THE

"Brightly beams our Father's mercy

From the lighthouse evermore;

But to us He gives the keeping

Of the light along the shore."

SEEING THE LORD OF GLORY

Jesus, though racked with the pain of crucifixion, begged His Father, “Forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34).  Later, Paul echoed the words of Jesus, when he said that if the rulers of the world had understood who Jesus was, they would not have crucified “the Lord of glory”. (1 Cor 2:8). Those who crucified Jesus saw much more evidence of the glory of the Christ than Isaiah, who spoke of Him, but their eyes were blinded so that their minds could not see who He was (Jn 12:39-41).  Just what did they see, but harden their hearts to, that we should see about Jesus and His glory? 

            When we speak of seeing Jesus “glory” we speak of seeing His greatness, His magnificence, His majesty, of seeing those things that are so impressive that we conclude that He is important and worthy of honor and praise.  When Jesus walked the earth, men saw His glory in: 

His Signs:  Jesus displayed Divine greatness in His miracles.  Concerning the miracle of changing water into wine, John wrote, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”  (Jn 2:11)  Other signs He performed included giving sight to the blind and the ability to walk to the lame, feeding 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, and walking on water, demonstrating over and over His majesty and power, supplying abundant evidence and He is the Son of God and is worthy of man’s worship. 

His Character:  The writer of Hebrews declared that Jesus is the “radiance (brightness-KJV) of His glory and the exact representation of His nature”

EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY TO THE LORD OF GLORY

Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses to a spectacular display of the glory of Jesus.  Jesus came from heaven in the appearance of a man (Phil 2:8).  He didn’t look any different than any other man.  Men could walk by Him on the street and not realize that He was the Son of God.  But one day, while He was praying on a high mountain with Peter, James, and John, His appearance became quite different, making it obvious from looking at Him that he was not just an ordinary man, but He was Divine.  Jesus face shone like the sun.  His clothing became whiter than any launderer can whiten clothes- they were white as light and gleaming. 

  Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and spoke with Jesus.  While Peter was speaking about making a tabernacle for each of them, a cloud overshadowed them all and a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My Son, My chosen One; listen to Him!”  Then Moses and Elijah disappeared and the three disciples saw only Jesus. (Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36). 

            Many years later, when Peter knew that his death was near, he wrote of what he saw on that

mountain to assure men of the historical, factual basis of their faith in Jesus as the Son of God.  In some of his last recorded words, he testified, “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’- and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.” (2 Pet 1:16-18) 

            Matthew and John, who were eyewitnesses of Jesus, wrote biographies of Jesus to show us His glory and convince us to believe in Him and become His disciples.  Mark and Luke, who knew eyewitnesses of Jesus’ glory, handed down two more biographies about Jesus.  These four inspired accounts of Jesus’ earthly life, commonly known as the “Gospels”, enable us in the 21^st century to “see” what men saw in the 1^st century- they are the basis of our faith and service to Jesus- they are the reason why we honor Jesus as the Lord of glory