Of old, the glory of Jehovah was frequently seen by the children of Israel, as on the eighth day after the priests were consecrated, for "Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people" (Lev. 9:23). The divine glory filled the tabernacle (Ex. 40), and also filled and dwelt in the temple (2 Chr. 5:14), but on account of Israel's sins the time came when the glory departed from the temple (Ezek. 10:18).
When the Son of God came to earth the divine glory returned, not in the form in which it had been seen before, but as the Apostle John writes, "And the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The divine glory of the Son shone through the veil of flesh, and was seen by those whose eyes God had opened. There was also the moral glory of the Son, that which was so attractive to those whom the Father drew to Jesus, but which men naturally could not appreciate; they saw no beauty in Him to desire Him (Isa. 53:2).
Having procured the glory of redemption through His work on the cross, and having glorified God on the earth, and in His death, the Son of God has been received up into glory, and glory shines in His unveiled face. Stephen saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, when, filled with the Holy Spirit, He looked stedfastly into heaven (Acts 7:55). It is the believer's privilege to behold in the unveiled face of Jesus the glory of the Lord, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Cor. 4:4, 6), and many other glories belonging to His present offices in heaven.
Soon, there will be the display of the glory of God. It will be seen personally in Jesus, but also in those who are the sons and heirs of God, and who have been brought into living association and relationship with the Son of God. God's children, His heirs, and joint-heirs with Christ, are passing through a world that does not know them. They are suffering with Christ, sharing His place of rejection by this present evil world, but soon they will be glorified with Christ (Romans 8:17), when Christ comes out of heaven in His glory. Then the apostle adds, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (verse 18). Some translate this "the glory to be revealed to us." There is both glory that we shall behold that belongs personally to the Son of God, and glory that, in grace, God has given us to share with His Son as His joint-heirs.
If, as written in Romans 8:17, we are soon to be glorified with Christ, 2 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that Christ is coming to be glorified in His saints. How wonderful it is that Christ should share His glory with those who were once so far from God! From eternity His heart was set upon having companions, those who would be like Him, able to enter into all His thoughts and desires, and who would be suitable to share His glory. To secure us for His affections, and to make us companionable to Him in His glory, the Lord Jesus went into death, with all its shame and suffering. Already He has made us His brethren, and soon "we shall be like Him," to appear with Him in glory.
Of this, the Son spoke to the Father, when in John 17:22, He said, "And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." And the next verse shows that this display of the glory of the Son in which His own share will make plain that the Father sent the Son, for those who share His glory are the fruit of His coming; and they also share the Son's place in the affections of the Father.
Christ then will be glorified in His saints, for Christ shall be seen in them when they appear with Him in glory. Every one will be in the image of Christ, having a body of glory like His, and every one will have His moral likeness. Christ will be admired in all who have believed in Him, when His features are borne by every one in that great company of His own. During the time of His absence it has been our privilege to manifest something of Christ, as having His life and nature, but the world has not known us, because it knew Him not. Then we shall be known as Christ's, and as God's children, for God has given us His Son's place as sharing it with Him in the day of His glory.
(Rev. 21:10-27)
In contrast to Babylon the Great, which sought the glory of the world, and which perished in the overwhelming judgment of God, the church, as the heavenly Jerusalem, is seen coming down from heaven having the glory of God. The false church decked herself with all the treasure that this poor world could provide, "purple and scarlet … with gold and precious stones and pearls" (Rev. 17:4). In a world in which Christ was poor and rejected, the unfaithful professing church was rich, and sought her pleasure with those who had crucified and slain the One she professed to serve.
The true church, in spite of all its weakness and failure, was loved by Christ, and during the time of His absence He watched over it, to "sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:26-27).
Having completed His ministry for the church on earth, and having come and taken her to be forever with Himself, the day for which Christ and His own have long waited came, and at the marriage of the Lamb, His wife was seen as ready, wearing a garment of "fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints" (Rev. 19:7-8). Although seen in vision, by John, as having taken place, it is the day for which we still wait, but which will soon come. After the marriage of the Lamb in heaven, the church will be seen as the heavenly city, coming out of heaven for the display of the divine glory. This is brought before us in Revelation 21:9 – 22:5.
As the Bride or as the Lamb's wife, we see what the church is for Christ, but as the heavenly city, we see what the church is for God, even as we read in Hebrews 12:22, of the church as "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." But in the city we also see what the church is to Christ. Do not the pearls remind us of Christ as the Merchantman who sought the goodly pearls, and finding one of great price sold all that he had to secure it? And do not the precious stones remind us of the treasure that was hid in the field, and for the joy of it, Christ bought this world at infinite cost to Himself to secure the treasure?
This new creation vessel, the product of God's wisdom and skill, has been formed to display what God is, and what Christ is, in the millennial day. The glory of God, which is seen in every part of the city, in its clear, jasper light, in its pure gold, and in its precious stones, makes known to the whole universe the nature and the character of God. The cities of men have been centres for the display of all the glory of man, but they have also been centres of corruption and all forms of evil.
