Kingdom Priority (2)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to givethe light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.6

The glory of God
“Glory” is one of those terms Christians use, often without understanding what it means.

We want to “give glory” to God. We claim to see “God’s glory” in certain aspects of the creation – a particularly stunning sunset, for example, or a tiny songbird at the feeder. We sing “glory to God” in our hymns and pray that God will “be glorified” in our lives.

But what do we mean by this? What is the glory of God, and where can we turn in order to gain a better sense of what it means to “stand in hope” of that glory?

In the simplest sense, the glory of God is just the presence of God. Where God is, glory is, because God is all-glorious.

However, Scripture points out that, while God is manifesting His glory everywhere, because He Himself is everywhere, not everyone is paying attention. God shows His presence in created things; they bear witness to His wisdom, power, goodness, and love in many different ways (cf. Ps. 19.1-4; Acts 14.17). But most people don’t experience the glory God is revealing, in part because they don’t really care to, and in part, because they don’t know how.

So God makes His glory known to people in various ways. He not only reveals His glory, but He impresses His glory on people, as a kind of strange, wondrous, beautiful, and even fearful presence that “weighs” on us at certain times and under certain conditions.

We see this from time to time in Scripture when God, Who is everywhere present, suddenly deigns to make His glory known by some natural phenomenon – light, smoke, thunder, lightning, fire, wine – which is supernaturally exaggerated in such a way as to astonish whoever beholds it. The result is, people are struck with fear, wonder, and a need to bow down while, at the same time, feeling like this is a really good place to be.

Think of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. As Jesus was glorified before them, Peter excitedly suggested that they just all camp out there in perpetuity, since it was “good” for them to be there experiencing all that wonder and beauty. Luke tells us he only said this because he was terrified and didn’t know what he was saying (Lk. 9.32-34).

That weighty, glorious presence of the Lord overwhelmed those disciples, filling them with fear and joy, wonder and understanding, all at the same time.

But what does it mean for us to stand in hope of this glory? How can we enter into the experience of glory, and what difference does that make?

The glory of God in Jesus Christ
As our text explains, the glory of God is to be experienced “in the face” of our Lord Jesus Christ. As those who have been justified by grace through faith, we stand in the hope of glory, and therefore, like the Apostle Paul, we expect to know the glory of God that is in the face of Jesus, with similar effects as the disciples experienced on that holy mountain.

Another passage in this same epistle can help us to find the way into this glory. In 2 Corinthians 3.7-18 Paul teaches that believers should expect to know the glory of God more really, consistently, and abundantly than even Moses did when he was on the mountain with the Lord. Paul mentions two crucial ingredients in this formula for experiencing the glory of God: The Law, or Word, of God and the Spirit of God.

Because we have been justified, we may look into the Law and Word of God expectantly, in the hope of meeting God there in His glory, of encountering Jesus face to face, as it were, and in that encounter experience the glory of God. Paul says that when someone reads or hears the Word of God without the benefit of having turned to the Lord, the glory that’s there isn’t evident to them. It’s like there’s a veil over the Scriptures so that those who do not believe just can’t penetrate to the glory that is being revealed there. “But,” Paul continues, “when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” and the glory God has invested in His Word can begin to shine forth. Further, just to make sure this happens, the Spirit of God has been sent to “liberate” us from our blindness and guide us into all the truth and glory of God’s Word.

Beholding the glory
Elsewhere in Scripture the “face of God” is likened to the Word and Law of God (Ps. 119.135) and the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 39.29). Jesus said that His Words are Spirit and life (Jn. 6.63). He also insisted that all Scripture is about Him (Jn. 5.39), and that, once we have the Spirit, we can expect Him to guide us into all understanding about Jesus, as He is revealed in His Word, and to bring us into the glory of Jesus Himself (Jn. 16.13, 14).

The face of Jesus is the Word of God, illuminated by the Spirit, revealing the glory of Jesus on every page. Scripture holds the revelation of God’s glory in the face of Jesus on every page. And all who have made the Kingdom turn expect and hope that all our reading and study of God’s Word will bring us, glory to glory, into that weighty, fearful, wondrous, delightful, and transforming experience of glory with greater consistency and power. Seeking God in His glory is our top priority in the Kingdom of God.

Next steps: What do you expect from your time reading and studying Scripture? For what are you hoping? What would it mean for you to hope for the glory that is in the face of Jesus from your time in the Word? Talk with some Christian friends about these questions.

T. M. Moore

Additional Resources

This week’s study, Kingdom Priority, is the fourth of an eight-part series on The Kingdom Turn, and is available as a free download. T. M. has written two books to complement this eight-part series. You can order The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here, and The Gospel of the Kingdom by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.