THE GLORY
[p. 409] THE GLORY
John 12:1-3; John 12:7; John 12:27-33
I have in mind to speak a little about the glory, a subject obviously of vast proportions, and consequently, you can understand that one of my difficulties will be to limit myself and present something concise in regard to it. The gospel of John speaks more of glory than either Matthew, Mark, or Luke; and for the very obvious reason that in it we are introduced into the presence of divine Persons revealed in their relations to each other; indeed John presents what we might designate as the rights of God in love. Matthew presents to us the rights of God in government, and Mark the rights of God in service; Luke presents to us the rights of God in grace; but it was reserved for John to present to us in his inimitable way the rights of God in love. God had a right to love; and, in the exercise of that right, He came in, in the Son, and hence the wonderful variety in the display of glory. So we are in the presence, in this narrative, of a wonderfully varied display of glory.
Now to indicate what he has in mind, he says: “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth”, John 1:14. He had been saying that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things received being through Him, and without Him not one thing received being which has received being”, John 1:1 - 3. John had been saying these wonderful things in referring to Christ as the Son in His part in the Deity, and now he says: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”, John 1:14. What a wonderful [p. 410] thing, dear brethren; and if I may use the expression with the greatest reverence, what wonderful reduction! Not that He changed His Person, but in the outward appearance “the Word became flesh”, John 1:14. Note, it does not say, the Word became man. It includes that touching scene at Bethlehem. Think of the wonderful descent, that He, of whom all these things could be said, “became flesh, and dwelt among us”, John 1:14. And then he adds, “We have contemplated his glory” (John 1:14); the glory of the One who became flesh, and was in the manger, and grew up in holy boyhood, into holy manhood, in Galilee. His glory was contemplated, and the evangelist says, it was the “glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth”, John 1:14.
I just refer to that, because it indicates how the evangelist presents this great subject. He presents it as one who had contemplated it. It is no light thing to undertake to speak of Christ. John, later on, refers to Esaias; Esaias spoke of Christ, and he spoke of Him as seeing His glory, and John spoke of Him as having contemplated that glory.
Now, having made that reference to the first chapter, I want to speak of the saints moving in the light of the manifested glory, so that was why I read the passage in the beginning of John 12. One desires that our movements may be in the presence of the glory. The movement at Bethany was a movement in the presence of the glory; indeed we may say, it is between two glories; the glory of the resurrection of Lazarus, and that of the Lord’s own resurrection. The eleventh chapter speaks of the resurrection of one of the family; the Lord had said with regard to the sickness of Lazarus, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it”, John 11:14. That was what it was for. John, we may say, will not have anything happening for other reasons than for the shining out of the glory of God. If a man is blind, he says he is [p. 411] not blind because he sinned, or because his parents sinned, but “that the works of God should be manifested in him”, John 9:3.
Hence, dear brethren, the importance of habituating ourselves to the shining of the glory. It has shone out; and occurrences in the world are but the occasion of its shining, hence faith moves in the light of it. Now I hope we shall take that in.
This occasion at Bethany is in the light of the glory. I connect it in my mind with the exit of the children of Israel out of Egypt. God had gone before them in a cloud, He had displayed Himself, in measure, in the dividing of the sea. “What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest?” Psalm 114:5. It fled from the presence of the Lord; He had gone before them, and the sea fled. And now as they are on the other side, in the wilderness. Moses and the children of Israel sing this song unto the Lord: “The Lord ... hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea”, Exodus 15:1. “This is my God, and I will glorify him” (Exodus 15:2); that was the desire of their hearts: “I will glorify him!” Exodus 15:2. I connect that with the occurrence at Bethany. If one comes into the light of God revealed thus, the next thing he says is, “I will glorify him!” Exodus 15:2. But then faith goes on to say: “Who is like unto thee, Jehovah, among the gods? ... glorifying thyself in holiness”, (Exodus 15:11) He glorifies Himself in holiness!
I desire that we should take that in, dear brethren, for we are in the midst, as one might say, of two glories. There are the former and the latter glories. The voice from heaven here says: “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again”. God glorified His Name in the raising of Lazarus, and He was about to do it again in the resurrection of Christ. The sickness at Bethany was not unto death; it was for the glory of God, and “that the Son of God might be glorified thereby”, John 11:4. You see, in John everything happens according to divine appointment, and hence glory was to shine in Bethany. There were loved ones in Bethany, and the glory of God, and the glory of the Son of God was to shine there.
