The Light and the Glory

“God is light, and in him is no darkness.”

   -1 John 1:5 

Light is one of the most powerful images of God. God is light. Light of the Divinity is brilliant, blinding all who try to look directly into it. 

Ultimately God is beyond our comprehension. Standing outside the time-space continuum in which we live, God is above anything our created minds could grasp. The image of physical light gives us but a tiny glimpse, a hint, as to God's brilliance. Who and what God is surpasses human understanding. 

God's light displays God's glory.

The term "glory" has been all but lost in our contemporary culture. About the only place we use the term is in sports, describing the short-lived honor of winning an athletic contest. While such recognition is worthy, it falls far short of genuine glory.

True glory is the splendor of the skies, bursting with color and new life at dawn or blazing across the whole horizon at sunset. Glory is displayed in brilliance of light and breath-taking grandeur. Beyond human accomplishment, true glory lifts our eyes toward the heavens and transports us into the transcendent. 

Such cosmic glory, in turn, points beyond the material world. Glory that we see with our physical eyes is but a window to the uncreated glory of the Divine. God, enthroned in eternity, flashes light and splendor and majesty. Whenever people in Scripture had opportunity to peer into the spiritual realm, the eternities of heaven, they stumbled for words to describe the resplendence of God's glory. (Rev 4)

That glory, then, cascades down into creation. The physical heavens declare God's glory, as Psalm 19 tells us. As we see light and splendor across the skies, we get a taste of the divine glory flowing from God's throne!

2017 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

God’s Glory All Around Us: Opening our Spiritual Eyes

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

-Ephesians 1:18-19

Last Sunday morning on the way to church the sun saw shining beautifully in the crisp, cold air. As the rays of light glimmered on the snow, I caught a glimpse of the glory of God.

God’s divine splendor beams down from his throne into our world. The light we see here is a reflection of the Almighty’s uncreated brilliance. Sunlight is a manifestation of God’s resplendence. Indeed the brightness I see is a theophany—a glimpse of God’s self-revelation.

Often we miss God’s glory. Instead of seeing with spiritual eyes, we simply look on with natural sight. In Ephesians 1:18-19, however, Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be opened up to see the invisible realities of the spiritual world. In particular, he prays that our eyes would be able to see God’s incomprehensible riches, power and hope poured out toward us. In the same way, the Lord can open our eyes to see God’s glory declared in the heavens (Psalm 19:1).

This year I pray that the eyes of my heart would indeed be opened to see spiritual realities manifest all around me. In particular, I want to behold God’s glory overflowing into the physical world all around me!

2017 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

Light Shining from Heaven: Epiphany

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

-John 1:4-5, 9

During these dark days of December and January, we crave light. We need the sun’s warmth when nighttime temperatures plunge below zero. We need the sun’s light to give us energy and cheer. We need the sun’s rays to offer us hope of springtime just a few months away.

Although barely two weeks into winter, the days are already becoming longer. I find myself peering out the window each morning, watching for the sun to rise. Then, especially in late afternoon I can see how much longer the light lingers in the evening sky.

Jesus came into the world as light. When light shines forth, the source is not changed or diminished. That source keeps shining as if nothing had departed from it. So our Lord’s light shines in our lives and in the whole world.

Our God is pure light. God shines forth without ever being diminished or changed. God shines forth in creation. Every beam of light from the sun and the stars is but a reflection of God’s light beyond our seeing.

As we watch the sun get stronger week after week this winter, let us catch a glimpse of God’s invisible light. Let us see God’s light shining in the darkness, transforming us with his brightness and warmth!

2017 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”