The heavens declare the glory of God, and that is why the
study of astronomy is so fascinating. It is constantly confirming
what God has revealed in His word. Many Christians look at
God's revelation of the heavenly city and conclude that it must be
symbolical and not literal. A fourteen hundred square mile city
of gold with the walls loaded with precious gems seems a little too
extravagant even for God. But then comes the March 1992 issue
of Science News, and it is revealed that scientists have found
literal jewels in the heavens. They have found, not just the
glorious light of stars, galaxies, and supernovas, but actual
diamonds in the sky.
A NASA team in Hawaii, using an infrared telescope, found
what they are convinced are real diamonds and three Milky Way
clouds. They knew there were diamonds out there somewhere
already, for in 1987 diamonds were found in meteorites that fell
to earth. These researchers have concluded that the carbon dust
that gives rise new stars is as much as ten percent in the form of
diamonds. They feel there is likely to be diamonds in every
molecular cloud in the heavens.
The point is, when we read this description of the heavenly city
made of gold and precious stones, we do not have to back away
from the literal interpretation, as if God does not have the know
how or the power to produce such an abundance of precious
stones. If man could get at them he could fill the Grand Canyon
with diamonds that God has already created in stellar spaces.
The reason I take this picture literally is not just because of
any scientific discovery, but because John tells us in verse 11 that
the city shown with the glory of God and its brilliance was like a
very precious jewel. If this is not literal, then it has to be greater
than the literal, for God's glory will never be less than the glory of
the kings of the earth, who splendor will be brought into the city,
as John says in verse 24. I have seen pictures of the crown jewels
of the royalty of the earth. They are awesome in their glory. It is
a valid assumption that God, the king of the universe, will have a
glory that is so superior to theirs, that it will take our entire
vocabulary of words dealing with light and jewels to describe it.
Words like brilliant, magnificent, glorious, lustrous, regal,
resplendent, dazzling, luminous, radiant, gleaming, glittering,
glistening, and a host of others.
It's a city of gold and jewels,
For it's God's glory that we share.
Only the boldest of fools
Would want to miss being there.
In America The Beautiful, we sing the last verse--
"O beautiful for patriot dream
that sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!"
And in the chorus we sing, "May God thy gold refine," and,
"Crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea." All
these terms of gold, gleaming, and shining are ideals of man. He
wants his cities to shine with the glory of gold and brilliant light.
That ideal will never be complete until God builds the city. That
is just what John saw in his vision of the golden city of heaven.
Man has done some impressive things in his cities, but only the
city of heaven will shine with the very glory of God.
Emerson said, "I always seem to suffer some loss of faith on
entering cities." They can look quite impressive as you approach
and see the new buildings on the skyline. The vast array of
gleaming windows can be awesome, but when you get there you
are hit by the reality that the beautiful city is filled with
corruption. Aristotle felt the government should prevent people
from accumulating in cities, for they become hot beds of
corruption. We see the truth of his conviction in every large city.
Jesus wept over the largest city He ever entered, the Old
Jerusalem, because of it's corruption and resistance to the will of
God. That city and it's leaders killed the very Son of God, and
revealed just how corrupt the city could be, even when the most
glorious works of man are all around. The beautiful temple with
it's treasure of gold and works of art did not prevent such
corruption.
Jesus loved all the beauty and glory of the temple, but he wept
for the people, for they were rejecting the one all this beauty
pointed to. Hitler and the Gestapo leaders would feast in luxury
with the world's finest art all about them. Then they would enjoy
the exquisite beauty of the best classical music. Yet, from that
setting of grandeur they could go forth to kill, in cold blood,
millions of innocent people. The glory of what man can create is
impressive, but man cannot be changed by the glory of man. Man
can only be changed in any deep and permanent way by the glory
of God.
What is the glory of God? It is basically those aspects of God's
character and power that we can see. Contrary to the idea that
all we know of God we must take by faith, the Bible says there is
much that we can see of God's glory. The heavens declare it, that
is, they reveal it to man. The works of God in His visible creation
are of such conspicuous glory that God holds man accountable for
seeing it, and praising Him for it. Those who refuse to see the
Glory of God in creation are willfully blind, and they will be
judged. Paul says in Rom. 1:19-20, " Since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to
them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are
without excuse." What a paradox! There is no excuse for not
seeing the invisible nature of God.
