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Show Us Your Glory

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

What does it mean to have the light of the glory of God in Christ? In Ephesians Paul writes that we are to be the praise of his glory. What does that mean? According to what God purposed in Christ and which the gospel was proclaimed to Abraham beforehand, there is understanding. Paul writes of these blessings in Christ that are from the riches of his grace and his glory. In Christ, we have been blessed with adoption and redemption and forgiveness we've been favored in the beloved, marked with the holy spirit, a spirit of adoption which testifies that we are his children. So Paul writes the gospel speaks of the blessings we have in Christ and he says it is from the infinitely searchable riches of Christ he proclaims the gospel. We receive these blessings from the richest of his glory and we are to be the praise of his glory. 

For Jesus was esteemed worthy of greater glory than Moses just as the builder of the house has greater honor than the house itself. (Hebrews 3:3-6)

Christ, the Son, is the glory of God revealed. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we gazed on his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) "Whom exists the radiance of the glory and the character of his essence, and upholds all by the word of his power, making purification for sins, sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty on high," (Hebrews 1:3) Jesus was esteemed worthy of greater glory than Moses, Moses being a servant in God's house, bearing witness of Christ, Jesus is the Son over the house. He is head over the Church, which is his body the fullness that fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-23) He ascended into heaven to fill all, through the church, where he gives gifts to equip the saints to build up the body, into mature adulthood, into the fullness of the stature of His image. (Ephesians 4:10-16) "For Christ, like as a Son to the extent of the household, we existing his house if we hold to our confidence and the hope that we boast." (Hebrews 3:3-6) The glory of God shines in the face of Jesus, unlike the veiled glory in the face of Moses who was a servant of the house, who spoke of the glory to come.

In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, predestined to the purpose of the one working all according to the counsel of his will, to the extent those hoping in Christ, existing the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)

We are to exist the praise of His glory. How? Paul tells us that according to this same purpose that God purposed in Christ, he is working out all things according to our good so that we are being conformed to the image of Christ. (Romans 8:28-30) Through being conformed, also called transformed from glory to glory, by the renewing of the mind, we exist the praise of His glory. God is showing his glory in us when we become like Jesus and this is how we become the praise of His glory. His glory is in Christ thus our conformation to the image of the Son, is to the praise of his glory, through the knowledge of Him that comes in Jesus. God is glorified in that we bear much fruit of becoming like Christ. But how pitiful we are if we boast in the glory of men, in our works, thinking the fruit is the good works and not the vessel prepared beforehand to walk in good works. Does God prepare the good works or prepare us for the praise of His glory, to walk in good works? "... we existing his house..." To seek the glory of men is to boast in the flesh, but to boast in Christ, is to seek the glory of God being accomplished in us through Jesus.

And what if he did so in order to make known the riches of his glory to the objects of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory—(Romans 9:23)

How did Jesus show the glory of God? He said the blind man had been born blind for the glory of God so that he would be healed. And of Lazareth's illness, “this illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4) He healed people doing miraculous works, in fact, he said the works alone would be proof he was from God. But the true glory came in making the Father known among men, this he said was eternal life; to know the Father. (John 17) And Jesus is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:6) Thus to know Jesus is to know the Father, as they are one. (John 14:8-10) To have fellowship with the Son is to have fellowship with the Father. (1 John 1:3)

Now, grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, of his glory both at the present and the extent of the eternal day. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)

We experience his glory now, and will for eternity. He works in our lives for this purpose, as we grow in the knowledge of the Son. This is why Paul writes to know Him and to count all things as loss in order to gain Christ. To understand what the glory of God is, is to understand that we are a vessel, he is the potter and we are the clay, and he is molding us into the image of his Son, of glory. As such we are the praise of his glory. And the fact that the glory of God shines through us when we are becoming like Jesus, speaks of good works that glorify God. This is what God wants to do, he wants to show us his glory so that His glory is shone to others through us. 

Some describe God's glory as being independent of his manifestation of it. In the old testament, he freed Israel from Egypt through mighty acts (the plagues, crossing the red sea...) showing his glory and his power. We read that the glory of God was veiled in the face of Moses, in other words, the glory of the old covenant was veiled because God's glory was purposed to shine in the face of Jesus, to enlighten us to the knowledge of God. In the new covenant God's glory is a manifestation in us his people, this was the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham, saying that all people of all nations would be blessed in Christ. These blessings in Christ, that we see in Ephesians, speaks of the gospel and the riches in Christ we receive. The manifestations of his glory through the church, reveals his glory in us.

in order that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through · his Spirit in your inner being, that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, rooted and grounded in love, so that you have the strength to grasp with all the saints... to know the love of Christ which surpasses in knowledge so that filled unto the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19) 

We see in the new covenant, in the gospel comes the glory of God and it shines in the face of Jesus, which enlightens our hearts. Paul says we receive these blessings in Christ and that the gospel proclaimed is about these infinitely searchable riches in Christ.* So when I'm enlightened to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ when I grow in the knowledge of him, know of his power, faith, and great love then I receive from the riches of his glory so that I am filled to the fullness of Christ. Since he is the radiance of God's glory to be filled unto his fullness is to experience God's glory in me. When I receive from the riches of his glory, the things in Christ I am the praise of his glory, God is showing His glory through me, and He is glorified in this, that I bear much fruit. 


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