Study to shew thyself approved unto God . . . 2 Timothy 2:15

The Impossible Task

The Impossible Task Of Joseph’s Brothers

That was the task Joseph gave to his brothers: “Go tell my father all my glory” (Gen. 45:13).

The response of old Jacob was the mark of a spiritual man: “I will go and see him before I die” (Gen. 45:28). There is no record of any antagonism toward those who had caused him years of grief.  What a blessedness this would be for the saints of God and what a removal of hardness and divisions would be manifested in the saints if this became the heart attitude while still in the body.

It was an impossible task to describe to the old sheik who lived in tents the glories of ancient Egypt, and that the son he mourned for was the administrator of all the riches of Egypt.

The Impossible Task Of New Testament Saints

When this is lifted to a higher level, the question comes with forceful intimidation: “How can we, fallen humanity restricted by sin, language and appreciation ever tell the Father the fulness of the glories of His Son?”  It is He who knows the fulness of all His glories and perfections and appreciates the delightfulness of each one constantly.  It becomes a stark reality that our surfacing of His glories is paltry, and yet, in infinite grace He delights to see our “exaltations” and hear our “exultations” of His Son.

When we consider the illustrations God uses to bring to our attention aspects of the Lord, each picture carries a truth, yet they are deficient for they are not the very image.  In some cases they are parabolic parallels and in others parabolic contrasts.  In the meditation of them there is need for carefulness in interpretation.

The Indescribable Perfection Of Christ

 The Magnetic Attractiveness Of Christ

If we caught a glimpse of the glories of the Lord, it would never be forgotten.  The unutterable wonder of His person, coupled with the resplendent regality of His position, would result in us finding nothing attractive in this world.  There would be a falling in love with Christ and an unsatisfiable longing to be with Him forever.  Peter saw His glory and never forgot it for in his epistles he speaks of it 15 times.  Paul saw His glory on the Damascus Road and never forgot it for in his prison epistles (included in this is 2 Tim.) he speaks of it 17 times. 

An Interesting Reality

When a person “falls in love” with an individual, that individual means everything to the one who loves. They speak constantly about him or her.  There is utter captivation, nothing else matters, all the world centers on that one person.

God is the same with Christ, He means everything to God and God cannot stop speaking about him.  Therefore, in the Old Testament God reveals His thoughts concerning the multi glories of Christ in shadows and statements.  When reading the gospels, it only right to be impressed by the fact that God is so enamored with the things the Lord does, He will have them repeated several times over.  It is as if God is saying: “Look at what He did here or there”, and in case we miss it, the Holy Spirit will cause men to write it again.  In the book of Revelation God pulls back the curtain and lets us see the absoluteness of the judicial glories of Christ and His position.  To make it clear, God has a title added to the Lord at the end of the book that is not found at the beginning.  In Rev. 1:1 it is written: “The revelation of Jesus Christ”, but in chapter 22:21 it is: “Our Lord Jesus Christ”.  He is Lord.

The Clarification Of The Expression “Moral Glory”

How can we then describe the moral beauties and the glorious perfections of the Lord?  It is an impossible task and all anyone can do is present an exceedingly faint and shadowy reiteration of them.  In reality they are a heart appreciation of His individual and combined perfections.  This can be faintly illustrated by playing the piano.  A single note can be played and it is acceptable in certain cases, however, if a harmonizing second note is played it is more interesting.  Furthermore, if a whole series of notes can be played harmoniously at one time and done repeatedly, it can produce a piece of music that will move the heart and mind.  This is the way it is with the Lord. We can see His actions and they are beautiful, if to his actions are added his words, it is increasingly beautiful. When there is added to these His motives, His goals, His attitudes or reactions and watch these unfold day after day and every moment of every day in perfection, the heart is moved by the superlative perfections of the Lord.

In every aspect of work there is a specialized language, consequently, unless an individual knows the language spoken and the context of the wording there will be confusion. For instance, a “knot” to a sailor is totally different from a “knot” to a carpenter.  When we speak of the moral glories of the Lord, what exactly is meant by the terms, “Moral Glory”, “Moral Beauty” and “Moral Perfection”?  We can easily understand official, divine, creational, or redemptive glories, but what is moral glory?

Summarized, it is the perfections of God manifested in the flesh, the beauty of holiness and godliness in everything Christ is, did and said.

Considering this further, the moral glory of the Lord is developed in several avenues: 

The moral glory of Christ shone on all those around Him and could not be restricted from being displayed.  Man might try to restrict it’s manifestation by pseudo spiritual traditions, nationalistic order, personal appearance or “spiritual hierarchy” in approaching Him or by personal relationships, but it continually radiated forth.  He was the light and that light constantly radiated from Him. Taking on humanity did not stop Him from being the outshining of moral glory, consequently, as such he was always illuminating, censoring or correcting.

