1
Cor. ii:8.
OUR ever blessed Lord, who died
for us, to whom we belong, with whom we shall be forever, is the
Lord of Glory. Thus He is called in 1 Cor. ii:8, “for had they
known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.” Eternally
He is this because He is “the express image of God, the brightness
of His Glory” (Heb. i:3). He possessed Glory with the Father before
the world was (John xvii:5). This Glory was beheld by the prophets,
for we read that Isaiah “saw His Glory and spake of Him” (John
xii:41). All the glorious manifestations of Jehovah recorded in the
Word of God are the manifestations of “the Lord of Glory,” who
created all things that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, who is before all things and by whom all
things consist. He appeared as the God of Glory to Abraham (Acts
vii:1); Isaac and Jacob were face to face with Him. Moses beheld
His Glory. He saw His Glory on the mountain. The Lord of Glory
descended in the cloud and stood with him there (Exod. xxxiv:5).
How often the Glory of the Lord appeared in the midst of Israel.
And what more could we say of Joshua, David, Daniel, Ezekiel, who
all beheld His Glory and stood in the presence of that Lord of
Glory.
In the fulness of time He
appeared on earth “God manifested in the flesh.” Though He made of
Himself no reputation and left His unspeakable Glory behind, yet He
was the Lord of Glory, and as such He manifested His Glory. In
incarnation in His holy, spotless life He revealed His moral Glory;
what perfection and loveliness we find here! We have the testimony
of His own “We beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten
of the Father” (John i:14). “They saw His Glory” (Luke ix:32) when
they were with Him in the holy mountain. They heard, they saw with
their eyes, they looked upon, their hands handled the Word of life,
the life that was manifested (1 John i:1-2). In His mighty miracles
the Lord of Glory manifested His Glory, for it is written “this
beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested
forth His Glory” (John i:11).
And this Lord of Glory died. The
focus of His Glory is the cross. He was obedient unto death, the
death of the cross. He gave Himself for us. Without following here
all the precious truths connected with that which is the foundation
of our salvation and our hope, that the Lord of Glory, Christ died
for our sins, we remember that God “raised Him up from the dead and
gave Him Glory” (1 Pet. i:21). He was “received up into Glory” (1
Tim. iii:16). “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and
to enter into His Glory” (Luke xxiv:26). The risen Lord of Glory
said: “I ascend unto my Father and your Father; to my God and your
God.” He is now in the presence of God, the Man in Glory, seated in
the highest place of the heaven of heavens “at the right hand of
the Majesty on high.” He is there “far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. i:21).
He is highly exalted, the heir of all things. In that Glory He was
beheld by human, mortal eyes. Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit
“looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the Glory of God, and
Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts vii:55). This was
the dying testimony of the first Christian martyr. Saul of Tarsus
saw this Glory; he “could not see for the Glory of that light”
(Acts xxii:11). John beheld Him and fell at His feet as dead. And
we see Him with the eye of faith. “But we see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned
with Glory and Honor” (Heb. ii:9).
But this is not all. The unseen
Glory of the Lord and the unseen Lord of Glory will some day be
visible, not to a few, but to the whole universe. He will come in
the Glory of His Father and the holy angels with Him (Matt.
xvi:27). The Lord of Glory will be “revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels” (2 Thess. i:7). He will come in power and Glory,
come in His own Glory (Luke ix:26) and sit on the throne of His
Glory (Matt. xxv:31). His Glory then will cover the heavens (Hab.
iii:3) and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. ii:14). The
heavens cannot be silent forever and He who now is the object of
the faith of believers, and the One whom the world has rejected,
will come forth in all His Majesty and Glory and every eye shall
see Him. Then every knee must bow at the name of Jesus and every
tongue confess Him as Lord. In that manifestation of the Lord of
Glory and the Glory of the Lord we His redeemed will be manifested
in Glory. He will then be glorified in His saints and admired in
all them that believed (2 Thess. i:10). He will bring His many sons
to Glory (Heb. ii:10). We are “partakers of the Glory that shall be
revealed” (1 Pet. v:1). The God of all Grace hath indeed called us
unto His eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. “And when the chief
Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of Glory that
fadeth not away” (1 Pet. v:4). “But rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when His Glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Pet.
iv:13).
But ere this visible Glory is
manifested over the earth and on the earth and He comes forth as
the King of kings and Lord of lords His own will be gathered unto
Him and be caught up in clouds to meet Him in the air. Then we
shall see Him as He is and be like Him. The Glory which the Father
has given Him as the head of the body will be bestowed upon the
whole body; for thus He prayed “the Glory, which thou hast given me
I have given to them” (John xvii:22). And in the Father’s house
where He is, in the Holy of Holies we shall behold His Glory. We
shall be changed into the same image “that He might be the first
born among many brethren” (Rom. viii:29).
And now, dear reader, joint heir
with the Lord of Glory, called by God unto the fellowship of His
Son, in meditating on these wonderful facts given to us by
revelation, does not your heart burn within you? What a blessing,
what a place, what a future is ours linked with the Lord of Glory,
one with Him! What a stupendous thought that He came from Glory to
die for us so that He might have us with Him in Glory!
And these blessed truths
concerning the Lord of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we need to
hold ever before our hearts in these dreary days when darkest night
is fast approaching. To walk worthy of the Lord, to be faithful to
the Lord, to render true service, to be more like Him and show
forth His excellencies, we but need one thing, to know Him better
and to behold the Glory of the Lord. It is written “But 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.” Guided by the Spirit we can look on the Lord
of Glory and His Glory, mirrored in all parts of the Word of God.
And then as we look on this wonderful person and His relation to us
and ours to Him, as we behold His glory both moral and literal, in
humiliation and exaltation, past, present and future, we are
changed into the same image. Our path will be from Glory to Glory!
And some day there will come that supreme moment when we shall be
suddenly changed “in a moment, the twinkling of an eye.” Oh child
of God see your need! It is Christ, the Lord of Glory set before
your heart; all worldly mindedness, all insincerity, all
discouragement, all unbelief, all unfaithfulness must flee when we
follow on to know the Lord and daily behold “as in a glass the
Glory of the Lord.”
“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, to the only wise God our
Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and
ever. Amen.”