GOD’S LOVE, GLORY, AND OUR FREEDOM
John Jacques Rousseau had written these famous words: "Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains." However, it seems that the most binding chains are the ones that originate from within, which can only be unlocked by the love of God. Let me try to explain.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had enjoyed a love relationship even before anything had been created. We can’t fathom exactly what this consisted of, but it seems obvious that they didn’t share together a debating or a fishing club or cheering crowds. I was therefore perplexed by Jesus asking the Father to restore to Him the glory that He had with the Father before the creation:
∑ “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:5 ESV)
What could “glory” possibly mean before the world even existed? What form does it take? Could “glory” be equated with the Trinitarian love He had experienced for all eternity or does “glory” pertain to something apart from love?
∑ “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory [Your love for Me?] that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these [disciples of Mine] know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:24-26)
To know Him is to love Him. Loving God is an outgrowth of knowing God, of meditating on His Word both day and night (Psalm 1:1-3) through the illumination of Jesus, who is able to open our minds to understand the Word (Luke 24:44-45). Could loving God through the knowledge of Him (John 4:21-24) be the very way that we glorify Him?
I was beginning to think so. Love is the pinnacle of Christ’s glory. This is what Jesus had revealed before going to the Cross:
∑ And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23-24)
Jesus’ greatest moment of glory wasn’t when He created the world (John 1:1-3) or even when He returns to set up His everlasting Kingdom, or when He would be honored by a great precession of worshippers. Instead, His glory – His love – was most gloriously manifested when He died the most horrible death in place of us, proving that God loved us even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:8-10). In this way, His glory and the glory of the Gospel transcended the glory of the Mosaic Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-11, 18; 4:4-6).
If the Cross represents the greatest manifestation of God’s glory, the centerpiece of God’s Self-revelation, why did He hide it so carefully in the Hebrew Scriptures? I think that there are many reasons for this. For one thing, had He revealed the details of His mission, the world would never have put Him to death (1 Corinthians 2:7-9). For another thing, we too would have rejected such an absurd, bleeding-heart plan, as Peter had done (Matthew 16:22).
Moses had asked God to give him a revelation of His glory. However, God informed Moses that He would reveal to him His backside but not His Face (the fullness of Him and His plan). (We mustn’t take these terms literally, since we know that no one has ever seen God and lived (Exodus 33:20; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16)). However, He did show Moses His glory by giving him a very partial Self-revelation:
∑ The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5-7)
No mention of the Source of His mercy – the Cross. However, Moses knew that what he had heard was profoundly glorious and fell to His knees and worshipped. Nevertheless, the Israelites knew that God had His secrets. There was one object upon which no one could look without being struck dead. It was therefore overshadowed by the massive wings of the Cherubim. When the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies - and that was only once a year on the Day of Atonement – he had to enter with billows of smoke lest he too might see this object and lose his life. Interestingly, it was only the cover of the Ark of the Ten Commandments called the “Atonement Cover” or the “Mercy Seat” (Leviticus 16; Romans 3:25), the very place that the High Priest had to come to procure God’s mercy for Israel. But why had God determined to hide the Centerpiece of His glorious mercy?
When I became a supervisor at the New York City Department of Probation, I had naively thought that if I revealed to my officers my love of truth and justice, this would inspire them to reciprocate. However, they mistook my kindness for weakness and repeatedly tried to get-over on me. As a result, I had to bring one of them up on charges. Consequently, they hated me, and I hated them.
There are some self-disclosures – revelation – that we cannot bear. Therefore, Jesus said:
∑ “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)
I don’t think that either Moses or Israel had been ready to bear God’s full disclosure of His glorious Cross. To a lesser degree this is also true for us. However, it appears that that God’s glory requires us to love Him according to who He is. Could it also be that we too are most fully glorified – and God has promised to glorify us – as we learn to glorify Him according to the full appreciation of God’s love for us (Ephesians 3:16-19)?
How should all of this impact our lives? If the Cross is the Centerpiece of God’s plan, it should be central to our lives. We love and glorify our God to-the-max when we abide in His Word (John 15:7-14), the truth of His Self-disclosure. It is not when we achieve an ecstatic union with the Lord by managing to control our brain-waves. If we do experience ecstasy, it is not by means of our mystical practices or by generating certain feelings for God but through His love for us.
His truth is transformative. Let me try to explain. Although we don’t like facing this fact, we are but a speck of dust in this overwhelming universe. This means that, in ourselves, we are nothing, a truth with which Scripture repeatedly confronts us:
∑ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything… (1 Corinthians 3:7; Luke 17:10)
∑ …For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. (2 Corinthians 12:11)
∑ For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Galatians 6:3)
Yet, we spend our lives trying to prove to ourselves and to the world that we are a Somebody. Sometimes, it even feels as if our lives depend this. How then can we live with the ordinarily devastating awareness that we are a worthless speck of dust? Only by knowing that we are Beloved by the Master of this world!
Consequently, we need not be dependent upon the approval of others. It is His love that defines us and gives us the courage to stand against rejection, opposition, and this world’s addictions. It is the assurance of His knowledge that has enabled me to face my “nothingness” and inadequacies and to lay aside my feeble attempts to prove otherwise.
We are told, “You have to believe in yourself and develop a sense of self-confidence.” In honesty, I cannot and will not; nor do I need to do this. Why not? I have been learning that my God is sufficient for me:
∑ …If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32)
If we are so beloved, why need we become self-obsessed and worry! Therefore, I need not try to convince myself that I am sufficient (2 Corinthians 3:5). Nor do I have to convince myself that I have what it takes to be respected and successful, especially aware as I am of my many limitations and weaknesses (John 15:4-5). But that’s okay, because my Savior has me by my hand and has assured me that my hope does not abide in little me but in Him. As a result, His love and glory has set me free (John 8:31-32) to a freedom, which I am increasingly enjoying!
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