Glory of Christ

So, if I was to say to you, the glory of Christ, how would you, could we define what that means when we say the glory of Christ?

What is it, what comes to your mind, or what do you think the Scriptures display concerning His glory?

Okay, so certainly it's the reflection of God, yeah.

What does glory mean though? Just think about that, what does the word glory mean? As it's used concerning certainly the

Scriptures and concerning the person of Christ, it really has this, has the thought of majesty, has the thought of splendor, anything else?

Certainly it is, what's really interesting, I want to, I want to ask us to think about this, before we even look at the

Scriptures, before we even look at the Scriptures, and as I said bro, we're going to talk about the glory of Christ, so that's where we're at.

And I was just asking, when we consider what the glory of Christ means, what can we say about the glory of Christ?

And like I said, certainly it has to do with majesty and splendor and reflection, let me ask us to think about that, let me do something here, this is what

I'm going to try to bring out a little bit. When you consider the glory of the moon, do you, how do you understand that?

Is there a glory of the moon, or is there a glory of the sun that reflects on the moon?

Which one, which one is it? Does the moon have any light? No, it doesn't have any light, in other words, what

I'm trying to get us to think about is, the sun, by its glory, reflects on the moon, because the moon has no light in and of itself, so when you think about, we're going to consider, well

I should have actually did this the other way, I really wanted to do, in other words, this should be

Christ, and this should be Moses, and I'm going to look at some scriptures that talk about a glory that Moses had, and a glory that Christ has, but what

I'm trying to at least set out is that the glory that Moses had, and we'll look at it, is a reflection, or is reflective, but the glory that Christ has is inherent.

Now, again, does the sun get its glory from something else, or is it inherent in the makeup of the sun?

Am I, am I just, am I on another planet? Yeah, it's in the sun. Yeah, so it's inherent in here, right?

It's because of what it is. The moon reflects from the sun, and what

I want to look at is the glory that Moses had when he came down from the mount, remember when he went up on the mount, and he came down and his face shone, and if you think about it, the glory that I'm asking us to think about is something that Christ has because it's inherent in him.

It's not something, do you know that the scriptures sometimes portray the people of God as the moon?

And that's because it's something that reflects off the sun, and ultimately, the same way glory is inherent within him, and every other glory that comes is because it's a reflection of him.

And so, if you wanted to talk about the glory, so let's just say somebody comes up to you and asks you, can you define the glory of Christ?

Where might you automatically go to to see, in the scriptures, something concerning the glory of Christ?

Any thoughts? Well, how about if we went to the Transfiguration? Let's look there.

Let's look at the Transfiguration for a minute, in Matthew 17, and think about what's taking place and how it is given to us.

And so, I know it's familiar to us, but let me just read it in Matthew 17, now after six days,

Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and he brought them up on a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

Behold, Moses and Elias appeared to them, talking with him, and Peter answered and said to Jesus, look, if it is good for us to be here, if you wish, let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elias, and while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the clouds, saying, this is my beloved son, in whom

I am well pleased, hear him. And the disciples, of course, they fell on their faces, and they were greatly afraid.

So, let's consider that just for a second. Was the glory that Christ was manifested, was that something that Christ had as a reflection of something else, or someone else, or is it something that is his by possession?

His. It's his. It's his, and so that's why I said in the beginning, if you think about the moon and the sun, the moon has a glory to it, right?

We sometimes see a quarter moon, a half moon, a full moon, a harvest moon, all those different kinds, but in and of itself, it has no light.

It's all reflection from the sun, which the sun has by its very makeup.

It's inherent within the sun. So when you think about this, and it's interesting how it's said, right?

So it says he was transfigured, and that's the word where we get metamorphosis, and that means to be changed outwardly, to almost as if we changed from the caterpillar to the butterfly.

There's a change. There's something that takes place, but what took place was not something that was inherent within him, and that the glory of Christ is something, again, that you and I have to consider is his by possession.

He is, and always was, and always will be, of such a glory in and of himself, and yet when we see him, other than the

Mount of Transfiguration, he appears, if you will, just as anybody else would, right, because he had no shape, no commonness that we should consider him, but yet he was transfigured, he was changed into his very essence and his glory, and what's interesting, so with that as a background,

I want you to go to Exodus for a minute, and this is where I was drawing a contrast between Christ and Moses.

