Chapter 314—What is God’s Glory?
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined 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
.
The glory of God is His character. While Moses was in the mount,
earnestly interceding with God, he prayed, “I beseech thee, show me thy
glory.” In answer God declared, “I will make all my goodness pass before
thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy.” The glory of God—His character—was then revealed: “The
Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the guilty” (
Exodus 33:18, 19
;
34:6, 7
).
This character was revealed in the life of Christ. That He might by His
own example condemn sin in the flesh, He took upon Himself the likeness
of sinful flesh. Constantly he beheld the character of God; constantly He
revealed this character to the world.
Christ desires His followers to reveal in their lives this same character. In
His intercessory prayer for His disciples He declared: “The glory [character]
which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as
thou hast loved me” (
John 17:22, 23
).
Today it is still His purpose to sanctify and cleanse His church “... that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing” ... (
Ephesians 5:26, 27
). No greater gift than the character
that He revealed, can Christ ask His Father to bestow upon those who believe
on Him. What largeness there is in His request! What fullness of grace every
follower of Christ has the privilege of receiving!... O that we might more
fully appreciate the honor Christ confers upon us! By wearing His yoke
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