The Glory of God
Revealed in Christ, Reflected in Believers, Realized in Glory
What Is the Glory of God?
The word “glory” appears approx 500+ times in the Bible, (with the exact number depending on the translation) yet finite minds cannot contain the fullness of the infinite God. In the Old Testament, the primary Hebrew word is kābôd, which carries the idea and meaning of weight, substance, importance, honor, and majesty. In the ancient world, a powerful king was said to possess glory because of his (perishable) authority, wealth, honor, and visible splendor testified that he was important. But God’s glory is infinitely greater and imperishable than the glory of emperors, nations, wealth, or human achievement.
God’s glory is the holy manifestation of who He is. It is the visible, verbal, moral, and spiritual display of His divine perfection. Psalm 145:5 says, “On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.” God’s glory is His majestic excellence made known to His creatures. It is His incomparable worth shining forth in all that He is and all that He does.
When Scripture speaks of God’s glory, it sometimes points to His intrinsic excellence, sometimes to the honor given to His name, and sometimes to a visible manifestation of His presence. God is not made of matter, nor should we imagine Him as a spiritual body surrounded by a separate substance called glory. Jesus said plainly, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Paul described Him as the One “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Timothy 6:16). The light associated with God’s glory is therefore a created or accommodated manifestation by which He makes His presence known; it is not a shell enclosing His being.
God’s glory also exceeds everything the human mind can fully comprehend or the mortal body can withstand. Job confessed, “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7). The Creator is infinite and the creature is finite, yet inability to comprehend God exhaustively does not mean that we cannot know Him truly. God reveals His nature, actions, promises, attributes, and saving purpose in forms that human beings can receive. His communicable attributes, such as love, mercy, truth, and righteousness, can be reflected in creatures in a limited way. His incommunicable attributes, such as self-existence, infinity, and absolute sovereignty, belong uniquely to Him. Thus God’s glory is not merely brightness that can be seen; it is the splendor of His whole character made known according to His will.
God’s glory fills creation, was revealed to Moses, filled the tabernacle, appeared perfectly in Jesus Christ, shines through the prophetic Word, transforms believers by the Holy Spirit, and will be openly displayed when Christ returns. We must distinguish between glorifying God is not adding glory to God, because the creature cannot increase the greatness of the Creator. To glorify God is to recognize, proclaim, honor, display, and delight in the greatness that already belongs to Him.
God’s Glory Revealed to Moses
Exodus 33 and 34 show that God’s glory is both manifested and proclaimed. Moses prayed, “I pray You, show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18). God answered, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you” (Exodus 33:19). He then warned, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20). The Lord placed Moses in a cleft of the rock, covered him as the divine presence passed by, and allowed him to see only what God had appointed.
In Exodus 34, the visual manifestation was accompanied by God’s proclamation of His name. He declared Himself “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” while also affirming that He “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:6–7). God’s glory therefore includes mercy and justice without setting one against the other. Moses responded by bowing to the ground and worshipping, which is the proper response whenever God’s glory is understood. Under the New Covenant, the cross becomes the supreme place where mercy and justice meet. God does not ignore guilt; He deals with guilt through the sacrificial death of His Son. He remains “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).
When God showed Moses His glory, He did not give him a human-sized definition of the divine essence. He revealed the goodness of His nature and the holiness of His name. The glory of God is therefore not empty spectacle. It is the revelation of the God who is morally perfect, personally present, and completely faithful. Moses was permitted to see a limited manifestation of God’s glory, but he could not withstand the unrestricted revelation of God’s holy fullness. This shows the vast difference between the Creator and the creature. Sinful humanity cannot demand access to God on its own terms. God must make a way for people to approach Him, and under the New Covenant that way is Jesus Christ.
