day.
The second indication of how very important it is to God that He receives the glory which He deserves can be seen in the fact that He is jealous of His glory. Isaiah 42 provides an instance of this. In Isaiah 42:1-4 the LORD describes His commissioning of His Servant and a description of the Servant’s victorious work. In verses 5-7, the LORD reminds His listeners of His mighty work in Creation and then prophesies what He is going to do with His Servant (the Messiah). Among other things, He is going to give Him as a covenant for the people and a light for the nations. Furthermore, He will enable Him to open eyes of the blind and set free captives. Then in verse 8, He says: “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8, ESV) In the next verse He says: “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”” (Isaiah 42:9, ESV) The point is that giving this prophecy and fulfilling it will provide evidence that He is alive and omniscient and sovereign. Because that is true He will not share His glory/praise/honor with lifeless images. With that in mind, in verses 10-11, the LORD calls people throughout the world to praise Himself. Then in verse 12, speaking through Isaiah the LORD gives this command to all people: “Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.” (Isaiah 42:12, ESV) “Glory” is synonymous with responding to the LORD appropriately in light of who He is and what He has done. That would mean praising and worshipping God by giving Him the credit He deserves. God’s unwillingness to give His glory to another is partly because He alone is worthy of it. Another reason is to provide evidence and motivation to declare to those everywhere that the Lord alone is God.
Isaiah provides another example of God’s jealousy for His glory. In Isaiah 48:1-8 the Lord recounted the sins of Israel. Then, in 48:9-11 we read why God had not exterminated the nation because of her moral treachery, ““For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:9–11, ESV) “Glory” is synonymous here with both praise, honor and recognition of who God is. Obviously, in this case God desires to receive glory for His own sake, but the remainder of the chapter is composed of God’s plea to His people to repent of their sin and return to Him which I believe to be the ultimate goal of the passage. Notice the following verses. ““Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.” (Isaiah 48:12, ESV) ““Assemble, all of you, and listen!” (Isaiah 48:14, ESV) “Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” (Isaiah 48:18, ESV) When God refuses to give the glory He deserves to another in this passage, the ultimate purpose is to call His people to return to Him. It was for their benefit.
In the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, the problem of not honoring/glorifying God was still seen among the religious leaders of the nation of Israel. Through Malachi, the Lord said to priests in the nation, ““A son honors [Hebrew glorifies] his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor [Hebrew glory]? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.” (Malachi 1:6, ESV) “Honor” is a good translation for the Hebrew word behind it. “Fear,” being parallel with “honor,” is also a good interpretation for the Hebrew word behind it because of what is involved in the idea of glory/honor in this verse. The Lord was indeed a father to the nation and He deserved to be treated as such. He was indeed their master/lord and He deserved to be treated as such. Both honor and fear are included in giving God glory here. A few verses further on in the text, the Lord tells the people what He has and will do to punish them unless they amend their ways. “If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor [Hebrew glory] to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.” (Malachi 2:2, ESV) God was very angry that his people, especially the priests, did not glorify Him, give Him the honor that was due to Him. If they did not repent the consequences would be serious.
The most graphic New Testament example of God’s being jealous of His glory occurred in the life of an individual who gave God’s glory to another. That individual was King Herod. “On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.” (Acts 12:21–23, ESV) Herod did not give God the glory when he accepted for himself the praise that his was the voice of a god and not a man. He should have immediately denied that praise and given the praise to God.
Perhaps the most powerful demonstration of the jealousy of God for His glory is the example recorded in Romans chapter 1. It tells us what He has done with mankind as a whole when they have given His glory to others. Verses 20-23 describe the way in which mankind has given God’s glory to others. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 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.” (Romans 1:20–23, NIV84) Then, verses 24-27 reveal God’s response to their giving His glory to others. “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” (Romans 1:24–27, NIV84) Because mankind had given to other beings the glory, praise, credit for all that He had created, God withdrew His hand of restraint upon evil and allowed the human race to pursue their depraved desires, diving deeper and deeper into sin.
The persons of the Trinity glorify one another.
The fact that the three persons of the Trinity give glory to one another confirms how important to God it is that He be glorified. Isaiah portrays the Servant of the LORD explaining God’s estimation of Him with these words, “And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored [Hebrew “glorified”] in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength….” (Isaiah 49:5, ESV) “Honored” is a good translation because that is the idea of the Hebrew word, glorified, in this context. The Messiah (Christ) said He was glorified, honored by the LORD.
Jesus was given glory by the Father. “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.” (Acts 3:13, ESV) Human beings dishonored Jesus, but God honored and glorified Him.
During His earthly ministry Jesus spoke several times about being glorified by the Father and in some cases of Him glorifying the Father. In a debate with various religious leaders who did not believe in Him, Jesus asserted that the glory that He had was given to Him from the Father. “Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’” (John 8:54, ESV) After His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, when a number of Greeks who had come to Jerusalem to worship asked to see Jesus, He began again to speak of His coming death. As a part of that brief discourse He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (John 12:23, ESV) As He thought about it, He added: ““Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”” (John 12:27–28, ESV) At the Last Supper, after Judas left we read: “When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” (John 13:31–32, ESV) Then, a short time later, as He begins His high priestly prayer, we read: “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,” (John 17:1, ESV) When these words were spoken, Jesus must be referring to His coming death, resurrection and ascension. I believe that the meaning of “glorify” in these verses has the meaning of honoring by means of revealing the character of the one being glorified. In verse 1, Jesus was asking the Father to honor Him in His death by revealing His (Jesus’) nature and character so that by doing so Jesus would honor the Father by revealing His (the Father’s) character as well. In this mutual glorification we see the holiness, justice, and love of the Father displayed as in no other place. In the mutual glorification in verses 4-5, we see that Jesus glorified the Father by honoring Him by the obedience He demonstrated throughout His ministry. We also see Jesus’ request that (after His ascension) the Father would glorify the Son by manifesting His attributes in the splendor in which they had been shown before Creation. “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:4–5, ESV) In all of these cases the glorification in view must be a combination of honor and revealing the attributes of these two persons of the Trinity. Jesus was honoring His Father in what He did throughout His ministry and especially in His death. Furthermore, simultaneously, the Father was honoring Jesus and revealing His attributes as well. God’s holiness, justice, grace, love and mercy were abundantly revealed in all of Jesus’ ministry but uniquely in His death, burial and resurrection.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus deserved the honor the Father gave Him. “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.” (Hebrews 3:3, ESV) Then, in the following verses he elaborates on the glory to which he referred: “but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Hebrews 3:6–7a, ESV) Christ is worthy of the glory/honor of being God’s Son over God’s house which is the church. He deserves the credit of being called God’s Son because that is what He is. The same writer explicitly tells us who gave Him that honor. “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”.” (Hebrews 5:5, NASB95)
The Apostle Peter also testified to the source of the glory Jesus received. Referring to Jesus he wrote, “who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:21, ESV) John, the writer of Hebrews, and Peter all agree that Jesus was given glory by the Father. In all these cases the basic idea of these passages is that the Father honored/glorified Jesus.
Finally, Jesus was glorified by the Holy Spirit as well as by the Father. In the last discourse Jesus gave to His disciples, speaking of the Holy Spirit, He said, “When the Spirit of truth comes … He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13–14, ESV) Although honor must be involved in the glorifying mentioned here, it is not all that is involved. The last phrase of verse 14 explains some of what would be involved in the Spirit’s glorifying of Jesus. The Spirit would take truth about Jesus and explain it to the Apostles. Honor is certainly involved here, but it is honor of a particular kind. It is honor that revealed the character and work of Jesus so that the Apostles, and we too, could understand more clearly what a wonderful Savior we have.
A time will come when the Lord will be glorified by everyone and everything.
In the future, Scripture tells us that various groups will glorify the Lord. For example, Isaiah prophesies a day when those who are unlikely to do so will glorify the Lord. After recounting acts of judgment performed by the Lord (verse 2), Isaiah draws this conclusion: “Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.” (Isaiah 25:3, ESV) Since the two phrases are parallel I take it that “strong peoples” (and “cities of ruthless nations”) refers to people who had been enemies. “Glorify” is parallel with “fear” which could either mean “revere” or “be afraid of.” In light of the facts that the previous verse described acts of devastating judgment, and the fact that this verse begins with “therefore” and speaks of “strong peoples” and “ruthless nations,” I believe the idea is real fear. That being the case, “glorify” must mean something like that. They would glorify Him in the sense that they would fear Him by acknowledging His sovereignty and justice and power.
In a passage in which Paul describes the final judgment of those who have opposed the Lord, he says that, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.” (2 Thessalonians 1:9–10, ESV) On that day, Jesus will be glorified “in his saints.” I take that to mean that He will be praised/honored for the salvation that He has accomplished in them. Paul does not say who will do the glorifying but since the next phrase refers to “all who have believed,” I would think they are the ones who do the glorifying.