The idea that non-Christians cannot see the glory of God in
creation is a direct rejection of Paul's clear teaching. We should
expect just the opposite according to Paul. We should expect
non-Christians to be able to see and write about the glory of God.
Christians do no have a monopoly on seeing the glory of God. We
should be able to read the poetry of other religions and see that
they too see the glory of God. Paul makes it clear in verse 21 that
non-Christians have knowledge of God. He writes of the pagan
world, "For although they knew God they neither glorified him as
God nor gave thanks to Him." Paul says they knew God. They
blew it and lost sight of His glory. They went after idols instead,
but the point is, they did know God.
The implications of this are astounding. For one thing, it
means we do not need to be threatened by the wonderful things
we can read about God in the religious literature of the world. We
are to expect to find such things, even in pagan literature, for it is
inexcusable blindness for men not to see the glory of God in what
He has made. Sincere seeking pagans will discover a great deal of
God's glory. This ought not to be a surprise, for it confirms what
Paul says. The goal of life is to see the glory of God.
Moses said to God in Ex.33:18, "Show me Thy glory." Moses
had seen the wonder of God's power in delivering the people of
Israel from Egypt. He had seen more miracles than anybody in
history, and yet he is not satisfied. He wanted to see the very glory
of God's being. He saw the miraculous pillars of fire and smoke
that led them by day and by night, but now he wanted the best.
He wanted to see the ultimate glory. He wanted to see the very
essence of God. He saw the burning bush and he talked with God,
but now he wanted God to come out from hiding behind his
symbolic miracles and show himself directly. He wanted a glimpse
of God in person.
God responded to this request by telling Moses is was a request
for death. No person could look on God and live. He did, however,
let Moses get in a cleft of the rock, for protection, and get a
glimpse of God from the back. He got a glimpse of God's glory
and that was the fulfillment of his greatest goal. That is the
ultimate goal of man, and that is the point of the heavenly city. It
is the place where we get to finally see the glory of God in all its
fullness. Like Moses, we only get a glimpse of that glory now, at
best. We can see it everywhere in His creation, but then we will
see it in His person.
Gwynn McLendon Day, in Gleams of Glory, writes,
"As I stand in the glow of the rising sun and am drenched by
the other-world splendor of its golden flood, I see something
of the glory of God. As I gaze into the jeweled heavens at
midnight and wonder at their sparkling beauty and infinitude,
I experience something of his glory. The flaming sunset, the
flashing lightning, the silent snowstorm, the rolling thunder, and
the fragrant flowers are intimations of his majestic splendor.
Truly, "the whole earth is full of his glory." Tennyson phrased it:
The sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the
hills and the plains,--
Are not these, O Soul, the Vision of Him
who reigns?
The manifestations of God in nature are just the outer fringes of
his garment. As splendid, as awe-inspiring, and as revealing as
they are, these do not satisfy the soul's yearning for God.
And so she prays, "Show us thy glory, O our Father! It is all
about us, but we are blind and unobserving. Open the eyes of our
souls that we may see thee and know thee in all the majestic
fullness of thy revelation to men. In the name of thy glorious Son
we pray. Amen." This is the dream, the goal, the desire, and the
aspiration of all of God's children. To see the glory of God in all
its fullness is our final destiny. That is why glory is such a vast
subject in the Bible.
The word glory is found 194 times in the Old Testament and
161 times in the New testament, for a total of 355 times. This does
not even count the use of the word to glorify. Yet it is a greatly
neglected subject. Charles Ryrie in his book, Transformed By His
Glory, checked into 8 standard theology books, and he discovered
that only 2 of them referred to the glory of God. Six of them had
absolutely nothing to say about this vital subject, and one of them
was his own book, and that is why he wrote a whole book on the
subject, to offset his previous neglect. The subject is complex, but
the essence of it is simple. Glory is a visual display of what is
pleasing to the eye, and thus, awesome to the mind. Whatever, by
its brilliance or beauty, stimulates admiration, has a glory.
If the fire works display is really good, it is glorious, for it is a
visual treat. If the model home you go through is full of bright
pleasing colors, and all is so clean and fresh, you experience the
glory of what man can produce. Glory is a visual term. It has to
do with what you see. The present glimpses of the glory of God,
which we see in His creation are to fill us with anticipation about
what we will see in the glorious city of gold. W. Seeker wrote,
"When you survey the spacious firmament, and behold it hung
with such resplendent bodies, think--if the suburbs be so
beautiful, what must the city be!"
