What Is ‘The Glory of God’?

Since the time of my PhD research—which focused on bringing the doctrine of the atonement into conversation with current scholarship on first-century Judaism—I have been privileged to have some engagement with Messianic Judaism. I was invited to contribute a couple of articles to Kesher (the Journal of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute) and to provide a back-cover endorsement for Rabbi Russ Resnik’s excellent new Messianic Jewish commentary on the book of Mark. As a result of this engagement, I follow the regular updates and articles from the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. The articles are typically a short reflection on the weekly Torah reading and a related Haftarah (a reading from the Prophets).

This week, the Torah reading was Exodus 33:12–34:26. The context (in chapter 32 preceding) is the Golden Calf rebellion, which resulted in Moses smashing the two stone ‘tablets of the covenant’ on which the Ten Commandments had been supernaturally inscribed by the hand of God. The culmination in chapter 34 is God renewing the covenant, signified by new replacement stone tablets. In between are some fascinating exchanges between Moses and God; our focus will be on 33:12–23 (especially the italicised parts).

Moses says to the Lord, “You have said [to me], ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favour in my sight.’ Now if I have found favour in your sight, please show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favour in your sight.” The Lord responds, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses presses the point: “If your presence will not go, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us?” Moses continues, “Please show me your glory.” And God responds, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’ [YHWH], and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”     

The conversation may appear somewhat disjointed—mixing some different things—but really it isn’t. The three emphases coming through in the passage are (a) Moses’ desperation for the presence of God to be with him, (b) for God to show him his ways (show Moses what he is like and what he most wants), and (c) that Moses may know God personally. In the middle we have this somewhat enigmatic phrase, “Please show me your glory.” So … what is ‘God’s glory’? We hear it sung about in worship songs every week, but what does it mean?

I rarely, if ever, find any good reason to quote the Calvinist pastor, John Piper, but here I will make an exception. He writes:

Here is an attempt at a definition: the glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections. I am focusing on the manifestation of his character and his worth and his attributes. All of his perfections and greatness are beautiful as they are seen, and there are many of them. That is why I use the word manifold. Here it is in another sentence: the glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections.

Piper’s language is a bit obtuse, but my summary is that God’s ‘glory’ is everything that is beautiful and wonderful about his nature and character: what God is like, as a person. God is being glorified—God’s glory is present—whenever and wherever his nature and character are being reflected well. 

When Moses asks God to ‘show him’ his glory, it’s ‘acted out’ by God saying that he will pass before Moses, though Moses must shelter in the cleft of a rock, as he may not see God’s face. When God says that he will pass before him, in verse 19, it’s actually all of his goodness passing before him. In verse 22, God speaks of it as ‘my glory’ passing by; his goodness and his glory are synonymous.   

And then we have what might otherwise appear to be an entirely unrelated add-on statement from God: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” Other translations reference ‘kindness’ and ‘compassion’ for these divine character attributes. Fascinatingly, the Apostle Paul directly quotes this verse in Romans 9:15, suggesting that this character trait of God was front and centre in Paul’s theology.

It's interesting to reflect on whether the Church is as happy as Moses and Paul presumably were to allow God to be gracious, compassionate, kind and merciful to whoever he wants to. The Church—conservative Reformed evangelicalism in particular—has some pretty firm ideas on the extent to which he’s allowed to, which it’s happy to impose on God’s behalf. But in both Testaments—which suggests it’s a timeless divine characteristic—God is saying, bluntly, “I will do what I want to do, thank you.”  

My paraphrase of that is that God retains the right to ‘break his own rules’ (as it were). He will accept and welcome whomever he wants to accept and welcome, and to bless whomever he wants to bless, as and when he wants to. That right is warranted by his divine perfection (it does not undermine that perfection). Otherwise, we are imposing our own limitations on God’s expression of his omniscience and omnipotence.

We should not expect God to act inconsistently with his nature and character as we see that perfectly revealed in Jesus. However, his goodness (his glory) may extend beyond that which we might consider reasonable. Indeed, I would suggest that the nature of this statement is such that we should expect God to significantly exceed our expectations in its frequency and depth.

Jesus’ conversation with the thief crucified alongside him is a case in point: The man: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus’ reply: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Several evangelical rules (let’s soften that to ‘norms’) appear to have been broken here. There is no ‘Romans Road’, or ‘Sinner’s Prayer’ to which the man has said ‘Amen’, anywhere in sight. But then again, we never see anyone praying the Sinner’s Prayer to become a Christian anywhere in Scripture. And the Romans Road is a long and winding road that Paul would probably not recognise without first being shown it (but no doubt he’d be amused by the evangelical creativity involved).          

Returning to the theme of God’s presence, I am reminded of a well-known saying of Vineyard founder, John Wimber: “We don’t seek the power of God, we seek the presence of God; everything we need, including his power, comes from his presence.” Like most things, this can be susceptible to overreach from over-enthusiastic practitioners, but it’s a very worthy truth. Hence the classic invitation, ‘Come, Holy Spirit!’—or, Veni Sancte Spiritus.

So to sum up, God’s glory is synonymous with God’s presence and with everything beautiful and wonderful about his nature and character—what God is like, as a person. How then do we glorify God? By inviting his presence. By being his presence. By bringing his presence into situations and communities. Because with his presence will come his power to change lives. We glorify God when as individuals and communities of his people we reflect and we live out his divine nature and character.

I can’t help but give the final word to God’s apparently gratuitous add-on statement in Exodus 33:19 (which Paul directly quotes in Romans 9:15): that God will be gracious, compassionate, kind and merciful to whoever he wants to. It is entirely consistent with his nature and character that he would want to do that (and will do that), so we should be very wary of implicitly denying that freedom to him.

To whom might God want to exercise his right to be unexpectedly gracious, compassionate, kind and merciful, do you think? I’m wary of placing limitations on that, but it would surely at least include those in most need of receiving grace, compassion, kindness, and mercy: the weak and powerless, the marginalised, the needy, and the vulnerable.

And do you think that God might want us to copy him in that character trait? After all, Jesus said that he did what he saw his Father doing (John 5:19). Perhaps we should be ‘imitators of God’ (Ephesians 5:1 et al) with ‘eyes to see and ears to hear’ God’s Father heart (Mark 8:18), in bringing unexpected, divinely-inspired grace, compassion, kindness, and mercy to the people God loves, on the Father’s behalf.