“The Glory of the Lord for All!”

Scripture: Isaiah 59:21-60:6

The word glory has almost become a “throw away” word – one that is used so often and in so common a way that it nearly loses its significance and almost becomes meaningless. The word should mean magnificence, grandeur, exaltation. But for many people, it no longer speaks of any true splendor.
At a worship service during a Kairos weekend at Waymart SCI, a couple of men began to shout out “Glory! Glory!” Their eyes were closed, their hands were in the air, and you could feel the prickling of the Holy Spirit all over your body. They knew what glory is, and they gave great honor to the name.

But what is glory for, what is it all about? What does scripture say about glory

We see it at creation on the first day, God proclaimed that there would be light. There was no sun or stars or moon yet, only darkness and chaos – our physical lights wouldn’t come into being until the 4th day. That first glory that pushed the darkness away was the Spirit of God, the glory of God was in creation.
We see it in Egypt at the beginning of the Exodus. The people have begun their journey to the Promised Land, but Pharaoh has changed his mind. He pursues them, and while the people are terrified at the prospect of being caught in the desert, God tells them “But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am God.” (Exodus 14:4b) And he did.
We see the Lord’s glory revealed again when the Almighty begins to feed the people with quail and manna. In Exodus 16:7, we are told “in the morning, you will see the glory of the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling against him.”
Whenever God appears to the people, it is described as “the glory of the Lord” (Exodus 16:10). When God joins Moses on Mt. Sinai to hand down his law, the cloud that envelopes the mountain is said to be the Glory of the Lord. (Exodus 24). Later, Moses would ask to see the glory, and God places him in a cleft of the rock, and covers him so that he only sees the Glory’s back. (Exodus 33:12-33)
The Psalms speak of the glory over and over again.

The light that bathed the shepherds on Christmas is said to be God’s glory. (Luke 2:8-12)
At the transfiguration, Christ was in glory. (Luke 9:28-36)
In John 8:54, Jesus tells the people that he doesn’t glorify himself, but that it is the Father, and him alone, who brings glory to the Son.
We read that when Christ returns, he will be enveloped in a cloud of glory. (Matthew 25:31-33)

And the examples appear over and over throughout scripture. Glory is something that should astound and amaze us, not something that we take lightly.

Rev. James Harnish, in his book “Glory!” writes
Tom Farmer is the pastor at St. Paul's Church in Largo, FL. Tom is a Southern boy, whose favorite expression is, “Glory!” He says it all the time. Sitting on the windowsill in his office is a cast copy of the word – Glory! It looked as if it had been cut out of Styrofoam, but if you are ever invited to pick it up, it will take both hands to lift it because it is molded in solid lead.

It’s uncertain if the guy who made that for Tom knew his Hebrew, but he got it right. The glory of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, is not some light, simplistic, easy triumph over life's problems. It is not some kind of syrupy spiritual goo we pour over ourselves to hide what is really going on inside us. Glory is not some golden glow in the western sky which wraps itself around us on a sunset evening. Glory is heavy. It is full of God's love in human experience. It is as heavy as the cross.
--Rev. James A. Harnish, Glory! (Hyde Park United Methodist Church, Tampa, Fla., 26 February 1995), 2-3.

Glory – existing at the moment of creation; Glory - at the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea; Glory - in the Lord’s appearing in human form; Glory - in Christ’s salvation journey that took him through the cross. The declaration that “Glory is heavy!” is, at best, an understatement!

Read Isaiah 59:21 – 60:3

So what does this passage tell us about the purpose of God’s Glory? We read that darkness, by default, covers the earth and all the people. And it is only by grace that God brings his light into our lives.
“The Lord rises upon you!” What a wonderful expression. Think about the sunrise. Have you ever watched the sun come up? At first, there is just a hint of light that if you aren’t really observant, can be missed. Then some color comes into the sky, and gradually, brilliance begins to bath the landscape. The entire process takes about 20 to 30 minutes, but it is incredible! And if you are truly blessed, the sky will put on a display that will blow you away.
On morning when we had a Kairos weekend at Waymart, we arrived at the prison, which is on a hill overlooking the town, just as the sun broke through the morning fog. The sky lit up in the most amazing reds that we had ever seen. 20 grown men just stood there in the parking lot, gawking, jaws resting on our chests, unable to speak, except to proclaim that the glory of God had become perfectly evident to us in that very moment. We took it as a sign that the Lord would be with us through that entire weekend, and he was.

That’s what it means when we read “the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” Israel saw it in the desert; Peter, James, and John saw it on Mount Horeb; the disciples saw it at Christ’s ascension; the Church has been encouraged by it and lead by it for 2 thousand years. When the glory of the Lord appears and rises upon us, it cannot be missed.

Read Isaiah 60:4-6

And all we have to do is wake up, open up our blurry eyes, and look up to what is right there before us. “Lift up your eyes and look about you;” (v.4)!
Many, though, prefer the darkness because they see it as a means to hide from the truth of God's reality. But think about what they are missing! Radiance, a heart that throbs and swells with joy, riches beyond all measure! But we aren’t to take these riches in an earthly way - the blessings of Almighty God have little to do with earthly wealth. And quite honestly, earthly glory pales in comparison to that which comes from heaven!

And what is our part in all of this? Glory isn’t ours to have and hold, and yet it is given for us to experience. Glory isn’t Christ’s, and yet, through him, glory is given to the Father, and it will then come back from the Father. In John 15:7-8, we read “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

The context of the “asking”, of course, is not for personal glory or gifts. The requests that are answered are always for the purposes of ministry and mission. It must be for the opportunity to service, and not to be served. God’s response to our requests comes from “remaining in Christ and his words remaining in us.” – not for our glory, but for the Father’s.

Are we bearing much fruit? Are we bearing any fruit? Are we bringing glory to God through our discipleship in Jesus Christ?

Johann Sebastian Bach was not the first composer/artist/author to write on a finished work, above or below his own name, the initials AMDG. The initials were Latin shorthand for the phrase Ad Majorem Dei Gloria which, when translated, means “For the Greater Glory of God Alone”.

Are these letters being written above the signature of your life? Forget the turbocharged Majorem. Are you inscribing the simple letters ADG (For the Glory of God) above everything you do, above everything you buy, above everything you say, above everywhere you go?
- Homiletics Online –

Today we celebrate Epiphany – the day when Glory was revealed to the foreign wise men. They saw the glory of God in the heavens, and followed it all the way to Bethlehem. It was a long and difficult journey for them, but it was never about them – it was only about discovering the greatest gift that had ever been given to earth – a gift that was no longer exclusive to Israel, but one that has come for the entire world. And that is our call, too – to discover the glory of God that is ours in Christ Jesus and then to share that gift with others, that they, too, might come into the “brightness of the dawn” (v.3).

All for the Glory of God, so that all in this world might see and be blessed by his glory. Not our glory, his. Not the world’s glory, his. Not that we might see, but that others might.

Everything that we do, everything we have, everything we enjoy, everything we say, everywhere we go, everyone we serve, every time we show the love of Christ, every moment we witness to the glory that rises upon us and appears over us, every step in our life with Christ – Glory!

Sign your life with the letters ADG – for the Glory of God, that his glory might rise upon you.