About half way through the record of the judgments to be poured out in the Revelation we read, “And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Revelation 11:13, ESV) The text does not say whether the form of the glory they gave was. Because of the placement of this verse in Revelation, with many more judgements to come on a rebellious earth, I think that the glory to God they gave did not include repentance. Rather, they were simply acknowledging His power which was being demonstrated in the earthquake.
One day not only humans, some of whom were righteous and others unrighteous, will glorify God but even the wild animals will glorify Him. ““The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people.” (Isaiah 43:20, NASB95) How they will do so we are not told, but the fact that they will glorify Him bears testimony to the universality of the glorification that He will receive one day.
One day everyone and everything will glorify the Lord. Interestingly, David wrote a Psalm in which he was moved to prophesy a day when all the nations will glorify God. “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.” (Psalm 86:9, ESV) Earlier in that Psalm David had lamented the fact that he was needy and afflicted. As He pleaded with God for help he remembered God’s character (vss. 5, 8, 10) and used that a basis for his prayer for deliverance (vss. 2-4 & 6-7). Part of his recollection of God’s character included the knowledge that the Lord alone was God (vs. 10). For that reason he knew that in the future all the nations that He has made will one day glorify Him (vs. 9). No purpose for glorifying God is given in the context of this passage. That is not the reason why it is mentioned here. It is mentioned because all of the nations glorifying God will be a characteristic of the time when the Lord reigns supreme, when the world will be as it should be. That awareness of God’s sovereignty strengthened David‘s trust in God for his immediate needs. With that in mind, David asked God to enable him to be obedient. He then promised to glorify God’s name because of His deliverance. “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” (Psalm 86:12, ESV) In both of these cases in Psalm 86 the fact that God is glorified is not a means to an end but rather an end in itself. It is a description of a time when the Messiah reigns and when things are as they ought to be. That will be a wonderful time for all of God’s creation.
The New Testament also contains prophecies of that day. At the conclusion of the great kenosis passage outlining the humiliation of Jesus, Paul recorded the exaltation of Jesus: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11, ESV) John speaks of this time in the Revelation: “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”” (Revelation 15:4, ESV)
The passages we have examined above show that God places great importance upon His being glorified. Those passages make clear that glorifying God is the ultimate reason for creation’s existence. From that, it is certainly reasonable to draw the inference that glorifying God is the main reason for our own existence. If God created people for His glory, commands people to glorify Him, commands heavenly beings to glorify Him, is jealous of His glory being given to anyone else, imposes severe penalties on those who do not give Him the glory He is due, glorifies other persons of the Godhead, and has determined that in the eschaton everyone and everything will glorify Him, does it not make sense that the chief end of man (and everything else) is to glorify Him? We do not need an explicit statement that the chief end of man is to glorify God in order to come to that conclusion.
Apr 16, 2019 | Behold his Glory
Several months ago, following an adult Sunday School class in
our church a young man asked me some questions about the glory of God. When his
questions were “boiled down” most of them had to do with whether God manifested
His glory simply because He wanted to display it (with the understanding that
He had every right to do so) or if He had other purposes in mind. He asked the
same sort of questions about the responsibility God has given people to glorify
Him. I had done studies on the topics of the glory of God and glorifying Him in
years gone by, but I did not recall doing any studies where I focused on the
purposes God had in mind in those two matters. As I began to think about his
questions it occurred to me that I also had not thought about the forms in which
the glory of God was manifested. I decided I would like to do a study on this
topic to try to address his questions.
Additional motivation to restudy this topic was provided as I
realized the fact that the glory of God is an extremely important topic in
Scripture. When Moses received the Lord’s instructions to begin the journey to
the Promised Land in Exodus 33:1, he requested two things. First, he asked the
Lord to show him His ways (33:13). Second, he asked the Lord to show him His
glory (33:18). Why was seeing God’s glory so important to Moses? Then, many
years later, after asserting His sovereignty over the earth the Lord spoke these
words through His servant Habakkuk, “For the earth will be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14, ESV) Why was (and is) it
important to God that the knowledge of His glory fill the earth to such an
overwhelming degree?
The purpose of this paper is to restudy the topic of “the
glory of God,” focusing attention on what this concept means, what form or
appearance it took, why it was so important, what God’s purpose for it was and
is, and how knowing about it is relevant to us as believers.
In order to understand why the glory of God was so important to
Moses and why it is so important to God, Himself, we need to address two other
questions. The first is, “What is the essence of eternal life?” It is
not endless existence because people in hell have that. It is not the absence
of death, sorrow, pain, etc., (although all of these blessings will be
included), for we do not experience them yet and we have eternal life now. It
is not forgiveness of sins (although that is certainly included), because
although we experience that now, it still would leave us without the one
element that we desperately need. Jesus told us what the essence of eternal
life is. He said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3,
ESV) The essence of eternal life is knowing God the Father and Jesus. That
“knowledge” is not just knowing their existence. It is not like merely knowing
the multiplication tables. It involves knowing them in the sense of having a
relationship with them. It is more like knowing members of your family with
whom you have a relationship. It is the kind of knowledge Paul spoke of in 2
Timothy when he was explaining the reason why he was willing to suffer all that
he had endured: “I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed
and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him
until that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12, NASB95) Like all knowledge of persons
that we care about, it was a knowledge that involved a relationship with the
Person known. Furthermore, in Philippians when he was relating the central goal
of his life, Paul said that he counted his previous status as rubbish “that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” (Philippians 3:10,
ESV). Paul’s knowledge of the Lord involved a continually growing intimate
personal relationship. It is this kind of knowledge, which Jesus referred to in
John 17:3, which is the essence of eternal life.
This brings us to the
second question we need to answer in order to understand the importance of the
glory of God. It is, “To what does the “glory of God” refer?” One dictionary
lists possible meanings for “glory” as “thought or opinion, especially favorable human opinion,
and thus in a secondary sense reputation, praise, honor (true and false),
splendor, light, perfection, rewards (temporal and eternal).[1]
[1
Corinthians 15:38-41 Matt. 6:29] The same source says:
“The
glory of God must mean His unchanging essence.” It goes on to say that includes
His “glorious moral attributes, excellence, perfection.” The most
accurate and poetic definition of the glory of God I know of I think I heard
from Marv Rosenthal many years ago. He said the glory of God refers to His
“intrinsic, eternal perfections.” His glory is intrinsic because it is as
aspect of who God is. It is eternal because His nature has not changed, and
will not change. It refers to His perfections because everything about Him is
just that, perfect. Still, for our purposes, a simpler definition will serve us
better. We will simply say that it refers to His attributes, those attractive
attributes that characterize Him uniquely. We see a similar use of the word in
1 Cor. 15. “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 15:40–41,
ESV) The glory (the unique attractive attributes) of the sun differ from those
of the moon and of the stars. The glory (unique attractive attributes) of the moon
differ from those of the sun and of the stars. God’s glory consists of those
unique attractive attributes that distinguish Him from everyone else. (There is
another sense in which the “God’s glory” is used in the Bible. In that sense it
refers to something people give Him as opposed to something that He innately
possesses. I hope to look at that usage in another paper.)
If knowing God in the sense of having a personal relationship
with Him is the essence of eternal life and if God’s glory consists of those
unique attractive attributes that distinguish Him from everyone else which
would enables us to know Him in the sense of having a relationship with Him, it
makes sense that His glory is of absolutely supreme importance to us. No finite
human being can know God comprehensively, but we can certainly know about Him
what He has revealed to us, and we can have a relationship with Him that
reflects our knowledge of what He has revealed. With those truths in mind let
us dig into what God has revealed about His glory to us.
In what kinds
of forms does the “the glory of God,” appear in the Bible?
Before doing the research for this paper, I thought of the
glory of God solely as a visible manifestation of localized splendor in
a form such as a cloud, fire, or light, intended to inspire fear or awe or
reverence. In many cases God’s glory certainly did appear in forms like that
and did indeed have that kind of effect upon people, but I have come to believe
that there are also many instances where God’s glory was manifested in forms
other than splendor as well. God desired to manifest certain of His attributes
in addition to His splendor with the goal of revealing aspects of His character
so that His people could know Him better. Furthermore, in those instances where
God’s glory was manifested in the form of splendor, the purpose never seems to
be only the manifestation of splendor for its own sake. There is always another
purpose in view. For the purposes of this paper, when the form of His glory is
that of localized splendor or brilliance, I will call that “overt.” When the
form takes another shape that is less obvious I will call it “covert.” Although
I am convinced that God’s glory is manifested in many places throughout
Scripture, I will limit my survey to those passages where the glory of God is explicitly
mentioned. Rather than looking at the pertinent passages in the order in which
they appear in Scripture, we will examine them in more of a topical sequence
grouping the passages according to the similarities between them and the
apparent purposes God had in mind for manifesting His glory in each case.
Overt and Covert manifestations of God’s glory seen
together
The glory of God revealed His faithfulness and power by
miraculously supplying the physical needs of His people with the goal that they
would know and believe in Him.
