The Gospel of the Glory of God
THE purpose of everything—including Christ himself—outside of God the Father is that the glory of God the Father may be revealed. God is called the God of glory; he is called the Father of glory. He is the God of glory; he is the Father of glory; he is the source of glory. All other glory is nothing. There is no other glory. Glory, if it is real, must be the glory of God. There are many other appearances of glory calculated to deceive; they are not real. The only glory is God's glory. First this glory was revealed in Christ, and so we read of Christ, the Son of God, “Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Christ was the brightness, or the outshining, or the revealing of the glory of God. When he created man, he said to the Son, “Let us make man in our image;” and when man was made in the image of God, he was created for the glory of God; that is, he was created that the glory of God might further be revealed. And the Scripture says: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor.” But that was for the glory of God. It was also for the glory of man; but it was for the glory of man because it was for the glory of God, and primarily, it was for the glory of God. But then, what happened? Then sin came in. So we read, “For all have sinned, and lack the glory of God.” All have sinned, and having sinned, and because of sin, lack the glory of God. It is a lack. Just as the young man said to Christ in the nineteenth chapter of Matthew, “All these things I have kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” That is the same word. Now all have sinned, and lack the glory of God, and lack the glory of God because of sin, and on account of sin. But what is God's purpose, even after sin had entered? We find it stated in Numbers fourteen. After the people had heard the report from the spies, and had turned against God, and would have stoned Caleb and Joshua because they would encourage them to go up and take possession of the land, then God said he would blot them out, and make a great nation of Moses, and Moses besought the Lord that it should not be done. “And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” How did Moses know that?—Because, when in connection with his work of leading out the children of Israel he besought the Lord, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory,” the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee,” and he stood with Moses there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord, and told him that he was long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Now that is what he was, and he told Moses that that is what he was and that was his goodness; that was his glory; that was his character. Now Moses brings back his own word to him: “Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people4according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not harkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.” “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Now that was his purpose when he sent John the Baptist out with his message. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” That is still his purpose. In order that that purpose might be carried out, even after sin had entered in, and the human family lacked the glory of God,—in order that all the world might be filled with the glory of God, the gospel came in. So what is the gospel?—It is “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.” That is the gospel—the gospel of the glory of God; and again, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” That is the gospel—the gospel of the glory of God. That is the everlasting gospel; it is the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, and who is the very brightness of his glory. Now, John declared that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” and he was preparing the way for the Lord, and he was making ready a people prepared for the Lord. And when Christ came the first time, the glory of the Lord was revealed. For “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” And the glory of the Lord was revealed, but they did not see it. It was revealed, veiled in his humanity; and Christ, who was himself in the flesh the gospel, was the gospel of the glory of God. Now he is to be revealed again with power and great glory, unveiled glory; and he has given a message now to prepare a people made ready for the Lord, and made ready for that time, now so near, when he will be revealed in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. Then what are we to look forward to?—“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of God our Saviour.” Then, what is the purpose of the gospel?—It is that that original purpose in the creation of the world shall be carried out. “I am the Lord, I change not.” He created this world and all in it to reveal his glory. He has never changed his mind, and he says, “As truly as I live”—and he is the living God—“As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” And it will; and it is through the gospel that it will be done,—the gospel of the glory of the blessed God,—the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.