Seven Aspects of the Glories of Christ — William MacDonald

Let's look to God in prayer. Our God and Father, we thank Thee that we can call Thee Father, that the Spirit has come into our hearts and given us the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

But we know it was not a costless adoption, but it cost the most precious commodity in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, His life's blood. We thank Thee that Calvary does indeed cover it all, and we thank Thee that He never leaves us nor forsakes us, but that He's here in our presence now.

We pray that He would be honored this morning, in all that we say and do, by the Word of God as it's preached, that our hearts would behold the glorified Christ through the Word. We pray for our brother, Mr. McDonald.

Thank Thee for His coming among us, and we pray that the Holy Spirit would use him in ministering Christ to our hearts, but that he himself also would receive a fresh appreciation of the Lord Jesus, even as he speaks the Word.

We thank Thee for all the visitors we have among us, and pray a blessing on them. For this man in the hospital with the infected foot, Father, we would pray for healing for him. And for all the activities of the week, we commit them to Thee, asking that chiefly the Lord Jesus would be preeminent in them.

We pray for the Henry Sanchez meetings upcoming next week, and ask that even now Thy Holy Spirit would be preparing him to minister the Word of God powerfully. We thank Thee for each one, and pray that if there be any here that know not the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that this morning they would receive conviction of their sins through the Word of God, and yield to the gracious entreaties of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Seven Aspects of the Glories of Christ

We pray this in the Lord Jesus' name. Amen. It seems like a habit for me to be back here once again. It's one of the good habits of life to come back and be with you again. This morning I'd like to speak to you about seven aspects of the glories of Christ.

Seven aspects of the glories of Christ. I thought that last hymn was very appropriate. Look full in his wonderful face, the things of earth will grow straight to him in the light of his glory and grace.

Christ’s Prayer for Glory in John 17

To turn in your Bibles to John chapter 17, I'm going to read isolated verses, and you will notice that these verses all have the word glory or glorified, some form of that, in them. John chapter 17, Jesus spoke these words.

Verse 1, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. Verse 4, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do.

And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Verse 10, all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Verse 22, and the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one.

I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved me. Father, I desire, verse 24, desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

The Many Biblical Meanings of Glory

Now, before we get into our subject, let's think about the word glory and glorify. And I'm going to ask you, brothers, what does that word glory mean? I confess to you that as a young believer, that word wasn't very definite in my mind, glory.

It was vague. It was intangible. It was out there somewhere, but I just couldn't pin it down. And the reason I couldn't pin it down was because that has a lot of different meanings in the Bible. So, I'm going to ask you, brothers, anybody here to give me a synonym for glory?

What does it mean? Anybody? And don't worry that you'll be wrong. You won't be wrong. You'll probably be right. And even if you're wrong, I'll try to twist it around to make it right. All right. Any brother?

What does glory mean to you? Remember, a lot of different meanings. So, it's not a question of being right or wrong. Dave, is it? That's excellent. That's very good. Displayed excellence. Very good. See, I told you you'd be right.

Anybody else? It has other meanings. Yes. Very good. Majesty. Very good. Yes. He is all the glory of Emmanuel's land, we think. Yes, he's a synonym for glory. Anybody else? Yes. Exalt. Yes. We sing glory, glory everlasting be to him who bore the cross.

What do we mean? We mean praise, exalt, lift up, worship. Good. See, we're all afraid at first. There are other meanings for the word glory in the Bible. Anybody else suggest anything? Yes, it would include all of his, and that's the idea of his perfections, his excellencies.

Yes. It's good. What about this verse in Galatians 6? God forbid that I should glory. What does it mean there? Pardon? Yeah, but I mean, what does the word glory mean in that verse? Yes. Boast. That means boast there.

Quite different, isn't it? Quite different. It's a different meaning of the word glory. God forbid that I should glory save for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wish the world was crucified unto me and I unto the world.

J .G. Bellet wrote a book called The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you haven't read it, you should. It's a very little book. You could read it in an afternoon. What did he mean by that, the moral glory of the Lord Jesus Christ?

We're going to touch that in our message today. Anybody suggest a synonym for that use of the word glory? Maybe we already have. It means there his moral perfections as a man here on earth. That's what it means.