Nothing of defilement will ever enter God's fair city, the heavenly paradise, where the river of God flows, and the tree of life yields its precious fruit for the heavenly saints, and its healing leaves for the nations of the earth.
The light of the city will illumine the nations that have been saved from the judgments outpoured on the world, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour unto it. This is the universal centre of God's government of the earth, all nations and kings bringing tribute to the God whose glory is displayed before them in the heavenly light of a city that bears His character, for it is the holy city.
(Rev. 21:1-5)
If the millennial city, the heavenly Jerusalem, displays the glory of God for the thousand years of Christ's reign over the earth, the "holy city, new Jerusalem" will be the tabernacle of God in which He will dwell with men for all eternity. There will be no doubt in any spiritual mind that the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Jerusalem give different aspects and functions of the same city; the former speaking of God's government of the world during the time so much spoken of in the prophetic writings of the Old Testament, when "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them" (Isaiah 11:6); the latter telling of the eternal day when all national distinctions of men will have gone, and men will be in new relations with God, for all things are new.
There is no mention in Revelation 21:2-5 of the glory of God being displayed, but the glory of God will be found in the vessel in which God dwells eternally with men, for in Ephesians 3:21 it is written, "Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." God's glory will dwell in a scene of unbroken peace, rest and joy, where all His counsels of eternity are accomplished, and where God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are "all in all."
God's glory filling the tabernacle, of which we read in Exodus 40, will have its fulfilment; for it was ever in God's mind to dwell in the midst of a redeemed people. In the type, God dwelt in the midst of one nation that He had redeemed, but for eternity it will be among the redeemed of earth He will dwell in the tabernacle formed of a redeemed company in heaven.
If God's pleasure is found in His dwelling with men, the eternal pleasure of Christ is found in His church, which He loved, and gave Himself to procure. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, is viewed "as a bride adorned for her husband." For the eye of Christ, the church retains her perennial freshness for eternity, and His love rests on her just as when He "loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).
How wonderful it is that all this glory, in which the redeemed shall have their part, is to be revealed in the coming day, and that we can view it even now by the Spirit as we read the Holy Scriptures. It has been surely given that during the time of our suffering with Christ, our hearts might be encouraged, as we look for-ward to what God has in store for those He has chosen, in His sovereign grace, to be His heirs, joint-heirs with Christ.
When God's glory was seen by Israel at Sinai in the thick cloud, His voice made them afraid. "The thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking" caused them to stand afar off, "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Ex. 20:18-19). It was very different when the divine glory was veiled in the flesh of Jesus, the Son of God, for even little children were unafraid when brought to Him. The glory that was full of grace and truth was altogether different from the glory that demanded from man that he should love the Lord his God with all his heart, and his neighbour as himself.
The glory of God is now in the face of Jesus Christ, but it can only be seen by faith. While waiting for its revelation in the coming day, the sons of God, in whom and to whom it will be revealed, are suffering with Christ. The saints of God groan along with a groaning creation, which waits to "be set free from the bondage of corruption" and brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. When the saints are brought to glory, and when this is displayed in the coming day, the lower creation that fell with Adam will be set free from its present misery to share the blessings of the millennial day.
There are glories in which the saints of God will have their part in the coming day, the glory that is to be revealed in us, but there are also glories that will be revealed to us. The most wonderful privilege of the saints will surely be to behold the eternal glory of the Son, and this in response to the request of the Son, as He said, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me: for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24).
In coming into Manhood, the Son entered into the place of obedience and subjection to the Father, laying aside glories that were ever His. On returning to heaven, He had the glories acquired by the accomplishment of His work upon the cross, but as received from the Father in answer to His prayer, "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (John 17:1). But the Son also said, "And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:5). This is not an acquired glory, but one that was His before time began.
It is this eternal glory of the Son that Jesus desires His own to see. They cannot share His glory that He had in eternity with the Father, the glory of the Eternal Son, but in wondrous grace the Lord would have His own to look upon this glory in the rest and joys of the Father's House. What ineffable delight will hold the hearts of the loved ones of Jesus when they gaze upon the glory that was His eternally as the loved object of His Father.
While the saints are highly favoured in sharing the glory of Jesus in the coming day, they also have the high privilege of beholding the many glories that are His personally. Psalmists and prophets had looked forward to the day of Christ's glory, David celebrating in Psalm 8 the day when Jehovah's Name would be excellent in all the earth, with all things in subjection to Messiah as Son of Man. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews recalls this Psalm, and writes with delight of all things in heaven and earth being subject to Jesus as Son of Man. In the opening chapter of the Revelation, the apostle John in vision sees Jesus coming in His glory, writing, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him."
This is the glory of which Jesus spoke on earth, when He said to His disciples, "The Son of Man … shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26). And immediately the Lord spoke of their seeing the kingdom of God, which was portrayed before the eyes of the three favoured disciples on the holy mount. The glory of the Son of Man was seen in His white and glistening garments, and His personal glory in the light of His countenance. His Father's glory, too, was there, seen in the cloud from out of which there came the Father's voice.
