The Glory of God Revealed

Introduction

What a blessed day it is in the house of the Lord this morning.

https://readthehardparts.com/understanding-habakkuk-by-understanding-his-context/

The Glory of God

So what is the Glory of God. It’s important that we understand what the Glory of God is. In order to understand this text, but also because our deepest purpose is related to the Glory of God. God created us, he created you and me for His Glory.

Glory is used in different ways in scripture. But I want to try to explain it in the simplest, most straightforward way possible. So here it is. The glory of God is when the invisible qualities of God are made visible or knowable. It is where we can see or understand something about God and his character and his nature.

So for example when Moses was speaking with God on behalf of the children of Isreal. God was angry with the children of Isreal because of their continued disobedience and so he told Moses to take the Israelites to the promised land but he wasn’t going with them because they were a stiffnecked people. But Moses pleaded with God and said don’t send us if you will not go with us. So then God said to Moses my presence will go with you. And so Moses said, “Now God, show me your Glory. And so God responds to Moses and he says I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name. He says, I will make all my goodness pass before you. So here we see in response to Moses’ request to see God’s glory, God says I will show you my goodness. He is revealing to Moses one of his qualities. That is his goodness.

The glory of God is when the invisible qualities of God are made visible and so we see God’s goodness here. His goodness is part of his character. His goodness is part of nature. We serve a good God.

Then in the book of Isaiah. We see the prophet Isaiah, he has a vision. And he sees God exalted and siting on a throne and the train of his robe fills the temple. And he sees seraphim, which are angelic beings. And they are calling to one another saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Now wait a minute this is strange, because one might expect as they cry holy, holy holy that they should have said the whole earth is filled with your holiness. But that’s not what they say. They say the whole earth is filled with your glory. My God. And so what we see here is that as God’s most important quality of his holiness is being made manifest his glory is being revealed. Do you see? When the invisible qualities of God are made visible are made known we see God’s glory.

When we look at creation and observe all that God has made and created we see the glory of God. Creation is nothing more than the invisible qualities of God being made visible. All that God created. The trees and the seas. The sun, the moon and the stars. This is God’s glory being revealed to us. Psalms 19:1-4 says it: Psalms 19:1-2

Psalm 19:1–2 ESV

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

Creation is revealing the glory of God as his invisible attributes are made visible.

Romans 1:20 ESV

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

When we see God’s nature, his character revealed then we see the glory of God.

Now let’s look at you and me, because when we talk about God’s laws, these are connected to God’s glory. His commandments. The you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery. The things that we should and should not do. Where do they originate from? I mean we know that God gave them to us. But why are the commandments what they are? Have you ever thought about that? I mean, did God put some items in his heavenly hat and then randomly pull a few out and made those the commands. Or perhaps he rolled some dice and what ever it landed on would be a command. So if the dice would have rolled the other way then murder would have been good and it would be OK to steal. Sounds absurd right. That’s not how God choose his commandments. His laws are in fact a reflection of his character. His laws are an extension of his nature. He commands us not to steal because he is an honest God. He tells us to be faithful in marriage because he is a faithful God. God tells us not to murder because he is just. All of God’s laws tell us something about his nature.