Glories of the Lord Jesus: June 2006
Table of Contents
Glory Shining From His Face
How wondrous the glories that meet
In Jesus, and from His face shine;
His love is eternal and sweet,
’Tis human, ’tis also divine!
His glory — not only God’s Son —
In manhood He had His full part —
And the union of both joined in one
Form the fountain of love in His heart.
The merits and worth of His blood
Have freed us from hell and from fear,
That we, as the blest sons of God,
May make His good pleasure our care.
Oh then may this union and love
Make us walk in the service of heaven,
Mid obedience and suffering to prove
That we to the Lamb have been given.
R. S. Hawker
“The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Glories of the Lord Jesus Christ
In focusing on the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ, we realize that this subject takes us to a realm beyond creature comprehension; it takes us to “light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). Many of the glories of our God are too bright for us as creatures to enter into, but, blessed be God, some of His glories and the glories of our Lord we may see, and as we view them we are changed by them (2 Cor. 3:18). We will, as our Lord desires, share in some of them (John 17:22).
We hope all who read this issue will realize that the articles only give a glimpse of what is ours to enjoy now and what will occupy our hearts for eternity. In our present state, eternity seems too short a time for God to unfold to our hearts all the wonders of His glories and the glories of His beloved Son, the Son of Man.
Paul in the third heaven “heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4 JND). Soon what he saw and heard we shall see and hear. Our hearts then will overflow in worship forever. Now we wait, but while we wait, “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The Glories of the Lord Jesus
When we speak of the glories of the Lord Jesus, we are on most blessed and yet holy ground. Surely His glories are unlimited, and we will spend all eternity exploring and enjoying them. Yet for a mere mortal to take up the glories of the Lord Jesus and seek to summarize them is somewhat like a man trying to number the stars or the sand on the seashore. However, if we as believers are able to read of, speak of, and enjoy something of those glories now, we may, with God’s help, bring out what His Word says about them.
What is glory? The simplest definition perhaps is “excellence in manifestation.” It is excellence displayed so that others may see and appreciate it. God’s purposes to a coming eternity are all centered in His beloved Son, and God delights to display all the glories of His Son. Eventually His glory will be displayed in both heaven and earth, but by faith we can see and enjoy some of those glories now!
Any enumerating of the glories of the Lord Jesus must be somewhat arbitrary, as they overlap and complement each other. However, I believe we can distinguish a number of these glories of which Scripture speaks.
Godhead Glory
The first one is His Godhead glory — that glory that is His by virtue of His being the Son of God from all eternity. In John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here we see the Lord Jesus as the eternal Word, before anything else was made. The glory that is His as God cannot be seen by the creature, as we read in 1 Timothy 6:1416: “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” He laid this glory aside when He came into this world so that men could approach Him, but in His prayer to the Father in John 17, He asks to be glorified again “with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (vs. 5).
Personal Glory
However, if His Godhead glory was veiled, His personal glory shone out to those who were privileged to see it. John could say, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). At the marriage in Cana of Galilee, the Spirit of God records, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him” (John 2:11). We note here that only His disciples are said to have believed on Him, for although all saw the miracles He did, all did not recognize who He was. However, for those who were privileged to see, His personal glory was displayed in His words and His miracles. Thus Peter could say, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), while the Lord’s interaction with Nathanael also so impressed him that he said, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God” (John 1:49).
Glory As Creator
His personal glory is closely connected with what might be called His glory as Creator. In Psalm 19:1 we read, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” In Colossians 1:1516 we read that He is “the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible. . . . All things were created by Him and for Him.” More than this, “All things subsist together by Him” (Col. 1:17 JND). He is the firstborn in virtue of His having created all things — that is, He has the place of preeminence. Called into being by Him, all things are upheld “by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3). He is the characteristic power, the active instrument, and the end of all created things. All men see this glory in creation and are responsible to God in this way. We read in Romans 1:20, “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen . . . so that they are without excuse.”