Dear brethren, where are we as regards the shining of the glory? Are our movements in it? If our movements are in it, they are dignified by it. One feels how undignified the movements of the people of God are sometimes; one is impressed with time fact that even those of us who have the light of God drop down to the level of worldly religion. But God glorifies Himself and in doing so “he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he hath founded for ever”, Psalm 78:69. “Like the heights!” Psalm 78:69. Now what one discerns — without attempting to reprove, or even to exhort — is the tendency to drop, in our thoughts and ways, to the level of the religious customs around us.
Lazarus had been into death, and he is raised. I wonder how much we walk in the light of being raised! “Ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”, Colossians 2:12. Through faith of the working of God! If we lay hold of that, it lifts us out of the range of current religion. Colossians will not admit of the principles of ceremonialism, philosophy and vain deceit in the assembly. We are lifted outside of them, as we apprehend that we are raised by the faith of the operation of God who raised Christ from the dead. No one can be in the assembly, according to God, unless he apprehends that he is raised from the dead by the faith of the operation of God. But not only that, Ephesians says that “we are raised up”, Ephesians 2:6. Colossians says “raised”, Ephesians, “raised up”. Where are we in the light of that? The principle of elevation is one of the most important in the Scriptures. We cannot be here [p. 413] according to God unless we apprehend it. “He built his sanctuary like the heights”, Psalm 78:69.
God glorifies Himself in holiness, that is what He does. “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah was his sanctuary”, Psalm 114:1,2. God had always Judah in His mind, the tabernacle in the wilderness was but provisional as a testimony. When God reaches His own thought, Judah is His sanctuary. God had in His mind, in taking His people out of the world, the structure that David and Solomon would raise up. Zion was “beautiful in elevation” Psalm 48:2. Hence Ephesians 2 says: He “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2:6. Let us take that in, dear brethren; if we take it in, it will shut out all the greatness and all the innovations of man, or of man’s art and device introduced into the assembly.
Although this scene at Bethany does not present the full thought of the assembly, yet Lazarus answers to the dignity we have been speaking of. “Jesus therefore, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where was the dead man Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead”. He is coming in relation to a man who has been raised. Lazarus is not on the level of human religion, he is on a different platform. That is what the Lord looks for — elevation. “He built his sanctuary like the heights”, Psalm 78:69. The porch of the temple was 120 cubits high, suggesting the divine thought of elevation. I think that Ephesians answers to it. God would have us to understand His own thought. The House of God is a heavenly thing brought down to earth; its elevation is indicated in Ephesians 2. In the next chapter it is viewed as the vessel of God’s glory for ever.
I may introduce John 20 in order to elucidate the matter more. The Lord had said to Mary: “I ascend”, John 20:17. Let us, dear brethren, take in the thought [p. 414] of elevation. The Lord met her as a weeping woman at the tomb; He said to her, “Mary”, John 20:16. She would have touched Him, but He says, “Touch me not”, John 20:17. I am not to be on your level, nor are you to be on your present level. You know, many of us hold Him by the feet; we would keep Him on the earth; that will not do. You are not in the current of His mind if you seek to do that. He says, ‘Do not touch Me, I ascend!’ He would put the thought of elevation into each of our minds. “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”, John 20:17. John 20 is strikingly allied with Ephesians. We are very infidel in regard to ascension.
I often refer to the sons of the prophets in Elisha’s days; they were at Jericho. It was not likely that they would have divine thoughts at Jericho, when Elijah and Elisha were crossing the Jordan. Elisha returned from the Jordan, like the Lord when he returned from the wilderness, “in the power of the Spirit”, (Luke 4:14) and the sons of the prophets recognised that “the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha” (2 Kings 2:15); but they were infidel as regards Elijah: and they say, “there are with thy servants fifty valiant men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master”, 2 Kings 2:16. “Fifty valiant men”, 2 Kings 2:16. They were like the Corinthians, well furnished with human resources, but devoid of faith as regards the ascension. They said, We shall send these men now and see if Elijah is not in some mountain or valley. It mattered little whether he was on a mountain or in a valley for unbelief We are very infidel in regard to the ascension; and it is the very thing that gives lustre and tone to our testimony, and affords the real joy of the Christian.
The Lord said to Mary: “I ascend” (John 20:17), but He added, in effect, It is not for you only, it is for the brethren. Let no one think that if he receives a bit of light from Christ, it is for himself only. It is for himself, but it is for the brethren also. You never lose by [p. 415] giving out what you get — you get more. So Mary went and told these things to the disciples; she brought the light of the ascension to the disciples, and now the disciples move in that light; so they are within, and the doors are shut. It is as much as to say, We shall not allow one earthly religious thought in here. We want to cherish, and to preserve this precious light that we have received. “The doors were shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews”, John 20:19. Now the Jews represent current religion, and that is what we suffer from. They had within those doors the precious light of the ascension of Christ to His Father — to their Father; to His God — to their God.
