To the Glory of God
How does the Word of God speak about the People of God?
In the world people seek glory. Every field of human endeavour offers its own awards. High achievers receive medals, honours, titles and prizes. With the award comes admiration, honour and praise. The glory of this world usually leads to fame and fortune. A celebrity is listened to and gains the power to influence things.
“I do not seek my own glory.” (John 8:50) In contrast to the world Jesus always sought His Father’s glory not His own. When He did seek His own glory, it was so that the glory would be returned to His Father. “Father the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You.” (John 17:1)
The glory He is speaking of is honour, praise, worship. Jesus devoted Himself to his Father’s glory. If we seek to be like Christ, He challenges us to ask whose glory are we seeking? Do we seek the glory of God or our own glory? Later in the same prayer we read, “…. All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” (John 17:10)
Jesus glorified in us?
To answer that question, we first need to see how Jesus glorified His Father. The simple answer: by total obedience. “I have finished the work which you have given me to do.” (John 17:4) Throughout His ministry Jesus insisted that all He did was in obedience to the Father. Speaking to the Jews in Jerusalem he said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” (John 5:19) Later He confirmed that everything He did was on the Father’s authority, “but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.” (John 12:49)
He knew from the beginning that total obedience would lead Him to the cross. “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28) His obedience was not easy. In agony at the prospect before Him Jesus cries out “…Father glorify your name.” (John 12:28)
Jesus has set us an example of complete obedience. Obedience with the one objective of giving our Father all the glory.
The glory of the Son
In response to His Son’s obedience the Father glorified Him by raising Him from the dead: “God… raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory.” (1 Peter 1:21). A glory which in accordance with Jesus’ earlier prayer would bring glory to His Father. “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father”. (Romans 6:4)
In His prayer, recorded in John 17, Jesus longs for His disciples to see Him in his former glory. “That they may behold the glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24) Even in this prayer he attributes His glory to His Father: ‘the glory which you have given me’.
We look forward to the day when we will see the glory with our own eyes. In Revelation chapter 5 there is a glimpse of the Lamb of God, raised from the dead returning to His former glory. The whole of heaven burst out in songs of praise. First the redeemed saints, then all the angels, elders and living creatures, finally the whole of creation joins in the praise.
The Apostle Paul sums it up by quoting a hymn of praise in his letter to the Philippians. “… He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:8–11)
The glory of the church
We return to the question,is Jesus glorified in us?The church, once it has been united with repentant Israel, is the bride of Christ.
The glory of the Bride is the Bridegroom. He is her saviour from the punishment she deserved. He clothes her in garments of righteousness. He will sustain her throughout eternity. The glory of the bridegroom is the bride. “The marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready”. (Revelation 19:7) There is coming a day when Jesus will present His bride to His Father. On that day the bride will want to glorify her husband by being radiantly beautiful. A bride of whom Jesus can truly be proud.
I expect that most readers of Sword will be familiar with the customs of the Jewish wedding at the time of Christ. Between betrothal and the wedding there would be a period of about a year. During that time the bridegroom would go back to his father’s house to prepare a home for his bride. Meanwhile the bride would spend her time embroidering a wedding gown. She would prepare so that, when the wedding day came, she would look radiantly beautiful to honour her bridegroom. The reality of the church in this present age is that we are a motley group of people. Can we ever become the bride in which Jesus will delight?
We read on in Revelation. “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” (Revelation 19:8) The righteous acts of the saints are all those works which are done in obedience to Father’s will. We prepare our wedding gown which will bring glory to Jesus through our obedience. But however much we seek to obey we still fall far short of what we long to be. All that we fail to become is made up in Christ. He looks into the hearts of those who truly seek to serve Him and grants us the fine garments which will make us beautiful for Him on the wedding day.
Like our husband, we recognise that we can do nothing of ourselves. ”I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.” (John 5:30) All we can do is make ourselves available for the Father’s service.
I have been married many years now but I still remember my wedding day. On that day my bride wore a lovely dress and had spent the morning ensuring that she looked her most beautiful for the wedding. I was honoured that she had made so much effort. Effort which caused me to be proud of the lovely person I was marrying. Imagine how I would have felt if she had turned up in a shabby old dress with her hair in a mess. I would have questioned whether she really loved me.
It seems at times that is exactly how much of the church is approaching the coming wedding day. Instead of following her bridegroom’s example of obedience to the Father’s will, there is expediency and compromise with the world. Jesus said that we are not of the world and that the world will hate us for it. Obedience to the Father will bring us into conflict with the world as it did with Jesus. If we compromise with the world then on the wedding day all we will have are shabby, stained garments.
In the last edition of Sword, I wrote about ‘fleeing the wrath to come’. This is not just a word for the unbelieving world. As followers of Christ we need to keep in mind that the wrath can apply to us. In the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus warned of what would happen to those who did not have a wedding garment (Matthew 22:11–14). They will be bound and cast out into outer darkness. A place where they will weep over past failure to honour our Lord.
There are also those who seek their own glory instead of giving all the glory to God. Of them Jesus said, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true and no unrighteousness is in Him.” (John 17:18) The first phrase can be reversed to read, he who seeks his own glory speaks from himself. Those in the church who seek their own glory are speaking from themselves. We do well to ignore what they say. When tested, their works will prove empty and be consumed in the fire.
On that glorious day when we are gathered up to be with Christ ready for the wedding, He will be glorified in His bride. He will bring to completion the work that He has begun and clothe us in garments of fine linen. In the meantime, we are to follow the example of the Saviour by obedience to Father’s will.
To the Father and the Son alone be all the glory.