DAY THIRTY-ONE -- LORD OF GLORY
Honor, Weight, Perfection, Splendor,
Brightness, Emanation,
Manifestation
Reflect
Let today be a time of great exulting in the presence of Jesus. Think of all you have seen of Him, and of all you have yet to see. Read Psalm 57:7-11 below as a proclamation, inviting the very presence of your glorious Savior, Jesus Christ to manifest Himself in you and through you this day.
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.
Welcome Him, enjoy Him, delight in His ways and live for His purposes. Ponder His perfection. Wait upon Him, asking Him once again to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
ReadAll we have seen up til now of the exalted Christ, culminates in the wonder that He is the Lord of Glory. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with a fresh sense of awe and wonder at what you have gained in Christ as you read the following Scriptures and devotional.
It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Thessalonians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 2 Corinthians 3:18
The science section located in our daily newspaper on Wednesdays has been for me a source of pleasure since it first started detailing discoveries of the cosmos, made possible by the launching of NASA's Hubble Space telescope. Sort of a robotic camera in the sky, the Hubble orbits the Earth once every 97 minutes at an altitude of about 370 miles, snapping picture after glorious picture. Where astronomers were once limited to what they could observe beneath Earth's atmosphere, the space telescope has opened up a detailed view of the fascinating complexity and diversity of the universe, as well as its startling beauty. [Voit, Mark, Hubble Space Telescope; New Views of the Universe (New York; Harry N. Abrams, 2000), p. 3]
Even the most seasoned astronomers have been taken aback at what they've seen. For example, they've discovered that billions of stars radiate in the heavens in hues of red, yellow, white, blue and orange, and that in dying, these do not fade out, but instead dramatically blow off their outer layers. When this happens, stars disintegrate into spectacular celestial fireworks sort of like a wild all-night disco party, leaving in their wake objects of great structural detail -- bizarre shapes like Cat’s Eye Nebula, whose gases resemble a twirling lawn sprinkler. [Balick, Bruce, "Death in Deep Space," San Diego Union Tribune, November 10, 1999]
Stephen Charnock, a 17th century theologian wrote that in the heavens, God's majesty is most visible, suggesting that while we on earth only enjoy the beams of God's splendid glory, its fullness is found in the firmament. [Charnock, Stephen, The Existence and Attributes of God , Baker Books, 1996, p. 361] The Hubble telescope may verify his theory and it surely confirms the Psalmist's cry that the heavens declare the glory of God, day to day pouring forth speech, night after night revealing knowledge (Psalm 19:1-2).
While the living God has always delighted in these mysteries humanity is only beginning to uncover, there is a greater glory, a more profound sight that burns in His heart with rapturous joy. It is Jesus, His Son, the Lord of glory, who perfectly reflects the panorama of God's own perfections* --His grandeur, majesty, mystery and matchless magnificence -- in a spectacle of splendor such that no night sky could ever compare. [*Piper, John, The Pleasures of God ,Multnomah, 2000, p. 43]
The word glory in Scripture reverberates with wonder. The glory of God refers to His self-revelation, the manifestation of His essence without which we would have no grasp of Him at all. The Hebrew Scriptures spoke of God's glory as His kabhodh, meaning weight or heaviness, indicating that the very presence of God is so awesome that it carries with it a weight, at times palpable. One of the Greek words for glory was doxa, which commonly spoke of brightness, brilliance or splendor.
Thus, when Scripture refers to Jesus as Lord of glory, it affirms that no person nor anything can more supremely manifest the resplendent brilliance of all that God is, than Christ, for He is the very radiance of the Father. The significance of this is unfathomable because we see through a glass darkly and cannot yet comprehend what the fullness of glory resting in the bosom of our Lord portends.
The glory of God encompasses all that He is -- every attribute and characteristic we might conceive and thousands more. When the Father looks to the Son, He sees the sum total of His dazzling deity, and delight springs from His depths. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, His voice boomed on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the terrified disciples fell, faces to the ground. For us to gaze at Jesus, Lord of glory, is to be enthralled with the wonder of Him, ever exulting in hope of the day when at last we will be set free from the shackles of flesh that obscure our view.
Jesus, Lord of glory...Let us meditate on His majesty, ponder His power, delight in His dominion, savor His sufficiency, tremble at His truth, contemplate His compassion, wrestle with His wrath, praise His patience, glean from His goodness, grapple with His grace, muse on His mercy and hide in His holiness. This is our call, our cause, the pulsating purpose of life both now and into eternity -- that we might gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Hallelujah! Sound forth His praises, sing of His worth. Jesus, Lord of glory.
Respond
The glory of God is a concept so massive it is impossible to articulate. It refers to all that He is and does and then to our response of worship for what we have seen of Him. God exhibits His glory, we experience Him, and then exult in joy-filled worship. God reveals His glory, we revere, and then revel in the delight of following Him. God shows His glory, we savor it, then shine forth in His very image. In what ways have you begun to see this worked out in your own life?
Jesus, Son of God is the Lord of glory, radiant in the very beauty of divine essence. He is supreme and perfect in every facet of His being. To know Him is to be in awe of Him, to fall at His feet in wonder and worship. As you consider the days you have spent meditating on Jesus, how has your view of Him expanded? In what ways do you see yourself offering worship worthy of His greatness?
To gain the glory of Jesus Christ is to live with the experience of Him, not merely knowledge about Him, but to see with spiritual eyes and be moved at the very depths of who we are by what we have seen. This, Paul says is the purpose to which we have been called. What does this mean to you? Write a prayer of response.
A PrayerUnbounding Lord of glory - You have tantalized me with a taste and I am famished for want of more of You. I yearn for You in Your essence, crying out as Moses did, 'Lord, show me Your glory." Should You manifest the weight of Your very Being, the blind would see, the lame walk, the broken be restored, and the evil one flee. If You came O Lord of glory, cold hearts would be enflamed, dead spirits brought to life and our lives revolutionized by everlasting joy. This cry You've put within me is becoming a desperate plea for You to fill the earth with Your glory as the waters cover the sea. My destiny and my driving passion is that You might manifest Your glory, today and every day. I exult in the hope of glory, and live for that moment when time will at last stand still and You come once again, awesome, precious Jesus, Lord of glory.
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