SEPTEMBER 9

TO THE GLORY OF GOD

“Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.” (John 17:1)

The Hebrew word for glory is “kabod” meaning: weight, heaviness, glory, or honour. The Greek word is “doxa” for glory, honour, praise.

Oftentimes the thought of glory bespeaks of an effulgence, radiating light, but actually it is much more than that, there is substance, weightiness to glory. Honour that is accorded is by virtue of a state of being that is esteemed for what it IS. Certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is declared to be “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” (Heb. 1:3). As the Father glorified the Son, so also the Son returned that glory to the Father – all that the Son did, and was, brought praise to the Father.

“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh His glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” (John 7:18). Obviously, Christ was speaking of Himself as not seeking His own glory, but only to glorify the Father which sent Him. There was no selfish interest in Christ, no turning the glory away from the Father, so that He might indulge in His own exaltations. He humbled Himself, and because of this, it was God who highly exalted Him.

So pure will become the desire of God’s elect firstfruits, they only seek to glorify God, and yet knowing that only in the measure that He will glorify them can they glorify Him. Paradoxical as it sounds, it is true. We must first receive of Him, and then shall we have that which can be returned to Him – to give unto Him. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Cor. 4:7).

All that we have, all that we are in our becoming, is the result of His grace toward us. Of ourselves we are nothing. “I am what I am by the grace of God.” (1 Cor. 15:10). Yet He will share with us of His glory, that we may in turn give glory to our God.

Ray Prinzing