The Glory of God !

The Glory of God 

Chapter 1 - How to See the Glory of God

Thou knowest Lord, that that is no mere platitude with us, we do need Thee, and we need Thee this very moment. We can do nothing without Thee, neither speak, nor understand. Thou art the answer to our need. And we do not put the emphasis upon blessing us firstly, get something for Thyself. And if by blessing us, Thou canst be blessed, that is the governing thing. Lord help us... for His Name's sake, amen.

One could spend minutes talking about ourselves, about our meeting again after this long time; the joy of renewed fellowship. One looks upon faces long-remembered, and sees others, but we want the Lord to have all the moments. So we shall not be engaged with what after all would be very sincere and of real joy in Him, but let us get straight to His Word shall we? For I believe He has something to say to us.

Will you please take the gospel by John, chapter 11. Chapter 11 in the gospel by John, and with a swift glance down the page you will take in what is here on record. I just want you to pinpoint two places. Verse 4: "Jesus said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby".

And verse 40: "Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

"For the glory of God... thou shouldest see the glory of God."

You probably know chapters 11 to 17 of this gospel are chapters of summation and consummation. That is, a gathering up of everything into finality, and what comes out in great clearness in this consummate part of the gospel is the priority which governed the whole life, teaching, and work of the Lord Jesus. It seems that that is what John had in mind in writing, for he places this priority right at the beginning of this gospel, worked steadily along that line, and then brings it all out in this full and conclusive way at the end. Although for thirty years and more the Lord Jesus had been governed by this priority, there came a point, a crisis point in His life at which He made a complete adjustment of everything upon this one thing that we are calling the priority, where He determined that everything should be focused upon this, and that there should be no deviation at any point from this priority.

And what was it? The glory of His Father - the glory of God. "Thou shouldest see the glory of God..." that was His all-inclusive priority.

The Glory of His Father

As I have said, John struck that keynote right at the beginning when, writing after it was all over and seeing the whole content and significance of that life, work, teaching, and conduct, he started off by saying: "And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten of the Father" (1:14). That is bringing the Father right into view in the matter of glory. And then John went on writing the Gospel, like a great harmony or symphony tuned to that keynote, and all the way through keeping true to that - the glory of the Father.

And I believe, dear friends, that that is the keynote that the Lord wants that I should strike here, today. It is with me a very considerable burden in these days. Let us come to the Lord Jesus for a few minutes in this matter.

There was, as I have said, that hour of His great committal, His great committal took place at His baptism. He there and then committed Himself utterly, utterly to the glory of His Father. He gathered every detail of His life from that moment and centred it in this thing, as though He were saying: 'From this moment, not one deflection from that motive, that object: My Father's glory to govern everything.' And so it was, and so it was.

Firstly in His own personal, inner life, His secret walk with His Father. It's a most impressive thing as you read through this gospel, you find all the way along that everything is coming out of His personal, secret life with His Father. "The Son", He said, "can do nothing out from Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing". "He seeth the Father doing..." mysterious language, but those who know anything about Life in the Spirit know what it means. "Seeth the Father doing; that doeth He", and not in His own way, but "in like manner"; in like manner as the Father. How meticulous, how exact! His committal as to His own relationship with God His Father meant nothing of Himself, only what He knew in His own heart and His own secret history with God, that the Father wanted Him to do and to say. There was the background: the inner sanctuary life with the Father maintained unbroken.

As to His conduct, He behaved Himself on this ground that: 'How I behave, how I conduct Myself is going to be altogether a matter of how it touches My Father's glory. The impression I make upon others, what they see in Me and about Me, must never for one moment veil the glory of My Father, hide that glory, detrimentally affect that glory. My behaviour must always be for the glory of My Father.' This was as to Himself and His conduct, His walk. You know, John made a note of that, this walking business - not just an outward progress. John said: "as He walked" as He walked... there was something about His very movements that were governed, and His walk, His movements, His behaviour - always for the glory of His Father.

His work and His words, as we have quoted Him: "The works that I do, I do not from Myself, it's the Father Who doeth the work! The words that I speak, they are not of Myself, but My Father."

His times for doing things. Ofttimes we read that He put back suggestions from others that He should do things now, at this time. To come on that again, as we shall come on many of these things again as we go on today, but when something seemed to be demanded of Him, and people expected Him to do it at that time, He put it back: "Mine hour is not yet come" but very quickly afterwards He did it; because He was waiting. In His spirit He was saying: 'Father, is this Your time? Is this Your time?' Because you know, dear friends, you can do a right thing at the wrong time and it doesn't just work out. There are a lot of things, and it is just not the time for them. You remember the great incidents with the apostle Paul: "He assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered him not", to preach the word in Asia, but he was "forbidden of the Holy Ghost" and diverted, that was not the time, but Asia and Bithynia got it subsequently, in God's time. And when God's time is registered, things are very much more fruitful, you don't waste time. When we do things so often in our own time, well, we only put off things till God's time, nothing happens until God wants them done. That's by the way, but the Lord Jesus was like that: "Mine hour is not yet". "Mine hour is not yet" and yet the hour seemed to come so quickly afterwards. But here He is, moving, speaking, working, timing, by His fellowship with the Father. He brought everything else on to that ground.

Now before I can go on any further I must return you to the definition of that word. It may be in this place that I have given this definition I don't know, but I do not know of a better. What does glory mean where God is concerned? What is the meaning of the word 'glory' when it relates to God? It just means this, dear friends, the... shall I call it the rebound of God's complete satisfaction, when things have answered to God's nature, God's mind, God is so satisfied, God is delighted, God is well-pleased, there comes out to that which answers to Him, something of God's own satisfaction, God's pleasure. You can put that to the test in more ways than one in your own lives, but take your Bible and begin at the beginning.

Have I, on the side of the Scripture at any rate, proved the definition that glory is the expression of God's perfect satisfaction?

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(The End)