In this context the word “Moral” is being used as in Heb. 1:9: “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity”.  Righteousness is in opposition to iniquity and indicates conformity to the character, the holiness of God and the moral Governor of the Universe.  It is the seen conformity to His characteristics in every deportment of life, in assessment and in knowing and demonstrating the power of God in every setting of life.

The moral glory of the Lord Jesus is His individual and combined perfections, perfectly combined and coordinated in perfect balance that manifest the heart and mind of God.  Being perfectly consistent with the character of God, one excellence will never cancel out another, but all will be in perfect cohesion.  Truth will never compromise to error but always balanced with grace. 

The word “glories” indicates another perfection of the Lord that is rarely applied to features of human beings, i.e. gentleness.  I have never heard anyone speak of the glory of someone’s gentleness or understanding.  Largely it always has to do with position, the glory of kingship, judgeship, etc.  In the Lord every attribute is a glory and therefore has a richness that is glorious to behold and appreciate.  Furthermore, in Christ these glories are not isolated or disconnected from each other but are perfectly blended, ultimately making one magnificent personage. 

When speaking of the glories of the Lord it is like a flower opening in the early morning to the rising sun.

Coming from another angle there is His personal glory which is seen on two levels, His humanity and His deity. Added to this is His achieved glory, because of Calvary and His mighty storming of the citadel of Satan and defeating him and His power over death.  Added to this is the glory of His positions regally, religiously and with regard to His peers and still added is His moral glory which could never ever be hidden, although not always seen.

The illustrations are both negative and positive. 

As one considers the offerings, observe that God uses a variety of terms, both positive and negative, to emphasize the purity of Christ.

It would seem strange to speak of the negative aspects of the glories of the Lord but God does this for a reason. They are used for they are emphatic in a way that a positive statement does not have.  Consider the following two verses, both dealing with the holiness of God but one from a positive and the other a negative perspective.  

So the Holy Spirit uses negatives to give weight to certain truths.

The Multi Illustrations Of The Glories Of The Lord

To help us appreciate the magnificence of Christ the Holy Spirit uses multiple illustrations to help us see and focus on glories that we could easily miss.  For instance, a little girl is given a doll for her birthday, it is not a real baby, it is a toy.  Does that mean it has no value?  Of course not, for that is a shadow of something greater, and from it the child learns lessons about life.  It is an object lesson by which she learns things that she could not understand due to her immaturity.  So with the types, they are illustrations of which Christ is the substance.  They are types of which He is the True (He is the true Light Jn. 1:9), Bread (Jn. 6:35), Vine (Jn. 15:1), and the True God (1 Jn. 5:20), whereas they are shadows and not the very image.  Consequently, every iota cannot be pressed to have a significance.

Our teacher is very understanding of our limitations and so presents to us pictures of the moral perfections of the Lord in multiple ways.

Added to these there are the features which our Lord displayed so fully and beautifully.

Then one can add to these the Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Temperance.

The following are the positive illustrations I am aware of, made by persons concerning the perfections of the Lord:

The following is a list of the negative phrases that have been shown to me:

On the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples, who were born in sin, certainly not sinless and perfect men, are there with the Lord sharing and looking upon Him in His glory.  Glorious is the truth that sinners saved by matchless grace can now behold the face of the Lord: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).  Even more wonderful is the fact that in a coming day we shall look on His face: “They shall see his face; and behold His glory” (Rev. 22:4), and the fulfillment of Jn. 17:24: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory”. 

While we are brought into being sharers of His glory and in fullness of fellowship with him, yet forever there will be a distinction between He and us.  That holy intimacy we have with Him does not negate the distinctiveness of himself.  Forever there will be excellencies in the person of the Lord that we will know about intellectually and will be enjoyed beyond measure, but there will also be riches that only the heart and mind of God can appreciate. 

Our Lord Jesus stands in contrast to every other human being.  His manhood is absolutely unique in that He stands as a man alone from a different order of Adam.  He is an eternal person and every creature, human and angelic, was created by Him.  All creation receives its existence from Him and every moment is sustained by Him.  Every human finds their origin in Him and by Him lives, moves and has being.  There were men of whom it is said: “they were perfection in their generation”, but they also fade into the darkness.  They were noble men but they always fell far short.
 

Christ Was Perfect In Every Generation  

Nevertheless, the words of Psa. 27:4 ought to be in our hearts: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.”
 

 

May God grant us good understanding as He, by His Holy Spirit, deigns to guide us into all truth.
John 16:13

Copyright © 2010 by Rowan Jennings, Abbotsford, British Columbia