Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9 ESV
Do you ever experience moments when you feel that you are so close to the glories of heaven that you can almost reach out and touch them? I do.
Moments when a ray of sunshine breaks brightly through dark clouds, a baby’s full-throated laughter interrupts the silence, a full double rainbow colors the sky after a storm, a child’s tight embrace enfolds you, a work of art fills your spirit, hundreds of voices joined in praise, the silent fall of snowflakes, and so many other blessed moments offer a fleeting preview of future glorious days.
Beautiful moments. Glimpses of glories to come.
In those sweet times, I know that I have been given the tiniest flash of beautiful things to come and glory yet to be unveiled. And in those moments, my heart longs for more:
Tastes of the divine.
Whispers of hallelujahs.
Foreshadows of the future.
Inklings of a never-ending tomorrow.
C. S. Lewis is a long-time favorite of mine. “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” was an early read, but it was my sweet man who introduced me to the deeper, Christian writings of this twentieth-century intellectual giant.
In “The Problem of Pain,” Lewis writes about the undefinable but deep longings and desires that endlessly fill us in this life:
You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it – tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest – if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound of itself – you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt, you would say here at last is the thing I was made for.
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1940/1996), 150-151
As thankful as I am for those glimpses of glory, I know that it is impossible while living in this sin-stained world to experience the fullness of glory that awaits us in Heaven. Only when we are in the presence of the One from Whom all glory flows will we be able to fully immerse ourselves in His sublime beauty.
“Your eyes will behold the King in his beauty…” Isaiah 33:17 ESV
“And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 40:5 ESV
What is glory? Glory is “the tangible presence of God, experienced as overwhelming power and splendor.”1 The Hebrew word for glory comes from the root meaning heavy, substantial, intense, wealthy, and most honored.
Glory is the inherent beauty of God’s presence. It is His richness, holiness, and rank – His reputation, greatness, power, honor, victory, and majesty. Glory is what He is and does, and it is how He reveals Himself to us.
Referring to God’s magnificent glory, Lewis writes –
We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory – A Year with C. S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003), 397
Scripture tells us that the fullness of God’s glory is simply too much for our mortal eyes. It is overwhelming even when partially revealed. In Exodus 33, when Moses asked God to reveal His glory to him, God replied that it was certain death for a man to see His face. (Exodus 33:18-23) God gave Moses a mere glimpse of His goodness.
When Solomon’s Temple was completed and the Ark of the Covenant placed in the Holy of Holies, the glory of God so filled the house of the LORD with the cloud of His presence that the priests were unable to minister and had to leave the Temple. (1 Kings 8:1-11)
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah 6:3
Isaiah’s vision of the LORD “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up…” caused Isaiah to cry out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King the LORD of Hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1-7) Isaiah was sure that he was a dead man because he saw the LORD in His glory in a vision. God’s glory is overwhelming.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus gave Peter, James, and John a glimpse of the glory that is His. As remarkable as it must have been for the disciples to see Moses and Elijah, most incredible was seeing Jesus in His glory and hearing the voice of God. (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36)
In Jesus, our heart’s desire to be united with the beauty of God’s glory becomes a reality that will be fully realized on Heaven’s shore. Jesus is our Hope of Glory.
“The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26-27 ESV
The hope of glory.
The older I get, the more real the hint becomes. More visible, louder. Not just a hint, not just a whisper. It is my Hope. It is the promise to which I cling. It becomes clearer with each step that I take. Until one day, I will pass through the gauzy haze of death, arriving at my eternal home where I will rejoice forevermore in the fullness and beautiful glory of my LORD and Savior.
As C. S. Lewis would say, “beyond all possibility of doubt…here at last is the thing I was made for.”
Friend, do glimpses of His glory buoy your heart? Do you find hope and rejoice in God’s promise that one day you will share in the glory of Jesus Christ for all eternity because of Jesus?
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
1 The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary pg. 672-673