THE GOD OF GLORY

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the GOD of GLORY thunders; the LORD is over many waters – Psalm 29:3

One of the Covenant Names of the Almighty is “El Hakkavod” – the GOD of GLORY (Psa.29:3). Glory is a divine Virtue, the seeds of which God sovereignly sows into different aspects of creation. God created everything with glory and for His Glory! All of creation exists to express and manifest one color of glory or the other. God designed all things with their ‘glory’ buried within and consistent with their purpose. He desires for everything to be or become all they were made to be! God is excited when glory is manifested: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psa.19:1).

Only the Almighty is entitled to be called the GOD of GLORY! Glory is what sets God apart in a class of His own. His Glory is the fullness or reality of His Presence, including His Nature and acts in Self-determination. Glory is God putting Himself on display. At Mount Horeb, Moses had a breath-taking encounter with God. There he met “the God of Glory,” and pleaded with Him to remain with His people Israel. When God promised to do so, Moses, seeking further reassurance, boldly demanded, “I beseech You, show me Your Glory” (Exo.33:18b). The Hebrew word kavod originally meant “heavy, weighty,” the same word that describes the armor used in battle. Over time the word became linked with wealth, honor, dignity, and power, and it eventually came to denote “glory.” All of these attributes combine to depict God as “the God of Glory.”

By the eyes of faith, we see the God of Glory in creation, as He who “is over many waters” (v.3b). His powerful and fully majestic Voice thunders over the waters, breaks and splinters the mighty cedars of Lebanon; surpasses fiery powers, and divides the flames of fire (v.3-7). His Voice shakes the wilderness, provokes deliveries of destinies, strips the forest bare, “and in His temple everyone says, “GLORY!” (vv.8-9). The God of Glory sits enthroned in dominion over the Flood and all that it represents (v.10). From this position of Dominion, the God of Glory strengthens and blesses His people with Peace!

As magnificent as this was, Moses wasn’t satisfied to see God’s glory in nature – over the floods, fires, wilderness, and forests. Beyond God’s display of glory in creation, Moses wanted to see God’s face – His Manifest Glory! However, because of the weight of God’s glory, His absolute uniqueness, perfect holiness, and thorough transcendence, no one could see God’s face and live (v.20). Even so, God allowed Moses to see His glory as He passed by. He commanded him as follows: “Here is a place by me; and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by” (vv.21-22). That’s how real and tangible God’s Glory is!

Moses caught a glimpse of God’s glory at Sinai, but today we can see God’s glory in Jesus Christ: “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the GLORY of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Cor.3:17-18).

The Father’s Will and Purpose is for His glory, revealed in Christ, to transform our lives in the here and now! As believers in Christ, we are divinely designed to reflect God’s dignity, weight, and significance to those around us. It is indeed a wonderful but a humbling thought to know that God has called His children to become partakers of His Glory: “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who CALLED US TO GLORY and virtue” (2Peter 1: 3). He has called us “out of darkness, to show forth His praises under His marvelous light” (1Peter 2: 9).