Moral Glory
If man could not see His Godhead glory and often did not see His personal glory, His moral glory in His walk through this world, like His glory as Creator, was visible to all. It could not be hid. However, the term “moral glory” is a broad one, and we may include several distinct but similar glories in the term. Moral glory is not material glory, nor is it circumstantial, but rather it is the display of that perfect combination of virtues that were seen only in the Son of Man. In this sense we can say that His moral glory was seen in His walk through this world, in His work of redemption, and in the glory displayed in the gospel. All are moral glories and yet can be distinguished from one another.
First of all, as to His glory in walking through this world, it was displayed in perfection for all to see. There was at the same time His willingness to take a low place before men, but His consciousness of who He was before God. In all the most intimate and ordinary details of life, His virtues tell us of His person. His dignity and moral elevation were such that all could see them, and His pathway all the way through was marked with this. What a blessed meditation for our souls! Now, we who by new birth have Christ as our life can display in some small way the moral virtues of that life in this world. As sons of God we should be conscious of the dignity of that position, while taking the place of voluntary humiliation before the world.
But this moral glory was realized in its fullness at the cross, for the Lord Jesus could say, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him” (John 13:31). In submitting to the death of the cross His moral glory reached its peak, for there was supreme submission to the Father’s will, while at the same time supreme consciousness of His intrinsic glory before God. As a result of this work, He is now glorified: “God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him” (John 13:32). Israel looked for kingdom glory, but the moral glory of the cross must come first.
Glory in the Gospel
This brings us to His glory in the gospel, proclaimed as a result of His work on the cross. Since Christ has died, all the fullness of blessing in the heart of God has been revealed. The heavens, once opened only to Christ as a man (Matt. 3:16), are now opened to us, and like Stephen, we can look up and see the “glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). In 2 Corinthians 4:4 (JND), Paul speaks of the “radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ.” God has not only been satisfied but glorified by the finished work of Christ, and in His face we can see all that glory revealed.
Leaving His moral glory, we can see a glory that is His because of His own who are now associated with Him. In Colossians we see some of the highest glories of the Lord Jesus, and there we read of “the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Christ and the church are a mystery that was hidden in God from before the foundation of the world, but now this mystery (secret) is revealed, and thus Paul could speak of “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18). Believers are now united to Christ as His body and His bride, and the glory of that wonderful relationship is ours to enjoy. Paul’s wish for the Ephesians was that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened in order to enjoy it more!
Kingdom Glory
Finally, we have the kingdom glory that will be displayed during the millennium. In that day the Lord Jesus will come back to this world in power and glory, as He foretold in Matthew 25:31 — “when the Son of Man shall come in His glory” and shall “sit upon the throne of His glory.” In that day “every eye shall see Him” (Rev. 1:7), and all will bow the knee before Him. The One who was rejected — who hung on Calvary’s cross in humiliation and suffering — will be vindicated in that day when He takes His place as judge and king. God’s purpose to “head up all things in the Christ” (Eph. 1:10 JND) will be realized in that day, and all His glories will shine forth! In that day we too will be “to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:12).
I am sure that these thoughts could be compared to sighting only the tip of an iceberg. The glories of His Person will not be exhausted in a coming eternity, but how wonderful to have the capacity to enjoy them now!
W. J. Prost
His Moral Glory
The glories of the Lord Jesus are threefold — personal, official and moral. His personal glory He veiled, save where faith discovered it or an occasion demanded it. His official glory He veiled likewise; He did not walk through the land as either the divine Son from the bosom of the Father or as the authoritative Son of David. Such glories were commonly hid as He passed on in the circumstances of life day by day. But His moral glory could not be hid. He could not be less than perfect in everything—it belonged to Him; it was Himself. From its intense excellency, it was too bright for the eye of man, and man was under constant exposure and rebuke from it. But there it shone, whether man could bear it or not.
If the darkness comprehend not the light of His personal or official glory, His moral glory shall only find occasion to shine the brighter, for there is nothing in morals or in human character finer than His willingness to take a low place in the midst of men and the consciousness of intrinsic glory before God.
