I know many of you have already taken down your Christmas decorations. I understand … that’s your prerogative. I’m just glad I wasn’t your kid. For me it’s still the Christmas season and we’re continuing with our theology of Christmas theme as we consider the glory of God, particularly as it is revealed through Jesus.
Obviously, the decorations need to come down at some point. Unfortunately, as Christmas decorations are removed sometimes the meaning of Christmas is forgotten. The beautiful theme Christmas Time is Here from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” contains the lyric, “O that we could see such spirit through the year.” We sometimes forget that Christmas is about Immanuel – God with us. He’s still with us when the decorations come down and we slog through January and February. Some Christians are accused of leaving Jesus on the cross; at Christmas, sometimes we leave Him in the manger.
When Jesus came the angels sang of giving God glory. We must continue to glorify God. But what is glory? It seems to be a big part of Christmas and the word is included in many carols.
The glory of God
Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:18-23
Moses is nothing if not bold. This is his fourth intercession for God’s action. God has repented of His anger, promised to fulfill His covenant, and said He will be with them on their journey to the Promised Land. Now comes an extremely bold request: Moses is asking to see the very essence of God.
God agrees and says His “goodness” will pass before Moses. He will proclaim His name, which is very important. But God also exerts His sovereignty by essentially saying, “You’re a lucky boy, Mo!” And God agrees only to a point. There are limits to what can be revealed to us (not limits to what God can do). It would be impossible for us to fully comprehend God and a full revelation of His glory would likely destroy us.
God protects Moses by placing him in the cleft of the rock and covering him with his Hand. As the hymn says, “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry, thirsty land; He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand.” Moses may see the back side of God’s glory. What in the world does this mean?
The Hebrew word for glory is kaw-bode’ and carries the idea of weight. There is heft to God’s glory. We know of the shekinah glory; rabbis have said this speaks to a divine visitation/manifestation of God’s glory. It is a hard term to define. In Isaiah 6:3 the angels are crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Leviticus 10:3 God says, “I will be shown to be holy among those who are near me and before all the people I will be glorified. I will be shown to be holy.” It is obvious that glory is tied to God’s holiness. Glory is, in a sense, the manifestation of God’s holiness. There is nothing egotistical about it. John Piper says glory is the infinite beauty and greatness of His manifold perfections (attributes, character, worth). So glory involves infinite beauty and holiness which would be overwhelming for Moses. By the way, in chapter 34 we learn that God did pass by and Moses saw His glory.
Glory among us
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Luke 2:13-14
God’s glory was evident in pillars of fire and cloud as He led the Hebrews through the wilderness. God occupied the tabernacle, then the temple. The temple was rebuilt after the exile but God’s glory did not return to it. He had removed his presence from Israel because of their sin. Now It was back.
One angel was suddenly joined by an army of angels (host) – it had to be amazing. The message the angels brought shows the significance of what was happening. Glory not only for Jesus’ birth, but for His mission, what He would accomplish in His life, death, and resurrection. With glory comes peace to those with whom God is pleased, i.e., those who repent and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Not those “doing a good job.”
In John 1:14, Jesus is called the tabernacle of God. He is the new temple (2 Cor. 3:18) and our bodies are now temples. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. Therefore, in bearing the image of God we bear His glory.
Glory returned to earth in the birth of Jesus.
Living gloriously (Isaiah 43:6-7, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 1:20-23)
“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” Isaiah 43:6-7
As with so many Old Testament prophecies, there is likely a “now and then” meaning. The “now” for the more immediate fulfillment of the prophecy was the return from exile, and the “then,” or longer term fulfillment, could be the modern reconstitution of Israel as a nation, or it could be the ultimate gathering of all believers. God is calling home those called by His name and created for His glory. The main point of this overall passage is that people need not fear because God is in control, even in exile.
Why did God create Israel? Why did He create you and me? For His glory. Two examples illustrate this: at the tower of Babel, men said let us make a name for ourselves and God dispersed them; to Abram God said, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great.” We were made to trust God, to rely on Him and give Him glory and He will bless us. In my humble opinion, the bottom line is that we were made to display His glory so that His glory may be made known.
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
In a sense, this verse combines the two great commandments of Jesus: love God and love your neighbor. Paul has been discussing the freedom we have to act, i.e., we are no longer under the law, but he cautions us to be aware of how our actions affect our witness and how others perceive them. In verse 31, he commands that whatever we do we must make sure that it glorifies God. If it negatively affects someone else it does not bring glory to God.
How do we glorify God on a daily basis? Simply by our words and our actions. Can people tell you’re a Christian by these? Giving God glory isn’t really a thing we give to God; it’s actually something we are privileged to do in light of what He’s done for us. Our eyes have been opened through salvation and we see how glorious God is. Again, we were created for His glory.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Romans 1:20-23
There is very real danger in not giving glory to God. God is evident in creation. Men who say they don’t believe in God are without excuse – they knew God, but became “futile in their thinking.” These are people who walk in darkness. They claim wisdom, but are only arrogant and are truly fools. They have exchanged God’s glory for idols, which may be said of people today. I define an idol as anything that comes between me and God and I’ve had a lot of idols in my life. What are yours? It’s easy to say money and possessions. But what about fishing or golfing or crafting? What about friends or family?
God is not in the business of making us happy, He is in the business of making us holy. From the womb to the tomb, our lives are all about the glory of God.
Conclusion
At the 2009 Kansas high school state track championship, an unusual thing happened. The team that won the girls 3,200-meter relay was disqualified. But what happened next was even more unusual. The team that was awarded the state championship by default turned right around and gave their medals to the team that had been disqualified. The first school, St. Mary’s Colgan, lost first place because judges ruled that a runner had stepped out of her lane as she handed off the baton. That meant the second team, Maranatha Academy, moved up to first. After receiving their medals, the girls from Maranatha saw the downtrodden looks on the faces of the St. Mary’s girls, so they gave them their individual medals. Why did they do this? As Maranatha’s coach Bernie Zarda put it: “Our theme for the year was to run not for our glory, but for God’s glory.” As a result of the girls’ action, their story was told throughout Kansas, and God’s name was lifted up.
As we close this season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, we understand that birth enables sinners to see God’s glory now and forever clothed in humanity. God’s glory has come to earth and it no longer resides in a particular place or appears at a particular time. God is truly among us and “with us,” our Immanuel.
May you show the glory of God in 2020.