Jesus Bringer of Glory

Jn 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
   
We move back to John’s Gospel now to consider another aspect of the light that comes from Christ. In this verse there are a number of things to be examined as we’ll see in the next few meditations. For now we simply ponder over this idea of ‘glory’. There is another word with which we are perhaps more familiar. We might say, “Wow, what a glorious sunset!” Something about its brightness, its wonder, its staggering beauty, touches our hearts. Isn’t it glorious! Of course if we are Bible students we will know of another use of ‘glory’ from the Old Testament – the glory of the Lord! Oh yes we know what that means because descriptions were given: “While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.” (Ex 16:10 ). There was a great brightness shining in the clouds. Or “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Ex 40:34). Again a cloud of immense brightness. In the New Testament Luke records, “Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him” (Lk 9:32) as Jesus and Moses and Elijah shone with a great brightness. Glory thus refers to a great brightness from the very presence of God Himself. Where He is, there is His glory.
  
But glory was also used to mean a less tangible brightness: “But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD” (Ex 14:4). Because of what I am about to do, the Lord was saying, peoples will realize my wonder and power and might and majesty and they will know that truly I am ‘the I AM’. Glory here is great esteem, acknowledgement of great excellence.
   
So now we come to John’s description of Jesus: we have seen his glory. Now apart from the time on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus did not ‘glow’, so what John is saying is we have seen his wonder and excellence that reflects the wonder and excellence of God the Father. The glory of the One and Only? Yes, the unique wonder and magnificence of God Himself, shining through His Son.
   
What was John saying? Jesus stood out among mankind as a unique figure, a glorious figure. Put any great person you can think of in history next to Jesus and they pale into insignificance. Jesus stands out! He is unique! He is amazing! He is wonderful! He is incredible! He is glorious!
   
In the book of Revelation, John had the privilege of a heavenly vision in which he saw Jesus standing in the centre of the throne (Rev 5:6) and all around him the creatures applaud him with a song that includes: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev 5:12). They saw him as he was and acknowledged the wonder of who he is in this sevenfold anthem of praise.
    

There’s something we’ve missed: We have seen!  It’s so easy to take it for granted. The Word had been in heaven and now he was in the flesh on earth so that John and the others could SEE him. In his first letter John said, “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it” (1 Jn 1:2). The glory that was in heaven was put aside (“being in very nature God….made himself nothing….being found in appearance as a man” – Phil 2:6-8) but the human form still revealed the glory and wonder of God to those who had eyes to see. This was a glory that only open hearts saw. Have you seen it?