Unto Us Came God’s Glory
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow
What is glory? In Hebrew it means splendor, honor, beauty,
majesty, grandeur, or excellence. In Greek it means dignity, honor, praise, or
esteem. No amount of words, however descriptive they may be, can help us fully
grasp what glory truly is. The reason is because glory is not so much about
what we describe, as it is about what we behold.
In John1:14 we read, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the
Father, full of grace and truth.” John wasn’t given a divine description of
Jesus Christ, he was given a personal revelation of Him. John’s eyes looked
upon the fullness of God’s glory— grace and truth in the face of Jesus Christ.
To help us understand glory, let’s look at two examples from the
natural world. The first example is the glory of a rose. Suppose a blind woman,
who had also lost her sense of smell, asked you to describe a rose to her. You
could tell her, in great detail, what the rose looked like, including the
length of its stem and the shape of its petals. Your words would bring some
helpful understanding of the rose, but the woman would never fully behold the
glory of the rose without seeing its color and smelling its fragrance.
A botanist may be able to give us a great many interesting facts
about the rose and explain to us how it grows and how to care for it, but even
that helpful knowledge does not allow us to fully delight in the glory of the
rose. The glory of the rose is what God intended for us to experience from the
rose when we behold it—when we draw it close and inhale its
sweetness, when we gaze upon its delicate beauty, when we let its presence
adorn our table and warm our hearts.
The second example is the glory of the Grand Canyon (or any
other natural wonder.)
I have read some things about the Grand Canyon, I have looked at
pictures of the Grand Canyon in magazines and books, I have flown over the
Grand Canyon from 35,000 feet, I have driven near the Grand Canyon, and I have
seen the Grand Canyon on TV, including some amazing images that have been
broadcast in High Definition. However, I have never actually been to the Grand
Canyon.
For many years, my son’s exposure to the Grand Canyon was very
similar to mine. We both knew about the Grand Canyon through various sources
and experienced a certain measure of its glory, but we had never beheld the
Grand Canyon. One day, my son decided to take a trip to the Grand Canyon to see
the sight through his eyes, instead of through the eyes of an author or a
photographer. When he returned home from his trip I asked him what his
impression was of the Canyon. “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw,” he said, “it
was beyond anything I could have imagined.” When my son tried to convey his
experiences to me he could not fully describe the wonder of it all—the glory of
the Canyon left him in awe. Once he beheld the Canyon I knew that a
picture in a book would never satisfy him again.
In order to know the full glory of the Grand Canyon you
must behold the Grand Canyon, not just once, but time and time
again. You must walk up to it, stand at the edge of its rim, look down, look
out, look across, and behold it. You must breathe the air around it and see the
various weather patterns change the shading and the colors of its walls. You
must walk its trails, feel its steepness, sense its soil beneath your feet,
brush by its foliage, watch its river, see its wildlife, and try to grasp, with
all your senses, its beauty and enormity.
Have you wondered why the disciples left their all to follow
Jesus? What was it about Him that would cause them to take such a drastic step?
I think John gives a clue when he tells us, “And we beheld His glory.” It seems
that in their first encounter with Jesus, God gave the disciples their first
glimpse of His glory.
Think of it, Jesus Christ came so that you could behold His
glory. Not just a glimpse of His glory, but the fullness of His glory. As we
grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ from day to day, we go from glory to
glory. We see more of His beauty, learn more of His ways, and understand more
of His heart. In many ways, we are like people watching sunbeams coming through
the window of our heart—the sunbeams are real and delightful to look upon—but
they are nothing compared to the full glory of the sun from which they emanate.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy, (Jude 1:24 KJV).
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof (Revelation 21:23 KJV).
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness,
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6
NKJV).
(Jesus Christ) being the brightness of His glory and
the express image of His person…(Hebrews 1:3 NKJV).
What is the glory of God? Jesus Christ! Who is the glory of God?
Jesus Christ! Where is the glory of God? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the
center point, the starting point, and the ending point of the glory of God. We
behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, not somewhere else or
through something else.
Signs and wonders are expressions of God’s glory, but signs and
wonders are not His glory; the heavens declare the glory of God, but the
heavens are not His glory; the earth is filled with the glory of God, but the
earth is not His glory—Christ, and Christ alone is the glory of God.
Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me
[as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My
glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me
before the foundation of the world. John 17:24 AMP
Jesus wants you to be where He is. Why does He want you to be
with Him? One of the greatest cries of His heart was that He wanted you to be
with Him so that you could see (behold) His glory.
The glory that Jesus now carries in the heavens is beyond
anything you have ever seen or known upon this earth. It is a glory that is
greater than all the national parks and earthly wonders of the world put
together. His glory is more majestic than ascending the heights of the highest
mountain peaks; more magnificent than seeing all the world’s waterfalls
cascading down around you; more glorious than smelling the fragrance of a
million roses placed within your grasp; more wondrous than hearing, in the
richest and purest tones, the music of the most beautiful symphonies ever
composed.
Jesus wants you to behold His glory for the sheer pleasure of
it, for the pure of joy of it, for the absolute delight of it all. His glory is
so great, so vast, so magnificent that it will take you an eternity to behold
it—a billion, trillion years to begin to see it, feel it, know it, and
experience it. His glory will keep on delighting you, over and over again. It
will be one continuous “Wow, Jesus, Wow!” forever, and ever, and ever.
Hallelujah!
…..
#christmasdevotion #roylessin #meetinginthemeadow #christmastime
©2022 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo by Shannon Bromley, used with permission. All rights reserved.
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