Christ’s Original Personal Glory as God the Son

We'll come to that. Seven aspects of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, his original personal glory as God the Son. We're thinking back to the time eternity passed where the Lord Jesus is dwelling in heaven, and he's the object of angelic worship, and he's there in all the splendor of his deity.

I call that his original personal glory as God the Son. It refers to all the excellencies and perfections of his deity, and it's a glory that's eternal and it's inherent. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, you read that he is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person.

Imagine that, a brightness of God's glory. And the express image of his person. That doesn't mean that Jesus is like God. It means he is God. That's what it means. Nothing short of that. And this eternal glory as God the Son includes all the splendors of his deity, all his marvelous attributes and virtues.

Now, when the Lord Jesus came to earth, he veiled that glory in a body of flesh. This is wonderful. He veiled that glory in a body of flesh. The poet said, aside he threw his most divine array and veiled his Godhead in a garb of clay.

And in that garb, this wondrous love display, restoring what he never took away. That's really precious to me. It's marvelous to me to think that that baby lying in the manger of Bethlehem, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and yet it was veiled.

A few times during his life it kind of shone out, really. When the Lord Jesus is there at the Sea of Galilee and this terrible storm arises and he rises in a boat and he says, Peace be still. And you know, the winds and the waves obey his will.

Don't you think the glory, his essential glory, shone out that day? And, of course, you have it again, too, on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John are with him there. What did they see?

They saw. Incidentally, that's another synonym of glory that we didn't discuss. It means radiance. It means bright shining. And you saw it there on the Mount of Transfiguration. So, this essential glory was there all the time.

Christ’s Positional Glory Laid Aside in His Incarnation

It shone out at individual times, at intervals. Secondly, a second aspect of the glory of the Lord Jesus was his positional glory in heaven. This is very, very important. You have his personal glory from all eternity, but then you have his positional glory in heaven.

From all eternity, the Lord Jesus held a place of indescribable honor and splendor. He was the daily delight of his Father there in heaven. But when the redemption of mankind was at stake, when it was necessary that someone die as a substitute for sinners, and there was only one person in the universe who was eligible, and that was the lovely Lord Jesus, he did not think that that positional glory in heaven was something he had to hold on to at all costs.

When he looked down to planet Earth and saw us sunk in sin and degradation and misery, he was willing to lay aside that positional glory and come into the world. And you read about that, of course, in Philippians 2, verse 7, don't you?

Philippians chapter 2, verse 7. So familiar to us, but it's so important to realize what this is saying, and we'll just mention that. Verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and literally, that is, but emptied himself.

He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

It was doubtless this positional glory that Charles Wesley was speaking, I hope it was, this positional glory that he was speaking about when he wrote, Mild he lay his glory by, born that man no more may die.

It's very important for us to see that, because you know that a great heresy has arisen with regard to verse 7, emptied himself, and people say, well, some people say he emptied himself of his deity when he came to earth.

Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. You say, well, he wasn't in all places, he left aside some of his attributes, he wasn't in all places at one and the same time. Or they say, well, there are some things he didn't know when he came to earth.

No, I wouldn't teach that at all. He then decided that positional glory in heaven and came to earth. Let me explain this to you. A prince, let's say a prince living in Buckingham Palace, he could leave the palace and go down and live in a ghetto, but he's still the same person.

You can't divest yourself of your person, and God can't divest himself of his person. That's who he is, and what he is. And now, this is the glory that the Lord Jesus was speaking about in John 17 .5.

We read it. John 17 .5, it says, And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. That's his positional glory in heaven. Notice where it says, glorify me together with yourself.

What does that mean, together with yourself? It means in your presence. He's asking for the resumption of that position in heaven, of course, which he received in resurrection and ascension back to heaven.

The restoration of that positional glory which he had with the Father, but which he laid aside by coming to earth. I think that's wonderful. It's so important to see this. So important to see it. Saves you from a lot of false teaching.

Christ’s Glory as the Sinless Son of Man

Thirdly, you have the glory of his life here on earth as the Son of Man. The glory of his life here on earth as the Son of Man. For instance, in John chapter 2, it's referred to in verse 11. This is the wedding at Cana of Galilee, and it says in verse 11,.

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him. There would be the glory of his glory as a man here on earth, the God-man. And so this verse tells us that the Lord Jesus was glorious in the miracles which he performed.

