His Glory

Caleb is in the thick of the tooth-losing season of his life. His first tooth fell out one evening during bedtime. His Daddy had read to them and prayed over them and just finished telling them it was time to stop goofing around and sleep. That’s the moment his first tooth fell out, just after his father had warned them to be quiet and settle in for the night. He quietly placed his tooth under his pillow and nodded off. When he woke up the poor boy passionately shared his disappointment with his sister who took it upon herself to tell us what had happened. I asked Caleb why he hadn’t told us his tooth had fallen out, to which he said, “Daddy said it was time to be quiet and sleep so I couldn’t tell him.” It seemed his obedience had cost him. We reassured him that the tooth fairy would come that night. “She only comes when Mommy and Daddy call her Caleb,” Chiara, who had been listening in, said. “Mommy has her phone number!”

He has lost three other teeth since then and in the past two weeks, four new ones have started wobbling. He is so excited. Every day he talks about how they are a little more wobbly than they were the day before. A few nights ago he begged me to pull the wobbliest of them all out. “Caleb, I don’t do such MacGyver moves, that’s your father’s department,” I said to him. He didn’t dare ask his father… he’s smart like that. One time I asked him why he was so excited about losing his teeth, and he gave me two answers. He said he was excited because his new teeth would be coming in and also because he gets money for every tooth that falls. I asked him why he was excited about money and he said it was because he was saving for something special. I was curious, even though I half expected him to tell me that something special was some new Paw Patrol toy. He came a little closer to me in an attempt to whisper, which never works for either of my children, and said that he was saving so he could take our whole family to Hawaii. I was touched. Chiara was excited! “Mommy, Caleb will have a lot of money when all his teeth fall out and then he’ll take us to Hawadi,” she shouted. Yes, she said Hawadi. I laughed.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14 (NKJV)

For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to His servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release Him. ~ Acts 3:13 (NLT)

Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. ~ 1 John 5:3 (NLT)

For some reason, I can’t get past Caleb’s excitement about his new teeth coming in. I have been thinking about the process though, and how he has to go through the loss of one thing, to prepare for the new and more permanent thing. Milk tooth loss is relatively painless, but in some cases, as new teeth come in, a child may experience mild fever, swollen gums, soreness when chewing and slight bleeding when the loose tooth falls out. It’s a process. According to Caleb’s excitement, it is a worthwhile process. As Easter approaches, I want to highlight the beauty of process to you. The process Jesus underwent as He prepared for His glorification, to be more specific. Unlike the superficial process of losing milk teeth, Jesus’ process was much deeper, more significant and certainly more excruciating.

As I looked up the words glory and glorify from the Bible, I realised this process Jesus underwent wasn’t just for His eternal glorification, it was for us and our glorification too. In my understanding, this glorification pertained to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. If we are to also be glorified, there must be crucifixion and resurrection we must experience as well. Galatians chapter 5 tells us that those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to their cross and crucified them there. It also goes on to say that since we are living by the Spirit, resurrected to newness of life, we are to follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Wow! How many times do we hold on to certain aspects of our old and dying identity, inadvertently forsaking the glory of God that Jesus died to make available to us? Christ rose so that we can rise out of that old way of life. Most often than not, the things we hate about our sinful nature are easy to let go of when we come to Christ. They fall away, almost effortlessly, subject to the depth and light of His love and forgiveness. There are, however, parts of our old nature that we love. These things we clench close to our chests, hiding them away from the light of Christ’s glory. As we use this week to reflect on the sacrifice Christ made for us at Calvary, I want to pay specific attention to His glory and what it means to us.

Jesus’ glory makes our salvation possible

Without the process of Easter, we would be lost. God’s plan of redemption was executed perfectly for our sake. For this reason, we have reconciliation, peace and union with God. Such a beautiful relationship is made available because of the obedience and sacrifice of our Lord and Saviour. There is no greater gift.

Jesus’ glory strengthens our faith

When Jesus was preparing for His ultimate glorification, He demonstrated glimpses of His glory to His disciples and others who followed Him. Signs and wonders, they called them. John 2:11 tells us of the first time Jesus revealed His glory, the miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee and His disciples believed in Him. This was followed by many others, all to help strengthen the faith of His disciples, both then and now. When we read accounts of the signs and wonders that characterised Jesus’ ministry, they build our faith to believe in Him for signs and wonders in our own lives. And as we share our testimonies, we continue this work of building the faith of His believers, over and over until He returns.

Jesus’ glory gives us access to the Holy Spirit

In John 7 we have an account of Jesus describing the coming of His Spirit. When He said, “living water,” He was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory. We live on the other side of this glorification, meaning the Holy Spirit is available to us. For as long as we have placed our faith in Jesus, His Spirit inhabits us, living, walking and working in us until we see our Lord face to face. This brings me to the last thing I want to highlight as a benefit of Jesus’ glory.

Jesus’ glory becomes our glory

As I said earlier, glory pertains to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. When we choose to believe in Him, we get to partake in this glory, meaning we also get to partake in this crucifixion and resurrection. The Bible says that it is appointed for every man to die once, upon this death, we will live forever with Him, resurrected and glorified for union with God for eternity. This is one side of the glory which is made available to us because of Christ’s finished work at Calvary. Our glory is twofold. Unlike Jesus who died once and for all being raised to life on the third day, while we live our new self continues to grow, putting to death our old and sinful self, causing death and resurrection over and over and over as we become more and more like Jesus. It is said better in 2 Corinthians 3:18;

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.

As we purpose to behold Jesus’ glory, we soak it in so much so that we begin to reflect it from the inside out. All those dark places we once held dear, begin to slowly die, one by one, until we look like the One whom we owe everything to.

As you take time this week to appreciate the significant process of Easter, behold His glory. Allow the light of His glory to shine brightly upon you, submitting every area of your life until it is saturated by His glory. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you train your appetites and see how God’s glory will shine brighter and brighter in your life. Happy Easter.