The Prophecy of God’s Glory

I read a verse which I had read many times before, but the words suddenly stunned me. This was when Moses was interceding for the Israelites asking God to forgive them for their sin of rebellion by not entering the Promised Land due to the bad report ten of the twelve spies gave when they returned from spying out the land which God had promised them. “The LORD replied, ‘I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised an oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it’” (Nu 14:20-23).

Now the word translated here as “fills” in the Hebrew means “will be filled.” So, it seems to be a future action and not a present action. It seems God is making a contrast here. While the Israelites experienced God’s glory through the various miracles he performed for them, they did not esteem him and trust him to carry them through. Yet, at some future point, God’s glory will become so profound that it will seem to fill the entire earth and will not be able to be denied as the Israelites had done.

Now, to my knowledge, that has not yet been fulfilled. As we saw in the last post, God’s glory is displayed constantly for us to see. Yet, this particular verse seems to imply something different, something more dramatic. Are there other references for this within Scripture? Yes. Yes, there is.

In Psalms, we read, “Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen” (Ps 72:19). Again, this seems to indicate some event to occur at a future time.

In Isaiah, when he experienced God and the seraphim surrounding God’s throne, we read, “And they [seraphim] were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory’” (Is 6:3). Since this is occurring in heaven where there is no time element, this is an exclamation in the present even though as we see from other verses, this will be an event in our future.

Then in Habakkuk we read, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hk 2:14). Again, Habakkuk seems to imply a time in his future which this would occur and just how impactful it will be. And, so, it seems, it is still a time future for us as well. Yet, it may be closer than you think.

Some may claim this proclamation of God’s glory filling the earth is referring to Christ’s millennial kingdom when he will be the King of kings reigning over the entire earth from Jerusalem. Yet, there are additional verses within Scripture that talk about this time in our future describing it to be somewhat different from this time described by the verses we have identified above. The timing seems to be tied to what is described in Daniel chapter 7 where one of the verses states, “Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High” (Da 7:27). This is in reference to the fourth beast which Daniel saw in a vision that was different from any beast he had ever seen. God stated he would destroy this beast and turn its rule over to “the holy people,” that is, those who follow him. You can learn more about this aspect from a previous post I did (Kingdom Age).

Now if there is a time coming where God will reveal his glory in a miraculous and marvelous way, wouldn’t it be at least implied in the New Testament? Well, I think it is there. I think many times we gloss over its reference because many of us haven’t been taught about such an event occurring. Perhaps Jesus was implying such a time when he taught his disciples how to pray. He first says, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Many say Christ is referring to his millennial rule here. Yet, that would be Christ’s kingdom, not necessarily God’s kingdom. Perhaps Christ is referring to this time where God’s glory will be spread out over the entire world in a tangible way, just like his glory is spread out over the entire heavenly realm. So, maybe our view of what Jesus was praying needs a little re-thought on our part.

Another aspect to consider is that when God’s glory was experienced by anyone, it brought them to obeisance and a feeling of unworthiness causing one to bow in reverence. Yet, when Christ rules, God’s spirit will instead empower individuals. We’ll talk more about this in a future post.

In addition, it seems Jesus prophesied about this aspect of God’s glory filling the earth as well when he was telling his disciples about future events. He says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be peached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Mt 24:14). Many claim this is Christ speaking of the evangelism that will occur during the Tribulation period through the leadership of the 144,000 evangelists that Christ will raise up to evangelize the whole world (Rv 7, 14). Yet, after speaking about this time, Christ goes on to talk about what will occur after this time, so it seems the time spoken of here is before the Tribulation period and may likely be the time of God pouring out his glory over the earth.

Why did the apostle Paul not talk about such a time occurring? I addressed this in a previous post (Church Age). He likely assumed he was already in such a time because God had poured his spirit out and much of what will occur when God pours out his spirit again was already occurring. Yet, one of the things he said to Titus likely helps us to understand that he began to understand this time of God pouring out his glory was not yet occurring (Empowerment of the Holy Spirit). He told Titus to teach what Jesus had taught them until God’s glory has manifested itself to purify a people for his very own (Tt 2:11-14).

So, it seems we are on the cusp of something wonderful that God will bring upon our world and upon us. Are you ready for it? Are you excited about it? I’m reminded about a scene from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey where the question was asked, “What’s going to happen?” The simple response was, “Something wonderful.” Well, that’s what’s going to happen here: something wonderful. Do you plan on being around to experience it? I trust you will.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens