“See the Glory”

Scripture: John 17:1-5, 2 Corinthians 3:7-11

Glory is one of those things that everyone, or at least many people, desire for their lives, but as soon as we begin to prepare our lives to live a glorious existence, we discover that it is illusive, at best. Glory isn’t something that we can obtain by our own efforts – it is something that is given to us when we live the life that God has prepared. (John 8:54-55)

For Jesus, glory would come through Calvary, a place that the world sees as condemnation and failure. And Christ’s Church will come to know divine glory through their love and allegiance to Jesus, while the world sees that as weakness. The Lord’s way will always be the only way, for God’s ways and standards have always been different than those of earth.

Read John 17:1-5

Glory never comes through disobedience. Even if the command was wrong and the defiant response is successful, the “success” will only be seen as marginally good, at best. So it appears that true glory can only come when the perfect and most difficult decision is combined with acceptant and obedient behavior. The problem is that humanity can’t always put this winning combination together! It is God who has the perfect plan and perfect way, while the human experience, including that of Jesus, can only live the obedient response.

And this is exactly what our Lord Jesus did. He knew the consequences of obedience, that it would require his greatest resolve, as well as his greatest endurance, if God’s glory was ever to immerge out of the world’s hatred.

And the ultimate outcome from God’s glory? Our passage tells us that the glory that rested on both the Son and the Father is the evidence of obedience on the part of Jesus, which, in turn, enables eternal life to all who are obedient to the commands of Jesus!
Verse 2 indicates that these faithful were “given” to the Son by the Father. This doesn’t mean that God chose those who would be saved, and rejected all the rest of humanity. That would discount the concept of “free will”, so the truth of the matter is that the Father endowed eternal life to the faithful followers of his Son. And the term “eternal” means more than just forever – it means that the faithful will also come to know the glory that has now been gained by the faithful life of Jesus.

There’s a lot at work here, but the central truth is that it all hinges on the obedience of Jesus in the mission that the Father had charged him with, as well as the obedience of all who have claimed the Master as Lord of their lives.

The perfect plan that was devised by the Father, and the perfect response that was carried out by the Son, were all put in place because our work, our deeds, can never be perfect. So faith in the perfection of Jesus, and his obedience at Calvary, has been substituted for that which we could never do. And through faith in Jesus, we can experience the same glory that now rests on Father and Son.

And that is a gift that all who love the Lord can live with!

Read 2 Corinthians 3:7-11

This passage compares the glory that was so evident on Moses’ face when he returned from Mount Sinai, to the glory that comes in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The glory of God that existed in the cloud that embraced the mountain (Exodus 34:5) also settled upon Moses (Exodus 34:29-35). But the glory that is evident within the Holy Spirit is different. This glory is displayed through the gift of Christ and the works of the Spirit, not in a physical manifestation of God’s word on stone tablets, or a radiance in the face of a man. (1 Corinthians 1:21-23)

Paul writes that the glory of Sinai brought law and its subsequent requirement of death. Without the law, there was no relationship to sin, but with the giving of God’s law, sin was defined and established, and the penalty for sin would be death, or more specifically, the withdrawal of eternal life.

But the glory that came with the Holy Spirit was one that Paul described as righteousness. The ministry of the Spirit was one that followed, and reinforced, the teaching of Jesus Christ (John 14:25-27), which in and of itself was one that created a way to eternal life and away from condemnation and death.

The tablets of Mount Sinai were written words of law, while the power of the Spirit, the new covenant, is based in the change that comes to the lives of all who receive the Spirit’s grace. The law is external to our being, the Spirit works within us. The law is something that we have to receive and accept through our mind and will, while the Spirit itself works within our heart. The law requires us to interpret and make a decision to follow its intent, but the Spirit works by changing our very nature.

The authority of the law was based in a command by God that was impossible for humanity to follow perfectly. The power of the Spirit, though, was based in the life changing love of that same Almighty God.
The law brought with it negative consequences. The Spirit brought hope founded in a relationship with the Lord.
The law could only tell us what we must do, but it had no means of helping us to accomplish its requirements. The Spirit not only brings the truth of God to our lives, it also provides the power to follow.

The glory that was so evident on the face of Moses would soon fade. The glory of the Spirit, however, is eternal and will never surrender any of its glory and grace.

For over a thousand years, Israel depended on the old covenant that the law provided for them. They certainly understood the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of adhering to the law, and they knew that failure to follow its dictates would bring the most severe response from their Jehovah God. But none of this seemed to matter to them – changing to the better way of Jesus Christ wasn’t something that they could accept, and they chose the way of worldly death over the way of heavenly life.

We all know the seven last words of the church – “We’ve never done it that way before!” It seems that first century Israel invented that saying, and we have simply perpetuated it!

The power of the new covenant has nothing to do with how perfectly we live our life. It is about how well we allow the Holy Spirit of God to bring about his righteous change in our otherwise hopeless lives.

The Lord has done it all. It’s his way, his grace, his sacrifice, his glory, his teaching, his gift – the only thing we have to do is to accept the Lord for who he is, and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we should all take time to reexamine those things that bring a sense of gratitude to our lives. Are they those externalities, like a good job, a successful life, the blessings of family and friends, financial security, a warm home, plenty to eat, and so on? Or is our focus on the internal blessings that only the Spirit of God can provide – faith in Jesus Christ and his teachings, a sense that the leading of the Spirit is taking us, here and now, to new opportunities with new people in new places, that the righteous way of God is a true and overwhelming joy every day of our life, that we discover peace and purpose in all that we learn about “the way, and the truth, and the life” of Jesus Christ (John 14:6), and that now, by faith, we have the promise of a life in eternity with our God?
Which makes you truly thankful?

Do we truly appreciate Jesus for the fulfilling and eternal life that he offers with his, and our, Father God, or do we look for satisfaction and assurance in the temporary and hollow life that earth represents? It’s an important difference that needs to be recognized, and an even more important choice that we have to make!
Which is your choice?