His Holiness and Grace
How consistent was the combination of holiness and grace in Him. He is near in our weariness, our hunger or our danger. He is apart from our tempers and our selfishness. His holiness made Him an utter stranger in such a polluted world; His grace kept Him ever active in such a needy and afflicted world. And this sets off His life, I may say, in great moral glory — that though forced, by the quality of the scene around Him, to be a lonely One, yet was He drawn forth by the need and sorrow of it to be the active One. “I know no one,” says another, “so kind, so condescending, who is come down to poor sinners, as He. I trust His love more than I do Mary’s, or any saint’s; not merely His power as God, but the tenderness of His heart as man. No one ever showed such or proved it so well — none has inspired one with such confidence. Let others go to saints if they will; I trust Jesus’ kindness more.”
While poor, nothing that in the least savored of meanness is ever seen attaching to His condition. He never begs, though He have not a penny, for when He wanted to see one He had to ask to be shown it. He never runs away, though exposed, and His life in jeopardy, in the place where He was. He withdraws Himself, or passes by as hidden. And thus, again, I may say, nothing mean, nothing unbecoming, but full personal dignity attaches to Him, though poverty and exposure were His lot every day. Blessed and beautiful! Who could preserve under our eye such an Object, so perfect, so unblemished, so exquisitely, delicately pure, in all the minute and most ordinary details of human life!
His Way of Imparting and Receiving
He asked His disciples in the hour of Gethsemane to watch with Him, but He did not ask them to pray for Him. He would claim sympathy. He prized it in the hour of weakness and pressure, and would have the hearts of His companions bound to Him then. Such a desire was of the moral glory that formed the human perfection that was in Him, but while He felt this and did this, He could not ask them to stand as in the divine presence on His behalf. He would have them give themselves to Him, but He could not seek them to give themselves to God for Him.
The Lord was continually giving. He made great communications where He found but little communion. This magnifies His goodness. There was, as it were, nothing to draw Him forth, and yet He was ever imparting. He was as the Father in heaven, of whom He Himself spoke, making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sending His rain on the just and the unjust. This tells us what He is, to His praise — what we are, to our shame.
The light of God shines at times before us, leaving us, as we may have power, to discern it, to enjoy it, to use it, to follow it. It does not so much challenge us or exact of us, but, as I said, it shines before us, that we may reflect it, if we have grace. And such, in a great sense, is the moral glory of the Lord Jesus. Our first duty to that light is to learn from it what He is. We are not to begin by anxiously and painfully measuring ourselves by it, but by calmly and happily and thankfully learning Him in all His perfect moral humanity.
The Lord Jesus restored to God His complacency in man, which sin or Adam had taken from Him. God’s repentance that He had made man (Gen. 6:6) was exchanged for delight and glory in man again. And as He was thus representing man to God, so was He representing God to man.
The Right to Be Glorified
When the Lord Jesus was here, and thus manifested as man to God, God’s delight in Him was ever expressing itself. In His person and ways, man was morally glorified, so that when the end or perfection of His course came, He could go “straightway” to God, as the sheaf of firstfruits of old was taken directly and immediately, just as it was, out of the field, needing no process to fit it for the presence and acceptance of God (Lev. 23:10). The title of Jesus to glory was a moral one. He had a moral right to be glorified; His title was in Himself. And the cross being the completeness and perfection of the full form of moral glory in Him, it was at this moment He utters these words, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” Then He adds, “And God is glorified in Him.”
At the cross God was as perfectly glorified as also the Son of Man was, though the glory was another glory. The Son of Man was glorified then, by His completing that full form of moral beauty which had been shining in Him all through His life. Nothing of it was then to be wanting, as nothing from the beginning up to that late hour had ever mingled with it that was unworthy of it. The hour was then at hand when it was to shine out in the very last ray that was to give it its full brightness. But God was also glorified then, because all that was of Him was either maintained or displayed. His rights were maintained, His goodness displayed. Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace were either satisfied or gratified. God’s truth, holiness, love and majesty were magnified in a way and illustrated in a light beyond all that could ever have been known of them elsewhere. The cross is the moral wonder of the universe.
The Heads of Two Creations
The first man, upon his sin, had been put outside creation, as, I may say, this Second Man (being, as He also was, “the Lord from heaven”), upon His glorifying of God, was seated at the head of creation, as at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Jesus is in heaven as a glorified Man, because here on earth God had been glorified in Him as the obedient One in life and death.
