Clarifying What God’s Glory Is

There are certain words that are so familiar to us that we often use them without even thinking. The word ‘glory’ is one of those. We’re taught we should glorify God. We sing about God’s glory, read Scriptures about God’s glory, and hear sermons about God’s glory. We print “Glory to God in the Highest” on Christmas cards, and, on occasions when we see God do something marvelous, we shout, “Glory to God!”

In fact, God’s glory was Jesus’ highest goal. In John 17:1, Jesus prays to the Father. The moment he’d been waiting for had arrived. He was about to be crucified according to his Father’s will to make atonement for sinners. And so, he says, “Father…Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” In other words, everything had been leading to this point. Jesus’ incarnation, his life of obedience, his ministry, his teaching, and now his suffering, death, and resurrection. All of these were intended and carried out by him to accomplish one, ultimate, goal: the glory of God.

But what is God’s glory? What does the word “glory” even mean? It sounds nice and pious to say, but can we explain what it means? Since glorifying God was and is Jesus’ greatest goal, it seems like a very important question to answer.

In this episode, which is the second part of a conversation Shawn and Scott have been having about Jesus and the glory of God, they dive into answering this important question: “What is the glory of God?”