Seeing the Glory of God

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Moses pulverized the golden calf and returned to Sinai to once again receive the 10 Commandments (Exodus 34). On Sinai the Lord passed before Moses, proclaiming His holy character. When Moses descended, he didn’t find Israel frolicking like pagans, but a nation terrified of him.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai … Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him … and they were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29-30). And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face (Exodus 34:33). This happened whenever God spoke face to face with Moses with one catch. The glory on Moses’ face dimmed until he met again with God (2 Corinthians 3:7, 13).

Fourteen hundred years later, Jesus stood on Mount Tabor in Israel with three of His apostles. There, the disciples saw the face of the King of Glory, veiled in human flesh, shine like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2). This was a foretaste of what the world will witness when Jesus returns at His Second Coming (Matthew 16:27-28).

This same glory experienced temporarily by Moses, and embodied in the Son of God from eternity, is the future of every child of God. In the chain of salvation Paul said, Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:30). This glory of grace bestowed upon the believer, awaits each of us, yet is experienced by us daily in veiled form. We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

God’s glory on Moses created fear in Israel. Seeing Jesus transfigured caused great fear in the disciples (Mark 9:6). I dare say if we saw the glory of God as He sanctifies us from day-to-day, we’d be tempted to worship one another, thus God hides it from us except in His Word on the face of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus Returns

A sun pillar formed in Wyoming as sunlight reflected off falling ice crystals in the clouds (2022).

… to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7).

Paul was certain that Jesus was coming back. He wrote, “when” Jesus is revealed, not “if”. Jesus will be revealed literally, physically, and bodily from Heaven with unimaginable splendor to conduct a great judgment of the unbelieving and reward for the saved.

We have a tiny glimpse of what Jesus will be like in His glory in Matthew 16:24-17:8.

Matthew 16 begins with a request from the Jewish leaders for Jesus to perform a sign to prove He’s the promised Messiah. Jesus refused, saying He’d already given plenty of signs. Then Matthew records several revelations about Jesus. He’s the Christ in verse 16, the Rock of the Church in verses 18 and 19, the One who will die and be resurrected in verse 21, the righteous Rewarder in verse 26, and then the glorious returning King in verses 27 and 28.

Then Jesus took His disciples Peter, James, and John onto a mountain to pray. The three disciples were tired and fell asleep (Luke 9:32, 37). When they awoke, Jesus was talking to Moses and Elijah about His soon death (Luke 9:31).

Matthew 17:5 says a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” This is the Father speaking of His Son.

If these two factors wasn’t an experience enough, they saw Jesus transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:2). Jesus shone like the noonday sun! The word transfigured is profound. The Greek word is metamorphose, meaning to be changed from the inside out. The brightness of Jesus wasn’t from an outside source shining on Him, the light resided within Him and shone out through Him! He is the true Light and the Light of the world. (John 1:9; 8:12). His glory is not something lacking that we adorn upon Him, He is the glory of God. Him, And the Word became 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).

The Image of Jesus

“The Head of Christ” by Warner Sallman

In the midst of the golden lampstands stood One like the Son of Man … (Revelation 1:13).

This is the most popular image of Jesus in the world, with nearly one billion copies sold.

The artist was Warner Sallman (1892-1968), a Swedish immigrant to the US. Sallman was an advertising artist, and in 1923 was hired to draw a picture of Jesus for a magazine cover to appeal to America’s young people. Sallman was stumped at how to draw a face that hadn’t been seen in almost 2,000 years.

In January 1924, he claimed a late-night vision of Jesus, who Sallman admitted looked surprisingly like a friend from his childhood hometown. Using a charcoal pencil he sketched “The Head of Christ” for the magazine. In 1940, he turned the drawing into a painting.

No historian or Bible scholar believes Sallman’s image is of Jesus.

The Bible never describes the physical appearance of Jesus except to say He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2). Jesus didn’t look any different from any other “son of man.” What He looks like is insignificant to who He is and what He did at Calvary.

The Apostle John described in symbolic terms the resurrected Jesus in Revelation 1. It’s a verbal picture of One of majesty, purity, and authority over His Church.

John describes Him in the clothes of a Jewish high priest representing His people before God (Exodus 28:4). His hair a brilliant white, symbolic of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 16:31). Jesus’ eyes blazed of penetrating, all-revealing fire (Hebrews 4:13). Judgment and justice were represented by his glowing super-heated copper feet (Exodus 38:30). His voice like rushing waters couldn’t be drown out (Ezekiel 43:2).

In Christ’s right hand, the hand of honor and dignity, were 7 stars, representing 7 pastors of 7 churches whom He protected and held (Revelation 1:20). From His mouth sprang a 4-foot long, two-edged sword (rhomphaia) used by Roman soldiers storming an enemy. And His face radiated His glory and deity like the summer sun (Matthew 17:2).

Jesus is the indescribable King of kings, Lord of lords, the First and the Last. Jesus is forever the Almighty God beyond description.

Snow Days

Here in the Pacific Northwest of America, we are quickly approaching the winter season. The days are dark, it rains all day long, and nights are very cold. Soon it will begin to freeze and we face both snow and ice.

Have you ever wondered why it snows? We know the scientific reason, but why did God create snow in the first place? What is His purpose in snow?

Let me suggest that God’s design for a world where it snows is three-fold.

First, snow reminds us that God is sovereign over His creation. Colossians 1:16-17 says that Jesus is the Creator of all things and that He holds all things together. Psalm 147 adds that even the snow, frost, hail, wind, and rain exist and work only as He designed.

Second, God is powerful. People from other parts of the country sometimes joke: “You Oregonians are such wimps. A light dusting of snow shuts everything down.” Well, no matter who we are or where we live, we may lay the best of plans but God can end them all. It may just be a dusting of snow, but God knows how to frustrate the plans of man.

He is the One who causes the snow to fall, and it is done in such a way that is easy (or providential) for Him while crippling man’s best efforts (Job 37:26). With one storm, wars have been won and lost, crops are destroyed, and the works of man’s hands become futile (Job 38:22).

Third, snow is the symbol God gave in nature for purity (Psalm 51:5; Lamentations 4:7; Daniel 7:9; Matthew 17:2, 28:3; Mark 9:3, Revelation 1:14). One day the ground is dirty brown, grassy green or concrete grey, then the next day dawns with everything white as snow.

When someone is made pure, the power for that purity is both external and transformative (Is 55:10). It comes from God, covers the heart, changes your life. God is pure and all purity must extend from His character.

Purity comes from God, but it is a manifestation of His sovereignty and power. God alone – through the grace given to us in Jesus – has the power to change the leopards spots and melt the heart of stone. The Father alone can cover the black stain of sin with the red blood of His Son and create a life whiter than snow (Is 1:18).