In one sense, this perfectness of the Son of Man, this moral perfectness, is all for us. It lends its savor to the blood which atones for our sins. It was as the cloud of incense, which went into the presence of God, together with the blood, on the day of atonement (Lev. 16). But, in another sense, this perfection is too much for us. It is high; we cannot attain to it. It overwhelms the moral sense, as far as we look at it in the recollection of what we ourselves are, while it fills us with admiration, as far as we look at it as telling us what He is. The personal judicial glory, when displayed of old, was overwhelming. The most favored of the children of men could not stand before it, as Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, and Peter and John experienced the same. And this moral glory, in like manner exposing us, is overwhelming. Yet, faith is at home with Jesus. Can we, I ask, treat such a One with fear or suspicion? Can we doubt Him? Could we have taken a distant place from Him who sat at the well with the woman of Sychar? Did she herself take such a place? Surely, beloved, we should seek intimacy with Him.
The Human and the Divine
How perfect was this! How perfect, surely, was everything, and each in its generation — the human virtues, the fruits of the anointing that was on Him, and His divine glories. The natures in the one Person are unconfused, but the effulgence of the divine is chastened, the homeliness of the human is elevated. There is nothing like this — there could be nothing like this — in the whole creation. And yet the human was human, and the divine was divine. Jesus slept in the boat: He was man. Jesus quelled the winds and the waves: He was God.
Every step of His life and death is important to us. All that He did and said was a real, truthful expression of Himself, as He Himself was a real, truthful expression of God. And so, we reach God, in the certain and unclouded knowledge of Him, through the ordinary paths and activities of the life of this divine Son of Man.
J. G. Bellett, adapted from
The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
Suffering and Glory
Luke 9:22-36 very touchingly presents the sufferings of the Son of Man and the glory that follows. At the hands of men He was to “suffer many things,” to be “rejected” and “slain.” Then on the mount of transfiguration we have a vision of the glory and honor with which it is the purpose of God to crown the Son of Man (Psa. 8). The passage also challenges our hearts, for it clearly shows that if His disciples are privileged to share in His glory, they are also first called to partake of His sufferings. Thus there passes before us the path of those who follow a rejected Christ in this present world and the glory to which the path leads in the world to come.
The Path of Suffering
The Lord commences with the words, “If any man will come after Me” (vs. 23). These are touching words that presume He has gone before and marked out a path for His own, and that, drawn by love, they would wish to tread where He has trod. At the entrance to this path we find these words: “Let him deny himself.” These are searching words, for the denial of self is not simply denying ourselves certain things, but the denial of the man that lusts after these. The denial of self is the ignoring of self altogether in order to serve others in love. But how is it possible to deny self and accept reproach? Only as we have an object that is greater than self before us. Thus the Lord adds the words, “Follow Me.” To follow after Christ must mean the letting go of the present life. He who lives only for the present life is living a life that he must inevitably lose, for at best it is but a passing life. To have Christ before us is to live a life that will never pass away. It is a life that can be enjoyed now, but will be known in all its fullness only in our eternal home.
Glories of the World to Come
The path of reproach and loss of present things involves suffering for the flesh. But the suffering is only for a season, and before us is the eternal weight of glory. The Lord would impress our souls with a sense of this glory by unfolding before us both the blessedness and the moral traits of the home of glory that lies at the end of the path of suffering. To enter into these heavenly things we must have our spirits lifted above this present world; therefore we read, “He went up into a mountain.”
Having ascended the mountain, the first great sight that passes before the disciples is a praying Man, for we read, “He prayed.” Prayer is the expression of dependence upon God and of communion with God. The sorrows of earth can be traced back to the disobedience and independence of one man — Adam. The glories of the world to come are introduced by the perfect obedience and dependence of one man — Christ. The world to come will be a world of bliss, for there everyone will be dependent upon God.
In this great scene we learn the change that will come upon the saints when Jesus comes. We see in Christ the image that we shall wear in coming glory, for “as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:49). Thus, as He prayed, the disciples saw in the person of Christ the earthy changed into the heavenly. In an instant His garments of humiliation were exchanged for garments of glory, and His face became shining as the sun. In Him was displayed the mighty power that in “the twinkling of an eye” will change our bodies of humiliation into bodies of glory like His own.
