The Glory of Christ
“I seek not mine own glory.” — John viii. 50.
FROM this point our Lord begins to speak of his glory, as if He ah-eady beheld its dawn, and pressed on with renewed speed to where it beckoned; although the dark ravine of death lay between Him and its cit sunny heights. The Shekinah that shone within the veil of his human nature was, for the most part, veiled from all besides; except that once on the mount of transfiguration it burst from all restraint, and saturated his human nature with torrents of light, so that the favoured three beheld his glory. But, speaking generally, it was veiled, and the curtains kept close drawn. The time was coming when He should be glorified; and it shall be our task reverently to consider the elements of which that glory was composed, and the conditions on which it rested.
In the olden time, Moses asked to see God’s glory. It is difficult to understand what he precisely meant by his request. Did he think that some superb procession would sweep down the mountain rent, in which the loftiest archangels should take a part, as the body-guard of Deity? Did he expect some supernatural unfolding of the mysteries of light, or of fire, or of the spirit-world? We cannot tell. But we eagerly notice that, in his reply, God spake of none of these things; but said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.” The prayer to behold God’s glory was answered by a catalogue of the moral qualities of the Divine nature. In other words, we may accept the affirmation of Professor Drummond, and say that glory 18o CljE (glorj of (Kljrist.
means character, or, rather, the revelation of character; so that those who behold it, keen in their appreciation of moral worth, may be constrained to admire and imitate. The glory of Jesus is, surely, the manifested beauty of his matchless character.
In speaking or thinking of the glory of the Lord Jesus, we must ever distinguish, as He did, between the glory which He had with the Father before the worlds were made, and that glory which accrued to Him as the result of his human life. The former was his by inherited right, as the fellow of Jehovah; the other was given to Him by his Father as the reward and guerdon for his obedience to death. The one is incommunicable, the unique property of his Diety; the other is transferable, for He graciously speaks of passing it on to his own. For the first, see xvii. 5; for the second, see xvii. i, 22, 24.
That He might the better preserve his incognito (if we may reverently so term it), and become a merciful and faithful High Priest, by a thorough participation in our human life. He laid aside the evidences of his Divine glory. To use the expressive word of the Holy Ghost, “He emptied Himself” And so He set Himself to win that glory which should result from a perfected character, and from suffering even unto death. It is of this that He speaks, when He says, “I seek not mine own glory.” Let it be clearly understood that it is of his glory, as the Son of Man and the obedient servant, that we are now speaking.
I. The Motive of Christ’s Desire for Glory. — That He desired glory is evident. Did He not directly ask for it? — “Father, glorify thy Son.” Was there not an accent of satisfaction in his twice-repeated ejaculation — first, when He heard of the inquiry by the Greeks, and again when Judas went out to do the fatal deed of treachery — “Now is the Son of Man glorified!” Are we not warranted in believing that it was the anticipation of the glory into which He must pass through suffering that quickened his pace into the valley of the shadow 1 ( Luke xxiv. 26).
And yet we cannot believe that our Master sought glory for any selfi, 1 end. This He could not do. He said e.xplicitly, “I seek not mine own glory.” There was not the shadow of “JatliEr, (glorify Cbu lame!” 18i
personal ambition resting as a cloud over that pure and noble heart. But He desired glory, that He might shed it back again upon his Father.
It was the supreme passion of his being to glorify the Father. As He descended into the dark valley, this was his one cry, “Father, glorify thy name! “Deeper and deeper still He went; and this same entreaty, breaking from his agonized heart, comes back to us yet fainter, and ever fainter.” Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, glorify thy name! “Perhaps even the love of the race and the desire to redeem had failed to support his fainting soul, unless his resolution had been empowered and maintained by this allmasterful desire. He was greedy, therefore, of every vestige of glory that He could win by suffering, even though it were unto death; that He might be able, though it were with but a feather-weight additional, to augment the revenue of glory which, through Him, should accrue to God.” Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify Thee.”
What an example He has left us that we should follow in his steps! Human applause, and admiration, and reward, would not hurt us, if we gathered them all only as the vinedressers pluck the produce of the vines for presentation to the owner of the vineyard. It is a high ideal, and yet evidently the Apostle thought it attainable; else he would not have exhorted his converts to seek that glory even in their meals (i Cor. x. 31). But it is only so that we can come into the deepest fellowship with our Saviour, when we, too, have so drunk of his spirit that we become absorbed in the same supreme object, and seek for the prizes of our high calling that we may cast them at the feet of God. That God may be better understood, and admired, and loved through our life; that men may turn from us to Him as from the jewel to the sunlight in which it sparkles; that more hearts may be brought beneath his sway — be this our aim, at all costs to ourselves.