And, of course, he was glorious in the perfections of his character. He knew no sin. He did no sin. There was no sin in him. He never came to the end of the day and wished he had done something he hadn't done.

Or, he never came to the end of the day and wished he hadn't done something he did do. Never did. He never had a regret as far as his personal life was concerned. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. In John chapter 5, if you want to think about personal glory as a man here on earth, John chapter 5 and verse 30, the Lord Jesus is speaking.

He says, I can of my own self do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. And then turn to John chapter 12 and verse 50.

I'll explain it in just a minute. John chapter 12 and verse 50, and I know that his command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak. And then in John 17 and 8, which we've already read, John 17 and 8,.

For I have given to them the words which you have given me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from you. They have believed that you sent me. Those verses tell us the perfection of the Lord's character.

He only did the things that the Father told him to do. To me, that's the height of spirituality. He only did, and he not only, and incidentally, that takes care of the question, could Jesus sin? Could Jesus sin?

He only did the things the Father told him to do. Could the Father tell him to sin? Ridiculous. But this is the question right there. There's no need to discuss it any further. Of course he couldn't sin.

Can God sin? No. And I think it also explains the difficult text in Mark where it says, of that hour knows no man, not even the Son. And I believe that that means that when the Lord came down to earth, he only spoke those things that the Father told him to speak, and that wasn't one of the things that the Father told him to speak the time of his coming again.

The servant knoweth not what his master doeth. And as the servant of Jehovah coming to the earth, it was not given to him to reveal to us the time of his coming again. Three times Pilate had to admit he could find no fault in the Lord Jesus.

That's moral perfection. These men, Pilate and Herod, and the thief on the cross, they weren't exactly friends of Jesus, were they? And three times Pilate had to admit he could find no fault in him, and Herod said, I don't think he's done anything worthy of death.

But the thief on the cross said, this man has done nothing amiss. And when officers were sent to arrest him, they came back shamefaced, and they said, nobody ever spoke like this man. They couldn't take it.

And this is what we call the moral glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means his perfections, his moral and spiritual perfections as a man and woman. I tell you, that would take a lifetime of study, wouldn't it?

It's interesting to me that no man can write the story, the biography of a sinless person. No one of us could do it. We have it in the Bible because it was by inspiration of God. But you and I couldn't sit down and write a biography of a sinless man.

It makes me think of the French skeptic Renan. He said it would take a Christ to invent a Christ, and so it would. It would take a Christ to invent a Christ. So I love to think about that. I love to think of the moral glories of the Lord Jesus as a man here on earth.

Christ’s Acquired Glory as Savior and Redeemer

Never get tired of that. And the next glory, his acquired glory. Oh, you say acquired glory. Isn't the Lord Jesus complete? How could he ever acquire any glory? Well, he did acquire glory. He was coming to the earth.

If he had remained in heaven, he never could be our Savior. And so, Saviorhood is an acquired glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is beautiful. By going to the cross and rising again from the tomb, he became our perfect Savior.

That explains some verses in Hebrews. Would you just turn to Hebrews, chapter 2, and verse 10? Hebrews 2, 10. It was fitting for him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their perfection perfect through suffering.

Now, just a minute, brother. You just finished saying he knew no sin, he did no sin, there was no sin in him, and now you're reading me a verse that says he was made perfect. How could a sinless person be made perfect?

Dear friends, when you come to a difficulty like that in the Bible, the key is usually found hanging right in the door. And the key is in the verse. How was he made perfect? As the author of our salvation, that's how he was made perfect.

Or, just to say it simply, he became the perfect Savior, which he never could have done if he had stayed in heaven. We call that an acquired glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 5 of Hebrews, verse 9.

Chapter 5 of Hebrews, verse 9. It says, And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Once again, same question. How could he become perfected or perfected?

How? What's that? He's the author of eternal salvation, an acquired glory of our wonderful Savior. He couldn't be made perfect as to his person. He's always been perfect, but he could be made perfect as our Savior.

And I think the Lord alluded to that in John chapter 12, verse 23. The Lord Jesus himself. John 12, 23. He says, but Jesus, I should go back and say, some Greeks came, you know, and they came to Philip and said, sirs, we would see Jesus.

Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. He's speaking in anticipation of the cross there, isn't he?