Shared Glory
It is brought home to us also that, in the coming glory, we shall not only be like Him, but we shall be with Him, for we read, “Behold, there talked with Him two men.” He will have companions, though truly He will be anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions. He will not be surrounded by a host of angels — His companions will be men. They are men for whom He died, and men that will share with Him in His glory as the Son of Man. Our greatest joy will be that we will be “with Him”!
More than this, we shall be at home in the glory, for we read of these two men that they “talked with Him.” Had it been written merely that He talked with them, we might judge that in the glory we shall be delighted but silent listeners. If, however, they can talk with Him, all distance and reserve will be gone. The disciples had indeed held sweet conversation with Christ on earth, howbeit, at times, with a measure of restraint. In the glory there will be holy, happy conversation without a trace of reserve. Blessed, indeed, that He can come to two disciples on the resurrection day and, in their sorrowful wilderness circumstances, they can say He made “our hearts burn within us, while He talked with us by the way.” But how far more wonderful is this scene in which He brings two saints to talk with Him in glory.
We shall also share His glory, for we read of these two men that they “appeared in glory.” They share in the glory of Christ as the glorified Man. So we read of believers, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). It is no great hardship to let go the passing glories of this world and accept the path of suffering when we know that we are going to share in the glories of Christ in the world to come.
In this great scene we are carried in spirit beyond the kingdom glory into what speaks of the Father’s house. We read that there “came a cloud, and overshadowed them.” The death which Christ accomplished not only opens the way for believers to share the kingdom glories of Christ, but enables them to enter in company with Christ into the immediate presence of God the Father, of which the cloud speaks. Peter in his epistle speaks of the glory that excels, for he says, “There came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory.” There is the glory of the earthly kingdom, but there is the more excellent glory — the glory of the Father’s presence in the Father’s house. The disciples had seen His kingdom glory, but there is a greater glory — a glory of which the Lord speaks in His prayer when He asks “that they may behold My glory” (John 17:24). We share in His kingdom glory, but we shall behold His greater glory — a glory above all other. It is a given glory, acquired by His sufferings for us — the just reward for having perfectly glorified the Father. The world will see the glory that we have in common with Christ, but there is a glory that is a secret for those who love Him. It belongs to His person and to our association with Himself. We are taken into the Father’s house, there to have fellowship with the Father in His delight in the Son.
As we journey on to be with Christ in glory, let us ever remember that we have the Lord with us in our wilderness path. Thus we read, “When the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.” The vision passes, Moses and Elias depart, the cloud fades, the voice is silent, but Jesus remains. As we take our journey through this world with all its trials and sorrows, He is with us according to His own promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Loving us unto the end, He will be with us until the end when we are with Him to go no more out and the blessings of the mount will be our eternal portion.
H. Smith, adapted
The Son of Man Glorified
As Son of Man He is to possess all the kingdoms of the earth. The Greeks come (for His fame had gone abroad) and desire to see Him. Jesus says, “The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified.” In taking His place as the Son of Man, a very different thing necessarily opens before Him. How could He be seen as Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven to take possession of all things according to the counsels of God, without dying? If His human service on earth was finished and He had gone out free, calling, if need were, for twelve legions of angels, no one could have had any part with Him: He would have remained alone. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” If Christ takes His heavenly glory and is not alone in it, He dies to attain it and to bring with Him the souls whom God has given Him. In fact, the hour was come: It could no longer tarry. Everything was now ready for the end of the trial of this world, of man, of Israel — and, above all, the counsels of God were being fulfilled.
In order to bring men into that glory, He must needs pass through death Himself. But He was engrossed by one thing which detached His thoughts from the glory and from the suffering — the desire which possessed His heart that His Father should be glorified. Perfect in His desire to glorify His Father, and that unto death, the Father could not but answer Him. In His answer, as it appears to me, the Father announces the resurrection. But what grace, what marvel, to be admitted into such communications! The heart is astounded, while filled with worship and with grace, in beholding the perfection of Jesus, the Son of God, unto death, and in seeing Him, with the full sense of what death was, seeking the sole glory of the Father, and the Father answering—an answer morally needful to this sacrifice of the Son and to His own glory. Thus He said, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” I believe that He had glorified it in the resurrection of Lazarus; He would do so again in the resurrection of Christ — a glorious resurrection which, in itself, implied ours, even as the Lord had said, without naming His own.
