God's Glory

Introduction

Glory:

One may bask in glory — fame

One may have a crowning glory — major achievement or hair

One may express amazement using the phrase — Glory Be!!

One may reminisce about one’s glory days

One may relish or bask in glory

One may die and go to glory

One may do something impressively and go out in a blaze of glory

One may be shy about trying something new and be told no guts/no glory

One may pledge allegiance to Old Glory

Glory is a dynamic word. Applied in a variety of ways. And when we find the word glory or glorify in the Bible we kind of know what it means but then the depth of its meaning is elusive. In the New Testament the word glory or glorify is found about 225 times. Many of those occur in the gospel of John. It must be an important concept to John. We sing hymns with the word glory or glorify in it.

We Will Glorify the King of Kings

To God Be the Glory

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the coming of the Lord

Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn king

I’m in the glory land way

When by his grace I shall look on his face, that will be glory for me.

Glory means a number of things — praise, something that is bright and magnificent, it is visible, honor, and the definitions go on. So we come to the end of Exodus and what is the last scene — God’s glory filling the tabernacle. Something visible; something that changed from cloud to fire; something that occupied space; something that guided. What does the glory of the Lord mean?

Tabernacle

The tent of meeting is complete. The furniture is in place. This 30x15x15 structure was at the center of Israel’s camp. Moses oversaw the work and its completion. Chapters 39 & 40 tell us over and over again that Moses is walking through the completed structure to make sure that furniture is place in the correct spot and to inspect the work of those who put everything together. He is meticulous even as God has expressed the work in meticulous fashion. Reading through the latter part of Exodus allows us to see God more fully. God envisions a structure and imparts every detail to Moses about how it is to be built. There are not architectural plans but only the word of God describing the details fully and completely.

The tent is complete. Do not be casual about the scene. In the middle of Israel’s camp something remarkable happens. The cloud that had been leading Israel; the cloud that had been on top of Mt. Sinai; the cloud that had been the place where God spoke to Israel in chapter 20; that same cloud descends onto the tent. The cloud covers the tent and then the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle.

The cloud is the means of transportation for God’s glory. Once settled then God occupies his place inside the tabernacle. Moses could no longer go into the tent. Moses and Aaron and even the high priest are eventually invited into the tent but it is clear that the tent belongs to God. It is his dwelling place. God lives with his people. Every day when the people are awake the cloud will be seen. Every morning as people come out of their tents and look to the center of the camp, they will see that God is there. Every night as the darkness envelops the land, the cloud would begin to look fiery and the presence of God would be their light in a dark wilderness. And when it is time to move, the cloud will lift from the tent as a signal that the people are to pack up. Once packed the cloud will begin to move and the people will follow the cloud until it stops.

The Glory of God

What does it mean in Exodus for the glory of God to live among the people? If we go back to Exodus 32 and the golden calf event, God told Moses that his angel would go with them to the promised land but that he was going to stay away. Moses pleaded with God to forgive the people and to remember his own reputation was at stake. God used this moment to more fully reveal his character and nature to Moses and us. God is forgiving. The fullness of his forgiveness is seen in the descending of the cloud of God among the people and that he would take up residence among the people.

This is the nature of God. He is holy. He is greater than our words can describe. His nature is fuller and deeper than the most brilliant of minds. Theologically we use the word transcendent to describe God. Or in the words of Denis Baly “he is Holy Other.” He exists apart from his creation and is not dependent upon his creation for existence. But what does God choose to do; to accommodate his people; to reveal himself more fully to his people — he lives among them. His glory fills a human made structure and he lives among his people. We use the word “immanent” to describe such a characteristic of God. He is holy other and yet he chooses to be among the created things and accessible to the creation.

Is this not the gospel story? In Exodus 40, the God who is gracious and forgiving comes to live among his people. But no one is allowed to touch the tent unless God gives permission. He is present among his people but his holiness is still completely intact. And it is awesome!! But what does God choose to do for us? He comes in his holiness with skin on. The glory of God comes down and dwells among his creation.

God chooses to reveal his glory as a human being. One can see the glory of God in Jesus. One can touch the glory of God in Jesus. One can speak to the glory of God in Jesus. One can worship the glory of God in Jesus. One can nail the glory of God to a cross. One can see the resurrected glory of God three days later. As John writes in 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

To have the glory of God revealed to us through Jesus means to us what the cloud meant to Israel. He has lived among us. When he moves, we move. He leads, we follow. He dies; we die. He has life; we share in his life. Our identity comes from Jesus. Our purpose comes from Jesus. Our words come from Jesus. Our meaning comes from Jesus. As Paul says in his sermon in Athens in Acts 17 — In him we live and move and have our very being. What would Jesus do becomes more than a slogan. We have seen his glory and having seen his glory we cannot be the same.

The newness wore off for Israel. By the time we get to just a few months down the road; they are taking the presence of God for granted and when Joshua and Caleb return from spying out the land the people ignore God’s presence and choose their own direction. We have seen Jesus. We have experienced forgiveness. We live under grace and mercy. We know what it is like to have been set free and then we take it all for granted. We quit looking at God’s glory and allow the circumstances around us to take away our joy. We wrestle with our uncertainties and deficits and take our eyes off the glory. We speak as the world speaks and not as one’s who have seen the glory of God. We long for comfort and ease and fail to see that when the glory of God came to live among his creation, they rejected him, despised him, spit on him, killed him, ignored him, and treated him in unholy ways. Why should we expect anything different? To see the glory of God and to respond to the glory of God is a privilege to be treated just as they treated our Master and Lord. Listen to the words of Isaiah: For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

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