God in His mercy and grace has filled each individual with the desired glory to enable him/her to perform all the assigned roles all along his life. But do we really work or can we really work as empowered by the God given glory? And can we misuse or even lose this glory for some reason due to our sinful living or life of disobedience to God? But what exactly is this glory that God has given and how does it work in us?
The Hebrew word ‘kabod’ is translated as glory and it means ‘splendour, weightiness, honour’ or his aura as accepted by many people. All this is about the person’s traits as an individual and his identity before the world. God has been given various names as perceived by the person in that situation. Abraham was provided a ram by God as a substitute for Isaac and he called God ‘Yhweh Yireh’ meaning ‘God will provide’ (Genesis 22:14).
God defined His very being on two occasions to Moses. The first instance was from within the ‘Burning Bush’ by revealing His name as ‘I AM WHO I AM” and as per this ‘He is’ and not was as in the past nor ‘will be’ as in the future. God is not subject to time and its effects, whereas man and everything created on the earth was and is bound by time. On completion of the very first part of the creation process, God separated darkness and light and called that a day and night cycle as one day. It is God’s glory to be above His creation and time, for everything originates in Him, for Him and is sustained also through Him.
The second is when Moses prayed to the LORD God, ‘Please, show me your glory’ (Exodus 33:18-20). God promised Moses to ‘make all My goodness pass before you’ but then He further told, ‘You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live’. In the presence of the absolute and perfect holiness of God, nothing unholy can exist. As promised, ‘the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the inequity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation’ (Exodus 34:6-7). In all this God listed out His basic traits which make Him different from everything that we can thing or conceive. In the eastern culture it was presumed that by knowing the name of a person one can learn about his glory and then control him. The healing of the deaf and mute boy by the Lord was watched by all, for the mute boy could not be forced to reveal anything about the evil spirit to control it.
‘God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him’ (Genesis 1:27). In the Holy Bible anything repeated more than once is for emphasis and mankind is supposed to reflect God’s character on the earth. Man was thus able to be in the presence of God till the fall. In his sinful state, no mortal can view God’s excelling splendour without being fully overwhelmed. Moses went up the Mount Sinai for the second time as called by God and ‘he was with the LLORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water’ (Exodus 34:28-29). Despite this, once he came down from the mountain, ‘the skin of his face shone’. Once anyone is blessed with the presence of God and the fullness of His glory, the physical needs become irrelevant and the individual starts getting transformed.
Aaron was the chosen High Priest and he also, like Moses, probably desired to be in the presence of God (Exodus 34:28-29). It was then that the LORD commanded Moses to tell ‘Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ask, lest he die’ (Leviticus 16:2). Aaron, Moses’ brother, was chosen by God to be the High Priest and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar were to serve as priests and this priesthood was to be for their generations to come. All the miracles performed by the LORD through Moses were seen by all the Israelites but Aaron’s sons had witnessed that from close and heard everything that the LORD commanded. Surprisingly, Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s two sons, ‘each took his censer in his hand, and put fire on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them’ (Leviticus 10:1). As per Jewish legend, the two brothers saw the glory of God in the Temple and were so drawn to it that they could not restrain themselves and kept moving closer and closer, till they were killed by the fire from God. After the fall of humanity due to sin, God’s glory and His presence was veiled and no man can see Him, though God did speak to Moses ‘face to face’.
In the Old Testament the presence of God’s glory was always accompanied by supernatural fire, thick clouds and a great quaking of the earth with smoke rising up. In the New Testament the glory of God is revealed in His Son who ‘became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14). The miracles performed by Lord Jesus were manifestations of His Divine glory and this glory was veiled but knowable and approachable (John 2:11). God’s glory is also revealed in His creation as His reflection and ‘the heavens declare the glory of God’, thus the work of a loving Creator is seen in that (Psalm 19:1). Apostle Paul then clarified this manifestation more clearly, ‘For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face’ (1 Corinthians 13:12). But for a man with his limited worldly knowledge and wisdom, though given by God Himself, it is impossible to put in words what cannot be visualized, for God is infinitely perfect, great and worthy.
What is the glory given by Lord Jesus to all believers? Apostle Paul identified Lord Jesus as the Creator in the same state as Apostle John did (John 1:3). Thus, ‘All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist’ (Colossians 1:16-17). God created everything on earth for man but not His own glory. When all things were created through Him, He is God but when everything is for Him, He is fully human to utilize that for His use. As God He is before all of creation and in Him only everything can survive. For as the Lord Himself declared, ‘as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself’ (John 5:26). God cannot die and the Son as God also cannot suffer death in any form, but redemption of mankind was to be only through the cross. Lord Jesus is God but ‘He emptied Himself and became Man’ (Philippians 2:6-8). The Greek word ‘kenoo’ used here means ‘to empty out, render void, deprive of content’. Thus, being fully human Lord Jesus becomes our Saviour.
