If you’ll turn with me in your Bibles, our first scripture reading is found in Exodus chapter 40 beginning at the 34th verse.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Throughout all their Journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up, for the cloud of the Lord was on the Tabernacle by day and fire was in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their Journeys.
From there we turn to the Gospel of John chapter 1 and verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask like Moses that you show us your glory that we may one day be sure of seeing your face and that we may always dwell within your presence. Help us to see you and to hear you speak. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now, previously when we considered “and the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” we saw the uniqueness of the Incarnation, the fact that God took upon himself flesh and became also man, also human. We saw how Jesus, God the Son, the logos, who is Theos, did not merely seem or appear to be like a human person as the Greek mythologies said about their gods. Instead, we understand that somehow he is possessed of two distinct natures, divine and human, which enabled him to both suffer God’s wrath in our stead by possessing the infinite Divinity and by being our perfect righteous substitute, possessing true Humanity yet without any corruption from sin within himself.
We saw how the word made flesh defines our purpose in life, our reason for being, teaching us to not believe that we were made as the servants of some uncaring higher power but were instead created in order to be loved by God and to love him and one another in return. We saw how the word made flesh defines our relationship with God, demonstrating through Jesus how our prior relationship was transformed from that of a servant and their Master to the children of an adoptive loving father, teaching us about how God wants to relate to us as a father and brother relates to his children and siblings by guiding us, helping us, supporting us, disciplining and correcting us whenever we go astray.
And finally, we saw how through the Incarnation, Jesus, as the living physical embodiment of God the Son, the logos, was the perfect manifestation of God’s intentional presence dwelling with and among his people. Emmanuel, the physical fleshy Humanity of Jesus is our reason to hope and expect that because God chose to come down and dwell with us for a little while, that one day he will also raise us up and bring us to himself to dwell with him forever just as he has promised.
But those four things have more to do with the human nature of God the Son, the logos, who is Theos, than with his divine nature. They all show us more about how God is willing, wanting, and able to condescend and relate to us closer to our human level, just as a human father condescends to relate to the young children who are not yet grown or experienced in life.
So now we understand how God chose to relate to us through Jesus, and now we examine how we are meant to relate up to him in response as both God and as our spiritual father. So we will consider how Jesus shows us God the Father. John tells us that it is through the person of God the Son, the logos, Jesus Christ, that we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So, through Christ, we are given a less than thinly veiled glimpse of the glory of God. But while this was neither our first nor our only glimpse, it is the greatest glimpse that we have seen until we will see it in full when Jesus returns at the end of all things.
However, before we look at God’s glory as revealed in Jesus, we need to consider an expression that appears irregularly through scripture describing the manifest presence of God: the glory of the Lord.
Now, whenever you hear that phrase, I’m confident that the first thing which comes to your mind are the shepherds in the field. “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were filled with great fear.’
But while their encounter was an amazing wonder, it was not unique. This appearing of glory is a theophany, a manifestation of the otherwise invisible God’s presence. And although there are several different types of examples of theophanies recorded in scripture, the appearing of the glory of the Lord is the most common.
We first encounter this manifestation within the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites to Mount Sinai. As soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked towards the Wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud (Exodus 16). Next, it appears upon the mountain itself covering it with the cloud that Moses was called to venture into. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days (Exodus 24).
Then it settled down upon the Tabernacle in the wilderness, commanding the Israelites’ travels through its rising and its settling, which we read earlier: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.” Lastly, it appeared and settled itself within Solomon’s Temple upon its consecration. As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. And there it remained until the Babylonian exile, when the prophet Ezekiel beheld God’s glory leaving the temple. He writes, “Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim; and the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out with the wheels beside them.”
Now, however, although Ezekiel prophesied the glory’s return to the temple, the glory of the Lord did not manifest itself the same way after the exile. God’s glory did not return to his holy temple veiled by a cloud; instead, it came veiled with the flesh of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.
But you will notice that every time in the Old Testament when we have this glorious appearing described, it’s always concealed by a cloud. Even on occasions when that particular phrase does not appear, we always recognize the presence—the invisible presence of the Lord—because of some cloud. A cloud of incense concealed the presence enthroned above the cherubim upon the Ark of the Covenant. A cloud overshadowed Jesus, Moses, and Elijah during the Transfiguration when God the Father spoke to the three disciples that were present. Then Jesus ascended into heaven within a cloud, and we now expect him to return in the same way.