All was now come to the point at which this was to be accomplished, and the moment had arrived when Judas was gone out, to consummate the crime which would lead to the wonderful fulfillment of the counsels of God. Jesus knew Judas’s condition. It was but the accomplishing of that which He was going to do, by means of one for whom there was no longer any hope. “That thou doest,” said Jesus, “do quickly.” The door which closed on Judas separated Christ from this world. “Now,” He says, “is the Son of Man glorified.” He had said this when the Greeks arrived, but then it was the glory to come — His glory as the head of all men, and, in fact, of all things. But this could not yet be, and He said, “Father, glorify Thy name.” Jesus must die. It was that which glorified the name of God in a world where sin was. It was the glory of the Son of Man to accomplish it there, where all the power of the enemy, the effect of sin, and the judgment of God upon sin, were displayed; in fact, through that which took place, all the perfections of God have been glorified, being manifested through Jesus, or by means of that which Jesus did and suffered.
These perfections had been directly unfolded in Him, as far as grace went, but now that the opportunity of the exercise of all of them was afforded, by His taking a place which put Him to the proof according to the attributes of God, their divine perfection could be displayed through man in Jesus there where He stood in the place of man, and (made sin, and, thank God, for the sinner) God was glorified in Him, for see what, in fact, met in the cross:
Satan’s complete power over men, Jesus alone excepted;
man in open, perfect enmity against God in the rejection of His Son;
God manifest in grace: then in Christ, as man, perfect love to His Father, and perfect obedience, and that in the place of sin, that is, as made it (for the perfection of love to His Father and obedience were displayed when He was as sin before God on the cross);
then God’s majesty made good, glorified (Heb. 2:10);
His perfect, righteous judgment against sin as the Holy One;
but therein His perfect love to sinners in giving His only-begotten Son.
Good and Evil Fully Settled
For hereby know we love. To sum it up: At the cross we find man in absolute evil — the hatred of what was good; Satan’s full power over the world — the prince of this world; man in perfect goodness, obedience and love to the Father at all cost to Himself; God in absolute, infinite righteousness against sin and infinite divine love to the sinner. Good and evil were fully settled forever, and salvation wrought, the foundation of the new heavens and the new earth laid. Well may we say, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” Utterly dishonored in the first, He is infinitely more glorified in the Second, and therefore puts man (Christ) in glory, and straightway, not waiting for the kingdom. The cross is the brightest manifestation of God’s own glory, the center of the history of eternity.
On the Cross
Now, in Jesus on the cross, the Son of Man has been glorified in a much more admirable way than He will be even by the positive glory that belongs to Him under that title. He will, we know, be clothed with that glory, but, on the cross, the Son of Man bore all that was necessary for the perfect display of all the glory of God. The whole weight of that glory was brought to bear upon Him, to put Him to the proof, that it might be seen whether He could sustain it, verify and exalt it, and that by setting it forth in the place where, but for this, sin concealed that glory, and, so to speak, gave it impiously the lie. Was the Son of Man able to enter into such a place, to undertake such a task, and to accomplish the task, and maintain His place without failure to the end? This Jesus did. The majesty of God was to be vindicated against the insolent rebellion of His creature, His truth, which had threatened Him with death, maintained, His justice established against sin (who could withstand it?), and, at the same time, His love fully demonstrated. Satan having here all the sorrowful rights that he had acquired through our sin, Christ — perfect as a man, alone, apart from all men, in obedience, and having as man but one object, that is, the glory of God, thus divinely perfect, sacrificing Himself for this purpose — fully glorified God. God was glorified in Him. His justice, His majesty, His truth, His love — all was verified on the cross as they are in Himself, and revealed only there, and that with regard to sin.