II. The Directions in which his Desire was rem. zed. — The Apostle Peter says, “God gave Him glory” (i Pet. i. 21).
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In what did that glory consist? (i) In the indwellitig of God in his human nature. — The glory of the desert acacia-bush was in the fire that burnt there; of the tabernacle in the Shekinah glow; of Zion that God had chosen to dwell there. And the glory of our Lord, as to his human nature, was that in Him the Divine and human blended in perfect union; that the Father dwelt in Him, spake and wrought in Him; and that He was the perfect vehicle for the expression of the incorruptible life, which was, and is, and is to come. This was the glory which the Apostles beheld expressed on the Holy Mount.
(2) In his perfect endurance of the severest tests. — The whole brunt of evil broke on Him, as the roll of the Atlantic breaker on some weather-beaten rock. It is impossible to imagine tests more searching and complete than those through which He passed; in journeyings often; in conflicts with the Pharisees and Sadducees; in conflicts with his own brethren; in conflict with the devils that possessed the afflicted; in conflict above all with the prince of this world in that last terrible duel of the cross; in weariness and painfulness; in watchings often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in bloody sweat and nakedness; in the anguish of God-forsakenness and of dissolution. But, so far from being overcome, He rose out of each successive test, having set forth in perfect beauty the appropriate grace which it demanded, and absorbed the whole force of the trial with which He was confronted; so that it passed into Him, and became an addition to his moral strength, as the savage warriors think that the strength of each foe they slay in battle becomes incorporated into themselves.
(3) In the benefits which He has conferred on men. — There is no glory so dear to the noble heart as that accruing from helpfulness to others. When it comes we cannot be inflated with pride, because we are already so thankful to know of the blessing which we have been the means of bestowing. And, ah, what glory was it to the blessed Lord, that He has delivered us from the consequences of Adam’s sin; that He has borne away the sins of the world; that He has opened the kingdom to all believers; that He has made it possible for “^abiour, spriest. %mQ.” 183
sinful creatures to receive and be impelled by the very Spirit of God; that He has obtained for us a life which is death-proof, sin-proof, devil-proof, the essence and crown of blessedness! To be loved as Saviour, to be trusted as Priest, to be enthroned as King, to receive the unutterable devotion of myriads, and to be able to help them to the uttermost — this surely is one prime element in his glory.
(4) In the exaltation of his nature. — “The God of our fathers,” said Peter, “hath glorified his Son Jesus.” And in his mouth, fresh from the scenes of the Ascension and of Pentecost, these words referred to the glory of his exaltation (Acts ii. 32, 2)1; iii- I3)- We are told that, as a guerdon for his tears and obedience, the Father gave Him a name above every name, and set Him at his own right hand far above all creature life. But this was only possible because his nature was already supreme in its quality. It was no arbitrary act of enthronement; it was the recognition of superlative worth. And as He that descended ascends far above all heavens, that He might fill all things with floods of light, there is given an evidence of the glory of his being, of which the princes of this world were ignorant, but which now shines forth to illuminate all worlds.
These are but the guesses and babblings of a child; yet do they seem tracks that lead our feet towards the heart of this maryellous subject. But who shall tell of the love of the heart of God towards his Son, or of its expression? Here are depths which must be hidden from our scrutiny. As it was the passion of Christ to glorify the Father, so it was the passion of “the Father of glory” to glorify the Son. Yes, and as yet that glorification is only in its beginnings; the first stages alone of the coronation and enthronement of Jesus “in all his glory” have taken place: the full outburst of his meridian splendour is yet future. Ah, we are yet to behold some wondrous scenes, which will ravish our eyes and fill our hearts with an exceeding weight of glory! “God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.” And we shall behold his glory, nay, better, share it for ever and ever (John xiii. 31, 32; xvii. 22, 24).
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III. The Cost at which his Desire was realized. — The glory glistens in our view, but we are not always ready to consider its cost. The only path to the glory is that which lies through the tangled thorn-brake of sorrow. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, lying alone and forsaken through the winter with its pitiless blasts and frost. He must descend ere He can ascend. Pain must inflict the wounds in which the pearls of untold glory shall glisten.
Nor can it be otherwise with ourselves. We must be witnesses of the sufferings, if we would be partakers of the glory to be revealed; only as we suffer can we reign with Him; there must be fellowship with his sufferings if there shall be attainment to his resurrection; we must drink of his cup and be baptized with his baptism, if we would sit right and left of his throne.
But let us not invent death for ourselves; let us put our hands into his, and ask Him to lead us down one step at a time whither He will. It must be right to go where He takes us. It cannot be dreadful when He is there. He will not give us more than we can bear, because his own experience of pain will be a safe guide in his dealings with us. And, as we go down with Him into darkness and death, let us sing with assured hope, as He did, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show Me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”