It came as I was wondering how I might respond to a question concerning what it means to glorify God in one's life. If a dear saint were to die tomorrow, and I was called upon to eulogize him or her, how would I go about judging whether that life that had just come to an end was a magnification of the Lord's majesty? I wanted to make sure I had gotten straight what that actually entailed.
Glory. Hm. What is God's glory? What's it about? Can we see it? I seemed to fixate on this last question.
So I began to reason. Well, no, of course we can't see his glory. We would be blinded! After all, no one has ever beheld God (1 John 4:12). That is certainly the case in Moses's encounter with God in prayer in Exodus 33:17-20. Pleading for knowledge and wisdom and for the presence of God himself as he leads Israel out of Sinai, Moses asks specifically if God might show him his glory. This elicits an interesting answer from the Lord: "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The Lord.'" Divine glory here seems to be linked to the fullness of God's goodness and the proclamation of his holy name.
Elsewhere his glory is described similarly though in various ways. In the introduction to Proverb 25, for instance, Solomon declares, "It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out." God's hiddenness might seem to be the focus here, yet I think probably the point is a little deeper: that God's divinity rests in his perfect and sovereign knowledge to which even the greatest among men will never have access, no matter their efforts.
At first, then, I came to a quick conclusion: No, we can't see God's glory. It is beyond us. It is dangerous and mighty. And yet in some ways we can indirectly experience it in God's supreme goodness and in the fame of his name.
But then I realized that while all of this might well be true, this is only a description of what we might call God's invisible glory. Was there by contrast any more visible glory?
Of course! It is Jesus Christ. After all, "he is the radiance of the glory of God" (Heb. 1:3)! In him we can see what we could not before. We can take part in who God is through him. He took on flesh, leaving the heights of heaven, to make manifest and evident to a distanced creation that the Lord God is God, to gather up his flock from among the nations. We have access to the treasures of heaven precisely because he descended to earth and died and was raised from death to set us free. Jesus fulfills all that the prophets foretold; he is that light that shines in the darkness and cannot be overcome (John 1:5). Jesus is God's visible glory.
When we behold the Messiah, we behold glory. When we reflect Christ, we reflect glory. We glorify, we bring glory to God, by surrendering to his supremacy and allowing our lives to be remade in the image of Jesus.
How do you know someone has lived to glorify his Maker? His life makes known the work and splendor and inestimable value of Christ crucified.
Anyway, I learn a lot when I wander. So I will never stop walking. And may they always be walks with Jesus.
O God of my delight,
Thy throne of grace is the pleasure ground of my soul.
Here I obtain mercy in time of need,
here see the smile of thy reconciled face,
here joy pleads the name of Jesus,
here I sharpen the sword of the Spirit,
anoint the shield of faith,
put on the helmet of salvation,
gather manna from thy Word,
am strengthened for each conflict,
nerved for the upward race,
empowered to conquer every foe;
Help me to come to Christ
as the fountain head of descending blessings,
as a wide open flood-gate of mercy.
I marvel at my insensate folly,
that with such enriching favours within my reach
I am slow to extend the hand to take them.
Have mercy upon my deadness for thy name's sake.
Quicken me, stir me, fill me with holy zeal.
Strengthen me that I may cling to thee and not let thee go.
May thy Spirit within me draw all blessings from thy hand.
When I advance not, I backslide.
Let me walk humbly because of good omitted and evil done.
Impress on my mind the shortness of time,
the work to be engaged in,
the account to be rendered,
the nearness of eternity,
the fearful sin of despising they Spirit.
May I never forget that thy eye always sees,
thy ear always hears,
thy recording hand always writes.
May I never give thee rest until Christ is the pulse of my heart;
the spokesman of my lips, the lamp of my feet.
[From The Valley of Vision (Banner of Truth, 2007)]
No comments:
Post a Comment