The Son’s Glory

The cover photo¹ from NASA is called the Hypergiant Star Canis Majoris. It is one of the largest known star; it is an exceptionally large, luminous red hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major. With a radius about 1,420 times that of the Sun, corresponding to a diameter of 13.2 astronomical units. We stand amazed in seeing such astonishing heavenly body and some sees it’s gloriousness compared to other created things. But it’s glory cannot be compared to the glory of the One who came and died for His people, the LORD JESUS CHRIST .

We learned last time about the Deity of the Son. So here are our affirmations that we found so important in our understanding of the gospel:

• We affirm the eternal existence of the Son.
• We affirm the deity of the Son.
• We affirm that the within the One Being that is God, there exists three divine persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, co-eternal and co-equal.
• We affirm that if Jesus is not God, there is no gospel & salvation.

Having affirmed all these we will now turn our attention to the glory that was our LORD JESUS CHRIST before the incarnation, before the foundation of the world, even from all eternity.

We must first ask, what is glory?

כָּבוֹד kavod

Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.

Psalm 24:8

It is a Hebrew word that means weight, splendor, magnificence or great beauty². The original concrete meaning of kavod is battle armaments (Psalm 24:8). The meaning “armament” fits with the literal meaning of the root of kavod, which is “heavy,” and armaments are the heavy weapons and defenses of battle.

Hebrew 1:3a

He is the radiance of the glory of God. Or brightness – A light flashing forth (from) or radiation. This is what the Nicene Creed asserts,  “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God.“

It is impossible to look at the sun without seeing its brightness. It is impossible to see God without seeing the Son.

According to Matthew Henry As the beams are effulgent emanations of the sun, the father and fountain of light, Jesus Christ in his person is God manifest in the flesh, he is light of light, the true Shechinah. Shechinah Glory or resting-place, not found in Scripture, but used by the later Jews to designate the visible symbol of God’s presence in the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-38). The person of the Son is the true image and character of the person of the Father.

and the exact imprint of His nature, One word in Greek: χαρακτὴρ (charaktēr) – equality and sameness of nature.

Colossians 1:15-17

The Son is the image of the invisible God. Greek word eikón, which refers to an “image” or “likeness.

Not of deity, though the fulness of it dwells in him; nor of himself, though he is the true God, and eternal life; nor of the Spirit, who also is God, and the Spirit of the Son; but the Father, called “God”, not to the exclusion of the Son or Spirit, who are with him the one God (Hebrews 1:3).

Only God can bear the exact likeness of God the Father. 

The Son is the Firstborn of all creation. NOT the first created being God made (v.16). In Psalm 89:27, God declares the following concerning David: “I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” It is clear that David was the “firstborn” of God only in the sense that he was ranked above all other kings. Psalm 89:27  He has all the rights & privileges of a firstborn son.

The Son is Creator of all things. for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities. It is important to distinguish, as Cornelius Van Til always illustrate with big circle and small circle under it, the Creator-creature distinction. We did not create ourselves. All creation owes its existence to the Son, is directly related to Him, and stands in relation to Him.

The Son is before all things. All things make no exception. None precedes the Son. The Son’s eternality, supremacy, and preeminence are communicated in this declaration.

The Son is the Sustainer of all things. all things have been created through Him… All creation exists in utter and total dependence upon the Son (Heb. 1:3)

The Son is the Great End of all things. all things have been created… for Him. The eternal glory of the Son is seen in the fact that all things were made through Him and for His glory and good pleasure.

He “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). The Son is not like the mythological Atlas, who groans under the weight of a single world; on the contrary, He upholds countless worlds with the ease of a single word!

Isaiah 6:1-10

The Apostle John in John 12:40-41 quotes Isaiah 6:10, he said that Isaiah said this because he saw His glory, the glory of the Messiah. Jesus Himself is the Holy One of God.

There is a fourfold testimony to the glory and exaltation of the Son in this passage

1. It is highlighted by an Earthly Crisis  v. 1a
2. It is unveiled in the Heavenly Temple v. 1b
3. It is announced by the Heavenly Hosts v. 2-3
4. It is displayed in His Cosmic Glory v.3b-4

The words high and lifted are pair of words that Isaiah loves to use (see. 53:13; 57:15), and it conveying its exalted authority and unparalleled superiority. God’s robe as a symbol of His glorious presence or majesty filled the temple.

There is also a declaration of the Son’s glory and preeminence as exclaimed by the seraphim. “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY”

The word holy in Hebrew is Qadosh which literally means to separate. It is God’s ‘separatedness’. It is the quality which marks off the divine nature, setting God apart from all else, making him the Being that He is.

Things to remember

We only have a glimpse of eternity and the Son’s glory, we cannot know Him in full yet (1 John 3:2).

John Calvin comments, “Christ, indeed, could not divest himself of Godhead; but he kept it concealed for a time, that it might not be seen, under the weakness of the flesh. Hence he laid aside his glory in the view of men, not by lessening it, but by concealing it.”

But it is enough to know who the Son is in the highest and most exalted sense of the word and that He bore the glory of God as God. We behold the glory of God in the person of His Son, JESUS CHRIST (2 Cor 3:18). Mark Jones notes, “Christ makes the glory of God not only possible but also visible. “

It should be enough for us to worship Him.³

“Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”

Revelation 5:12

We can ONLY gaze upon the splendid glory of God in the face of His exalted Son.

1 Peter 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.

A. Barnes comments, “The things which are here referred to, εἰς ἅ eis ha are those which the prophets were so desirous to understand. The great truths respecting the sufferings of Christ, the glory which would follow, and the nature and effects of the gospel. In all the events pertaining to the redemption of a world they felt a deep interest.”

The angels longed to look and see the Son’s glory and the prophets of old tried to comprehend it. But we have a greater measure of the unveiling of the glory of the Son. It should cause us to wonder and to be amazed every time we think and meditate upon the gospel. For in the gospel alone, we see the glory of the Son, who died that we might have life.

Jesus did not lay aside His glory by becoming a man since in the incarnation, we see His glory (John 1:14). But it is clear that He had glory or privileges that are His prior to incarnation as He claimed in John 17:5. Jesus Christ laid aside His glory in that,

• He who is glorious in beauty was found to be with an appearance that was so marred, beyond human semblance (Isaiah 52:14).
• He who knows all things didn’t know the hour of His return (‭‭Mark‬ ‭13:32‬).
• He who is all-powerful kept silent under the mockery of the soldiers (1 Peter 2:23).
• He who has glorious riches in heaven became poor on earth (2 Corinthians 8:9).
• He who inhabits eternity was born in a manger (Luke 2:7).
• He who is thrice holy dwelt with sinners (Matthew 9:11).
• He who has the glorious privilege of being eternally loved by the Father was forsaken on the cross (Matthew 27:46).

Is it not amazing that One like Him would die for sinners like you and me?

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

---

Notes:

¹ Source: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html

² Source: https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/definition/glory.htm

³ Other verses that speaks about the glory of the Son Matthew 17:1-5, John 14:9, John 17:22, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Corinthians 4:6