Not long after the record of Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea,
we read (in Exodus 16:1-3) that the nation began to grumble against Moses and
Aaron because they lacked food. In response to this verbal attack, having heard
God’s promise to meet their need, Moses and Aaron told the people, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your
grumbling against the Lord. … And
Moses said, “When the Lord gives
you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full ….
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of
Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord,
for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” And as soon as Aaron spoke to the
whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness,
and behold, the glory of the Lord
appeared in the cloud. And the Lord
said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to
them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled
with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”” (Exodus 16:6–12, ESV)
The glory of God is referred to twice in this passage. In verse
7, Moses and Aaron told the people that they would see the glory of the LORD in
the morning. In verse 8, Moses said they would have “bread to the full” in
the morning, and in verse 12, the LORD, Himself, said the same thing.
However, in verses 13-16, in the record of the people gathering the manna in
the morning we read nothing about a manifestation of the glory of God then.
Unless Moses was wrong about their seeing the glory of God in the morning or
unless they saw it but it was not recorded, the only conclusion I can come to
is that when the nation saw God’s provision in the manna they were seeing a
sort of covert manifestation of the glory of God. What they saw was God
providing for their material needs. The second mention of the glory of God in
this passage is in verse 10, when the LORD “appeared in the cloud” and told
Moses what is recorded in verse 12, referred to above. In this case the glory
of God appeared overtly to the entire nation as He spoke to Moses. God’s glory
was seen overtly in the presence of the cloud (verses 10-12) as He
declared the way He would provide food for them and covertly in the
morning when He actually provided it. In this and the following instances when
the glory of God appeared, I would think that an underlying purpose was to
remind Israel of His “awful” majesty and splendor so that they would not treat
Him with disrespect.
The stated purpose for God’s provision of the nation’s physical
needs was that they might know that He was the LORD their God. As a
result of the plagues of the Exodus and what they had seen up to this point the
nation knew to some degree that the LORD was their God, but they needed to know
that in a greater degree. They knew Him as deliverer, but they needed also to
know Him as daily provider. Israel needed to recognize that the source of their
daily sustenance was the LORD their God. In order to teach them that lesson God
allowed the nation to be in need of food and water. He did this to make very
evident the fact that He was supplying those needs. He did it to demonstrate
that He was the LORD their God. The purpose for the revelation of God’s
glory in this case seems to have been to demonstrate His faithfulness shown by
His provision of their needs. They were manifestations of God’s glory displaying
His faithfulness by providing food for them.
The next instance of the glory of God appearing in connection
with His provision for their needs comes in Numbers 20. After the death of
Miriam, there was no water for the congregation and they complained to Moses
and Aaron. “Then Moses and Aaron went
from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and
fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord
appeared to them, and the Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and
Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So
you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the
congregation and their cattle.”” (Numbers 20:6–8, ESV) God’s glory
appeared here in the process of telling Moses what to do to provide water for
the people. As in the situation where God provided manna and quail, the purpose
for the revelation of God’s glory in this case seems to have been to reassure
Moses and the entire nation of His faithfulness by the provision of Israel’s
needs. Thus, the primary purpose for the manifestation was to benefit Moses
and Israel.
Overt manifestations of God’s glory
The glory of God, manifested overtly in the
form of a cloud and fire, revealed His holiness to inspire fear of Him in the
hearts of His people.
The first passage we will consider reveals the glory of God
being manifested in an overt manner. It is Ex. 24:16-17, which comes after
Moses had received the stipulations of the covenant in chapters 20-23. Having
heard the stipulations of the covenant (24:3), the people agreed to obey all of
them. What followed was a ceremony in which the covenant was ratified by the
nation (24:4-11). After that ceremony was completed, the LORD invited Moses to
come back up the mountain where He would give him the stone tablets on which He
had written the commandments for the nation (24:12). Moses and Joshua went up
but the elders and Aaron and Hur remained on the plain to deal with any
problems that would arise (24:13-14). Moses went up and a cloud covered the
mountain (24:15). Then, “The glory
of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called
to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of
the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight
of the people of Israel.” (Exodus 24:16–17, ESV) We are not left in
doubt about the effect this had on the people, for Moses tells us later exactly
what that effect was. Near the end of his life Moses reminded the people of
their response to that manifestation of God’s glory. “And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory
and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day
we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore why should
we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord
our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard
the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and
has still lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak
to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’”
(Deuteronomy 5:24–27, ESV) God’s purpose was to impress upon the nation His
holiness, but that is not all. In the incident recorded in Exodus 24:16-17,
the appearance of the glory was described as “like a devouring fire.” Although
it was possible for people to hear the voice of God, those people must never
lose sight of His holiness, represented by the glory of God appearing “like
a devouring fire.” God revealed that He
was holy as He manifested His glory on Mt. Sinai. This manifestation of His
glory was also for the benefit of His people. It was for their protection.
A similar form and
purpose for the manifestation of God’s glory may be seen in Num. 14 when the
spies had returned from the land and given their report. When the people heard
what the 10 spies had to say, that there were giants in the land and that
Israel would never be able to defeat the inhabitants, the people wanted to kill
Moses and Aaron. “Then all the
congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to
all the people of Israel.” (Numbers 14:10, ESV) Although it is not
stated as such I would think that the form of God’s glory that appeared was
similar to that which had been revealed before, in the form of a cloud or fire.
In the following verses God further spelled out the punishment He would inflict
upon the unbelievers when He told Moses (Numbers 14:28–34, ESV) that everyone
twenty years old and above (except for Joshua and Caleb) would die in the
wilderness but their children would live to enter the land. Clearly one purpose
for this manifestation of God’s glory was to stop the people from stoning
Moses and Aaron, but another was to pronounce judgment on rebellious
unbelief.
This same attribute was displayed in a similar fashion just two
chapters later. Korah, Dathan and Abiram objected to the leadership of the
nation being confined to Moses and Aaron. “Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance
of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord
appeared to all the congregation.” (Numbers 16:19, ESV) After God
punished the rebels with death, the congregation blamed Moses and Aaron for
their deaths and were ready to kill them. “And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against
Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered
it, and the glory of the Lord
appeared. And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, and
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a
moment.” And they fell on their faces.” (Numbers 16:42–45, ESV) Moses
then instructed Aaron to take his censor and make atonement for the people.
Still, 14,700 people died besides Korah and his crew. God manifested His
glory to protect Moses and Aaron again and also as part of an act of judgment
on the rebellious people. He literally was a consuming fire. In both of
these instances the purpose for revealing His glory was to deal with sin. He
prevented harm from coming to Moses and Aaron and also executed judgment on unbelievers.
In these cases as well, God manifested His glory for the effect it had on
people. Moses and Aaron were rescued and others were condemned.
There are two examples
in the New Testament of the glory of God being manifested in a similar fashion.
There it also has the appearance of splendor. Both are found in Luke’s
writings. The first is in a description of events surrounding the announcement
to shepherds of Jesus’ birth. “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the
glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.”
(Luke 2:9, ESV) The appearance of the glory of the Lord must have been one of
brilliance, manifesting something of God’s majesty and holiness. The effect was
that they were filled with great fear. Important as that response is to God, He
also wanted the nation to understand that He was also a God of love who wanted
to dwell in the presence of His people so that they could enjoy fellowship with
Him. For that reason He created the whole Tabernacle/sacrificial system.
The second is in Luke’s account of the martyrdom of Stephen, he
writes regarding him, “But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at
the right hand of God.”” (Acts 7:55–56, ESV) Exactly what Stephen saw is
not stated, but I would think it was brilliant, perhaps like that recorded in
Luke 2:9. The purpose for this manifestation of God’s glory seems to have been
to encourage and strengthen Stephen for the ordeal of martyrdom which he was
facing.
The glory of God manifested overtly revealed His love
for His people and desire to dwell with them.
The next reference to the glory of God that we will consider
comes near the end of Exodus 29. Verses 1-35 of that chapter describe the
ceremony by which the priests were to be consecrated for their service. Verses
36-37 describe the manner in which the altar was to be consecrated. Verses
38-42a describe the daily offerings that were to be presented to the LORD.
Referring to the sacrifice to be offered on the altar at the entrance to the
tent of meeting, verses 42-43 read: “It
shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance
of the tent of meeting before the Lord,
where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the
people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory.”
(Exodus 29:42–43, ESV) The place where God would meet with His people in a
special way (the Tabernacle and the Temple) would be set apart (sanctified) by
the act of God revealing His glory in those places in a special visible way. I
believe that there was an initial fulfillment of this promise in Ex.40:34-38.
