Speaking The Glory

“Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” – John 12:41-43

What is God’s glory? We bandy the phrase about as if it’s common knowledge, yet when you look it up, you get enigmatic phrases like “the infinite excellency of the Divine essence.” Herman Bavinck says: “The ‘glory of the Lord’ is the splendor and brilliance that is inseparably associated with all of God’s attributes and his self-revelation in nature and grace, the glorious form in which he everywhere appears to his creatures.” God’s glory is the infinite, indescribable perfection and glory of all of his attributes. He is not only loving, but glorious in his loving; not only just, but glorious in his justice. 

Just before this passage, John quotes Isaiah chapter 6, in which we read: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his—” holiness, surely? But no—“glory!” God’s glory is his inherently great and beautiful holiness, but it is also the going-public of his holiness, the way he makes it manifest, the way he puts it on display for us to comprehend. There is an interior-exterior dynamic at play, which Bavinck’s definition also gets at. And that interplay exists too in our true response to God’s glory: it is not enough to see it and believe it. We must confess and display it. As Jonathan Edwards wrote, “Sometimes [glory] is used to signify what is internal, inherent, or in the possession of the person: and sometimes for emanation, exhibition, or communication of this internal glory.”

John makes a contrast here. Both Isaiah and “many even of the authorities” saw God’s glory: Isaiah saw God on his throne, the seraphim, the smoke, the shaking (Isaiah 6). The “many” saw Jesus (“we have seen his glory,” John 1:14), who is literally “the glory that comes from God.” Yet while Isaiah “said” and “spoke,” the “many” did not confess. Why? The word for “glory,” doxa, means on the simplest level “opinion, view.” They cared more about the opinion of others than they did about the opinion of God. They cared more about how others viewed them than they did about Jesus himself.

The Pharisees were the largest, most important group of Jews at that time, who controlled the synagogue and the perceived way to God. How often do we silently believe in our hearts, but fail to confess, to live it outwardly in some way, because we don’t want to lose a certain kind of community or credibility? We may hesitate to admit a sin addiction to another person, or let people at work know what we believe, or live counter-culturally if we’re the only ones doing it. Confession, especially around here, can come at a cost. Love for the glory of man runs deep in us. It takes a heart-experience of the glory of God to transform us. It takes being touched with the burning coal, with Jesus who truly takes away our sins. May we be people who not only want to shine out the being of God but experience His delight in us when we do so.