Moses prayed, “Lord, show me Your glory.”
I thought Moses was on to something good and so I prayed the same thing. “Lord, show Me your glory.” I sensed the Lord speaking to me, “Tim, you don’t need to pray that prayer. I have already shown you My glory.”
John 1:14 immediately came to mind. “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.” Jesus is the glory of God. God has been showing me His glory my whole believing life. I have been seeking some mystical, esoteric experience, and God continues to point me to His Son. There is glory in the Son. I’ve always been beholding the glory of God.
When you come to think of it, what could have or convey more glory than Jesus? Some fleeting experience? A vision that gives me goosebumps? When God showed Moses His glory, Moses only saw His back. In Jesus, the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.
The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:1, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life…” He and others saw and heard and looked at and touched the glory of God. He goes on in verses 3-4 to say,
“…what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”
We have been invited to fellowship with the glory of God. Beholding the glory of God ushers us into the joy of the Lord. Moses momentarily saw His back. We eternally see His glory.
When I am sitting at the table and there is catsup on my french fries, I do not ask, “Please pass the catsup.” Why would I ask for what I already have? If you are a follower of Jesus you do not need to ask for God’s glory. It is set before you and fills you and is transforming you. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “…we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” Why would I pray to see what I am already seeing? We think that beholding the glory of God will usher us into a moment of blissful heavenly revelation when in reality, beholding the glory of God continues a process of earthly transformation. We long for a revelation of the supernatural whereas God is doing an ongoing work of transforming the natural into the spiritual. You long for an experience. God seeks a disciple.
Jesus prayed in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me…” Jesus wants you to be with Him where He is. Where is that? Seated at the right hand of God! This is why the apostle Paul wrote Colossians 3:1-4 –
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So are you! You don’t need a revelation of His glory. You need a revelation of the glory that is yours because you are in Christ. Set your mind on the things above. This is the pathway to beholding the glory of the Lord. Read your Bible. Pray. Worship. Seek God. Behold the glory of the Lord! This won’t make you some heavenly-minded believer who is of no earthly good. This will make you a heavenly-minded believer who can finally be of some earthly good.