And of his death, burial, and resurrection, when he would become perfected as our Savior. Let me just go back and say, I think these Greeks came, and they wanted to take Jesus back to Athens as their guru.

You know, the Athenians, they love to sit around there on Mars Hill and just discuss philosophic ideas. And they had come, and they had heard about Jesus and about the wisdom that flowed from his lips, and they thought, that's what we want.

The Greeks seek after wisdom. And so they come and say, we would see Jesus. And the disciples come to the Lord. Jesus, what is he saying there? He's saying, before I ascend the throne of glory, I first have to go to the altar of sacrifice, that's what he's saying.

The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.

They wanted to put him on the throne of glory. He said, I have to go to the cross first. Father, the hour has come. The Son of Man should be glorified. Really wonderful. Of course, he has other acquired glories by his incarnation and sacrificial work.

Apart from his incarnation, he could never become the Messiah. The title Messiah is an acquired glory of the Lord Jesus. Why? Because the Messiah had to be born at the feet of David. That's something he acquired by coming into this world and being born of the Virgin Mary.

The Lord Jesus could never have the title Good Shepherd if he hadn't come. Why? Because the Good Shepherd gives his life to the sheep. And so, you can go through a long list. High priest, advocate, mediator, intercessor, redeemer, heir of all things, king, judge, head of the church.

The Lord Jesus could never have the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. That's an acquired glory of the Lord Jesus. That's a fruit of his work there at Calvary's cross.

Any titles that are the result of his redemptive work are what we call acquired glories of the Lord Jesus. Now, in John chapter 17, I read one to you, and it's absolutely breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking.

John 17, verse 10. He's speaking about his disciples, his followers, and he says in verse 10, All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. I tell you, young people say that blows me away.

That blows me away. You know what it's saying? It's saying if you're here today, and you're a child of God, by faith in the Lord Jesus, he's glorified in you. That's enough to make you a worshiper, isn't it?

He should never be glorified in me. Yet, you start to think about it, and I think of a dear friend of mine who, before he was saved, he was on drugs, he was on alcohol, he was committing burglaries, and I mean the whole list.

And then, you know, the hound of heaven chased him down and caught him at last. He was gloriously saved. And you know, that fellow, coming from a non-Christian background, his mother's a Swedenborgian, whatever you want to say, and he's down in Brazil tonight, today, preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, under that glory for Jesus, isn't it?

When he can take a vessel like that, and make a Christ-exalting missionary out of him, that's glory to Christ. He says, I am glorified in them. I think that's wonderful, don't you? We should never read the Bible without a holy gasp, because if we do, we're missing the meaning.

And Paul, in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, he links this whole idea with the second coming of Christ in power and great glory. I'll just read it. He says in 2 Thessalonians 1 .10, When he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who believe, that looks forward to the time when the Lord Jesus will come from heaven in power and great glory with his saints, and the world will look on thunderstruck, realizing that those people that they had despised and rejected were the royal family of heaven.

The Glory of Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension

They pass incognito through the world. They pass anonymously through the world. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. But the world will be amazed in that day. Then another glory of the Lord Jesus is the glory of his resurrection and ascension.

The glory of his resurrection and ascension. John 17, verse 1. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.

Now, there, obviously, the Lord Jesus is looking forward to Calvary, isn't he? He's speaking in anticipation of Calvary. It doesn't mean that the hour had come that particular second. It means the time had come when he would go to the cross and offer himself there for the redemption of mankind.

He says, glorify your Son. How? How did Jesus pray that God would glorify him? By raising him from the dead. Right? By raising him from the dead. You see, if the Lord Jesus hadn't risen from the dead, he would be no different from any other man or woman that's ever died.

But he was declaring to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection of the dead. And so here he prays that God would put his seal of approval upon the work of Christ at Calvary's cross by raising him from the dead.

Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Of course, that's exactly what happened. That prayer was answered in three days. Three days and three nights God raised him from the dead by his mighty power.

And as a result, no tree has ever borne such fruit for God as the cross of Calvary. Isn't it true? No tree has ever brought such fruit for God as the cross of Calvary. Now, there's a similar passage I'd like you to look at in John 13, 31 and 32.

And this is a passage that could be very difficult for you unless you understand this whole idea of the different aspects of the glory of Christ. It speaks about Judas in the preceding verses, and then it says in 31, so when he, Judas, had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him.