Stained glass windows are often great works of art, and they
are glorious to behold. But from the outside they are not all that
impressive. They have to be seen from the inside with the
sunlight coming through to be seen in the fullness of their glory.
That is why we will never see the fullness of God's glory until we
see it from within that golden transparent city. There the light of
His glory will flood our eyes with color and beauty that is beyond
anything we can imagine. But the Bible often reminds us, what
will be in it's fullness is already a part of the now. Lois Blanchard
has captured this idea in her poem There Are Some Shining
Moments,
"There are some shining moments
When we can almost see
Across the gulf that separates
Us from eternity.
When all the clouds are lifted
And everything is bright,
There are some shining moments
When our faith is almost sight.
There are some shining moments
When va1ues seem so clear,
When things of earth are far away
And things of God are near.
There is no inner struggle
To go the way we should.
There are some shining moments
When we know what things are good.
There are some shining moments
When the cares of life recede
And all the things that trouble us
Seem trivial indeed.
And even deeper sorrows
Find solace in that hour.
There are some shining moments
When we know God's lifting power.
There are these shining moments.
They come not every day;
For we may walk through swirling clouds
Great portions of the way.
So tread the path they brighten
When these shining moments come;
For they are heaven's lanterns
To light the journey home."
God's glory lights even the earthly cities of time to some
degree, and that degree gets greater as His children reflect His
glory. Paul tells us how we can practice being in heaven. We
don't have to wait to see the glory of God. It is displayed in great
measure in time, and we can begin now to taste of the things to
come. Whoever heard of practicing to be in heaven? Where do
we see such instructions? We see them in Phil.4:8, "Finally
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if
anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
This brings heaven to earth, for Paul goes on in the next verse and
says, practice this and the God of peace will be with you. Focus
your life on the glorious and you will reflect the glorious.
If Moses, who met with God for 40 days, became radiant with
the glory of God, what will be the effect on those who dwell with
God forever in the fullness of His glory? The Bible tells us they
will share in the glory of God. This is the final and ultimate gift
of God to His people, but it was the first gift to His Son. In John
17:24 Jesus prayed, "Father, I want those you have given me to
be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have
given me because you loved me before the creation of the world..
Glory is love made visible, Jesus is saying. All gifts are some
degree of glory. They are often shining like jewelry, or gorgeous
colors, like flowers. But even if they are a dull pair of black or
brown gloves they convey a glory, for they are visible objects that
say to another I love you.
Love and glory are linked together inseparably so that with
any love you also have a glory. This is illustrated by the old
Negro engine man who loved his job on the cargo boat on the
great lakes. When he was asked how he managed to keep his
engine room so bright and shining, he replied, "Oh! I gotta
glory!" The poet put this practical theology in verse-
Oh! You gotta get a glory
In the work you do;
A Hallelujah chorus
In the heart of you.
Paint, or tell a story,
Sing, or shovel coal,
But you gotta get a glory
Or the job lacks soul.
The great, whose shining labors
Make our pulses throb,
Were men who got a glory
In their daily job.
The battle might be gory
And the odds unfair
But the men who got a glory
Never knew despair.
Oh, Lord, give me a glory,
When all else is gone!
If you've only got a glory
You can still go on.
Author unknown
Anything you love you will glorify, and this helps us grasp
how we can glorify God. We are to love Him with all our hearts,
minds, and soul, and when we do we will share in His glory, and
reflect it. The diamond glorifies the sun by reflecting its glory.
We glorify the Son of heaven, the Lord Jesus, by reflecting His
glory. The whole idea of being the light of the world is glorify
Jesus by reflecting the light of His love in this dark world. This is
the way God's people have always glorified Him. God would turn
His face toward them and shine on them like the sun. They in
turn would look to His face and become radiant. Then they
would reflect His grace in the world. Psalm 34:5 says, "Those
who look to Him are radiant." The more men look at the glory of
God the more they will radiate that glory. Paul says it clearly in
II Cor.3:18, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Every Christian is becoming brighter or dimmer, depending
on the exposure to the glory of God. If you are just to busy to
spend time beholding the glory of God in His Word or His works,
you will cease to shine and lose the glow that reflects His glory.
"The light you are reflecting
Be it bright or be it dim,
Is shining in the measure
Of the time you spend with Him."
