The Glory of God

Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Greater Tabernacle where the glory of God is manifested and resides forevermore – John 1:14.

The Prologue of John’s Gospel presents key themes of the Book, most critically, that Jesus is “the Word that became flesh.” Life and light are found in Christ. He is the true and final “Tabernacle” where the presence of God permanently dwells. In this flesh and blood human being, the glory of God is manifested for all men and women to see.

Jesus of Nazareth is the way by which men see and access God. The Son of Man is “the ladder” on which angels “ascend and descend” between Heaven and Earth, and he is the True Temple where the worship of the Father now takes place – (John 1:51, 4:20-24).

[Glorious - Photo by Mohamed Nohassi (Morocco) on Unsplash]

Access to God’s presence is no longer limited by the physical walls of any building or the borders of Palestine or the City of Jerusalem. Jesus is the manifestation of the Creative Word that now “tabernacles among us.” What the ancient tent sanctuary carried by Israel foreshadowed has been given full and concrete form in the Son of God - (John 1:14, 2:13-22).

• “Jesus answered and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews, therefore, said, This temple was being built for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. When, therefore, he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he spoke this, and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” – (John 2:19-22).

• “So then, you are no more strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone, in whom each several building, fitly framed together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” – (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Jesus is the expression of the Living God, and “the Word” or ‘Logos’ is embodied fully in him. In Christ’s Life, Words, Death, and Resurrection, we see the glorious divine nature. The description of the Word that “tabernacled among us” echoes the incident on Mount Sinai when God inscribed His ten “words” on stone tablets. In Jesus, the Word of God has been enfleshed, inscribed in a genuine human being who was subjected to human mortality and death.

The Greek verb translated as “tabernacled” in John 1:14 is ‘skénoō’ (σκηνοω), which means “to tabernacle; to pitch a tent.” It is related to the noun ‘skéné’ for “tent,” the same term used in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Book of Exodus for “the Tabernacle” carried by Israel. Thus, in Jesus, God is “tabernacling” among His people, for the Nazarene is the True Tabernacle where God’s presence dwells, and the Greater Temple where the saints behold and worship their Creator.

In the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to “construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them,” a portable structure fashioned “according to all that I am going to show you, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings,” and the place where God would meet with the nation’s representatives (but not with every Israelite):

• “Moses proceeded to take a tent and pitched it by itself outside the camp <…> and he called it, the Tent of Meeting <…> it came to pass, that when Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud came down and stood at the opening of the tent” - (Exodus 25:8-9, 33:7-11).

GRACE AND TRUTH

In the Septuagint version of Exodus, “the tent of Meeting” is called the ‘skéné martyriou’ or “the tent of witness,” the place where God’s presence was seen in the pillars of cloud and fire.

Just as Yahweh revealed His presence among the people in the Tabernacle, so He now makes His habitation among His people in Jesus of Nazareth - (Exodus 40:34-35, Numbers 9:15-23).

John also states regarding Jesus, “We beheld his glory <…> full of grace and truth.” This statement uses additional imagery from the story in Exodus, and it echoes the self-description God gave to Moses.

The Great Lawgiver asked God to show him His glory. God responded that neither Moses nor any man “can see my face and live,” and therefore, He placed Moses in “the cleft of a rock” when He passed by, permitting him only to see God’s “backside.” As He descended in the cloud and passed by Moses, God proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God of compassion and grace, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and faithfulness” - (Exodus 33:17-23, 34:1-6).

Unlike the story in Exodus, today, the glory of God is revealed in the Son of God. Unlike Moses, Christ’s disciples see the divine glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and not just God’s “backside” but a glory comparable to that of “an only born from a father” - (John 17:24).

• “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Seeing it is God who said, Light will shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” - (2 Corinthians 4:5-6).

The glory manifested in the Nazarene is “full of grace and truth,” a statement that corresponds to the proclamation of Yahweh as he passed by Moses - “Abundant in loving-kindness and faithfulness.”

The glory glimpsed briefly by Moses, and from a distance, is now revealed fully and continually in Jesus. He is the Real Tabernacle in whom God dwells:

• “We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man” – (Hebrews 8:1-2).

Ever since Christ’s Death and Resurrection, God’s presence is no longer restricted to the ancient Tabernacle in the wilderness or the manmade Temple in Jerusalem.

No longer is the Divine Glory limited to any geographic location or only to brief periods during certain phases of the Moon. Not only does Jesus manifest the divine glory, but in the truest sense, he is the glory of God.

The old Tabernacle was glorious and revealed much about God's nature. Nevertheless, the glory seen in the Tabernacle faded over time, and access to the sanctuary was always limited. In contrast, the glory of God manifested to us in Jesus is full, visible, and available for every man and woman.

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SEE ALSO:

• Jesus is the Key - (Jesus is the key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and reveals the nature and redemptive purposes of the God of Israel)

• Seeing the Unseen God - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found in the Word made Flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, who alone has seen the unseen God – John 1:14-18)

• Glory Revealed - (Ever since the Word became flesh, the Divine Glory has been manifested in Jesus of Nazareth, and all who follow him behold it – John 1:14)

• A glória de Deus - (Jesus é o Verbo feito carne, o maior Tabernáculo onde a glória de Deus se manifesta e reside para sempre-João 1:14)