And who had accomplished this? Who had thus established (as to its manifestation, and the making it good where it had been, as to the state of things, compromised by sin) the whole glory of God? It was the Son of Man. Therefore God glorifies Him with His own glory. God, being glorified in the Son of Man, glorifies Him in Himself. But, consequently, He does not wait for the day of His glory with man, according to the thought of John 12. God calls Him to His own right hand and sets Him there at once and alone. Who could be there (save in spirit) excepting He? Here His glory is connected with that which He alone could do — with that which He must have done alone, and of which He must have the fruit alone with God, for He was God.
Other Glories
Other glories shall come in their time. He will share them with us, although in all things He has the preeminence. Here He is, and must ever be, alone (that is, in that which is personal to Himself). Who shared the cross with Him, as suffering for sin, and fulfilling righteousness? We, indeed, share it with Him so far as suffering for righteousness’ sake, and for the love of Him and His people, even unto death — and thus we shall share His glory also. But it is evident that we could not glorify God for sin. He who knew no sin could alone be made sin. The Son of God alone could bear this burden.
J. N. Darby, excerpts from Synopsis, Vol. 3
God’s Way of Acting
God’s way of acting in all times of blessing consists in reproducing the glories and the work of the Lord Jesus. The darker becomes the long night of apostasy, the more distinctly the Light of life makes itself seen. The word for the remnant is, “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” He is the only center of gathering. Men may make confederations among themselves, having many things for their object or aim, but the communion of saints cannot be known unless each line converges towards this living Center. J. N. Darby, adapted
The Glory of Christ
The Key to Prophecy
The glory of God is the object and end of all God’s dealings with men.
All God’s counsels in respect to His glory are known in Christ and find their display in the various ways His glory is revealed.
Whatever the Holy Spirit communicates has but one object: the glory of Christ.
Whatever phase of truth the Holy Spirit brings under our notice only derives its importance from its bearing on Christ’s glory, and what concerns Christ’s glory calls forth the affections of those who love Him.
The glory of Christ is the only proper subject to exercise the spiritual intelligence of His own.
All prophecy has for its object the glory of Christ, except so far as it relates to His sufferings.
The right understanding of what is due to Christ’s glory unlocks prophecy.
Prophecy has to do with Israel rather than with the church. The church is a revelation from God, kept secret while Israel was owned as God’s people. The calling of Israel was with a view of showing forth Christ’s glory on earth.
The calling of the church was to show forth Christ’s glory in the heavens. Both the church and Israel are to exhibit divine government coupled with divine affections. Both the church and Israel have failed utterly to do this hitherto.
The Jews and the Gentiles are subjects of prophecy, but not the object of it. Christ is the object. The various subjects become important as they radiate to or from Him, the center.
The church is not a subject of prophecy.
The church’s relation to Christ and Israel’s relation to Christ open out different spheres of Christ’s glory. To confound them is to falsify both and to nullify Christ’s glory in each.
Where the affections to Christ are right, the understanding of what is due to Him becomes clear.
If we regard Christ as God regards Him, prophecy becomes sanctifying to the soul. If we regard prophecy apart from Christ’s glory, the mind is filled with unwholesome speculation.
Prophecy is the revelation of God’s ways for accomplishing His glory in Christ.
Christ is the Head of creation, which includes angels. But the three great spheres in which Christ’s glory is displayed are the church, the Jews and the Gentiles.
Excerpts from Keys to Prophecy
The Glory of His Divine Person
“Unto us a child is born . . . and His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity” (Isa 9:6 JND). The mystery of the person of our Lord Jesus is “wonderful.” It is intended to be a mystery, and as such it is unfathomable. He who attempts to touch it, or to reason upon it, necessarily loses the proper glory which belongs to it and gets out of his depth, and in reality destroys what he touches, because it is infinite, and he is only finite; he is limited, and this is illimitable, indefinable. Another has well said, “The moment you define, you limit,” reducing the glory of His divine person to the low level or measure of the human mind. Faith, and faith only, can apprehend, or rightly receive, without pretending to fathom, such mysteries as the trinity or the person of Christ. It receives the wondrous revelation of them, and bows and worships.
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). He had come as Man, and for man, and was manifested here below in the lowliness and self-renunciation of manhood, in order to reach man. His external glory was hidden, in order to come so near to man, to attract and win him.
A. C. Ord, adapted