Glory in the Tabernacle and in Christ
When Israel completed the tabernacle according to God’s command, “the cloud covered the tent of the meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). The manifestation was so overwhelming that “Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the meeting” (Exodus 40:35). This glory announced that the holy God had chosen to dwell among His covenant people. It also taught Israel that access to God required priesthood, sacrifice, cleansing, and obedience to His revealed order. The tabernacle was not a house large enough to contain God, for heaven itself cannot contain Him. Every curtain, altar, washing, sacrifice, and priestly action pointed beyond itself. The visible glory filled a structure, but the structure anticipated a greater dwelling of God with humanity.
John deliberately used tabernacle language when he wrote, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory” (John 1:14). In Jesus Christ, divine glory was no longer associated chiefly with a tent or building; the eternal Son personally dwelt among human beings. Paul declared, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus also said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” and John explains that “he spoke of the temple of his body” (John 2:19, 21). Through His blood, believers now have boldness to enter the holiest and draw near with a true heart (Hebrews 10:19–22). The church becomes God’s dwelling through the Spirit, not because a congregation possesses glory in itself, but because the risen Christ inhabits His people. The glory that once made Moses unable to enter now draws believers near through the mediation of Jesus.
Get Vinu V Abraham’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Stephen’s final moments provide one of the clearest New Covenant pictures of a believer seeing the glory of God and the exalted Christ at the threshold of death. Acts 7:55 records, “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Full of the Holy Spirit, Stephen was enabled to look beyond the hatred of his accusers and behold the reality of heaven. The vision did not spare Stephen from the stones, but it showed him that earthly violence could not separate him from Christ. While being stoned, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:59–60). By entrusting his spirit to Jesus,Stephen fell asleep, a tender biblical description showing that death for the believer is not the end but a temporary rest awaiting resurrection. His vision assures believers that the glory revealed in Christ is stronger than persecution, suffering, and death.
Seeing the Glory of God Today
We do not seek to repeat Moses’ experience as though God had given no fuller revelation. We learn to see His glory through the means He has appointed: creation, Scripture, the gospel of Christ, the transforming work of the Spirit, and the life of the redeemed community. Creation is a universal witness because “the heavens declare the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). The order, power, beauty, variety, and dependence of the created world reveal the wisdom and power of its Maker. Paul says that God’s “eternal power and divine nature” are understood “by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). Creation does not tell us everything needed for salvation, but it leaves humanity without excuse for refusing to honor the Creator. We must enjoy the world without worshipping the world.
Scripture gives the authoritative interpretation that creation alone cannot provide. Peter had seen the majesty of Christ on the mountain, yet he directed believers to the Spirit-given prophetic Word. He wrote, “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16), and he recalled the voice that said, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased” (2 Peter 1:17). He then added, “we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention” (2 Peter 1:19). The apostolic and prophetic testimony provides a stable, public, God-given witness for the whole church. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Word opens our understanding and points us to Christ. Scripture is “a lamp” shining in a dark place until the day dawns and Christ’s light is fully revealed. Therefore, anyone who wants to understand God’s glory today must look through Scripture and meditate Scripture with eyes fixed on Jesus.
The Glory Reflected Perfectly in Christ
Jesus Christ is not merely another reflection of God’s glory alongside creation, prophets, and righteous people. He is the eternal Son and the perfect revelation of the Father. Hebrews calls Him “he radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). The glory of God does not merely rest upon Christ from outside; the Son shares the divine nature and makes the invisible God known. Jesus could therefore say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). This does not mean that the Father and the Son are the same Person, but that the Son perfectly reveals the Father’s nature, words, works, and saving will.
The deepest revelation of glory, however, appears in the cross and resurrection. Before His death Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1). The hour of shame in human judgment became the hour in which divine holiness, justice, obedience, love, and mercy were displayed together. Paul explains that God shines in human hearts “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). We cannot understand God’s glory correctly if we separate majesty from the crucified Son. The cross shows that glory, which is not self-exalting pride, for the Son humbled Himself in obedience to the Father. The resurrection and ascension show that the Father vindicated the Son and exalted Him above every name. Anyone who desires to see the Father must come to the Son, and anyone who comes to the Son must receive the way of the cross.
