We often
hear the word ‘glory’, used every now and then. I am sure that you love to hear
the word glory, just as I do. Have you ever wondered what exactly is the true
is the true meaning of the word -glory?
Depending on
your usage and your objective or motive, the word has many different meanings
which are good. It is the same with the scriptural usage of the word. There are
different places where the word is used in the Bible, and each of these, you
will find out, or most of them, mean different things.
I will be
illustrating from the scriptures, and you will find out at least six different
meanings, with some of them closely related.
1.
Heaven and the atmosphere of heaven!
One of the meanings of glory which I love the most is that glory, in some
places in the scripture, refers to heaven and its atmosphere. We can see this
from the Book of 1Timothy chapter 3, and verse 16. Here we read as follows:
16“And without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness: God was
manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles,believed on in the world, received
up into glory”
God-talking
about Jesus, was received up into heaven: he ascended up into heaven according
to the Book of Acts, with his disciples watching him. This happened on Mount
Olives. In this sense of usage of the word-glory, the Bible talks about heaven
and its atmosphere. See also, Luke 2:9, and John1:14.
2. Beauty
Again, from
1 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 27, we read as follows:
27 “Glory and honor are in His
presence; strength and gladness, are in His place”.
This
particular reference to glory refers to beauty, and by extension-a heavenly
atmosphere.
This
atmosphere of beauty is made beautiful by two things, which I am going to talk
about next, which are also interchangeably used with the word-glory. This takes
us to the next word and scriptures:
2. Praise and
worship
Again, in 1
Chronicles chapter 16, verses 28 and 29, we read as follows:
28 “Give unto the Lord ye, kindred of
the people, give unto the LORD, glory and strength.
29 Give unto the Lord, the glory due unto his name:
bring an offering and come before him: worship
the LORD in the beauty of holiness”.
Here in
these verses of scripture, you can see that glory refers to the worship of God.
When the Bible says give unto the Lord glory, it means, bring your offering,
praise and worship the Lord, and create an atmosphere of heaven, for God to inhabit.
In that
atmosphere of heaven, we have a very important personality-the most important:
4. God Himself
The presence
of God himself is glory. We will explain this from the Bible using three simple
scriptures. Firstly, in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, we read as follows:
23 “For all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God;
Secondly, in
Exodus chapter 16 and verse 10, we read as follows:
10 “And it came to pass, as Aaron
spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked
towards the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the
cloud”.
What the
Lord showed in the cloud, was himself, the Lord appeared to them. And if you
study from the same Book and other Pentateuch, you will see the instructions of
the Lord concerning what the children of Israel are supposed to do, so as to
experience his glory (his presence). You will find this in Leviticus 9:6, and
Leviticus 23.
Again in
Exodus chapter 24 and verse 19, we read as follows:
19 “And there, I will meet the
children of Israel, and the Tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory”.
God was
saying here that when He meets Israel here, the tabernacle shall be sanctified
by His glory or His presence. This can help you to understand the scripture
better that says, in Romans ,chapter 3 and verse 23, that ‘All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God’.
When man
fell, his sin cut him off from the
presence or the glory of God.
Therefore,
without God himself, there is no glory. You will understand this better, by
reflecting on the fact the Bible tells us, that there is also the glory of man.
This refers to the full weight of a man, his substance, and his authority.
Something
exciting happens in the presence of God, and that takes us to the fifth Bible
usage and meaning of the word-glory.
5. Joy (The Joy of
the Lord)
The Bible
uses the word glory, occasionally interchangeably, with the word joy. The
reason for this is that heaven is a place of joy, and in Psalm 16 and verse 11,
we read as follows:
11 “Thou wilt show me the path of
life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore”.
Thus in the
Book of Jeremiah, chapter 9, verses 23-24, we read as follows:
23 “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might,
let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glory, glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the LORD
which exercises loving kindness, righteousness, and judgment, in these things I
delight saith the LORD.”
Looking at
the word glory in the above scriptures, you can understand that God is talking
about rejoicing, or celebrating, or being prideful. He is saying, rejoice in
one thing-that you know me, and my ways (summary is mine).
Lastly, but not necessarily, all there is to the word glory,
we have the sixth usage or meaning, of the word glory-God’s miracle working
power.
6. God’s miracle working power
In John chapter 11 and verses 39- 40, we read as follows:
39 “Jesus said, “Take
ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him,
Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto
her, said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see
the glory of God?
Jesus was,
that if Martha believed, she was going to see, God’s miracle working power, and
she eventually saw it. She saw it when her brother was raised from the dead.
Finally, in
Roman’s chapter 6, and verse 4, we read about how that the power of God raised
Jesus from the dead:
4 “Therefore we are buried with him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in the newness of life”.
It was God’s
glory-Himself, with his miracle power, that raised Jesus from the dead!
-Teaching+001.jpg)
