Can you tell me about the glory of God and different types of glory?
One has defined the “glory of God” as “the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections.” It would include His divine attributes of OMNISCIENCE, OMNIPOTENCE and OMNIPRESENCE, and it also includes His very nature of LOVE and HOLINESS. Your mention of the “different types of glory” made me think of the various ways the glory of God is revealed. Let’s consider several of these, though this will only be a small sample of the many ways His glory is manifested.
1) God’s GLORY is MANIFESTED THROUGH HIS SON, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:14 declares, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER, full of grace and truth” (NKJV). Jesus echoed this same truth in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” When Jesus walked this earth THE GLORY OF GOD WAS ON DISPLAY! From the manger to the cross, He was constantly revealing the very nature of God. God’s LOVE and HOLINESS were manifested in everything He did and said. John 1:14 could also be referring to what John saw on the mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17:2 tells us that “He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes as white as the light.” Up to this point in time, the Lord Jesus had veiled His “outward glory of Deity” with His human body, but here was a dazzling display of His Deity. This was a preview of what John saw and wrote about in Revelation 1:12-15.
2) God’s GLORY is MANIFESTED THROUGH CREATION. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (NASB). The apostle Paul had this truth in mind when he wrote Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.” Whether one looks up at a star-studded sky, a majestic mountain, or an endless sea, God’s glory is on display! Creation reveals His POWER, His WISDOM, and many other attributes that can only be found in our awesome God. How blind is the soul who views God’s intricate designs in creation and fails to see “the work of His hands.” His “fingerprints” are everywhere!
3) God’s GLORY is MANIFESTED THROUGH VISIONS. In the Old Testament many prophets were privileged to see God’s glory in this way. Isaiah 6:1-3 states, “In the year that King Uzziah’s died, I SAW THE LORD SITTING ON A THRONE, HIGH AND LIFTED UP, AND THE TRAIN OF HIS ROBE FILLED THE TEMPLE. Above it stood seraphim…and cried one to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is FULL OF HIS GLORY’” (NKJV). If you compare this with John 12:41 you will see that Isaiah saw a vision of the PRE-INCARNATE CHRIST. What impressed Isaiah and the seraphim the most was THE GLORY OF GOD’S HOLINESS. Another prophet that was given many visions of the glory of God was Ezekiel. In the very first verse of Ezekiel we read, “As I was among the captives by the River Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.” The rest of the chapter gives us his first glorious vision and he ends it in verse 28 with these words, “This was the appearance of THE LIKENESS OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD.” He, like Isaiah, saw God’s holiness and other divine attributes.
4) God’s GLORY is MANIFESTED THROUGH BELIEVERS. 2nd Corinthians 3:18 reads, “But we all, with unveiled face, BEHOLDING as in a mirror THE GLORY OF THE LORD, are being TRANSFORMED INTO THE SAME IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (NKJV). As we see the Lord Jesus presented to us in the scriptures, we are being CHANGED INTO HIS IMAGE! We take on His “moral likeness” so that when people see us, they see Christ. We can display to the world God’s love, mercy, compassion, holiness and righteousness and when we do, God’s MORAL GLORY is being MANIFESTED THROUGH US. What grace, that God would use us to display His glory. Are you manifesting His glory? (203.1) (DO)