If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him immediately. Now, that's complicated, isn't it? Isn't that complicated? Go over it carefully. Again, he uses the word now, and he's looking forward to Calvary.

He's looking forward to Calvary. Now the Son of Man is glorified, that is, as Savior, going to the cross and becoming the Savior of the world, and God is glorified in him, and God was greatly glorified by the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

It says, If God is glorified in him, and that if is not an if of doubt, it's a since. Since God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, how? By raising him from the dead. By raising him from the dead.

And glorify him immediately, that means three days later. See, so when you put the key in the door, it all fits together beautifully. First, the Lord Jesus is speaking about Calvary as a way in which he was glorified, in which God was glorified, and since God was glorified in that work, God glorified him in himself by raising him from the dead, and doing it straightway, that is, after three days and three nights.

Now, let me just read you some other verses of Scripture that speak of the glory of his resurrection and ascension. On the road to Emmaus, he said to the two disciples, Not that Christ should have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory.

That's the glory of his ascension at the right hand of God. John 7, 39. But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing on him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Before the Holy Spirit could be sent down on the day of Pentecost, the Lord Jesus had to go back to heaven and be glorified there. And the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world today is a testimony to the rejection of Christ.

Christ should be here sitting upon the throne, but the world rejected him, and he went back to heaven, and God sent the Holy Spirit. John 12, 16. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, and then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.

Acts 3, 13. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, 16, he was received up in glory.

The Glory of Christ’s Second Coming and Kingdom

And finally, 1 Peter 1, 21. Who through him, the Lord Jesus, believed in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. The glory of his resurrection and his ascension back to heaven. And then you have the glory of his second coming in kingdom.

And incidentally, this is the glory that's most frequently mentioned in the New Testament. Rather surprisingly so, but that's the way it is. There are more references in the New Testament to the glory of his second coming and kingdom than to any other.

And for the sake of time, I'm just going to read you some of those references. The Son of Man will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24, 30. In that day he will be glorified in his saints and admired among all those who believe.

2 Thessalonians 1, 10. We already read that. When he sits on the throne of his glory, he will reward the apostles and all his followers. Matthew 19, 28. And he's going to judge the nations. Matthew chapter 25.

It says when the Son of Man comes in his glory, the nations are going to be gathered before him. The sheep nations and the goat nations. He says in that day he'll be ashamed of all of those who are ashamed of him and of his words when he comes in his own glory.

James and John unwisely act to sit next to the Lord Jesus in the glory of his coming kingdom. They thought it was going to be just a matter of political patronage or something like that. But they found out differently.

And then Peter reminds us that those who partake of Christ's sufferings now will rejoice with exceeding joy when his glory is revealed. The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ was a preview of the glory of his kingdom.

They saw the Lord Jesus transfigured before them. And John spoke of it. We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It's shown up, isn't it? It's shown up.

It says, Luke 9, 32,. But when Peter and those who were with him were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were with him. The Mount of Transfiguration. And Peter, in his epistle, in his second epistle, explains that what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration was a miniature of Christ in the glory of his coming kingdom.

Now, in John 17, the chapter we started with, verse 22, this is also another mention of the glory of Christ in his kingdom. He says, The glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one.

Now, I believe that's the glory of his coming kingdom. He's pointing forward to his reign on earth as if it were already present, and we will reign with him. He shares his glory there as the monarch during that time with the church, which is his bride.

The world doesn't recognize us at present or appreciate us, but when Christ is manifested in glory, the saints will be seen in glory as well. When Christ, who is our light, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.

Beloved, now are we the children of God. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And that's what's going to convince the world of the oneness between Christ and his people.

It's so foolish to see this great ecumenical movement trying to bring the... And they use that verse, that they all may be one as we are one, and they say unity at the expense of doctrine. It's nonsense.

Christ’s Present Glory in Heaven

The spiritual unity that the Lord Jesus is speaking about, the world will see it when he comes again and his people come with him. And then finally, his present glory in heaven. The final, seventh aspect, I'm not saying these are all the glories of Christ, they're innumerable, but the seventh that we're going to think about today is the present glory of the Lord Jesus in heaven.

Oh, you say, just go back to number one, it's the same as number one. His original, inherent glory as God the Son. That's not the same. Can any brother tell me why is number seven different from number one?