Exodus 40:1-33 records the construction of the Tabernacle and its erection in
preparation for its function. “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the
glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the
cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:34–35, ESV) Here again, the purpose of
the revelation of God’s glory is not stated, but coming where and how it does,
I think it is clear that the purpose was to show that God was “taking up His
residence” in the Tabernacle and later the Temple, placing His stamp of
approval on them and indicating His willingness to manifest His presence there. There were continuing fulfillments of the
same kind in relation to the Temple in 1 Kings 8:11 & 2 Chron. 5:14 &
7:1-3. The purpose God had in mind is not expressly stated, but I think we can
reasonably infer the purpose. God is spirit. He had forbidden any physical
representation of Himself. How would one construct anything that would
represent a spirit anyway? It is impossible to give an accurate representation
of God in any physical form. How would the nation know that God had “taken up
residence in their midst? They would know it by His glory filling the place in
the form of a cloud of smoke, and that is exactly what happened. Here again,
the implied purpose of the manifestation of God’s glory was for the benefit of
the nation, to assure them that God was “living” in their midst. We see a New
Testament parallel in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We do not see Him, but
His fruit is visible. “The wind blows
where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes
from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.””
(John 3:8, ESV)
Further fulfillment of the promise given in Exodus 29:42-43 can
be seen in the next appearance of the glory of the LORD. It is a record of
Aaron being installed as a priest and the events surrounding that act. How
would the people know that Aaron was approved by God to be the High Priest for
the nation? How could they be assured that his taking of this office was not
simply a matter of Aaron’s and Moses’ deciding that this would be the case?
Later, the authority of both of them was questioned, so now when all of the
ceremonial system was being inaugurated, how would they know that the authority
they had had been given by God rather than taken by men? After God gave instructions about the kinds
of offerings to be presented to the LORD, the whole congregation drew near, and
Moses addressed the nation saying, “This
is the thing that the Lord
commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord
may appear to you.”” (Leviticus 9:6, ESV) After Aaron fulfilled the
command of the LORD by offering the prescribed sacrifices, we read, “And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of
meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of
the Lord appeared to all the
people. And fire came out from before the Lord
and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when
all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.” (Leviticus
9:23–24, ESV) As when the Tabernacle was filled with the glory of God to
signify God’s approval of it, I believe the appearance of the glory of the LORD
here was intended to show that the Lord had approved of Aaron’s being
consecrated as High Priest. God’s acceptance of the sacrifices was
signified by the fire that came out from the
LORD consuming the burnt offering (and possibly reminding all the people
that He was a consuming fire as well). Here again, this manifestation of
His glory was for the benefit of Israel, demonstrating His approval, but doing
so in a way that would also manifest His holiness and power. Together these
manifestations of God’s presence were designed to meet the spiritual needs of
His people.
The glory of God, manifested overtly at the Tabernacle, provided
comfort and inspiration for His people.
David speaks of the manifestation of God’s glory in the
Tabernacle: “O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where
your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8, ESV) David’s mind is drawn back to
those times when his soul has been refreshed as he worshipped the Lord and
beheld the powerful manifestation of God’s power and majesty [in the
shekinah?]. Another passage reveals a similar sentiment: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land
where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding
your power and glory.” (Psalm 63:1–2, ESV) In this wonderful psalm
of praise David recalls times when he has seen the manifestation of God’s glory
in the Tabernacle, and he expresses his intense longing to do so again. David
knew the truth of a hymn that would not be written for centuries: “Turn your
eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will
grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Obviously these
manifestations of God’s glory powerfully benefited people. Manifestations
of God’s glory were not limited to meeting the physical needs of His people or
to demonstrating His holiness or His desire to have fellowship with them. He
also wanted to assure Hi servants that He would equip them for the tasks that
He would assign them.
The glory of God manifested overtly revealed His
faithfulness to equip His servants for their ministries.
We will now consider the appearance of the glory of God in
connection with the commissioning of Moses, Isaiah and Ezekiel for the service
God called them to fulfill. After Moses had been given the instructions for the
design of the Tabernacle in chapters 25-31, we have the record of the sin with
the golden calf in chapter 32. Chapter 33 begins with God instructing Moses to
begin the trip to the Promised Land with the notation that God Himself would
not go with them. In response to Moses’ intercession for the nation, pleading
with God to forgive them, God relented and agreed to accompany the nation
Himself. At that point, in verse 18, Moses makes an interesting request. “Moses said, “Please show me your glory.””
(Exodus 33:18, ESV) Moses had seen God’s glory already. Why does he make this
request again? Perhaps, in light if the immediately preceding verses Moses
wants a fresh revelation of God’s character, or perhaps he wants to have a more
intimate relationship with Him. Whatever Moses’ specific intention may have
been, surely the overall goal was that Moses knew he needed to be equipped for
the ministry that God was assigning to him. God’s response sheds light upon the
aspects of His character that were revealed in this manifestation of His glory.
In direct response to Moses’ request to be shown His glory, God said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you
and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’
And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you
cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by
me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I
will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I
have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but
my face shall not be seen.”” (Exodus 33:18–23, ESV) In 34:5-7, as the
LORD passed by He proclaimed some of His attributes, specifically His
gracious willingness to forgive sin but also His determination to judge sin.
Moses “saw” God’s glory, not with his physical eyes but with the “eyes” of his
understanding. God is just (determined to punish sin) but also
gracious (willing to forgive sin when there is repentance). The purpose for
this appearance is not stated, but the context leads me to believe that its
purpose was to prepare Moses for the challenging task that God had assigned to
him for Israel would sin repeatedly and need to experience God’s forgiveness.
This conclusion receives strong support from an incident mentioned above in
Numbers 14, when the nation believed the ten spies’ report stating that they
would not be able to conquer the inhabitants of Canaan. When God threatened to
wipe out the nation (14:12), Moses used the very words of this text to urge the
Lord to relent and not destroy the nation (14:17-18). I believe it also led
the way for Moses to plead with God to go with His people and forgive their
sin. “And Moses quickly bowed his
head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in
your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a
stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your
inheritance.”” (Exodus 34:8–9, ESV) On more than one occasion Moses
would need to remember that God was holy and just but also gracious. This
revelation of God’s glory was a profound benefit for Moses.
This manifestation of
God’s glory to equip Moses for the work that lay before him has at least two
other parallel situations. One concerns Isaiah and the other concerns Ezekiel.
We will first examine the record of Isaiah. Although the text of Isaiah does not
say that Isaiah saw God’s glory, John tells us that is so. “For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their
eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand
with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” Isaiah said these things
because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” (John 12:39–41, ESV)
What did Isaiah see when he beheld God’s glory and what was
God’s goal in that revelation? The text reads as follows: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the
Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe
filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two
he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full
of his glory!”[We will come back to this last statement later in this paper.]
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and
the house was filled with smoke.” (Isaiah 6:1–4, ESV)
There were three aspects of Isaiah’s response to this
revelation of God’s glory. First, he was aware of his sin as he saw the
holiness of God. “And I said: “Woe is
me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”” (Isaiah 6:5,
ESV) Isaiah saw the utter hopeless peril of his situation. He was as good as
dead! Second, God cleansed and forgave him. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal
that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin
atoned for.”” (Isaiah 6:6–7, ESV) He was no longer a “dead” man. Third,
God commissioned him to be His messenger. “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who
will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say
to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing,
but do not perceive.’” (Isaiah 6:8–9, ESV)
The form in which Isaiah saw the glory of God was different
from what Moses saw. Isaiah saw the glory of God in the form of a mighty king.
He was “sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up.” He was surrounded by His “court.” What was God’s goal in
revealing His glory to Isaiah in this form? Isaiah ministered during the reigns
of four kings. “The vision of
Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” (Isaiah 1:1,
ESV) He was called in the year that King Uzziah died (Isaiah 1:1) so he had
little or no opportunity to minister to him. We know of no connection between
Isaiah and Jotham. We do know that Isaiah ministered directly both to King Ahaz
(Isaiah 7) and King Hezekiah (Isaiah 36-39). In order for Isaiah to have the
courage to tell kings what they should and should not do, he needed to have it
firmly fixed in his mind that the God who directed him to do this was the King
above all kings. There was no comparison between the majesty and splendor of
the King of kings and any earthly monarch. Isaiah could tell Ahaz and Hezekiah
that they need not fear other earthly kings because of the promise of the LORD.
He could even pronounce God’s judgement on their wrong behavior because the
LORD was sovereign over all. Isaiah benefitted greatly from this
manifestation of God’s glory by equipping him for his specific ministry.
References to the glory of God in Ezekiel are much more numerous
than in any of the other OT books. For that reason we will devote more space to
review his contributions to this study. We will begin by examining his
description of the glory of God as he saw it. Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of
God was different from either that of Moses or Isaiah. What he saw was very
strange. In verses 4-28 of chapter one, we read a description of what he saw.
It included a sort of chariot with four “living creatures,” each one being
composed partly of human and animal parts. When they flew they made a very loud
noise. The wheels of the chariot had other wheels within them. Above the
chariot was an expanse. Above it was a sapphire-like throne on which sat
someone that looked like a human except that he was brilliant. We are explicitly
told that it involved a vision of the glory of God. “Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain,
so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”
(Ezekiel 1:28, ESV) In the next verses we have a record of Ezekiel’s
call/commission. “And he said to me,
“Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to
me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking
to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel,
to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have
transgressed against me to this very day.” (Ezekiel 2:1–3, ESV) Then a
few verses later we read words of comfort and a repetition of the commission.
