I See the Glory of God in youfeatured

Rom. 8:30: “And those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

May God’s glory become more real to all of His children. Sometimes I wonder if it’s just my imagination, but I believe I can often tell when someone is a believer just by looking into their eyes. There’s a brightness, a spark, a sense of joy and peace that seems to shine through. Could it be because they spend time with Him who is Glory and Light? When I see someone who doesn’t know the Lord, weighed down by sin and using profanity freely, I rarely see that same spark; instead, there is a dullness, a lack of peace.

Rom. 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Spending time with Him

Spending time with the Lord causes us to shine with His glory. Remember Moses on Mount Sinai? After being with Jehovah for forty days, his face shone so brightly that the Israelites were afraid to come near him. That was the result of intimate fellowship with God.

Paul writes in 2 Cor. 3:18: “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The key is to behold and reflect Him. We need to spend time in secret with the Lord, beholding Him, so that we can reflect Him to those around us.

The importance of suffering to gain glory

1 Pet. 5:10: “But the God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.”

Heb. 2:10: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

Rom. 8:17: “And if children, heirs also; on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other, joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.”

I confess, when I read verses like these, there’s a particular fear in me about suffering. However, suffering is a fact of life; whether a believer or not, we all experience it. The difference is that, as believers, we are destined for glory. We have been chosen to be God’s children and to enter into His glory and express it. The good work He began in us, He will complete (Phil. 1:6). We cannot escape our destiny.

Why not praise the Lord in the midst of suffering? Why not invite Him even more during these unavoidable times, so that we may gain an eternal weight of glory through them (2 Cor. 4:17)? As the years go by, instead of becoming bitter, we can be filled with His glory, reflecting Him. One day, we’ll look back and realize that it was precisely through those painful experiences that Christ was expressed in us more deeply for others.

As much as we might want to avoid suffering, there’s something special about it. May we be faithful to turn to the only One who can save us, restore us, and fill us with His glory to express Him.

The Glory of God expressed in the Son

When the Word became flesh, John writes: “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality” (John 1:14, Recovery Version). The miracles, healings, and wonders performed by the Lord Jesus were glimpses of God’s glory expressed in the Son. The Lord Jesus is “the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance” (Heb. 1:3).

A Corporate Matter: A Corporate Vessel Expressing His Glory

Praise the Lord that we can express Him! When we gather together in oneness, in Spirit, we become a corporate expression of God’s glory. In Revelation 21, His bride, the holy city, descends out of heaven from God:

Rev. 21:10: “And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,”

Rev. 21:11: “Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.”

This is God’s dream and goal from the very beginning: a people who are His priests and His holy nation (Exo. 19:6). When the tabernacle was completed in the wilderness, the glory of the Lord filled it (Exo. 40:34-35). The same happened when the temple was finished (2 Chron. 7:1-3).

Glory Seen in Weddings

Glory is also seen in weddings- the radiant dress, the music, the vows, the joy and peace in the air. But this is just a shadow of the real glory: the wedding of Christ and His bride, the church.

Praise the Lord, He has called us to be glorified to express Him!

Let’s continue to behold Him, reflect Him, and allow Him to fill us with His glory, both individually and together, until the day when we, as His corporate bride, shine with His glory for all eternity.