Go to Exodus, let's start in Exodus 33, because I think we have to use the scriptures, right, to get our understanding and our references, and if we don't use those, certainly we have all kinds of problems.

So, I want to look in Exodus 33 for a minute, and ask us to think about what he says.

So pick it up in verse 12, Exodus 33. So, Then Moses said to the

Lord, See, you say to me, Bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said,

I know you by name, and have also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore,

I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, and that I may find grace in your sight, and consider that this nation is your people.

And he said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he said to him,

If your presence doesn't go with me, do not bring me up from here, then how will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight?

Except you go with us, so we shall be separated, you people and I, for all the people upon the face of the earth.

And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing that you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight.

Look at verse 18, And he said, Please, this is Moses, please show me your glory.

And God does that. Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the

Lord before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom

I will have compassion. But he said, You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live.

And the Lord said, Here is the place by me, and you shall stand on the rock, and so it shall be, when my glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and cover you with my hand while I pass by.

Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face you shall not see.

So God, Moses asked God to show him, if you will, his majesty, his splendor, and all that God is.

And certainly, we would have to say that the glory of God is his by possession, right?

It's not derived from anything else. There is no other God, right? Even God says that.

I am the Lord, and what does he say in Isaiah? He says, I will not give my glory to another.

And what's really interesting is we think about what happened in Matthew 17 when he was transfigured, that the sun has to be divine.

Because God said in Isaiah, and there's many other places, he says, I will not give my glory to another, and yet, when we see

Christ and he's transfigured before Peter and John, what happens? He sees him shine as the brightness, brighter than the sun.

So that when you think about the glory of Christ, what we're really talking about is who he is, in his person, in his character, in his being.

It's not something that's derived, just like the sun reflects upon the moon.

Now, think about this. So you're in Exodus 33, now in Exodus 34, remember what happens?

He goes up on the mount, and what happens? It says, God gives him his words in verse 27 of Exodus 34.

The Lord said to Moses, write these words, for according to the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with you in Israel.

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, and he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Now, it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain,

Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone when he talked with him.

And remember what happens? He comes down, and they see the glow, if you will, of having been in the presence of God, and that glory is something that becomes a reflection in Moses, right?

And that was the point I tried to set out in the beginning, that when we think about the glory of Christ again, we must realize it's not something that is derived from anything or anyone or any other outside thing, it's something that's inherent in Christ.

All the majesty of God, all the splendor of God, all the superlatives that we can consider, and that Moses didn't even know his face was shining, by the way, at first.

Christ knew it, because remember what he said to the disciples on the mountain of transfiguration? He said, don't tell anyone.

Don't tell anyone what you saw right now until the Son of Man be lifted up. Christ knew that his glory was who he was.

Moses, again, just like the sun and the moon, so Christ is, if you will, the splendor of the glory of God.

So, a couple of scriptures to help support that. Isaiah chapter 40, look at that.

And this is what we just read and we just said, but let's just read it anyway. Isaiah 40.

And I've just picked out a couple of them because there are so many to look at. Isaiah 40 says this.

And this is a great new section in the book of Isaiah, by the way. If you're ever depressed, if you're ever struggling, read from Isaiah 40 to Isaiah 66, to the end of the book.

It'll definitely stir you up. But anyway, it says, Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your

God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her. Her warfare has ended. Her iniquity is pardoned.

She has received from the Lord's hand double for her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord. Certainly John the Baptist, right? Make straight in the desert a highway for our

God. Every valley shall be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked places shall be made straight.

And the rough places smooth. And then look what it says. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

Well, who is that? None other than Christ. He is, and you don't have to turn to it, but let me just remind you of what it says in the first chapter of Hebrews.

We have looked at Hebrews chapter 1 and those opening verses probably almost every time we consider the glory and the things of Christ.

But it says in Hebrews 1, God at various times and in diverse ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his

Son, who he appointed heir of all things, through whom he made the worlds. And then you got verse three, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

He is the image. He is the brightness of God's glory. So let's just think about this.

When someone denies the deity of Christ, they're really denying the reality of God.

Because he is the express image and glory of God manifested.

Now, was he veiled? Sure he was. Isn't that what it says in Philippians chapter 2?

That he took on the form of a servant, and if you will. But what he didn't do was lose, because he can't, his glory.

He just veiled it the same way Moses put a veil over his face. And again,

Moses' glory was a reflection Christ is inherent within him.