“And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words,
though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid
of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious
house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse
to hear, for they are a rebellious house.” (Ezekiel 2:6–7, ESV)
Why did God reveal His glory in such a strange fashion in the
process of calling Ezekiel? Of all of the writing prophets Ezekiel was
instructed to do the strangest acts as visual messages to the nation of Israel.
He was told to cut a hole in the side of his house and carry through that hole
various items. He was told to cut his hair with a sword. He was told to cook
food using dung as the fuel. He was told to lie on one side for many days and
then on the other side for many days. He was told that God would take his
beloved wife from him but he was not to mourn. I believe God prepared
Ezekiel for this strange ministry by revealing His glory to him in a very
strange way.
The actions of the glory of God revealed His holy hatred
of Israel’s sin.
Ezekiel’s record of the appearance of the glory of God, which
we will discuss more fully below in connection with his call, was not limited
to a description of its strange appearance. Ezekiel also speaks about the
activity of the glory of God. After the record of his original
call/commission, Ezekiel was led by the glory of the LORD to the exiles to whom
he would minister (cf. 3:15). “Then a
wind lifted me up and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of
the Lord rose from its place,”
(Ezekiel 3:12, NET) After being told that he was to be a watchman to the house
of Israel (3:16-21), Ezekiel was told to go out into the valley where God would
speak to him (3:22). “So I arose and went out into the valley, and
behold, the glory of the Lord
stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the Chebar canal, and I fell
on my face.” (Ezekiel 3:23, ESV) This verse seems to describe God’s
preparation of Ezekiel for receiving the instructions from the LORD about what
he was to say and do next. The next few chapters describe the abominations that
were being committed in the Temple and the judgements that would come because
of them. In the midst of the descriptions of those abominations we read this
brief statement without commentary: “the Spirit lifted me up between earth
and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of
the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the
image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God
of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.” (Ezekiel
8:3–4, ESV) I think the reason why these verses are inserted in this location
is to emphasize the heinousness of the sins being committed. The abominations
described were being committed in the Temple building in the very presence of a
manifestation of the glory of God! This prepares us for what comes next. For
only a few verses later we read, “Now
the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested
to the threshold of the house.” (Ezekiel 9:3a, ESV) This verse describes the movement of the
glory of the LORD to the threshold of the Temple from which he gave
instructions for the execution of the multitudes of people who had been
involved in the idolatry and abominations committed in the Temple. The next mention of the glory of God is in a
verse that seems to describe the action of the glory moving from above the
cherubim in the Holy of Holies to the threshold of the Temple (house) in
preparation for leaving the Temple. Before leaving, His glory fills the Temple
so that when He leaves His absence will be even more obvious. It is as though
He is saying a powerful “Goodbye.” “And
the glory of the Lord went up from
the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the
cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 10:4, ESV) The
next step is for the glory of God to ascend to His chariot. “Then the glory of
the Lord went out from the
threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up
their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with
the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the
house of the Lord, and the glory
of the God of Israel was over them.” (Ezekiel 10:18–19, ESV) The final step is
for Him to go out of the city. “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with
the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. And
the glory of the Lord went up from
the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side
of the city.” (Ezekiel 11:22–23, ESV) We will not encounter the glory of the
LORD again until the last section of Ezekiel. There we find predictions of the
return of the glory of God to the Temple. Since that section deals with
eschatology, it will be considered in the last section of this paper. These
verses which describe the glory of God leaving the Temple were for the benefit
of His people. They needed to see that because of their sin God had to leave
His residence among them.
Covert manifestations of God’s glory
The glory of God, manifested covertly in the form of
judgment administered through pestilence and military conquest, revealed His
holiness and sovereignty to inspire fear of Him in the hearts of gentile people.
God’s judgment should also inspire fear from Gentile nations. Ezekiel
was instructed to prophesy against Sidon. “Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Sidon,
and I will manifest my glory in your midst. And they shall know that I
am the Lord when I execute
judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her; for I will send pestilence
into her, and blood into her streets; and the slain shall fall in her midst, by
the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 28:22–23, ESV) This
manifestation of God’s glory was designed for their benefit to enable the
Sidonians to know that the LORD is God. It would be a painful lesson but it
would reveal truth from which they could profit if they were willing to heed
it.
The glory of God manifested covertly in the ministry of
Jesus revealed His deity.
The first occurrence in the ministry of Christ during the days
of His flesh when we are told that His glory was covertly revealed was when
Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. When John looked
back on this miracle, he wrote, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at
Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in
him.” (John 2:11, ESV) This manifestation of God’s glory through the
miraculous provision for physical needs is similar in kind to the provision of
manna and water to Israel in the wilderness. There is no record of a visible
brilliance, but there was a provision of need. I believe the ultimate purpose
for this manifestation of God’s glory was revealed in the last words of the
verse, “His disciples believed in him.”
Paul adds to this in 2 Corinthians 4. In this passage we see
that the glory of Jesus covertly reveals the character of the Father. Speaking
of those who do not believe, he says, “In their case the god of this world has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we
proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your
servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4–6, ESV) This passage
teaches us two things. First, the Gospel is about the glory of Christ. Second,
He is the image of the Father. As such, we see the glory of the Father in the
face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God is revealed in “the face of Jesus
Christ” … “who is the image of God.” If we want to see a form of God’s glory
that we are presently able to look at, we must look at Jesus as He is revealed
in the pages of Scripture.
The writer of Hebrews adds a similar comment. Speaking of
Jesus, he writes, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact
imprint of his nature, …” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV) P. T. O’Brien unpacks what this
description means, “Accordingly, as ‘the radiance of God’s glory’, the Son is
the manifestation of God’s glorious presence. Since he is the radiance of God’s glory, rather than
simply the reflection, there is some
sense in which the Son is the twin source of the light of God’s glory. For the
author of Hebrews the one who lived and died in Palestine some years previously
is ‘the eternal Son and supreme revelation of God.… In Christ the glorious light
of God shines into hearts of men and women’.”[2]
He continues, “The Son is the exact representation, the embodiment of God, as
he really is. His being is made manifest in Christ, so that to see the Son is
to see what the Father is like.”[3]
The glory of God, manifested covertly in raising people
from the dead, disclosed His power over death with the goal that people might
believe in Jesus and realize the magnitude of God’s power available to live a
transformed life.
Another example of a manifestation of the glory of God
revealing His power in a covert fashion may be seen in the record of the
raising of Lazarus. When Jesus arrived at the cave where Lazarus’ body had been
laid, He gave instructions to remove the stone that covered the entrance to the
cave tomb. When Martha objected saying that there would be an odor since it had
been four days since Lazarus had died, “Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell
you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”” (John
11:40, ESV) There is no record of an appearance of brilliance or light, but
there is a miraculous demonstration of power over death. Jesus simply commanded
Lazarus to come forth and he rose from the dead. The same spoken word that
created the material universe here brought the dead to life. A result was that
“Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he
did, believed in him”. (John 11:45, ESV) I believe there was also an added
benefit in this case. A short while earlier Jesus had told Martha that Lazarus
would rise again. “Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in
the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection
and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
who is coming into the world.”” (John 11:24–27, ESV) When Jesus manifested
His glory by raising Lazarus from the dead, He provided evidence for Martha
(and others) that He was the resurrection and the life. The purpose was
to show that the power to raise the dead (glory) was not to be tied to a
chronological event, the last day, but to a person, Jesus.
Another manifestation of God’s glory shown in His power over
death was the Resurrection of Jesus. When Paul talks about the importance of a
transformed life being part of regeneration, he wrote, “We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in
newness of life.” (Romans 6:4, ESV) Leon Morris comments: “Christ was raised,
Paul says, through the glory of the
Father, which is a very unusual expression (cf. Eph. 1:17). [I]t points to
the wonder and the greatness of God. We might have expected a reference to
“power” or the like, and indeed some take glory
here to mean “power”; Harrison, for example, says, “‘glory’ here has the
meaning of power”. But Paul says glory
(NEB, “the splendour of the Father”); perhaps we could say that the meaning is
power manifested and not simply power.”[4]
God’s purpose in this revelation of His glory is clearly stated. It is so that
“we too might walk in newness of life.” He wanted us to grasp the truth that
the same glory of God in the form of mighty power that raised Jesus from the
dead is available to us to enable us to live godly lives.
The glory of God, manifested covertly, reveals His mercy
in the hearts of people.
Another of God’s attributes designated by the word “glory” is
His mercy. “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his
power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of
mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—” (Romans 9:22–23, ESV) I
take these verses to teach that, although God does not cause men to sin, He
will use His righteous judgment upon their sin as a contrasting background
against which to demonstrate more clearly the magnitude of His great mercy on
those whom He saves. Morris comments: “Riches is a somewhat unusual word
applied to glory (though cf. Eph. 3:16), but it brings out the point that there
is no lack in God’s glory. God is an exceedingly glorious God, and we see this
especially in the way he shows mercy. The “objects of his mercy” is more
exactly “vessels of mercy”, and these vessels, Paul says, he prepared in
advance for glory.”[5]
The glory of God denotes, in a general way, His
faithfulness to equip His people spiritually so they will grow in godliness.