They were in the light of the glory of Christ, who had the right in His own Person and title to ascend. What light, beloved brethren, and what glory in which to assemble! And the Lord honours that occasion. “The same day at evening, being the first day of the week ... came Jesus and stood in the midst”, John 20:19.
And so He came to Bethany where Lazarus was; the circle there had been affected by the shining of the glory. Martha had said; “he is four days there”, John 11:39. Jesus said: “Did I not say to thee that if thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” John 11:40. That is the important thing to see; and Martha Saw it, and Mary saw it, and Lazarus was the subject of it; he was the living witness of it. And Jesus came where Lazarus was. It was a circle formed in the light of the glory, and it was moving and acting in that light; and Christ was the central object of attention, as it says, “there they made him a supper”. It was a wonderful scene! It is a picture of the assembly formed in the light of the glory, with Christ the supreme object of attention. There was the one centre. “The house was filled with the odour of the ointment”. Mary understood that those [p. 416] feet were to carry the Lord into death; she understood that the glory that she had seen was but precursory to a greater glory. And hence in the passage I read lower down, the Lord was troubled in spirit. Mary understood that. It is a great thing to learn to look on to the end of things; as I have been saying, we are in the midst of two glories. Think of what God is about to do! The assembly is about to be translated, and will be seen descending from God out of heaven, having the glory of God.
I only refer to the passage for the principle of it, the assembly is about to come out of heaven; think of that. He glorifies Himself. The heavenly city is the vessel of the divine glory, we read that she has “the glory of God”, (Revelation 21:11) and her light is “most precious” Revelation 21:11. We are looking on to that; we are looking on to the end of things, we are moving in the presence of the “former” and the “latter” glory. As we move thus, we are formed by the glory; Christ is the absorbing Object with us; but there is the glory to come. Perhaps some young people here gaze with longing eyes on the world sometimes; and you wonder after all whether you get sufficient recompense in casting your lot with the people of God; but the Lord says: “Now is the judgment of this world”.
The Father is about to glorify Himself, and that glory shall fill the world. He says, “As surely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah!” Numbers 14:21. But before that, the world has to go, and so the Lord says, “I, if I [p. 417] be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”. That is how the glory comes; that is how He is to be glorified now. Presently the heavenly city, as I said, will come out, but God is glorified now in the saints — in all who are drawn to Christ.
I wonder if you are really drawn to Christ? You say, I am breaking bread, I have come into fellowship. Yes, but are you really drawn to Christ? “I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me”. Have you been drawn to a Christ who was publicly lifted up, a spectacle between the heavens and the earth? That is the public position; there is nothing in it for the flesh — nothing whatever. He has been lifted up on a gibbet between the heavens and the earth; “this, he said, signifying by what death he was about to die”.
When Judas had gone out, Jesus said: “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him”, John 13:31. Nothing can happen, from John’s point of view, that will not bring out the glory; and so it is victory after victory; apparent defeat is victory, it is but the occasion for the shining of the glory. Therefore we can well afford to be drawn to Christ. It is the principle of attraction; you come, in spite of the fact that ignominy is heaped upon His head. He is the object of supreme reproach in this world, but you come to Him nevertheless. Mary faced it, with her hair and with her ointment; she subordinated her glory to that Man who was going out in that ignominious way; she anointed those feet — they were glorious feet to her.
And so He draws to Himself; and those He draws to Him He draws after Him. “Now”, He says, “is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him”, John 13:31. The hand of the traitor became the occasion for the shining out of the glory of the Son of man. And so, He says, “God is glorified in him”, John 13:31. And He “shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately”, John 13:32. God has done that. But the Son of man has glorified God; and I believe He is glorified in a moral way in those whom He draws to Him, and forms into the assembly. The glory shines there, it shines in those who brook the shame and the reproach as Mary did.
The scene at Bethany represents a circle in which Christ is supreme; Mary anointed Him, in spite of [p. 418] the murderous spirit around her. The Lord said, “Let her alone” (He would defend us against all attacks) “against the day of my burying hath she kept this”.
What are we doing in this respect! Israel said, “This is my God, and I will glorify him; my father’s God, and I will extol him”, Exodus 15:2. That is the language of love. Then they say, “Who is like unto thee, glorifying thyself in holiness?” Exodus 15:11.
We wait that wonderful display of the glory of God, after He receives us to Himself, when the “whole earth be filled with his glory”, Psalm 72:19.