The Glory of God. What does that mean? That is something that I seek to explore in this post. While reading John 17, I began wondering about Jesus’ prayer to the Father. Specifically, I wanted to dive into what He was asking the Father for. So beginning the prayer, He states, “glorify the Son that the Son may glorify you.” What does He mean by that? How does the Father glorify the Son, and how does the Son glorify the Father?
Let’s start with the definition of ‘glory’ since ‘glorify’ is the action behind ‘glory’. Of course, I have to break out “Chonky” (the big Strong’s Concordance) to get as full of a meaning as I can in a time effective manner. The Strong’s number for ‘glory’ is G1391, which is doxa (dox-ah). This “primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion. It is used of the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, such as what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way He reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His ‘glory’ has ever shone forth and ever will do (Jn.17:5, 24; Heb.1:3)”. To glory is to seem, appear or have an opinion of something. How does one have an opinion of someone or something? We look at the characteristics and attributes of the subject we are assessing. The glory of God is linked to His attributes. If you were to look up the definition for ‘orthodox’, noticing that -dox on the end, you would see that it means “proper opinion about God’s attributes.”
‘Glorify’ is entry number G1392 in the Strong’s Concordance. This is the Greek word ‘doxazo’ (dox-ad-zo), which in short means ‘to render glorious.’ This third sub definition states, “As the glory of God is the revelation and manifestation of all that He has and is…, it is said of a Self-revelation in which God manifests all the goodness that is His. So far it is Christ through whom this is made manifest, He is said to glorify the Father (Jn.17:1,4), or the Father is glorified in Him, and Christ’s meaning is analogous when He said to His disciples, ‘Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My disciples (Jn.15:8).’ When doxazo is predicated of Christ…, it means simply that His innate glory is brought to light and is made manifest.” Jesus Christ was with the Father before the foundations of the world. He is glorified of the Father, and the Father is glorified in Him. By His ministry, He showed the attributes and character of God. His glory is to be glorified.
David, who is said to be a man after God’s own heart, said in Psalm 86:12, “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.” He gave God his whole heart, meditating on His word, and delighting in His law. He asked God to search His heart and cleanse it. As he focused on Almighty God, his actions followed, which would glorify God. The same could be said of our actions. Jesus taught us in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ to let our “light shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16)”. The world will see the light of the kingdom through the good works done by Jesus’ disciples and believers today, with the result being that the Father who is in heaven will be glorified and honored.
God says in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other…” Then in Isaiah 48:11, He says, “…My glory I will not give to another.” In both of these instances, God is rebuking the Israelites for worshiping false idols or the gods of the peoples surrounding them and for attributing the works of God to anything other than Him. He discredits all idols to receive His proper honor. He is not one of many; He is not superior among inferior gods; He is not even the best of all; He is the ONLY God, and He will have His people know and rejoice in this truth. Jesus came as God’s glory. God the Father will not glorify anyone other than God. God the Son will not glorify anyone other than God. And likewise, God the Holy Spirit will not glorify anyone other than God. So when the Father glorifies the Son, He is glorifying Himself along with the Son and the Holy Spirit, because they are the One True God.
In Revelation 15, those who had “conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name” sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, saying:
Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. (Revelation 15:3b-4)
God is not simply ‘that guy’. He is ‘the Almighty God; the Creator of the Universe’. He is worthy of blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (Rev. 5:13b) Let us go glorify God in our thoughts, words, and deeds today and everyday.
Gotta go fill up my cup…..
Coffee with Candee 