In a prayer for his readers in Ephesians, Paul draws attention
to another of God’s attributes that are referred to as part of His glory. “Glory”
here does not refer to visible splendor. In this case it is God’s ability to
grant inner spiritual strength to His people. He uses the phrase “riches of
his glory”: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”
(Ephesians 3:16, ESV) P. T. O’Brien says regarding the expression “the riches
of his glory”: “Now he asks for divine power more directly—that God may strengthen them inwardly through his
Spirit. The resources available to fulfil this confident request are limitless:
they are (lit.) ‘according to the riches of his glory’…. Here this preposition,
which Paul often uses in petitions and thanksgivings (Eph. 1:19; Phil. 4:19),
draws attention not simply to the idea of source, thereby signifying ‘out of
the wealth of his glory’, but also indicates that his giving corresponds to
the inexhaustible riches of that glory. It is on a scale commensurate with
his glory: he gives as lavishly as only
he can. It is not surprising, therefore, that the apostle frequently speaks
of ‘fulness’, ‘riches’, and ‘abundance’ in his prayers (Rom. 15:13; 1 Cor.
1:4–5; 2 Thess. 1:11; note also Jas. 1:5). The one to whom he directed his
requests gives richly and generously: ‘And my God will fully meet every need of
yours in accordance with his riches in
glory in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 4:19). By formulating his prayer along these
lines, the apostle assured his readers that the Father was wholly able to meet
their needs.”[6]
Peter expresses a similar sentiment in his second epistle: “May
grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our
Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and
excellence.” (2 Peter 1:2–3, ESV) Visible splendor is not what glory refers
to here either. “The terms “glory” and “goodness” together point to the same
reality. Those whom God saves are called by Christ, and this calling is
accomplished through the knowledge of Christ’s glory and goodness. In other
words, when Christ calls people to himself, they perceive the beauty and
loveliness of his moral character. His character becomes exceedingly attractive
to them, and they trust God for their salvation.”[7]
After expressing the desire that grace and peace would be multiplied to his
readers in the knowledge of God and Jesus, he observes that God has granted
them all they need for life and godliness. This provision comes through the
knowledge of Jesus who had called them to (some translations read “by” but for
our purposes the difference does not matter) his own glory and excellence. No
specific attributes are named so I believe all of His wonderful attributes are
in view. I take it that the purposes for mentioning the glory of God and/or
Jesus in this text would include at least two goals. One would be to support
the reasonableness of this wish being granted. Another would be to remind his
readers of the greatness of the character of Christ.
The glory of God, manifested covertly in the natural
universe, bears testimony to His existence, power and deity for the purpose of
prompting people everywhere and at all times to see and acknowledge that He
exists and has those attributes which should then motivate them to seek to know
more about Him.
A few passages speak of the glory of the Lord as it is revealed
in nature. David wrote “The heavens
declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
(Psalm 19:1, ESV) From the next verses, James Boice observes that although
words are not literally spoken, the testimony of the heavens to the existence
and power of their creator is continuous, abundant, and universal.[8]
Verses 2-6 use the movement of the sun as an example of the way the heavens
manifest His glory. David did not know what we do about the sun but what he did
know convinced him that someone very powerful and wise created it and governed
its movements. By its existence and actions, the sun (not to mention the
multitudes of other heavenly bodies) bears eloquent testimony to the creative
power and control of God. In this way the heavens declare His glory.
It is not enough to say that the heavens declare His glory,
wonderful as that is, for another Psalm tells us that His glory is even above
them! It extolls the greatness of God by saying: “The Lord is high above all
nations, and his glory above the heavens!” (Psalm 113:4, ESV) To
characterize His glory as being “above the heavens” seems to be a favorite way
the Psalms have of stating that there is nothing and no one whose glory is
greater (see Ps. 8:1; 57:5, 11; 148:13).
When read in the context of verses 5-9, verse 4 takes on even more
significance, for verses 5-9 spell out an amazing truth about the character of
God. Verses 4-6 describe His transcendence (high above the heavens)
while verses 7-9 describe His immanence by how He reaches down to exalt
the poor and needy. “What is most praiseworthy about God, according to the
psalmist, is that although he is infinitely exalted above everything, even the
heavens, he nevertheless stoops to raise the poor from the dust, the needy from
the ash heap, and even the barren woman from the disgrace her barrenness
brought her in those days.”[9] How
indescribably great is the grace of God to be concerned about the lowest of the
low from His position of being the highest of the high! Thus this manifestation
of His glory has a twofold purpose. First, it shows His position of absolute
superiority over all, and second, it serves as a background against which He
shows His truly amazing grace. The manifestation of these attributes does
indeed show His glory.
One does not have to raise one’s eyes to the sky to see
manifestations of God’s glory in creation, however. It is visible everywhere on
the earth if people are willing to see it. His fingerprints are everywhere on
His creation. As a part of his call to be a prophet of the Lord, Isaiah
received a vision of the LORD sitting upon His throne. In that vision Isaiah
saw seraphim above Him calling out: “Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the
whole earth is full of his glory!”” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV) The earth does
not merely have a demonstration of His glory here and there. The earth is full
of His glory. The seraphim were aware of what mere humans did not see.
Manifestations of His power are everywhere if people only have eyes to see
them. His glory was (and is) everywhere but people did (and do) not recognize
it.
The Apostle Paul expands on the manifestation of God’s glory in
creation even further. “In Romans he
says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his
eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (v. 20). This is the
meaning of glory in Psalm 19—a
revelation of God’s existence and power so great that it should lead every
human being on the face of the earth to seek God out, to thank him for bringing
him or her into existence, and to worship him.”[10] The
very existence of the heavens and the earth and the way they operate reveal
God’s power, wisdom, and creativity. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 1 that
God designed nature to bear testimony to God’s existence and power. He did so
for mankind’s benefit.
Magnificent though it is, this covert manifestation of God’s
glory may still be ignored or missed by many people. Just a few verses after the
one noted above, Paul describes why God’s wrath comes against people without
the Bible. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and
animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:22–23, ESV) His purpose in this
revelation was to provide evidence of His existence and pointers to reveal
aspects of His divine character. Even though people were presented with the
facts that God existed and possessed those attributes (some of which will be
detailed below) they turned away from Him to serve lifeless idols. The same
kind of response can be seen in response to the ministry of Jesus in the New
Testament. As we will see in due time, a day will come when His glory will be manifested
overtly so that it is recognized universally.
In chapter 3 of Romans, as Paul summarizes what he has been
saying about mankind with or without the Bible, he wrote, ““for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23, ESV) What
“the glory of God” refers to in this verse is a matter of considerable debate.
Leon Morris writes, “The linking of God’s glory with man’s sin is intriguing.[11] Of the
various options of the meaning of the glory of God that he presents, I believe
the most probable interpretation in light of the context is “the divine
standard for human life,” “conformity to (God’s) image” or “the divine
likeness”. I see very little difference between these options. I believe that
“the glory of God” here refers primarily to His attribute of holiness which He
has revealed so that we would understand how opposed He is to sin of any kind
and quantity. Because we have sinned, we fall short of that standard and are
separated from Him and under His wrath and condemnation.
The Glory of Jesus
The glory of Jesus manifested overtly reveals His deity.
It should be observed at this point that there are passages in
the New Testament that speak specifically of the glory of Jesus. The first mention
was in John’s prologue. Decades after Jesus finished His earthly ministry, as
John looked back upon those earlier years, he included a statement in the
introduction to his Gospel in which he gave a record of that fact. It tells us
that His glory is unique, unlike that of any other person or thing. “And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory
as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, ESV)
“The glory displayed in the incarnate Word is the kind of glory a father grants
to his one and only, best-loved
Son—and this ‘father’ is God himself. Thus it is nothing less than God’s glory
that John and his friends witnessed in the Word-made-flesh.”[12]
Before examining various examples in which we read in the New
Testament that Jesus’s glory was manifested during His ministry we should note
an unexpected instance in which His glory was revealed in connection with
Isaiah’s call which I discussed previously for another purpose in this paper. I
mention it again here because of a significant added insight found in John’s
citation of the passage. After quoting Isaiah 6:10, John wrote, “Isaiah said
these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” (John
12:41, ESV) In the context of his Gospel, John has been speaking specifically
about Jesus. I can find no reference to God the Father in the context. It seems
that John is saying that what Isaiah saw was Jesus’ glory in that vision. If
that interpretation is true, it is a powerful evidence of the deity of Christ
as well as a description of the form in which that glory appeared. That is
because “the Lord” whom Isaiah “saw” in verse 1 is further identified in verse
5 as “the King, the LORD of hosts,” and His appearance was in the form of
splendor. Although I believe the primary purpose for this manifestation to
Isaiah was to prepare him for the work God had for him to do, I believe that
the purpose the Holy Spirit had for directing John to quote this passage and
apply it to the reception Jesus received from His contemporaries was to give us
a glimpse of His preincarnate glory and to provide evidence for the deity of
Jesus.
