Daily Devotions
John
John 17 : 1 - 26 "THE ETERNAL GLORY OF GOD"
Day 255 – John 17
THE ETERNAL GLORY OF GOD
One of the most difficult but wonderful themes to portray about God must be His glory. Different writers of the Scriptures, particularly of the Old Testament sought to describe the glory of God in different ways. Let us consider some of those attempts:-
1. Moses’ Attempt to describe the Glory of God
Moses described the occasion when God descended on Mount Sinai to speak to the Children of Israel.
“Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning,
that there were thunderings and lightnings,
and a thick cloud on the mountain…Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke,
because the Lord descended upon it in fire.
Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mountain quaked greatly.”
Exodus 19:16,18
What was the response of the children of Israel to the glory of God’s Presence? We read,
“Now all the people witnessed the thunderings,
the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet,
and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it,
they trembled and stood afar of.”
Exodus 20:18
Moses was arguably the one who had the closest relationship with God recorded in the Old Testament text. God allowed him once to catch a greater glimpse of His glory. Let us read this text carefully.
“Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there,
and proclaimed the Name of the Lord. And the Lord passed
before Him and proclaimed,
‘The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth…'”
Exodus 34:5-6
What was Moses’ personal response to this revelation of the glory of God? We read,
“So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth,
and worshiped…”
Exodus 34:8
2. Isaiah’s Attempt to describe the Glory of God
The prophet Isaiah was specially privileged to have caught a glimpse of the throne room in heaven. He wrote of this memorable event.
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD
sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe
filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim (angels)…
And one cried to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory! ‘ “
Isaiah 6:1-3
Isaiah’s response must also be noted, as he saw this vision. We read,
“So I said,
‘Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts.'”
Isaiah 6:5
NO MAN CAN SEE THE FULNESS OF THE GLORY OF GOD
As we read these portions of Scripture, we are surely reminded of what God said to Moses.
“…You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me,
and live.”
Exodus 33:20
BUT JESUS WAS NO ORDINARY MAN
Jesus in His prayer to His Father must have uttered these words with a great sense of longing to behold His Father in the fullness of His glory.
“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with
Yourself, with the glory which I had with You
before the world was.”
John 17:5
Only Jesus could have uttered these words. Only He was both Son of Man and Son of God could have said these words with any real significance.
What was the glory of Jesus like “before the world was”? We can only guess that He shared His Father’s great glory! About the closest we can get to understand the glory that was Christ’s before His incarnation may be found in this special text from Ezekiel.
“And above the firmament over their heads was
the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a
sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was
a likeness with the appearance of a man high
above it…This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory
of the Lord.”
Ezekiel 1:26, 28