Our desire and ability to behold the glory of God, the outshining of the infinite perfections of His eternal being as it is revealed in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Chris, is the ultimate reason for and the instrumental means of our salvation (2 Corinthians 4:4-6) (Hebrews 1:1-3). It is our seeing, by faith, this light or revelation of God’s glory in Christ that is essential to our right standing with God now, and our eternal joy and happiness with God in the new heavens and new earth throughout eternity (2 Corinthians 5:7) (Revelation 21:23)
Isaiah 43:7 reveals quite clearly and succinctly that we were created by the eternal triune God, who exists as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit for His glory. He intended that we would know our greatest joys and pleasures, our eternal happiness and ultimate satisfaction in His communication of the infinite perfections of His being as they were revealed in the glory of the natural creation, in our being made in His glorious image and likeness and given dominion over that creation, and in our intimate communion with His glorious person as the object of our deepest love and source of our eternal joy (Psalm 19:1-6) (Psalm 8:4-8) (Psalm 16:11) (Luke 10:25-28).
However, because of man’s sin, our rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives, the glory of God meant to be seen, displayed, enjoyed and communicated by man has been suppressed, debased, literally vandalized as a result of our sin (Romans 1:18-21) (Romans 3:23).
In our sin, the glory of God that was to be revealed and displayed in the totality of our being has been marred and corrupted. Our hearts – the very core of our being – the seat of our affections and desires – have become deceitful and desperately wicked, controlled by deceitful lusts and God dishonoring desires (Jeremiah 17:9) (Ephesians 4:22).
Our minds having become darkened to the truth of God’s greatness and goodness are unable to perceive the beauty, majesty and wonder of God, having become enamored with created things, particularly ourselves, while despising our creator (Ephesians 4:17-19) (Romans 1:18-25).
Our once glorious bodies have become vile in both appearance and actions, experiencing innumerable miseries, destined for death and decay (Genesis 2:25) (Genesis 3:19).
And because of our unwillingness to live for the purpose for which we were created, we are destined for the “second death”, to be eternally separated from the glory of God’s goodness and grace, subject to the glory of His justice and judgement in a place the Bible refers to as Hell (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9) (Matthew 10:28) (Revelation 21:8).
The Bible tells us that it is not only the glory of man that has been marred and corrupted by sin, but the glory of all of creation which was cursed by God as a consequence of man’s sin and thus groans and languishes under the weight of this curse (Genesis 3:17-18) (Romans 8:20-23).
However, the eternal triune God planned from the foundation of the world that He would ultimately, most prominently and eternally display His glory in and through God the Son, Jesus Christ, who would redeem both man and creation, restoring them to the glory in which God had intended (Ephesians 1:3-14) (Revelation 21:1-3).
God the Father would send His eternal Son into this sin darkened; sin corrupted spiritual wasteland as one of us (John 3:16) (Philippians 2:7). As a man, Jesus would, through His sinless life, His sacrificial death on the cross and miraculous resurrection, glorify God as all mankind had failed to do (John 17:4). In doing so He would accomplish everything necessary to bring men and women, who would see and embrace His glory, back into the glorious relationship with God for which we were created (1 Peter 3:18).
He would thus become the firstborn of a new creation of mankind, men and women for whom God would open their spiritual eyes and illuminate their minds such that they would behold His glory in the face of Jesus, believe and rejoice in Him for who He is and what He has accomplished in our salvation, and live our lives for His glory, honor and praise as the object of our deepest love and source of our greatest joy (John 1:14) (Romans 8:29) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) .
The term behold in the Bible means more than to just see something with our natural vision. It is a call to gaze intently upon, carefully observe, to deeply consider the significance of what we see wherein we lock our hearts and minds on it so as never to be forgotten.
Those who would behold Jesus’ glory in this way during His time on earth would include His parents Mary and Joseph, a group of lowly Shepards, joyfully surprised by His coming, and a non-descript man and woman, Simeon and Anna, whose whole lives were lived in anticipation of it (Luke 2:4-38).
Then we have “wise men”, men of great political power and influence from the East, who come a great distance searching for Him for the express purpose of worship, which is due God alone (Matthew 2:1-2) (Matthew 2:9-11).
John the Baptist who lived for the express purpose of announcing to the nation Israel the coming of the promised Messiah, upon seeing Jesus, proclaims to the nation of Israel, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29-32).
Jesus’ glory was beheld by common folks who found their lives and priorities greatly changed for the good by their encounters with Him. These include but are not limited to the Samaritan woman at the well, the demoniac, the man born blind, Mary and Martha at the resurrection of their brother Lazarus, the thief on the cross who called Him LORD, and the Roman soldier who proclaimed with certainty in his heart that this bloody, beaten and despised figure hanging on a cross between two career criminals, was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54) (John 4:5-26) (Luke 8:38-39) (also see John 9 and John 11).
Of course, Jesus’ glory would be seen and attested to by 11 of His apostles (Judas, like so many others, was obviously blinded to it). They would have beheld His glory in His miracles, but most prominently in His death on the cross, miraculous resurrection, and glorious ascension back into Heaven – as a man (John 1:14).
Finally, His glory was beheld by one who was so blind to the glory of God in Jesus, that Jesus had to first physically blind Him before He could see it, namely the Apostle Paul. Paul would go on to write more on the glory of God in Christ (13 books of the New Testament) than any of the other Apostles (Acts 9:1-11) (1 Corinthians 15:2-8).
However, it is in all of their writings we have revealed the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). And those who behold it now, will behold it by faith, which Jesus proclaimed would result in a greater blessedness (John 20:27-30). And it will be the multiple aspects of this glory we will look at in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×
Even so Lord come quickly