Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. The glory of God is his forgiving and redeeming. And it is this glory that was dimly revealed in the raising up of Cyrus to deliver Israel from the bondage of Babylon, and brightly revealed in "raising up his Son Jesus, to bless men, by turning them from their iniquities." It may be shown that God, as the great Spirit, never can be seen or known by any creature, because all creatures are put under limitations of the senses. No creature can apprehend "essences;" he is limited to "accidents." Nobody has seen the sun; it is the glory, the shining, the ray, of the sun that reveals it to us. So "no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ is the "Image" of God, which we can see; the "Word" of God, which we can hear; the "Glory" of God, making a holy warmth about us, which we can feel. He is "the Brightness of the Father's glory, the express Image of his Person." His revelation is made that we might know the true God, and in the knowledge find "eternal life." This view appears to be, in a very special manner, commended and enforced by the Apostle John, in his Gospel; and from this Gospel illustrations may be taken. I. GOD REVEALED IN JOHN'S PROLOGUE. Explain the figure of the "Word," as meaning the medium, or agency, by which God communicates his thought to men's minds. It is, as it were, God translated for man's apprehension. But the "Word" is a Person, and John says, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." II. GOD REVEALED AT CANA. Putting forth miraculous power to provide for man's need, Christ showed God's constant care of men, and led men's thoughts to the mystery of God that was in him, for John says, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus... and manifested forth his glory." III. GOD REVEALED AT LAZARUS'S GRAVE. Pleading with Martha, our Lord spake thus: "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" IV. GOD REVEALED IN THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN. In a moment of sore trouble, Jesus exclaimed," Father, glorify thy Name;" as if he felt that his supreme work was to show the Father forth. "And there came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (John 12:28). V. GOD REVEALED AT THE SUPPER-TABLE. When Judas left the table, and the beginning of the end had evidently come, Jesus said, in a meditative, but most revealing way, "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him" (John 13:31; see also John 14:13). VI. GOD REVEALED IN THE HIGH-PRIESTLY PRAYER. This is our Lord's supreme desire: "Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." And this is his sublimest thought, as he looks back over his brief life: "I have glorified thee on the earth." Christ is the Glory that reveals God for us, "who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that our faith and hope might be in God." - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. |
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