³² … if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

Finally, the fourth movement of glory is that God “will glorify Him immediately.” This is where things become concrete, where glory becomes tangible, down to earth. Not just some ethereal, esoteric concept, this glory is not just some religious experience intended for the monastics. This glory will immediately take place in less than 24 hours, not at all understood at first, but three days later revealed. Ironically, we tend to think of the resurrection of Christ as the event of glory, picturing as it were the empty tomb with light shining out, brilliant angels, etc. But the glory of God in Christ was His reconciling the world to Himself. The resurrection is the final glory seen, but when we turn the magnifying glass on the cross—that is where we see the character of God on full display. Easter was proof of what Good Friday accomplished: the glorious deed was the cross.

That is why Paul writes in his quest to know Jesus (Phil 3:10a), that he wanted to know the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:10b). But the holy grail, as it were, was to know the “fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” (Phil 3:10c). This was the ultimate glory for the follower of Christ, because that is where Christ was most magnified. This so affected the apostle that it eclipsed all other earthly glories. His mantra was, “May it never be that I would boast [find glory in], except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). The cross represents the transforming glory of God.

Back in the Upper Room, Jesus would soon say to Philip, “He who has seen Me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9). We need to keep looking to Christ and through Christ, to see the Father. Particularly as Christ was fulfilling the will of the Father in dying on the Cross. We need to turn the magnifying glass on Him and examine the unending glory of God, His character and His essence as displayed on the cross. The well of truth will never cease to satisfy the thirsty soul; Christ will never cease to satisfy the heart’s greatest desires.

We remember the summary of Hebrews 1:3: “He is the radiance of His [i.e. God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature…when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” This is the glory of God. This is our glory to bask in the light of His glory. The Christian never strives for a higher goal than when we strive for Christ.

Father, I too glorify Christ for He perfectly reveals You. Show me increasingly how great He is. I want to see Him, to know Him and to love Him.