King of Glory


 It's funny isnt it, how as Christians we can use words all the time and we know what they mean but we can't exactly explain them ?    Glory is one of those words.  Im pretty sure I know what it means but Im also pretty sure Im not going to be able to tell you 😁.  I guess that's because human language just can't begin to do justice to spiritual things.  We are so limited in our vocabulary and our imaginations that we can't hope to adequately describe things that we know in our spirits.   That's why I sympathise with Daniel or John in the Bible trying to explain in words what they have seen in the spirit.  Or Paul trying to tell his readers what happened to him when he was caught up to heaven.   'Glory'  is our best attempt.  But I dont think we have any idea just how glorious the glory of God really is.

In Hebrew there are a few words which we translate as ' glory'

addereth- large, splendid, ample.

hadar- splendour, glory, majesty, honour, beauty, excellence. This word is related to the Hebrew word for ‘dignity’. However, hadar doesn’t mean overwhelming beauty. It means a combination of social position and physical attractiveness.   Whenever the term hadar is applied to God, there’s an idea of brilliance, preeminence, and lordship. These are characteristics of His sanctuary and He’s clothed in them (Psalm 104:1).



howd-  splendour; majesty; authority . Every time this word is used it describes a sense of amazement and satisfaction in the mind of the beholder.

tsebiy- glory, glorious, beautiful, beauty, goodly, pleasant.

tiph’arah- glory, beauty, pride. This word shows “beauty” in the sense of the characteristic which enhances one’s appearance. Also, tiph’arah can be used to describe someone’s rank. When using this word in reference to God, it’s to emphasize His rank and beauty.

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all.“

-1 Chronicles 29:11

At Christmas we tend to focus on the humble infant laid in a manger and living a life of poverty and service 2000 years ago.   But it is also a time to remember that this same baby is the King of glory.  The wise men and the shepherds knew it just by looking at Him. Simeon and Anna knew it when he was just a few weeks old.  Despite the fact that there was nothing remarkable about His appearance as a man that we should desire Him, His excellence, dignity, authority and goodness exuded from Him so that men left their nets to follow Him and women washed His feet with their tears of worship.   

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NKJV)

I love that the words John finds to describe the glory of Jesus are ' grace and truth'.   How much do we need the presence of grace and truth in our world these days?  Everywhere there are lies and deception and self serving, self seeking attitudes.  The glory of Jesus is the fact that He is full of the Father, reflecting Him perfectly.  Because the glory of the Father belongs to the Son

And guess what?  We get to share in that glory too



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