The LORD God Yahweh has declared, ‘My glory I will not give to another’ but Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit being God share God’s glory as being one in and with God, the Father (Isaiah 42:8). So the glory that the Lord has given to all believers cannot be God’s glory. Before sending Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, God clothed them with ‘garments of skin’ (Genesis 3:21). Various theories are offered about this; first, an animal was sacrificed for their sin and its skin used to cover them; second, the fallen nature would cause fluctuations of temperatures on earth and they needed protection from that for their original skin was not equipped for that. Third, they needed to protect themselves from exposure of their emotional state to avoid being exploited and this protected them; fourth, the glory and the image and likeness to God had to be concealed, for in their fallen state they could not display that to others.
Adam and Eve were created with that God given glory so that they could exercise dominion over other created beings. This right passed on to the devil, for they both subjected themselves to his control. God the Father has ‘delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins’ (Colossians 1:13-14). All believers have their sins forgiven through surrendering to the Kingdom of the Son of God and our relationship with God is restored. However, the original glory of Adam was so distorted that it has no resemblance to the original. Because of Adam’s sin, death and separation from God occurred, ‘even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 5:21). Since dominion rights were surrendered by a man, the restoration could also be by a man only, through righteous living, facing and defeating death by resurrection from the dead and ascending to heaven. Lord Jesus ascended with His human body to open a way for mankind also to enter there, for man was supposed to live on the earth and not heaven.
Lord Jesus reveals the nature of His glory, ‘For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself’ (John 5:26). Just before raising Lazarus from the dead Lord Jesus claimed, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25) and since death is separation, life is restoration of relationship with God. The glory of the Second Adam, that is given to all believers gives life and that too ‘more abundantly’ (John 10:10). This life is about oneness in and with the Lord (John 17:23) where Lord Jesus and God the Father are One in each other and a believer is one with the Lord. Thus He fills us with life; second, He lifts us out of our sinful nature by equipping us to overcome sin in His power and finally, He equips us for fellowship with God. It is only then that we can be filled with the power of God and partner with Him to do all that He desires us to do for His glory to be revealed to others.
Just before His ascension into heaven, Lord Jesus assured the disciples, ‘you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you’ (Acts 1:8). After the Day of Pentecost, the same disciples who had fled in fear from the Gethsemane park, preached boldly that salvation is only in Lord Jesus and none other (Acts 4:12 & 20-21). They could then tell the same Jewish leaders, ‘we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard’ by being with the Lord. Apostles Peter and John, filled with this glory could tell the beggar born lame from birth, ‘silver and gold i do not have, but what i do have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’ (Acts 3:6). Immediately the lame man’s feet and ankle bones received strength.
The Son of God has fulfilled His promise for all believers by giving us the glory of His presence, His Word, His Spirit, His power and His leadership. Apostle Paul has this to say, ‘it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who 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 4:6). Our duty is not to hide this light within us, for as per our Saviour, ‘you are the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:14). By receiving His light in us, we also become responsible to let that light shine on others to bring them to Him.
Reason for lack of visible effects of Glory in believers – Lord Jesus had chosen all the twelve disciples and all were exposed to the same teaching, witnessed and experienced in their lives the same works and miraculous happenings. Yet Judas Iscariot was the ‘son of perdition’ and surrendered to a kingdom that was not of glory (John 17:12). This will always be the state of all those who have known and partaken of God’s power in their lives and in the lives of others and yet deny the truth and defy this power. Since, like Adam and Eve, they allow the power of the devil to overcome them, they continue to live in darkness. After Lazarus was raised from the dead by Lord Jesus, many of the Jews who were present and ‘seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him’ (John 11:45-47). But there were others who reported all that to the Pharisees, to tell them and then joined them to plan for His death.
The glory of Lord Jesus was revealed in His humility, servant’s attitude, His suffering up to and on the cross. At no stage did He ever use His power and authority to meet any of His personal needs. After fasting for forty days and His temptation in the wilderness, He refused to turn the stones into bread and then ‘the angels ministered to Him (Mark 1:13). God must get the glory in all things that we do in His power but hidden within our prayers are the personal agendas. God could have given Manna to the Israelites in the wilderness once every week to save them the daily chore. He desires daily and regular fellowship with us to refill us with His power.
Joshua was commanded by God not to let His Word ‘depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night’ (Joshua 1:8). Lord Jesus faced the temptations with the power of God’s Word and so can we, for His Word gives life to us and strengthens us. The more we draw close to Him and become ‘doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves’, the more we get filled with His light (James 1:22). Lord Jesus has clearly taught, ‘all things are possible to him who believes’ (Mark 9:23) and yet many are filled with doubts about the presence of the Holy Spirit in them for they do not speak in tongues or hear God’s voice. God is willing and has fulfilled His promise but once we close our eyes to that and doubt, how can we live in His light.
At age twelve only, Lord Jesus stunned the scholars and teachers of Scripture with the depth of His knowledge and understanding. Yet He went with His parents to Nazareth and was subject to their control and guidance till thirty years of age, the time to start His ministry on earth. God the Father also honoured and blessed Him that He ‘increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men’. In like manner we must also submit ourselves to God appointed authorities to grow strong in His Divine blessings!