The highest glory of the Lord belongs to Him as Son of God, but His wide glories are seen in relation to Him as Son of Man. As Son of Man the whole creation comes under Him as Lord and as Head, all in heaven, on earth, and under the earth being made subject to Him. He will reign as Son of Man till the whole universe, brought into subjection, is handed back to Him who is God and Father, that God might be all in all (1 Cor. 15).
Adam, as head of the lower creation, was, as Scripture says, the figure of Him that was to come (Romans 5:14). It was not until Adam fell that he was head of a race, all in his image; but he was head over all the lower creation before he fell, and his fall brought all under his headship under the influence of his fall. But Christ was not Head until He rose from the dead. In incarnation He was alone, but in resurrection He became the Head of a new race, and also the Head over all things.
Having gone into death in obedience to His God and Father, and having completed the work of redemption for God's pleasure, and to secure all His counsels, Christ was raised from among the dead, and God gave Him the most exalted place in the universe. In this place of glory, Christ is Head over all, and in the dispensation of the fulness of times, all things in heaven and on earth will be seen to be under Christ, the Man of God's counsels (Eph. 1:10, 20-23). This place is Christ's in relation to the church, which is His body; but in that day it will also be seen that He is the Head of the body, the assembly, a relationship that obtains now, but which has not yet been seen publicly.
When upon earth, all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in the Son, and all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily now (Col. 1:19; 2:9); and He is even now as Son, and as Man, in God's presence, the Head of every principality and power (Col. 2:10), but only the saints of God know this, as do also the principalities and powers, the heavenly intelligences; but when Christ comes out publicly in glory, the whole universe under Him, it will be seen that every heavenly intelligence comes under Him, as well as every sphere of rule on the earth.
Melchizedek, in the days of Abraham, was "king of Salem … and he was the priest of the Most High God" (Gen. 14:18); and we learn from the Epistle to the Hebrews that he was a type of the Lord Jesus (Heb. 7:2-3). Moreover, in the prophecy of Zechariah we learn that Christ, as the BRANCH, "shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne" (Zech. 6:12-13); and Christ, in this double character of King and Priest, is seen as the two olive trees, "the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth" (Zech. 4:2, 11-14). Christ has even now entered upon His Melchizedek priesthood, but, as seen in the type in Genesis, He will soon come forth to sustain His tried and troubled people before sitting down as Priest and King upon His throne.
There are many Scriptures in the Old Testament, as well as the New, that bring the coming glories of Christ as King before us. David is a type of the warrior king, who will subdue all his foes, and Solomon of Christ as King, when He rules in righteousness. And how many Psalms and prophecies dwell on this subject. Psalms 2, 24, 45, and 72 readily come to mind, as also Isa. 9:6-7; Isa. 11; Isa. 32; Isa. 52; Isa. 53; Isa. 61; Isa. 63; Daniel 7:9-14; 9; among other Scriptures.
On earth, the Lord Jesus refused the kingdoms of the world from the hand of Satan (Matt. 4:8-10); and he refused the throne of Israel from those who had been fed with the loaves and fishes (John 6:15), but He will not only sit upon Mount Zion as Jehovah's rightful King, but He will have the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. When He comes out of heaven to execute the divine judgment, He will have "on His vesture and on His thigh a Name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords" (Rev. 19:16).
The Lord Jesus told His disciples that He would come in His Father's glory (Luke 9:26), and the proof was immediately given when the Father's glory was seen by the three favoured disciples on the holy mount. Jesus was not only rejected as the King of the Jews, He was also refused by the leaders of Israel, and by the world, as the Son of God. Israel's high priest said to Jesus, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" and on His replying, "I am," the high priest said, "Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned Him to be guilty of death" (Mark 14:61-64).
When the Lord Jesus comes in His Father's glory the whole universe will not only know that He is the Son of Man, but the Son of God whom they crucified and slew. This is also found in John 8, where the Jews asked Him who He was. His answer was, "Even (the Same) that I said unto you from the beginning" (verse 25). Then He said to them, "When ye have lifted up the Son of Man ye shall know that I AM" (verse 28). The Jews, and their leaders, would reject Him, lifting Him up in death on the cross, but after that, when He came forth in His own glory, and in the glory of the Father, they would know that He was the Son of God, the great I AM.
When Jesus comes out of heaven He will be accompanied by "His mighty angels" (2 Thess. 1:7), those who are the ministers of His pleasure, and the executors of His judgments. Angels are in rank higher than men, for Christ on becoming Man became as Man a little lower than the angels in order that He might die. But He is the creator of angels, and their Lord, and when He comes again the word will be, "Let all the angels of God worship Him" (Heb. 1:6).
The glory of the angels will be seen when they come out of heaven with Christ for the divine vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the Gospel. How very different from the glory of the only-begotten, full of grace and truth. Men who have refused the grace of God in Jesus will see the glory of the holy angels in flaming fire, just as Israel saw the divine glory on the mount, when the thunderings and lightnings made them afraid. The glory of the holy angels as the guardians of God's throne is seen in Ezekiel, and their glory as the Seraphim, again in relation to God's throne, in Isaiah 6.