Lake Agnes, State Forest State Park, Colorado
About a year ago, I posted about how the glory of the Lord originates in the wilderness. Isaiah 40 declares, “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord… and the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all the people will see it together.” (Isaiah 40:3, 5)
Tonto Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
I finished that post by saying, “Glory changes you. Glory sticks to you. Glory goes with you, and everyone you touch or look at or speak with is touched with the glory you have experienced.”
North Falls in Silver Falls State Park, Oregon
But what is the glory of the Lord?
Sandstone Buttes on the Zebra Slot / Tunnel Slot Trail, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
The definition of the word “glory” is “magnificence or great beauty; a thing that is beautiful or distinctive; the splendor and bliss of heaven.”
Crossing the Snowy Range, Wyoming
Using this definition, the glory of the Lord is “the magnificence and great beauty of the Lord; the manifested distinctive beauty of the Lord; the heavenly splendor and bliss of the Lord.” It is the presence that surrounds God, Himself; the evidence of God, Himself, as He comes into the midst of His people.
An arch in the Bisti Wilderness, New Mexico
Isaiah saw this glory originate in the wilderness and then follow a highway prepared by people – by human beings – to the place where all people would see it, together.
Exploring The Den in Big Bend National Park, Texas
The writers of the Bible were very aware of the glory of the Lord, which filled the temple to such an extent during its dedication that the priests were unable to go in to perform their duties (2 Chronicles 7:1-2). The Israelites saw the glory of the Lord coming in a cloud in Exodus 16. Ezekiel saw “the likeness of the glory of the Lord” in Ezekiel 1:27-28: “I saw that from what appeared to be the waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.”
South Kaibab Trail just below Skeleton Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
The extremely cool thing here is that this glory isn’t hidden from us. This is neither a thing of the past nor a sight that is experienced only once we get to heaven. Every Christian has access to the glory of the Lord. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians, “But we all beholding the glory of the Lord… are transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (3:18).
Grapevine Hills, Big Bend National Park, Texas
When we behold the glory of the Lord, we are beholding His manifest beauty and magnificence; the heavenly splendor and bliss of the Lord; the presence that surrounds God, Himself. When we see this – either in the wilderness, or elsewhere – we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into ever increasing glory.