Luke also mentions the glory of Jesus in the overt form of
splendor in the account of the His Transfiguration. He wrote, “Now Peter and
those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake
they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.” (Luke 9:32, ESV)
We know that what they saw was splendor because of the way Luke, Matthew and
Mark described His appearance: “And as he was praying, the appearance of his
face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.” (Luke 9:29,
ESV) “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the
sun, and his clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:2, ESV) “And
his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could
bleach them.” (Mark 9:3, ESV) None of the synoptic Gospels gives us a
stated purpose for this manifestation of Jesus’ glory, but three statements in
the text may help us to see the purpose for this manifestation. First, all
three accounts mention that a cloud surrounded them. That is reminiscent of
what happened to Moses on top of Mount Sinai when he met there with God to
receive the Law and the instructions for the Tabernacle. Second, Luke tells us
that Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus about His coming death (“exodus” in
Greek). Third, they heard a voice identifying Jesus as God’s Son and
instructing them to listen to Him. The three disciples did not seem to know
what to make of what they saw and heard until after the coming of the Spirit at
Pentecost. Then as they looked back upon this event they must have realized
that for a brief time they were privileged to get a glimpse of the splendor and
majesty that radiated from Jesus and they were reminded again that His death
was according to God’s plan. “For when he received honor and glory from God the
Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is
my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”” (2 Peter 1:17, ESV)
Jesus possessed glory before His incarnation, during His
incarnation and after His incarnation.
Jesus talks about His own glory
several times in His High Priestly prayer in John 17. He referred to the glory
He had before His incarnation. “And now, Father, glorify me in your own
presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
(John 17:5, ESV)
In verse 22, He refers to glory that He possessed during His
incarnation. “The glory that you
have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are
one,” (John 17:22, ESV) What was the glory that Jesus received from the
Father and gave to His disciples? Leon Morris wrote, “That is to say, just as
His true glory was to follow the path of lowly service culminating in the
cross, so for them the true glory lay in the path of lowly service wherever it
might lead them.”[13]
William Barclay elaborates on this as follows: “The Cross was his glory. Jesus
did not speak of being crucified; he spoke of being glorified. Therefore, first
and foremost, a Christian’s glory is the cross that he must bear. It is an
honour to suffer for Jesus Christ. We must never think of our cross as our
penalty; we must think of it as our glory. The harder the task a knight was
given, the greater he considered its glory. The harder the task we give a
student, or a craftsman, or a surgeon, the more we honour him. In effect, we
say that we believe that nobody but he could attempt that task at all. So when
it is hard to be a Christian, we must regard it as our glory given to us by
God.”[14]
In verse 24, He alluded to glory that He possessed before,
during and after his incarnation. “Father, I desire that they also, whom you
have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have
given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24,
ESV) D. A. Carson comments on the
meaning of this verse as follows:
“The ‘glory’ Jesus wants his disciples to see is (he tells his
Father) the glory you have given me
because you loved me before the creation of the world (lit. ‘before the
foundation of the world’: cf. Mt.
13:35; 25:34; Eph. 1:4; Heb. 4:3; 9:26; 1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8; 17:8)—an
unambiguous reference to v. 5, where Jesus prays to be restored to the glory
that he had with the Father before the world began. The first witnesses could
testify that they had seen Jesus’ glory (1:14), as indeed they had, not only in
selected ‘signs’ (e.g. 2:11) but
supremely in the cross and resurrection. Even so, they had not witnessed Jesus’
glory in its unveiled splendour. Christians from every generation glimpse
something of Jesus’ glory even now (cf.
2 Cor. 3:18), but one day, when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is (1 Jn. 3:2). The glory of Christ that his followers will see
is his glory as God, the glory he enjoyed before his mission because of the
Father’s love for him.” [15]
The glory Jesus experienced after His incarnation began when He
ascended into heaven. Jesus, Himself, taught this truth to the disciples on the
road to Emmaus when He said, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should
suffer these things and enter into his glory?”” (Luke 24:26, ESV) Paul
also alluded to it. “Great indeed, we
confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16, ESV)
Eschatological references to God’s glory
The glory of God will return to the Temple
We will now look at prophecies regarding the glory of the LORD
that will be fulfilled in the future. The most dramatic prophecy dealing with
the glory of God is that recorded by Ezekiel about a vision the Lord gave him
describing the return of the glory of God to the Temple a manner resembling the
way in which it left. “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming
from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many
waters, and the earth shone with his glory.” (Ezekiel 43:2, ESV) “As the
glory of the Lord entered the
temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into
the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.” (Ezekiel 43:4–5, ESV) “Like
several other visions in Ezekiel, this vision (43:1–5) is followed by an
interpretation (43:6–12). As the glory of God filled the tabernacle after its
construction at the beginning of Israel’s history (Exod 40:34–38), and as it
filled the temple following its construction by Solomon (1 Kgs 8:10–11), so
Ezekiel was assured in a vision that once again God’s glory will reside with
Israel. As the exiles despaired at the departure of God’s glory in Ezekiel’s
vision, a departure confirmed by the destruction of the temple, so Israel had
once before despaired when the Philistines took the ark and Eli and his sons
all died. Eli’s daughter-in-law named her son Ichabod, which meant “no glory”
(1 Sam 4:19–22). But as the ark and the glory were restored when the Davidic
covenant was revealed to David (2 Sam 6–7) and confirmed in the building of the
temple (2 Sam 7:12–13; 1 Kgs 8:10–11), so will the glory of the Lord be
restored to the new temple in the messianic age when the Davidic covenant is
completely fulfilled.”[16] “Then
he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I
looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord
filled the temple of the Lord.
And I fell on my face.” (Ezekiel 44:4, ESV)
The glory of God will be universally
manifested
In the eschaton both senses of God’s glory will be seen universally.
The earliest prophecy of this was voiced early in Israel’s history after the
twelve spies returned from exploring the Promised Land when the nation refused to enter the land
because of unbelief. It is a brief prophetic statement about the glory of God
in Numbers 14:21. It is translated a bit differently in various translations.
The ESV and the NIV84 translate verses 21-23 similarly to each other. ESV
reads: “But truly, as I live, and
as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my
signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the
test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I
swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.”
(Numbers 14:21–23, ESV) The ESV and NIV84 see the prophecy of the future
revelation of the glory of the LORD as a correlative parallel with “as I live”
providing two guarantees for the certainty that those who did not trust the
LORD would die in the wilderness. NASB, NET and AV translate the verses
similarly to each other. The NET Bible reads: “But truly, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of
the Lord. For all the people
have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and
yet have tempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed me, they will by
no means see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who
despised me see it.” (Numbers 14:21–23, NET) This translation sees only
one guarantee (the life of God) for the future fulfillment of the prophecy and
the prophecy is that the earth will be filled with God’s glory. The statement
that those who did not trust the LORD would die in the wilderness stands by
itself. In either case, whether the earth being filled with the glory of the
LORD is part of the guarantee or the thing being guaranteed, the certainty
of the fact that all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD is
being clearly asserted. God is determined that this will occur.
God seems to have granted David a vision of a day when God’s
glory would be recognized. Of that day he wrote: “All the kings of the earth… shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for
great is the glory of the Lord.” (Psalm 138:4-5, ESV) This is consistent with what Isaiah heard of
God’s majesty in his encounter with the Lord when he was called (noted earlier
in this paper).
Perhaps with that prediction in mind, in Psalm 72 Solomon mixes
prayers for God to bless the (Messianic?) king with descriptions of what his
reign will be like. He ends the Psalm with these words. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does
wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be
filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” (Psalm 72:18–19, ESV)
In several passages
Isaiah prophesies that various people will see the manifestation of God’s
glory. “Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of
hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before
his elders.” (Isaiah 24:23, ESV) In a passage apparently addressed to
Israel of the future, we read, “Arise,
shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1, ESV) “When the glory of God appears (60:1), the
light from the sun and moon will be irrelevant because it will pale in
comparison to the glorious everlasting light from God. Thus the physical powers
that God ordained to rule over the day and night will lose their role. The
white light of the moon will be so weak that the moon will be put to shame.
Even the bright burning hot sun’s light will be an embarrassment when compared
to the God’s glory.”[17]
In another passage where Isaiah alludes to the enemies of the
LORD, he writes regarding them: “So
they will fear the name of the Lord from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of the Lord drives.”
