THE GLORY OF JESUS

Gods glory been a huge theme of my ministry and life for the past 39 years. I have spoken much and written much about the glory of God. Simply put, the glory of God is the  manifestation of who God is in all of his beauty, greatness, grandeur, infinite love,holiness, and perfections.  In short, glory is the beauty of God unveiled. Glory is all of God that makes God God. Glory is what you see and experience and feel when God goes public with his beauty.
The supreme manifestation of God’s glory is seen in the person of Jesus Christ. "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature" (Hebrews 1:3). "He is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1: 1 5). The glory of Jesus has nothing to do with how He smelled or looked or the sound of His voice or the strength of His arms or the color of His hair or the way He dressed. Jesus is beautiful because He has a glory, an excellence, a spiritual supreme beauty-that can be self-evidently true. That is to say, when you see Him there is a direct and personal apprehension of the glory that you see. It’s like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet. There is a direct apprehension and attraction once you see Jesus that affects your thinking, your will, and your feelings, it goes deep and does something to your very soul. It changes your life. John writes of his experience with Jesus in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

When it comes to the glory of Christ, who can adequately describe glory and beauty that is infinite and is therefore beyond description? There is no one like Christ in this regard.

The entire life, ministry, and person of Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the glory of God. Jesus prayed to the father at the end of his life and said, I glorified you on earth, having accomplish the work that you gave me to do. John 17:4. His entire ministry was aimed at this,: to make the father look glorious. Earlier in his ministry he cried out, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven: I have a glorified it, and I will glorify it again John 12:27–28.

How does Jesus show this glory? I love what John Pipers calls it:
the paradoxical juxtaposition of seeming opposites in Jesus Christ. This is at the heart of how God shows himself glorious to us. Jonathan Edwards summed it up in a great sermon called the "Excellencies of Christ". He drew attention to Revelation 5:5–6, where Christ appears as the lion of the tribe of Judah and as a lamb standing as though he had been slain. This is the picture of the paradoxes of the lion and Lamb. Jesus is both a lion – like lamb and a lamb – like lion. A lion is admirable for its ferocious strength and imperial appearance. A lamb is admirable for its meekness and servant-like provision of wool for our clothing. But even more admirable is this union of seeming opposites – a lion – like Lamb and a lamb – like Lion. What makes Christ glorious, as in where to put it, is an "admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies".

Christ's attributes work together in harmony. And there is a glory in Christ that exceeds any of His individual characteristics. It is like a rainbow in which the individual colors are beautiful, but their combination heightens the sense of beauty. Think about this we admire Christ for his transcendence, but even more because the transcendence of his greatness is mixed with submission to God. Marvel at him because his uncompromising justice tempered with  mercy. His majesty is sweetened  by his meekness. In His equality with God he has a deep reverence for God. Though he is worthy of all good, he's patient to suffer evil. His sovereign dominion over the world was clothed with the spirit of obedience and submission. He baffled the proud scribes with his wisdom but was simple enough to be loved by children. He could  still the storm with a word but not strike the Samaritans with  lightning or take himself down from the cross.

We were made to see, saver, no, and enjoy this person, Jesus Christ, a low the incarnation of the all – glorious God. Oh see the heart of this incredible glory, Remember I called this gods paradoxical juxtaposition of seemingly opposite truths and Jonathan Edwards calling it an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. This incomparable pattern of gods self revelation in Jesus through a lion – like lamb and lamb like -lion.

May God open your eyes to see that s glory so that your hearts become enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God; enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God; enravished, excited, and enticed by God; astonished, amazed, and awed by God; astounded, absorbed, and agog with God; beguiled and bedazzled, startled and staggered, smitten and stunned; stupefied and spellbound; charmed and consumed; thrilled and thunderstruck; obsessed and preoccupied; intrigued and impassioned; overwhelmed and overwrought; gripped and rapt; enthused and electrified; tantalized, mesmerized, and monopolized, fascinated, captivated, and exhilarated by God; intoxicated and infatuated with God!
Amen!