Text: Luke 2:8-14
Theme: Glory of God
Introduction
Glory is a big concept to understand. God is bigger than all of us, ever be able to comprehend within the limitations of our humanity. God is divine and revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the One True, Triune, God. He is an omnipotent and sovereign God, and compassionate and good in relating to humanity. In our search for justice, He is the ultimate judge. He is our Defender, Healer, Provider, Saviour, Comforter, Creator, and Abba Father. He is glorious in every aspect (ref: biblestudytools.com)
1. Glory of God
The Glory of God has revealed to all of us through the natural beauties as Psalmist declared the heavens declare the Glory of the Lord (Psalm 19:1). The glory of God isn’t just a feeling, an event of an Old Testament experience but it’s a spiritual tsunami of everything contained in the character of God. The word glory is literally translated as “heavyweight” meaning the heaviest, biggest, grandest thing about someone to explain and understand (ref:blog.kcm.org/4-ways-tap-glory-god).
Therefore the Glory refers to the entire embodiment of God. Please read Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols (Isaiah 42:8). Therefore, the glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is. It is eternal. The glory of man is the beauty of man’s spirit, which is fallible and eventually passes away. It is temporal. But the glory of God, which is manifested in all His attributes together, never passes away (James 1:10-11). Man’s glory will pass away like the flowers fade away in the heat of the Sun.
Having the glory of God, its radiance like a rarest jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:11). And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb ( Revelation 21:23).
2. Glory in you
Prophet calls, “Arise and shine, thy light has come, the glory of the Lord has come upon you” so your glory has come (Isaiah 60:1). God created man and woman in his own image and likeness refer to the Glory of God. He was given authority to name the co-inhabitants according to their nature and character with that Glory (Genesis 1:26-27). He formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7), and God formed the Animals and Birds of the Air from the dust of the ground or Earth and brought them to man for him to call them by their name or christen them (Genesis 2:19). The man was sharing the Glory of God.
The Lord put the man in His Garden of Eden with His full glory (Genesis 2:15-17). Therefore, he told that ‘Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made’ (Isaiah 43:7). But man has lost that glory of God by sinning. Hence, Paul writes ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23).
Adam and Eve have lost their glory when they disobeyed and tasted the forbidden food (Genesis 3:7). The Glory has to be reflected in every activity. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Jesus emphasized it in Matthew 5:14-16 by saying let your light shine through your goodness.
This is the mistake many people continue to make: trusting in earthly things, earthly relationships, their own powers or talents or beauty, or the goodness they see in others. But when these things fade and fail as they will inevitably do (being only temporary carriers of the greater glory), these people despair.
What we all need to realize is that God’s glory is constant, and as we journey through life we will see it manifest here and there, in this person or that forest, or in a story of love or heroism, fiction or non-fiction, or our own personal lives. But it all goes back to God in the end (ref: gotquestions.org).
Psalm 87:7 says “All my springs are in you.” The springs of grace, mercy, love, faith, provision, healing, and everything that will lead you to give glory to His Holy Name. Not only that but He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ to come and die for our sins in our place and to take the sin of the world on His shoulders that we should be cleansed of all sin and made right before God.
When we think of giving glory to God, we can often and very easily fall into the trap of thinking of it as a demand and that, it just has to be done. From the Christian and Biblical viewpoint, this is the very opposite of the intent. We fail to understand that everything God requires of us is “ultimately” for our good. God is for us and not against us.
Glory in the Church
To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:21).
The glory of the Lord filled the tent of meeting (Exodus 40:34). The glory of the Lord filled the temple when the cloud filled the temple (1 Kings 8:11). But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.” (Acts 7:55). Prophet Isaiah has seen this glory of God in his vision in the Temple (Isaiah 6:1-3).
The glory of God is a visible power. This visible power is also known as Shekinah, which is the Hebrew name given to the presence of God dwelling on the earth. The nation of Israel saw the glory when God came down to meet them on Mount Sinai. Exodus 24:17 says, “The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount.” The Glory of God is nothing but the presence of God with the People for simple and deeper understanding.
The prophet Habakkuk got a glimpse of that fiery glory, too. He described it as like the sun, blazing in the sky: “His brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power” (Habakkuk 3:4).
The same glory that raised Jesus from the dead was manifested as fire by night and a cloud by day in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21). This same glory separated Israel and the land of Goshen from the rest of Egypt when there was light in the land of Goshen, but not in Egypt (Exodus 10:23). The glory of God’s presence.
1 Chronicle 16:28-29 says “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.”
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). We reflect the Lord’s glory and being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord ( 2 Corinthians 3:18).
The glory of God is the Good News of Messianic Salvation. Light is the Glory and glory is the life of the Light (Luke 2:10-11). The glory of God increases when peace increases; Peace increases when favor increases with one another; When favor increases love increases; Love increases when forgiveness increases; everything is Possible when Christ increases among us. So let us say ‘He must increase and I must decrease’(John 3:30).