So you see why it's so important to uphold the person of Christ, and the character of Christ, and the deity of Christ.

And in that sense, to me, if someone denies the Trinity, well then they can't understand who

God is because Christ is the glory of God manifested to us.

Again, veiled, but still the glory of God. Remember when

Jesus said, he that has seen me, has seen the Father. Not only in the keeping of his word, but he always did the things to please the

Father, because he is, if you will, the glory of God that was manifested.

What does it say? 1 Timothy chapter 3. God was what?

Manifested in the flesh. And what does John 1 say? It says we be, well,

I'll just read it just to make sure. And again, this is another one where we always seem to go when we're talking about the person of Christ.

Brother Keith spent a fair amount of time on this, right? In the beginning was the word, the word was

God, the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning, and all things were made by him, and without him nothing was made.

And then it goes on, and then it says in verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we what? Beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the

Father, full of grace, full of truth. And again, we do not have a right understanding of Christ.

We cannot have a right understanding or right relationship with God. And that is when you begin to argue against who

Christ is, you're really arguing against who God is. Because again, he is

God manifest in the flesh. And he tabernacle. Do you remember what happened when they erected the temple or the tabernacle in the wilderness?

And Moses would go into the tabernacle. What would take place? Are you talking about when the glory would come down?

Yeah, I mean, the glory of God came down, right? When they finally built the temple, and they consecrated it, what happened?

That Shekinah glory came down and rested on it. And if you will, that Shekinah glory is, it followed them, if you think about it, in the sense of the fire at night and the cloud in the daytime.

And that, again, isn't it interesting what it says in John 1 .14?

The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The same way the children of Israel beheld

God's glory in the presence of the temple. And we could then take that and jump to what

Jesus said that the temple was really what? Him, his body, he says, destroyed his temple and I will what?

Build it again in three days. And they got it all discombobulated in their minds.

But what he was really talking about was his glory. And he is the true temple, right?

And then we are in that temple with him. And we are the temple also of God.

And so we reflect the glory of God. That's one of the things about being a Christian is that we should more and more reflect the glory of Christ.

And we should, you know, in, I think it's

Psalm 36, matter of fact, I know it's Psalm 36. It says about God, thee is the fountain of life, in your light we shall see light.

And if you begin to think about it, what is the thing that we should do?

We should be more and more the light of what? The world. We should be the city on the hill that's displayed.

We should represent more and more of the glory of God in Christ as we move on in this faith.

And so if you think about it from that standpoint, those who show no real growth and no real growth in light, they really have no claim upon being right with God.

Again, when you think about these things and you think about how this is so essential to understand that his glory, and even when he was transfigured, what he did was he, if you will, unveiled his glory because it was kept veiled.

When he comes again, and so let me ask you, let's look at that one.

Well, let's look at the one in Mark 13 for a minute. And this is not the easiest topic to break out, but I think it's important for us and that might not be something that we always consider, but it certainly is important.

So in Mark 13, in one of the parables, when we, okay, in verse 24, look

Mark 13, verse 24. After, and I'm not trying to interpret the tribulation right now, so just leave that aside for a minute.

But in those days, after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars of heaven will fall and the powers of heaven will be shaken.

And then we will see the son of man coming in the clouds with what great power and glory.

Again, when we see him, we will see him as he is, not how we think we want to represent him.

We will see him as he is. And then if you think about that, go to Revelation for a minute, go to Revelation 21.

And again, it's important for us to be able to not only say that Christ is altogether glorious, but to support it and to be able to, if you will, explain it to some sense.

In verse 22 of Revelation 21, again, without trying to interpret the context and all those other things at this point, but it says about the new

Jerusalem, I saw no temple in it for the Lord Almighty and the

Lamb are its temple. And again, it goes back to that whole idea in the Old Testament of the temple being built and of God's glory coming down and shining on it.

And if you remember when the children of Israel continued to disobey

God, what does it say? God's glory was moved out of the temple and ultimately would only be restored in the person of Christ.

And then it says, and the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it for what?

The glory of God illuminated it and the Lamb is its light and all nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light.

And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it.

And again, is that not teaching us that there is an essential glory of Christ?

And even in Revelation 22, right? He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of the

Lamb. And in the middle of the street on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits and each tree yielding its fruit every month.

And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the

Lamb shall be in it. And the servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads and there shall be no night there.