So we must remember that while the glory of the Lord is not itself a cloud, it appears obscured within a cloud. But why does the Lord always hide the fullness of his glory from our sight? Why is his glorious presence veiled behind this cloud? He hides it to protect and preserve us from himself, to avoid consuming us and destroying us in our unholiness by his perfect presence. Just as God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
Also, we wonder what does this glory-filled cloud look like? How should we know that it’s not just any old cloud? Rarely is the glory itself described, but when it is, it is described as a devouring or flashing fire. Even still, that does not sound like something I really want to see or stand in the presence of, especially knowing that all of my everything is exposed in full view and is being judged and condemned by the one person’s approval and affirmation that most matters.
And what I expect we’re all now imagining is something like a white, billowing cloud which glows with a barely contained effulgence of light, ready to burst with blinding lances of lightning exploding outward in every direction. What a truly awesome sight it should be—a cloud that is as wonderful as it is terrifying.
And then we should remember that once long ago, in the middle of the night, a few hundred sheep and their tired and drowsy shepherds were woken up and experienced this vision, along with a vast multitudinous host of angels singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.”
How do you think those shepherds felt upon seeing, hearing, and experiencing that? Does that make their faithful response of rushing into Bethlehem to find the baby Jesus more astonishing? Does that better explain why they were so overfilled with joy upon finding Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus? Because they were proof that confirmed the truth about what the angel of the Lord had told them. Merry Christmas indeed!
But ultimately, the cloud of the glory of the Lord, as a theophany, was only a symbol of God’s presence. It is not God himself nor even a representation of God. Remember, the Lord God is invisible, infinite, and omnipresent, and he cannot be contained within the finite creation, making this another reason for the necessity of the Incarnation—the self-limitation of God veiling the divine nature in flesh to better reveal the person of God, his character, who he is, and what he is like in a more relatable and relational form.
So if the glory of the Lord is not a brilliantly lit cloud nor a consuming fire nor God himself, then what is it? What is glory, anyways? CS Lewis wrote, “Glory suggests two ideas of which one seems wicked and the other ridiculous. Either glory means to me fame or it means luminosity.” As for the first, since to be famous means to be better known than other people, the desire for fame appears to me as a competitive passion and therefore of Hell rather than Heaven. As for the second, who wishes to become a kind of living electric light bulb?
Now, while it should be easy for us to understand why he held that second impression of luminosity, I do believe he was correct about both aspects of glory, but that it’s really not an either-or situation; it is a both-and. Because as scripture describes it, the glory of the Lord is most certainly luminous and also demonstrates that there is no one greater or more famous than the Lord.
Across the Old Testament, scripture says, “Who is like you, oh Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) “Oh Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in Heaven above or on Earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.” (1 Kings 8) “Oh Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?” (Psalm 35) “Your righteousness, oh God, reaches the high heavens, you who have done great things, oh God, who is like you?” (Psalm 71) “There is none like you, oh Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, oh King of the Nations? For this is your due, for among all the wise ones of the Nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.” (Jeremiah 10)
“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love.”
And more importantly, scripture affirms the Lord’s right of absolute and ultimate sovereignty along with his right to save whomever he wills, coming from Isaiah 45: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the Earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall never return: To me, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance.”
You think there’s fame in all of that?
But there is another element to the biblical sense of glory that Lewis misses. The Hebrew word often translated as glory is “kabod,” and it’s also used for honor, as in “Honor thy father and mother.” The significance of “kabod” is that it conveys a sense of weightiness, of being burdened, particularly in relation to authority and decision-making. Thus, glory is something which is substantive, important, meaningful, and always relevant.
Glory is a positive and a negative, a joy and a trial, a pleasure and a pain, an honor and a burden—a truly terrible privilege. Glory is something that must be ascribed and cannot be rightly assumed, because that would be hubris. However, in the case of the Lord God, the weight of glory is intrinsic to himself. It’s part of his divine nature. He has glory and is glorious because of who he is as the only one who possesses being within himself, as the only non-created Creator.
So every manifestation of glory is but a reflection of God’s glory and therefore ascribed by him. The glory we speak of kings and queens who rule by divine right, the glory of conquerors who are victorious through true divine providence, the glory which is displayed by a singular masterpiece of art, the glory of the lilies of the field, the glory of the rising sun, or the glory of anything which is unique or original.
But it is this final aspect of glorious uniqueness that we must understand about the incarnate logos, who is Theos, and we’ve seen his glory—glory as of the only Son from the Father. And we all know that Jesus is the only Son, but we also seem to have a problem because of that. The two previous verses declared that those who believe in Jesus’s name are given the right to become the children of God, thereby also making us the sons and daughters of God, just like Jesus.
