Here is the Glory of God
The brilliance of all God is and does focuses like a laser on the newborn Son of God.
At the time of Jesus’ birth the religious leaders taught that the glory of God dwelt in the Jerusalem temple. Specifically, they believed it found its mark above the Foundation Stone located on the floor at the center of the Holy of Holies.
When the Babylonians destroyed the temple in 587 B.C. they also destroyed the Ark of the Covenant, a visible token of God’s presence and glory among his special people, the Hebrews. The Hebrew people spent decades in exiled captivity in Babylon, but later returned and rebuilt the temple. According to rabbinic tradition they found the very stone that Jacob used for a pillow at Bethel and placed it where the Ark of the Covenant had previously stood in the temple.
Meanwhile, the angels appeared to the shepherds and “the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:9). God’s glory found its fulfillment not memorialized in an artifact but revealing the miraculous work of God in Bethlehem. The Son of God was born!
Here is the glory of God! “The son is the radiance of God’s glory” (Hebrews 1:3). The brilliance of all God is and does focuses like a laser on the newborn Son of God. If you want to know what God is like, look here. If you want a glimpse of God, see the One who lies in the manger. Not a private viewing, either, but a public display for all to see.
Therein lies the glory of God today, beyond Bethlehem and the manger. “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Grace is accomplished. Truth is real. In the One and Only, the glory of God, Jesus Christ. And, by faith, he is ours.
We now “share in his glory” (Romans 8:17).
Shepherds. A helpless infant. Sinners. There is God’s glory, not cased up and protected or locked up in secreted legends but now unleashed with an invitation for all to find it and live in it.
Looking to transcend your circumstances? Need strength for tomorrow? Backed into a corner and nothing you are trying seems to be working? Remember the glory of God available to all in Jesus.
PRAYER: Give us your glory, O God. In our weakness and our sinfulness, lift us up to the glory of the heavens in the gift of your Son, our Savior. Make our decisions and behavior as holy as that of the angels, and raise us up from minimal expectations to accomplishments that are impossible except in the realms of your glory. Accept our worship of your Son, and bless us in his name. Amen.