They need no lamp, no light of the sun for the Lord gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever.

Again, when we see

Christ, when he returns, it will be the manifestation of God.

Because you remember what the father said? What was said of the father? No man has seen the father.

What? At any time. All the glory of God. That's why it's said in Hebrews and in other places, he's the express image and glory of God.

Now, we've got a few minutes left. I want to try to amplify this even more.

Go back to Hebrews and go to Hebrews chapter 3 for a minute. Because this is the explanation, if you will, of what took place when

Moses displayed his glory in Hebrews chapter 3.

Okay, now, with all that we've said up to this point, let's try to think about it as we read this.

Therefore, holy brethren, Hebrews 3 .1, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession,

Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house.

For this one shall be counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

Every house is built by someone, but he who builds all things is

God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of things which would be spoken afterwards, but Christ as a son of his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope from to the end.

Again, my whole point this morning is that what took place on the

Mount of Transfiguration, and when we consider the glory of Christ, that that's something that's, it's his.

And that even Moses, although his face did shine, it was a reflection from God.

That he had no, just like we would say, do we have any righteousness in ourselves?

No. Do we display parts of the image of God? Absolutely we do.

But not like Christ. And so the main one, if you will, and I just have to point this out, is in 2

Corinthians chapter 3. So if you would just turn there for a second. You know how people say that men wrote the

Bible, it was a conspiracy? Well, I'll tell you why. There's no man and no group of men that could ever put such truths together over such a period of time and without error, without mistake.

And so now, let me just read this to you.

So 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Now, but if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stone, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away?

How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

Even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels.

For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness. It's unlike Moses who put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly, steadily, could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away, but their minds were hardened.

For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the

Old Testament. You get it? That's what, that's the whole point of it is, is that all that the scriptures foretold, all the scriptures that revealed slowly in God's, if you will, his progressive revelation, was to teach us ultimately of what?

Christ. Because he is the one for which all things exist.

And he is, in that sense, God's beloved son, eternal son.

And that you and I ought to consider him. And again,

I say, just like it says in Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God, right?

It's what it says. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth his handiwork.

And day unto day it utters speech, and night unto night it shows knowledge. And there is no speech, nor no place where its voice is not heard.

And it goes out to the ends of the earth. Well, guess what? Remember what it says about Jesus?

Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is

Lord, because Jesus is Lord. He's the Lord of glory. He is the manifestation of, if you will, the triune

God. And so when we see him, we will be able to worship him.

You know, you think about that whole description of the new Jerusalem and the new city, and how it talks about streets of gold, and all the different things.

I don't know, for some reason I was thinking this morning, you won't need any locksmiths in heaven.

I think I was locking the back door, and there's this little peg you put in doors.

For some reason it popped into my mind, we won't need any locksmiths in heaven, right? So you better find another job if you're a locksmith, because you're not going to need it.

Why? Because there's no darkness. Why? Because there's no sin. Why? Because the glory of Christ is there.

And even that whole thought of running the streets of gold, it'll just be such brilliance, and brightness, and light, and removal of darkness, because who's sitting at the right hand of God?

God. The Son. So again, it's not something that we always study, but I think it's well worth it to consider what we would be able to explain to others about the glory of Christ, of who

He is. I could have went here, we just don't have the time. You remember when Isaiah saw the

Lord high and lifted up? And he saw what? His glory. Why do the angels bow?

Because they see the glory of God. And you and I, again, are...

Friends, we're so privileged. There's no one like us. There's no one like us in all

Europe. There's none that, except by God's grace and by God's mercy, there are none that can see even a reflection of His glory right now.

Can you imagine when we see Him as He is? Can you imagine? That's why

I've always said and I will always continue to say, so many people have this thought of, yeah,

I'm going to heaven. We're going to explode in the presence of God. It ought to lift us off of this dust bowl now and cause us to be thrilled that one day, someday, we will be with Him.

And again, just to behold Him. I've been...

Comments, concerns? No complaints, please. It's a great hope. Isn't it though?

It's an anchor, right? It's something that carries you through the mud of this world to just be able to understand that there is, that glory is going to be revealed.

And that person, again, will be revealed to us.

Yeah, that's so cool. Anybody else? Any thoughts? Well, George, what are you thinking about back there?

You need about three hours or what? No, no, no, no. Especially for the person who loves