The Glory of God

“For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6 NLT)

Human beings fail to recognize the glory of God in direct proportion to their unwillingness to see themselves as filled with iniquity. The higher the esteem with which we see ourselves, the more difficult it is to see the beauty and majesty of God.

In Exodus 33 when Moses asked to see God’s glorious presence, God told Him: “You may not look directly at My face, for no one may see Me and live.” Yet, Paul writes in Colossians 1:19: “For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ.”

Think of the brilliance of the sun. During the noontime brightness, to look at the sun for more than a few seconds can be literally blinding. Yet, the Bible declares that on the mount of transfiguration: “As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light.” (Matthew 17:2) It was in this context that God spoke again saying: “’This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy. Listen to Him.’ The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground.”

One day every person, living and dead, will come into God’s Holy presence. But on that day, there won’t be any semblance of self-sufficiency. No one will be pushing to the proverbial front of the line. On that day every knee will bow involuntarily. It will be reflex – BOOM – our knees will hit the ground and our faces will be hidden in shame and terror to be in the awesome presence of Holiness and Perfection.

On that day we’ll see as we’ve been seen. With no pretense of goodness, every eye will be opened, and every heart will be illuminated with the Truth of who Jesus is and has always been. There will be no misunderstanding that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. Why anger?

Because finally, justice will be served! Satan and his devilish emissaries will be sentenced to their eternal home in the lake of fire and misery. Those who rejected their only Hope, the Lord Jesus, will be separated for all eternity from those whose faith and trust has been placed in the only One whose Name is above every name. The slain Lamb of God who is now present as the roaring Lion of Judah will take His place on the throne of honor at the right hand of the Father.

John records in Revelation 5:11-12: “Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered – to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’”

We can’t possibly begin to understand what a gift we have in Jesus, the holy, spotless, perfect Lamb of God, who is Himself the embodiment of the glory of the Father, until we can finally see ourselves as the filthy, wretched, shame-filled, peons of Satan that we are apart from His mercy and grace. To dare believe there resides in us a microscopic speck of goodness apart from Jesus is to spit in His beautiful face and to spurn His sacrifice.

Kneel before Him in humble recognition that apart from Him you are nothing and apart from Him you can do nothing! Let your heart fill with worship, adoration, and praise as you realize your sin nailed Him to the Cross. But realize too, that if you’d been the only person on earth who needed a Savior, Jesus would have died for you! Let your life become a vessel of honor, pure and wholly devoted to exalting the King of kings and Lord of lords with however much life you have left. He alone is worthy!

Blessings, Ed 😊