WHAT IS THE GLORY OF GOD??
The glory of God. Glorify the Lord. Have you ever thought about what those statements truly mean? Have you ever thought about what the word “glory” means? I’ve always used the statement along the lines of “Lord, help me to glorify You” or “I’m doing this for the glory of God”. At my college this past semester, we recently had a message on the glory of God, and wow it changed my perspective. I guess I never really thought too deeply of what “glory” really means and it does almost seem like a word a lot of us Christians use a lot these days. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using the word, glory, but do we know the significance of what we are saying? The glory of God has such a powerful and impactful meaningful significance to it. The message that I heard on The Glory of God powerfully impacted me and I want to share with you guys my thought process and what I learned.
JESUS’ GLORIFICATION THROUGH HIS WORK ON THE CROSS
John 17:1-2 says, “Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify You, since You gave Him authority over all flesh, so that He may give eternal life to everyone You have given Him”.
In the verse above, we see that Jesus is praying for Himself unto God, God the Father in Heaven. Jesus prayed lifting His eyes to Heaven and He prayed in faith. Yes, Jesus is praying for Himself (“Glorify your Son” – Jesus is the Son of God), but His prayer is not selfish at all. When Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come“, He is referring to His hour of glorification – the day of His crucifixion on the cross. Jesus’ concern was a concern that aligned with God, it was a concern for the glory of God. It is the cross, that Jesus was crucified on and shed His blood for our sake, that glorifies the Son (Jesus). We see that indeed, God glorified Jesus (the Son) by Jesus fulfilling His mission by being crucified on the cross to save humanity from the curse of sin – the Holy Spirit also definitely played a significant role in this as well.
CHRIST EXALTED
Writing this blog, I was reminded of Philippians 2:5-11 which says:
Read carefully :)) : “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when He had come as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death – even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the Name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” – Philippians 2:5-11 CSB
Wow. As I’m sitting here typing this blog, I am completely at a loss for words to type because that is POWERFUL. I bolded the parts that stood out such as “He emptied Himself”, “He humbled Himself”, and “Obedient to the point of death” – Just take a moment to marvel at our Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who was slain. He willingly suffered for us and He did not have to but He chose to – that shows a perfect sacrifice that nothing and nobody else could ever give. That shows how much He loves you, friends. Romans 5:8 says, “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. We see how much our Heavenly Father loves us, that He sent His Son as a sacrifice for us so we could be free from sin. Again, Jesus, a humble and obedient servant, chose to suffer for our sake.
Jesus has now made a way for us to have a relationship with Him, eternal hope, and freedom from the curse of sin. This brings me to tears every time. Where it says, “God highly exalted Him..”, we see God glorified the Son by Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, God exalted Jesus and gave Him the Name above all names, there is no one like Jesus! Whenever you doubt Jesus’ love for you, think about the cross. Though Jesus died on the cross and was buried, He rose again from the grave. Jesus defeated death and the enemy. We have security in Jesus Christ. Our hope is in Him alone and the victory will always be His.
OTHER KEY TAKEAWAYS :))
Just to add a special note – near the end of John 17:2, it states “… so that He may give eternal life”. Jesus is the One who gives and grants eternal life. Eternal life is life everlasting with Jesus. We have a relationship with God here on earth but it does not end here on earth, it continues to eternity, in heaven forever in the presence of our Lord. Friends, if you do not have a relationship with Jesus, know that Jesus wants a relationship with YOU and He waiting with open arms for you today!
John 17:5 says, “Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed”. From this verse, we can see that Jesus is God. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the LORD. That is My Name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols”. God will not give His glory to another so for God the Father to share His glory with God the Son (Jesus) means they are God. We see the Trinity which is The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – Three persons in One God.
SO WHAT IS THE GLORY OF GOD AND HOW CAN WE GLORIFY HIM WITH OUR LIVES?
So above based on the Bible verses that I shared with you guys, we see that Jesus is glorified because of His finished work on the cross. We see how God glorified the Son. The glory of God is knowing who God truly is. From hearing this message at my school, I learned that: The glory of God is God revealing Himself to us through Jesus Christ. Wow.
Now knowing the glory of God, it is important that we glorify God. You and I were created to glorify the Lord with our lives – this is our purpose. We give God the glory and honor because He is worthy to be praised. We glorify God with our lives so that He will be made known and get the glory He deserves. Jesus glorified God with His entire life. We should follow Jesus’ example. There are so many ways that we can glorify the Lord – this could be and should be through our words, actions, thought-life, how we treat other people, etc. Also, the way we love is what glorifies God.
An area where I really want to continue to glorify the Lord is my thought-life, which I really have been struggling with my thought life recently. Friends, if you are struggling in an area of your life to glorify the Lord, go in prayer and seek the Lord for help and ask – the Lord will help you. God wants you to come to Him and ask for help. Additionally, Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”. In everything that we do, let us do it to glorify the Lord, friends. Let our lives glorify Him.
Okay friends!! That my brain splurge (haha) and key points that I learned in-depth of what the glory of God truly means. With it being a New Year, I challenge us to glorify the Lord with our lives, not just now with it being a New Year, but every single day of our lives. God is good, and He is like no other. Give God the glory He deserves. I love you all, thank you for reading ♡.
Love Bea ♡
Spreading God's Love 