From Falling Short to Transformation
Human beings were created in God’s image and were meant to represent His rule and character within creation. Sin corrupted that vocation, and Paul summarizes the human condition: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We fall short because we refuse to honor God as God, exchange His glory for created things, and seek glory for ourselves. We have turned away from the One whose image we bear and whose glory gives human life its purpose. The gospel begins with God’s gracious action in Christ, not with the sinner’s attempt to manufacture spiritual brightness. Through faith, sinners are justified, reconciled, adopted, and given the Holy Spirit.
The New Covenant does more than forgiving the past sin; it begins the restoration of the image of God in the believer. Paul writes, “But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). This transformation comes “even as by the Spirit of the Lord,” so Christian growth is neither self-salvation nor passive inactivity. The Spirit turns our attention to Christ through the Word, exposes sin, renews the mind, produces obedience, and forms holy desires. Believers actively repent, pray, obey, serve, and persevere because God is actively working within them. Sanctification is the present stage of a glory-shaped salvation: we behold Christ, depend on the Spirit, and increasingly reflect the character of the Lord whom we worship.
Paul gives the daily command in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whether, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.” This command brings the glory of God into ordinary life. Eating, working, serving, speaking, parenting, studying, giving, resting, managing money, enduring hardship, and making decisions all become opportunities for worship. To glorify God does not mean doing religious activities only in public settings. It means living every part of life under the lordship of Christ. A believer glorifies God when he tells the truth even when a lie would be easier. A wife and husband glorify God when they serve one another in Christlike love. A worker glorifies God when he works honestly even when no supervisor is watching. A believer glorifies God when he forgives, repents, gives generously, refuses impurity, and patiently endures suffering. The motive matters greatly. Good works done to gain praise from people become empty before God. Jesus warned, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them” (Matthew 6:1). The Christian life is not a performance intended to make people admire us; it is a Spirit-empowered life intended to direct people toward the Father.
Final Glorification at the Return of Christ
The glory of God will be more openly realized when Jesus Christ returns. God’s saving purpose moves without failure from foreknowledge and predestination to calling, justification, sanctification and glorification. Paul writes, “Whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:30), using the certainty of God’s purpose to speak of the future as accomplished. Glorification does not make believers divine or independent; it perfects them as redeemed human beings conformed to the image of the Son. Christ “transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). John adds, “When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). The sight of Christ, the resurrection of the body, freedom from corruption, and perfect holiness belong together in the believer’s hope.
Revelation 21 presents the New Jerusalem after the final judgment and declares, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23). The redeemed will see God’s face, bear His name, serve Him, and reign for ever and ever (Revelation 22:3–5). We will then glorify God perfectly because His grace will have completed the work that His grace began.
Conclusion
The glory of God cannot be reduced to brilliant light, although light often accompanies its manifestation. It is the revealed excellence of the living God: the weight of His holiness, the beauty of His goodness, the firmness of His justice, the tenderness of His mercy, the power of His sovereignty, and the truth of His name. Moses asked to see that glory, and God both showed and proclaimed it. The glory filled the tabernacle, yet the tabernacle pointed forward to the Word made flesh. Jesus Christ is the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the cross reveals that glory through holy love and righteous mercy. Creation declares, “The heavens declare the glory of God,” while Scripture centers that glory in Christ and the Holy Spirit forms its reflection in believers (Psalm 19:1).
We magnify Him vertically through worship, thanksgiving, trust, obedience, and the offering of everyday life. We magnify Him horizontally when Spirit-produced fruit and God-dependent good works cause others to glorify and honor the Father. We should look for glory in creation without worshipping creation, receive glory through Scripture without chasing unauthorized experiences, and behold glory in Christ without separating His crown from His cross. Salvation vindicates God’s character and leads the redeemed into the praise of His glory. When Christ returns, He will raise His people, conform them to His glorious body, and bring them into a creation illuminated by God and the Lamb. Until that day, “whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
