In our devolving Western Christianity, we generally fail to recognize how important it is to recognize the fact that Jesus was a Jew. He was born and raised in a Jewish family. He worked and ministered in a predominantly Jewish culture. And though their religious leaders rejected Him, the placard above the cross where He died declared, This is Jesus, the King of  the Jews (Matthew 27:37). Jesus was Jewish when He was born, Jewish when He died, and Jewish when He rose again. And when we read our English Bibles and only think of Him in terms of our secular Western culture, we’re putting filters on our minds that interfere with our understanding. We often miss some of the underlying meanings and messages that Jesus’ words conveyed and lose what they meant to His listeners then and what they mean to us and our mission as His followers today.

Taking One Small Step ~
Addressing an issue as broad as the cultural dissonance between Jesus’ world and ours would be a futile endeavor in a medium like this, but we can attempt to do at least one thing. We can whet your appetite for exploring the influence of culture by looking at a single word from a perspective that we’re used to. I’d like you to consider with me what that meant to people in Jesus’ day and how it might affect us as followers of Jesus today. 

So, let’s get started. In our English Bibles, the term we’re focusing on is the little word, glory. That word has been embedded in the mind and heart of virtually every Jew for thousands of years – and would have held that special place in Jesus’ mind and heart, as well. Though glory is a simple word, it can be problematic. Like our word ‘love’,  glory can be used to convey a multitude of different images and messages. And like ‘love’, glory is often used in reference to things that are superficial and even insignificant. But to God, it is neither. He who authored those terms is the living embodiment of all that they mean, and He used them to express things about Himself that are more profoundly magnificent than anything we can imagine. So with that in mind, let’s ask what glory meant to the Jews in Jesus’ world.

Different Perspectives ~
It’s a simple question, but answering it might be more difficult than it sounds. We have a hard time relating to what glory meant in Jesus’ day because we lack the sense of personal connectedness to a national identity that the Jews had. We have become so divided racially, politically, religiously, and ethnically that the thought of a collective national consciousness in America today is sarcastically laughable. But the general attitude of Jews in Jesus’ day was the polar opposite of ours in that regard, and their grasp of what the word glory meant to them was a major part of that. 

Though the word, glory, was often used to convey characteristics such as honor, splendor, abundance, or excellence in reference to individuals, nations, or significant events, there was one context that distinguished it from all others. That was the role that glory played in the story of their Exodus from Egypt. The events of their Exodus and the God who orchestrated them defined who they were as a people. The Passover was not only their deliverance from bondage. It marked their emergence in the world as a nation and a people chosen by God. And the grand exhibition of the reality of their relationship with God occurred when the visible manifestation of God Himself descended to occupy a tent in the wilderness. It was God’s announcement that He would do what He had always intended to do.

An Intention Made Clear ~
God’s desire from the beginning was not to snatch people away from here and beam them off to some faraway planet. From Eden onward, His desire has been to commune with us here in the world He created for us. God made His intention clear as He was giving construction plans to Moses. In reference to the Tabernacle, He said: 

There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my ‘glory’. (Exodus 29:42–43)

Then when the unique worship center was finally finished, the celebration of its completion was highlighted by this:

Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the ‘glory’ of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34–35)

The glory that filled the Holy of Holies inside that tent was a visible manifestation of the inexpressible magnificence of God. It represented everything about Him, His power, His authority, His provision, His loving commitment to their welfare, His determination to fulfill His purpose for reaching the world through them. The presence of His glory signified that the Living God, Himself was in their midst. 

Much later, Solomon constructed a permanent structure designed to replicate everything the Tabernacle represented. When it was completed, God reaffirmed His earlier expression with a scene like this:

The house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the ‘glory’ of the Lord filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:13–14)

Glory Made a Different Entrance ~
That was the last time that happened, but centuries later the glory of God showed up again, only not to occupy a building made with human hands. This time God’s glory came to life in the virgin womb of a teenage girl in Nazareth. The child she eventually held in her arms embodied everything represented by that cloud that descended on those worship centers thousands of years before. Every quality God the Father possesses came to life in Him. Later, John described it like this: 

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)

The glory that lived in Jesus was not just a theological declaration of spiritual authority. It was the beginning of the fulfillment of what His Father always wanted, which was to dwell among His people, to reveal Himself to them, and to have intimate communion with them. John’s report of Jesus’ first major miracle affirmed that Jesus’ glory was something to be exposed to others and to be shared.  

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His ‘glory’; and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:11 NKJV).

But the question always comes down to this . . . What does it have to do with us? That’s a very important question, and Jesus revealed the answer in His conversation with the Father just prior to the cross. He made this profoundly significant statement.

And the ‘glory’ which You gave Me I have given ‘them’, that they may be one just as We are one. (John 17:21–22 NKJV)

Same Glory – Different Temple ~
When His redemptive work was completed and Jesus returned to the Father, He gave the world another demonstration of where His glory would reside. On the day of Pentecost,the interactive personal presence of God was manifest again, and this time, the temple He would occupy was encased in human flesh. Jesus’ followers were filled with His Spirit, and the glory that is His became uniquely theirs, as well.

Consider this astounding declaration from the inspired pen of the Apostle Paul: 

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the ‘glory’ of God in the ‘face’ of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV)

God did more than show us what glory looks like. He put it inside us and sent us to display it to the world! We’ve often been told that we’re sent to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world, but we’re sent to be more than that. Our mission includes presenting our face in place of His.  

There’s much more to explore, but we’ll need to pause for the moment and pick up our discussion next week. Until then, can we stop to give some thought to being more than Jesus’ hands and feet? Would we be willing to offer Him our face in place of His? And what impact might that have both on us and those we interact with?

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the pull quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • In our secular Western culture, we’re putting filters on our minds that interfere with our understanding. We often miss underlying meanings and messages that Jesus’ words conveyed and lose what they meant to His listeners then and to us and our mission now. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • He who authored the terms ‘love and glory’ is the living embodiment of all they mean. He used them to express things about Himself that are more profoundly magnificent than anything we can imagine. What did glory mean to the Jews in Jesus’ world? @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • The grand exhibition of the reality of the Jews’ relationship with God occurred when the visible manifestation of God Himself descended to occupy a tent in the wilderness. It was His announcement that He would do what He always intended to do. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
  • Glory filled the Holy of Holies inside the tent – a visible manifestation of the inexpressible magnificence of God. It represented everything about God, His power, authority, provision, loving commitment to their welfare, His … @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • On the day of Pentecost, the interactive personal presence of God was manifest again. The temple He would occupy was encased now in human flesh and Jesus’ followers were filled w/His Spirit. The glory that is His became uniquely theirs as well. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 

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