CGOM: The Glory of God

Sunset in Santorini
Sunset in Ia Santorini, May 2007

A few moments ago, CGOM’s James McBride sent out the following “MiniStudy”, which is included in its entirety:

The Glory of God

The heavens keep telling the wonders of God, and the skies declare what he has done. Each day informs the following day; each night announces to the next. They don’t speak a word, and there is never the sound of a voice. Yet their message reaches all the earth, and it travels around the world (Psalm 19:1-3)

Step out on a cloudless night in an area with little or no ground light and you cannot but be awed by the wonder and spectacle of billions of stars – estimated as ten followed by twenty-three zeros. So awesome, indeed, that men began to worship them. Yet the heavens bear silent testimony to the great God who created them as an expression of His glory.

…..God’s Glory is not a notional spiritual concept but the reality of His Being. So majestic is He, so powerful, that His Being is only in part expressed by the totality of the material universe

…..God’s Glory is visible. When He gave His Laws to Israel the mountain top seethed with fire and light: ‘… Jehovah our God hath showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire’ (Deuteronomy 5:24). The Glory was visible, too, at the dedication of the first Temple: ‘…when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD’ (I Kings 8:10-11)

…..Unless veiled from the human eye the Glory kills. The LORD told Moses: ‘…I won’t let you see my face, because anyone who sees my face will die’ (Exodus 33:20). Even when the Glory was reflected it impacted those who experienced it: ‘…Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with Him’ (ch 34:29). [Perhaps – given their close contact with the LORD (Genesis 3:8) and being created in God’s image ( ch 1:26) – Adam and Eve, too, so shone; until they sinned]

…..Jesus, in the days of his flesh, was similarly transfigured: ‘…in front of the disciples, Jesus was completely changed. His face was shining like the sun, and his clothes became white as light’ (Matthew 17:2 CEV). And John had a similar experience of the Alpha and Omega, Jesus: ‘…His head and his hair were white as wool or snow, and his eyes looked like flames of fire. His feet were glowing like bronze being heated in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of a waterfall. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword was coming from his mouth. His face was shining as bright as the sun at noon. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person’ (Revelation 1:14-17 CEV) Now, in Heaven, Jesus ‘…dwells in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see’ – ie in unveiled form (I Timothy 6:16).

…..Jesus shares the Glory inherent in the Godhead: ‘…now, O Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was’ (John 17:5). His Glory is that of the Father: ‘… the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels’ (Matthew 16:27). He is ‘…the brightness of [the Father’s] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power’. Jesus is ‘…the image of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15)

…..John informs us that faithful Christians ‘.. shall be like him [Jesus]’ (I John 3:2). As the Father’s ‘sons and daughters’ (II Corinthians 6:18) we will share His Glory: ‘…The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together (Romans 8:16-17). We will be ‘…like him’ by virtue of the indwelling Spirit, and not by our own righteousness. The Spirit, during our lifetime, shapes us towards the divine image

…..’…we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord’

God indeed has glory and true Christians can share in it.

Three articles of possible interest may include:

Deification: Did the Early Church Teach That Christians Would Become God? What does the Bible teach? Is deification only a weird or cultic idea?
How is God Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient? Here is a biblical article by Wallace Smith which answers what many really wonder about it.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally?