The glory of God seems like a topic for theologians like JI Packer, AW Tozer, DA Carson, RC Spraul, and CS Lewis. (Why do they all have initials for their first name?) But when we do think about it, what comes to mind: a fuzzy cloud, a pillar of fire, misty haze over the Ark of the Covenant, or Moses’ glowing face after meeting with God? Medieval painters tried to capture it with a halo around the heads of saints.
Although usually a religious term, glory refers to the expressed nature or radiant beauty, a distinguished quality or asset of a person or thing.1
In our solar system, visible light is the primary expression of the sun’s glory along with ultraviolet light, heat, and radio waves. These various forms of electromagnetic energy are the sun’s glory (expressions, attributes) but not the sun’s essence. The sun’s essence is different from its expressions. The sun’s essence involves the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, where its expressions involve light and other electromagnetic radiation.
The terms glory, attributes, or character all refer to God’s divine nature. Scripture also uses the term “His name,” not as a delineator between people, but to represent the composite of His attributes.
Principle #1: God’s glory expresses His essence through His attributes.
The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. …
They are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures.2
When Moses encountered God in the desert at the burning bush, he asked, “Who shall I say sent me?” God gives him the closest description we have of God’s essence when He says, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). As Moses returns to Egypt and challenges Pharoah to release the Israelites, God begins to manifest the attributes of the “I Am” to Moses and Pharoah through the various displays of God’s power over the plagues.
Later, as Moses and the Israelites camp at Mt Sinai, Moses appeals to God, “Show me your glory.” His request was not an essence question but an attribute one. Moses is asking for a personal demonstration of the attributes of the God who calls Himself “I Am” (Exodus 33:18).
Principle #2: God expresses His glory most clearly through the incarnation of Christ.
God’s ultimate answer to the request “show me your glory” came with the incarnation of His Son. John begins his Gospel with the declaration, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Paul repeats this same thought when writing to the Corinthians. “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). During Christ’s final days with his disciples, Philip repeats Moses’ request by saying, “Show us the Father.” To which Jesus replied, “He who has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9; 2 Cor. 4:6).
Jesus said, “It is finished,” only two times. One was on the cross; the other was before the cross in His John 17 prayer to the Father. “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). He then explains the work He had accomplished, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world” (John 17:6 emphasis added). The word manifest means to show, make visible or demonstrate. So then, Christ claims that He had finished His mission of glorifying the Father by making visible His attributes to those disciples who followed Him.
Jesus, then, concludes his prayer with, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me” (John 17:24). (The glory he had before the world was John 17:5.) The glory Jesus manifested while He was on the earth is only part of His glory. Evidently, there is more for us to see, and it will take our resurrected bodies and all of eternity to explore it.
Principle #3: God’s glory needs a context for its expression.
God shows His glory most universally in creation. David wrote, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known” (Psalm 19:1-3 NLT). Many of the early scientists who discovered our physical laws saw the fingerprint of God in their discoveries. Paul wrote the Romans and said that nature shows to all men God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature (Rom. 1:20).
God also has shown His glory through the Scriptural narrative. The storyline of the Bible is how God reveals Himself to humanity first through the Patriarchs and then through Israel, His chosen people. Their journey to discover what Yahweh is like is also our journey. As we travel with the men and women of Bible history, we learn along with them. Their struggle to get it right is our struggle. We can quickly identify with their successes and failures.
God responded to Moses’ request to show him His glory with an Illustration. He said that Moses could not look directly at his glory but only see it after He had “passed by.” Hidden in the safety of a cave, God shielded Moses showing only “His back.” Moses learned several principles about God’s glory from this encounter. 1. God wants to reveal His glory. 2. Moses cannot now see (comprehend) all of God’s glory (i.e., His face). 3. He can see God’s glory only indirectly after God “passed by.”
Scripture does not describe what Moses saw from his hole in the hill, but it was only a prelude to what he would see over the next 40 years. During the 40-year desert wandering, Moses discovered an array of God’s attributes (His glory) in surprising and often uncomfortable ways. The desert journey was a laboratory for God to show Moses (and Israel) His glory.
Along the desert journey, Moses saw God’s attributes, such as His: * Holiness through the law’s moral code and the tabernacle’s design. * Guidance as the Israelites are led by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. * Provision by the manna from the sky and water from a rock. * Forgiveness, mercy, grace, and compassion through Israel’s failures and constant rebellion.
Moses recorded much of what he discovered about God’s glory in his Deuteronomy speeches. The final chapter of the book, referred to as the “Song of Moses,” summarizes what he experienced and wanted to pass on to future generations.
Today God continues to show/demonstrate his glory through his created universe, the Scriptural narrative, and our life events. God will always show up in our script consistent with Scriptural revelation.
We are not free to create our picture of God based only on our individual experiences. Experience doesn’t determine truth, Scripture does. Our experience only illustrates what has already been revealed.
Many people mistake viewing God through their experience and create a caricature of God rather than a correct one.
We can, however, personally experience what he has already revealed about his glory/attributes as we walk with Him. David challenged his readers to their own experience with God’s glory by saying, “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). God’s goodness is not in question, but our awareness is.
Apprentices of Jesus are continually making the Moses request: Show me your glory. Our short pilgrimage on planet earth is our laboratory for experiencing (seeing) the glory of God. The Bible narrative talks about God’s attributes, but in the context of our everyday lives, if we look carefully, we will see them demonstrated.
The following blog will look at discovering God’s glory by investigation.
1 Vines New Testament Word Studies 2 AW Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p.24
For Reflection
1. What other attributes of God did Moses discover during his 40-year journey?
2. What has been a recent experience where you were aware of an attribute of God? Which one?
Wow, Ron, this is very insightful, thank you! Sam