The Glory of God

According to Strong’s Concordance, there are at least a dozen different Hebrew words in the Old Testament translated to mean “glory,” and at least seven Greek words in the New Testament translated as “glory.” Yet, there is only one that is most associated with God when a biblical author is describing the glory of God. That Hebrew word is kavod and the Greek word meaning the same is doxa.

The other words are often used to describe one’s splendor, grandeur, loudness, beauty, prominence, ampleness, or honor. These can be used as in either a good or bad connotation. Other usages are presented in their negative connotation, such as being boastful, self-centered, or prideful. When used in a derogatory way, their usage leads us to contrast those traits to God’s glory and see how mankind falls short of the ideal concept of the term “glory.”

So, what does the “glory of God” actually mean or connote? The root of the word implies a heaviness. But this is not our standard use of the word but a usage to imply respect, awe, and honor in the most reverent of ways and attitude that leads one to both worship and praise God.

There are three ways Scripture utilizes the phrase “glory of God.” The first way is as a literal physical entity. In this post, let’s look at a few of these events in Scripture when God’s glory is presented to us in physical form.

When God presented himself to the children of Israel as a cloud with thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai, Scripture describes this as God presenting his glory to them. This revealed the seriousness of worshiping God with respect and honor that is due him. In this instance, it produced actual fear in the heart of each Israelite in addition to the awe his presence evoked (Ex 19:16). Hearing God speak was so terrifying, they asked Moses to speak with God and then relay his message to them rather than them hearing God speak to them himself (Dt 5:24-27).

When Moses first erected the tabernacle, God’s glory filled it (Ex 40:34-35) with a visible presence that prevented anyone from entering because of the magnificence of God’s presence there. The same thing happened when king Solomon dedicated the first permanent temple for God in Jerusalem (2Ch 5:13-14). In each case, duties withing the tabernacle or temple had to be halted due to God’s presence being so thick within the structure no one could bear to be in it (Ex 40:35; 2Ch 5:14).

The prophet Isaiah also experienced this when he had his vision of standing in God’s holy temple in heaven (Is 6:4) which elicited his cry of just how unholy he was compared to God’s holiness (Is 6:5) which caused him to say, “Woe is me! For I am undone” (Is 6:5). John the revelator also experienced the same phenomenon, and no one could enter the temple due to God’s presence there (Rv 15:8).

The prophet Ezekiel experienced the glory of God both exiting the temple in Jerusalem (Ek 11:22-23) as well as enter the new temple that will one day be erected to worship the Lord God again (Ek 43:4-5). Ezekiel also fell to his face upon his first encounter (Ek 1:28) and was only able to stand and perform due to the help of God’s Spirit (Ek 2:2).

Peter, James, and John experienced the glory of God as a bright cloud as well when Jesus Christ was transfigured before them (Mt 17:5). They, too, fell upon their faces due to the experience (Mt 17:6).

In each of these cases, those who experienced God in this way had a feeling of inadequacy overwhelm them being in God’s presence. The idea of one’s own goodness completely evaporated instantly upon their encounter with God. As we can see, experiencing the presence of God automatically demands respect, awe, and worship. Hence the true meaning of biblical authors using the essence of the word kavod or doxa.

When we pray, this is the attitude we should also have as we approach him. Not that we are afraid of him because, after all, we are his children and co-inheritors with him (Ro 8:17). Even in our day-to-day lives we can, and should, have reverence for those who are over us, like our parents, even though we are close to them and love them greatly. Even more so should we have this attitude toward God himself. May we ever do so.

Next time, we’ll look at another aspect of God’s glory.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens