Evangelism 101 - Part 9 - Your Evangelistic Potential (Part 2) Series

In John 1:14 we find the words, “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.”

John writes, “and we beheld His glory…” Can you, like John, say that you have beheld the glory of Jesus? In this message you will find that it is indeed possible to behold the glory of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

What is glory? The word "glory" is translated from the Hebrew word kabod and literally means "heavy in weight." (Compare 1 Sam. 4:18 (the heavy Eli fell back in his chair and broke his neck); Prov. 27:3 (a heavy stone))

“Glory” is the weighty importance and shining majesty which accompanies God’s presence.

Exo 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"

Exo 33:19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."

Exo 33:20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"

Exo 33:21 Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;

Exo 33:22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

Exo 33:23 "Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."

God took extra care when granting Moses’ request—in fact, God did not let Moses see the fullness of His glory—this is something He would do later as we will see in this message.

The verb form often comes to mean, “give weight to," or "to give honor” (Ex. 20:12; 1 Sam. 15:30; Ps. 15:4; Prov. 4:8; Isa. 3:5). This is the kind of honor which people give to one another when recognizing the place of the honored person in the community or society.

For example, you may not like a president's political platform but if he were to come knocking on your door, you would probably treat him much differently than if it was your “Cousin Larry” who came over for a visit. (cp. “Solomon in all his glory” - Matthew 6:29)

Glory is not so much something someone bestows on another. It is a quality of importance, which a person, group, or nation has. It is a quality of importance which one recognizes in another.

“To give glory” is to recognize and to praise the importance of another. It is to honor, respect and give regard to the weight the other carries in the community. In the Bible people give such glory to God. That is, they recognize the essential nature of His God-ness that gives Him importance and weight in relationship to the humanity that worships Him.

Psalm 86:9-10 says, “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

In Exodus 24, we find Moses going up a mountain with the seventy elders of Israel. Verse 10 says that “they saw the God of Israel and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.”

Moses writes in verse 11, “Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they beheld God, and they ate and drank.” In other words, God didn’t take them out. He was merciful in that He allowed the children of Israel to see Him and live to tell about it!

Listen to what followed:

(Exo 24:12 NKJV) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them."

(Exo 24:13 NKJV) So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

(Exo 24:14 NKJV) And he said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them."

(Exo 24:15 NKJV) Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.

(Exo 24:16 NKJV) Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.