You might think that the King James might help us here with its language of “only begotten son” or “the glory of the only begotten of the Father,” but that expression is actually even less helpful in English. The way we use our common language obscures the meaning of the Greek. Remember when we considered the order of phrases in verses 12 and 13? We found that the true emphasis of the Greek was more upon the act of God’s begetting his adoptive children rather than on us being born or begotten. The Greek word used there was “gennao,” a verb plainly meaning to beget, to give birth to, or to father.
The word here being used is “monogenes,” a compound word combining the prefix “mono,” meaning one or only, with a noun related to “gennao,” meaning offspring, child, or begotten, which gives us the wooden term “only begotten.” Thus, becoming our English problem, because if we are spiritually begotten by God through and in our regeneration, then how does Jesus continue to remain the only begotten son of God?
Instead, when we understand “monogenes” in the sense of one begotten of one singular, uniquely and supernaturally born person, we’re talking about the uniqueness here. Then all the rest of God’s elect can be understood as being begotten in some different way, through the willful and loving adoption of natural-born persons.
Therefore, while all those who have faith in Jesus Christ are the children of God, his sons and daughters by adoption, the status and relationship which Jesus enjoys as God the Son, as the only begotten, the uniquely begotten of the Father, remains unique and different from our relationship. We’ll explore more of those differences later in his unique beginning, but it is enough for now for us to recognize that it is his uniqueness that contributes in part to God’s glory.
The incarnate logos, Theos, is the unique Son of God, and so he also shares equally in God the Father’s glory. Therefore, he enjoys the same burdensome privilege of authority as the Father by also possessing this weight of glory as the Lord God. He is true and filled with the truth as God is, as gracious and filled with grace as the Father is, thus making the incarnate logos Jesus the perfect representative and mediator of God to man as the Lord’s perfect revelation of himself and the dispenser of God’s grace.
Now, what all of this glory stuff means for us is that through the Incarnation of the logos, we witness and encounter the glory of God the Father. Through the glory of the logos, we discover the singular glorious greatness of God the Father. Through the Incarnation of the logos, we are shown how similar God the Son is to God the Father, demonstrating their sameness, arguing from the lesser to the greater, because the Son is not greater than the Father.
Through the Incarnation of the logos, on account of his glory, we can understand why the Lord alone is worthy and deserving of all praise and honor.
Now this finally leads us to how we should respond to everything that God has been teaching us concerning who the logos Jesus is, who we are, and what our purpose in life is. Jesus, the Lord God, the author and creator of all things—we are all his creation, the intentional work of his hands. We are all made to be loved by God, and we are made to love him in return, as a child loves their father.
God demonstrated his love for us by giving us the whole of creation in which to live, work, and rule. Then he next demonstrated by his gracious election and adoption of us, his children—those who receive him and believe him—as spiritual children. So now we begin to respond by loving him through our reception and welcome of him into our lives, reciprocating and returning his love.
Then we respond and love him through faithful obedience, just as we demonstrate the love we feel for our earthly parents by obeying them. And finally, because glory is an intrinsic part of the Lord and, say, the Son shares in the Father’s glory, and because we are ascribed some of that same glory as his children as a reflection of his, we now get to give God glory. We get to magnify the Lord, ascribing even more glory to him and increasing it through everything we do in his holy name.
Thus, this whole understanding may be summed up by the most well-known catechism question: what is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
See, our true purpose, our chief end, is to glorify God, to increase his glory, because through our union into Christ, we experience an increase of our glory by sharing in his. Ultimately, we exist to glorify God and enjoy him forever while he enjoys us and glorifies us within the fellowship of his koinonia.
So let us all give God the glory, for Jesus Christ is the word who was in the beginning through whom all things were made. Jesus is the light who overcomes the darkness. Jesus is the God who became also man, serving as our perfect substitute so that one day, because he became like us, we may become like him and share in his glory forever and ever. Amen.
Please stand with me, and let us say what we believe using the words of the definition of Chalcedon:
“Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in the godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body, of one substance with the Father as regards his godhead, at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood, like us in all respects apart from sin. As regards his godhead, begotten of the Father before all ages, but yet, as regards his manhood, begotten for us men and for our salvation of Mary, the Virgin, the God-bearer, one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons but one and the same and only-begotten God, the word, Lord Jesus Christ, even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us and the Creator, the fathers is handed down to us. Amen.”
Our closing hymn is number 122, ‘Glorious is Thy Name.’