(Isaiah 59:19, NASB95) “This divine judgment will cause people all over the
world (from the setting of the sun to the rising of the sun) to fear the
name and glory of God (59:19). At that time when the Lord brings forth his
judgment on the wicked, he will also cause his glory to fill the earth … and
bring his salvation to all people. The wicked will fear God’s name because of
his wrath, but the righteous will revere God’s name because they will see the
glory of the Holy One (6:3; 57:15).”[18]
In Isaiah’s day God’s
glory filled the earth (and has done so ever since the creation of the
universe), but it is veiled so only a few can see it. One day the veil will be
lifted, and all will see His glory. For example, two passages from the
Psalms describe a day very different from anything that has ever occurred in
human history up to the present time. The author of Psalm 97 saw a day when
God’s glory will be seen by all as His power is overtly manifested
by clouds and thick darkness (vs. 2), fire and lightning (vss. 3-4), and
mountains melting (vs. 5). The results of those manifestations will be: “The
heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.”
(Psalm 97:6, ESV) When that day comes, all the peoples, not just one
nation, will see God’s glory. The
writer of Psalm 102 described a similar time: “Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion; he appears in
his glory.” (Psalm 102:15–16, ESV) In that day the glory of
God will be so overwhelming in its majesty that even the kings (those highest
on the social scale), all of them, will fear His glory. That has not yet
occurred.
In the opening verses of the second major section of Isaiah’s
prophecy, as he describes a time when the LORD will come to His people, he
prophesied a day when His glory will be visible to all. He wrote: “And the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”” (Isaiah 40:5, ESV) “The announcement
that people will see the glory of God does not seem to refer to people seeing
the glory of God in some general way; for example, by observing his glorious
deeds in history (24:15; 25:3; 41:16; 42:12) or by seeing his glory in nature
(Ps 19:1–2). Instead, the good news is that all flesh will actually view with
their physical eyes the majestic glory of God himself (40:5; 60:1–3). This
announcement seems to require a great theophany appearance that will be
universally visible, if all flesh will see it.”[19]
A description of the universal manifestation of the glory of
God is also found in Habakkuk. In the middle of a series of five woes
pronounced against the Chaldeans for their treatment of Israel, Habakkuk
inserts this brief refrain: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14, ESV)
The knowledge of His glory will not only be present but it will be unignorable.
It will be as overwhelming as the waters cover the sea.
The effects of the universal manifestation
of God’s glory
What effects will occur when the glory of God is manifested in
this way? In several places Isaiah gives us part of the answer to that
question. “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall
rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice
with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of
Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our
God.” (Isaiah 35:1–2, ESV) In verses 3-4 Isaiah exhorts his people to take
courage because God is going to come bringing justice. Then, in the remainder
of the chapter he describes blessings that will accompany this revelation of
God’s glory. They will include the blind being given sight, the deaf being
able to hear, the lame being able to leap, the mute being able to sing, and the
desert having abundant water.
“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall
spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the
Lord shall be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:8, ESV) “The second half of
58:8 appears to allude to what the prophet has already said in 52:12b, where it
promises that God will go before and after his people, gathering them up in one
place so that he can deliver the children of Israel from Pharaoh’s great army
at the Red Sea (Exod 14:19–20). This is a metaphor of his guidance before them
and safety, protection, and security behind them…. It appears that both 52:12
and 58:8 refer to God’s eschatological protection of his people. God’s
“righteous presence” (ṣedeq) and glory will surround these people.”[20] In
other words, when the day comes when God’s people turn to Him in repentance,
His glory will protect them from their enemies.
“Arise, shine, for
your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold,
darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord
will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.” (Isaiah
60:1–2, ESV) “The bright light that is connected to the appearance of God’s
glory (58:8; 59:19–20; 60:1) is also a symbol of God’s salvation (9:1–2; 58:8;
59:9; Ps 27:1). The light of the glory of God is called “your (second feminine
singular) light” (also in 58:8, 10) because this divine appearance of God is
for the benefit of the righteous people of Zion. Isaiah 40:3–5, 10–11 also
predicted the coming of the glory of God with power, ruling the earth, and
tenderly caring for his sheep. This will be the time when God reigns and
restores Jerusalem (cf. 52:7–9).”[21]
Ezekiel adds more information about the effects that will occur
in the future. In the midst of an oracle against Gog (Ezekiel 39:1) describing
God’s actions in judgment, the Lord says that after Gog’s army is slain, and “For seven months the house of Israel will be
burying them, in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will
bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day that I show my glory,
declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 39:12–13, ESV) “And I will set my glory among the nations,
and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand
that I have laid on them.” (Ezekiel 39:21, ESV) The timing of the fulfillment
of this prophecy is not clearly spelled out, but the certainty of its
fulfillment is not in doubt.
How is the glory of God relevant to us?
In the introduction to this paper I wrote: The purpose of this
paper is to restudy the topic of “the glory of God,” focusing attention on what
this concept means, what form or appearance it took, why it was so important,
what God’s purpose for it was and is, and how knowing about it is relevant to
us as believers. I then said that two
other questions had to be addressed in order to understand the importance of
the glory of God. We saw that the essence of eternal life is knowing, having a
relationship with, God. I then said that the “glory of God” refers to His
attributes, telling us what He is like. We saw that His glory has been
manifested in both overt and covert forms. Beholding, really seeing, God’s
attributes, what He is like, enables us to enter a relationship and then have
that relationship grow. That is why manifesting His glory is so important to
Him. It is important to us because we need to know it. It is God’s desire that
people have a saving relationship with Him. ““For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16–17,
ESV) Because of His great love, God has manifested His glory so that we would
see His holiness, His love, His grace manifested in giving His Son to be our Savior
and believe in Him, giving us a relationship with Him.
In light of what the “glory of God” means and its importance,
what are we to do between now and the day when His glory will be universally
manifested for all to see? The Bible tells us that we have at least two
responsibilities.
We need to behold His glory constantly
Until that time we need to do what Moses needed to do. We need to
behold His glory. We need to be continually transformed as we behold His glory
and then reflect that glory in our lives for others to see. Earlier in this
paper we looked at 2 Corinthians 4:4-6. “In their case the god of this world
has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is
not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for
Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4–6, ESV) At that point we were looking
at what the glory of God meant. I would like to examine the text again to look
at what it says about what we should do in response to the manifestation of
God’s glory in Christ. In the immediately preceding context we see what happens
as we behold that glory. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of
glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians
3:18, ESV) As we behold that glory, as we see the attributes of God displayed
in the person of Jesus Christ, we are gradually transformed so that we
increasingly display the character of the Father in our lives. Surely that is
one of the purposes for the display of God’s glory in Jesus. The writer of
Hebrews expresses a similar thought after he has recounted the faith of heroes
that have gone before. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so
closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking
to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right
hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV) NASB updated, NIV 84, and
NET Bible translate “looking to” with words such as “fixing our eyes.” A
crucial element of victorious living is keeping our eyes focused on Jesus. He
needs to be the focus of our minds and hearts.
We who know the Lord are exhorted to declare His glory
We need to do what Israel of old
was to do. God manifested (and still manifests) His glory so that people can
see what He is like, so that they will come to know Him, to have a relationship
with Him. We need to declare His glory to those who do not know Him. When David
successfully reinstalled the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle in Jerusalem
after having been in Philistine hands and then in Kiriath-jearim for many
years, a great song of praise was sung about the LORD. After reviewing demonstrations
of God’s faithfulness and love to His people, this admonition is written
apparently to Israel: “Declare his
glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”
(1 Chronicles 16:24, ESV) The stated reasons are: “For great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods
of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord
made the heavens.” (1 Chronicles 16:25–27, ESV) Psalm 96 repeats the
very same sentiments for the same reasons. “Declare his glory among
the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is
to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless
idols, but the Lord made the
heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O
families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord
glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord
the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!”
(Psalm 96:3–8, ESV)
God’s glory ought to be declared “among
all nations” for three reasons. First, He deserves it. He alone is God. He
is the one who made the heavens! Because the LORD is who He is, the next two
verses say that everyone should acknowledge that fact. “Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe
to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory
due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” (1 Chronicles
16:28–29, ESV) The second reason why His glory should be declared among the
nations is that the gods which the nations worship are worthless. That fact was
powerfully demonstrated by what God did to the Philistines when they captured
the Ark (1 Samuel 5). Worship or loyalty or obedience to any other god is a
total waste of time and effort, not to mention the fact that it dishonors God.
If the nations are to come to know the true God, those who know Him must tell
them what He is like. His glory must be declared to them. They must ascribe to
Him the glory that is due to His great name. The third reason is that the LORD
is coming to judge the earth (1 Chronicles 16:33b; Psalm 96:13). Those who have
served false gods will be judged. Thus, in this case we can see that the
exhortations to declare God’s glory and to ascribe glory to Him (both being
other terms for glorifying Him) are for the benefit of people. They need to
know Him and be right with Him since judgment is coming. Although the first of
these three reasons is tied to God alone, two of these three reasons are
directly related to benefitting people.
Truly, God’s glory, the manifestation of His attributes, exists
so that people will know what He is like and respond accordingly. We who know
Him have the glorious privilege of beholding Him as He has revealed Himself in
the material universe, in Scripture and especially in the life and ministry of
Jesus. WE need to make use of that privilege and then declare, share what we
see, with others.
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