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Scripture Reading: John 1:14, 18, 49-51; 2:11; 11:40; 17:1, 4-5; Heb. 1:3; Exo. 40:34-35
In the previous chapters we looked at three matters in John 1:14: the Word becoming flesh, tabernacling, and being full of grace and reality. In this chapter we will consider the matter of beholding His glory. Although these are seemingly different subjects, they are fully related to one another. The Word becoming flesh is God’s tabernacling among us. God’s tabernacling among us is full of grace and reality, and in this grace and reality His glory is manifested. These four matters are all related to one another. In this chapter we will consider the matter of beholding His glory.
Although many brothers and sisters are familiar with the term glory, they may not necessarily know the meaning of glory. I must admit that this matter is difficult to explain, because our experience of glory is very limited. Even when the Old Testament speaks of the glory of Jehovah filling the tabernacle (Exo. 40:34-35), it does not provide a clear explanation or description of glory. The verses speak of a cloud covering the Tent of Meeting and the glory of Jehovah filling the tabernacle. There is a connection between the cloud and God’s glory, but the cloud is not the glory. Hence, it is not easy to explain the matter of glory.
Some brothers and sisters think that glory is God manifesting Himself radiantly before men. Many Bible versions that have cross references link beheld His glory in John 1:14 to the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus on the mountain. According to the writers of these cross references, when Peter, James, and John saw the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus on Mount Hermon, they were beholding the Lord’s glory (Matt. 17:1-2). We cannot say that the phrase in John 1:14 is not related to this incident, but glory refers to more than the Lord’s transfiguration. The entire Gospel of John is needed in order to explain this phrase. The glory spoken of by John refers to God being expressed. Although God cannot be seen or touched, it is possible for people to speak of God being expressed.
The introduction to the Gospel of John is contained in verses 1 through 18 of chapter 1, and in this introduction John says, “We beheld His glory” (v. 14). John beheld the God who was spoken forth, the Word who became flesh. In His becoming flesh, He tabernacled among men so that He could express God. As soon as the children of Israel left Egypt and raised up the tabernacle, the glory of God filled the tabernacle. God dwelt in the tabernacle, and His glory was expressed through the tabernacle. When the tabernacle was filled with God’s glory, it was filled with God’s expression. When John wrote his Gospel, he used the picture of the tabernacle to tell people that the Word, who was spoken forth and who became flesh, was also a tabernacle. As such a tabernacle, God was expressed and could be received by men as grace and reality. He could be received because He was expressed in glory. This glory cannot be seen outwardly, but it can be seen by our inner eyes of faith.
According to the Gospel of John, glory is a person; that is, glory is God in the flesh being expressed. Although Jesus looked like an ordinary man, people could not help but realize that God was among them. He was like the tabernacle in the Old Testament, which was outwardly covered with rough and ugly porpoise skins (Exo. 26:14) but was inwardly filled with the brightness of Jehovah, the glory of God. When Jesus the Nazarene was on the earth, His outward appearance was comparable to the covering of porpoise skins on the tabernacle. He did not have any attracting form nor majesty, and His visage was marred more than that of any man (Isa. 53:2; 52:14). However, those who contacted Him could not help but realize that in Him there was an expression of God as glory (John 1:41, 49). When the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, the disciples saw His glory with both their inner spiritual eyes and their physical eyes. However, when John spoke of beholding His glory, his emphasis was on the glory that the disciples saw as the Lord tabernacled among them in a lowly man for more than three years.
The beginning word in John 1 is an introduction, a prelude. Every case that follows this introduction confirms that people beheld His glory. At the end of chapter 1, when Nathanael came to the Lord Jesus, the Lord spoke of the condition of Nathanael’s heart, saying, “Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile!” (v. 47). He also said, “Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (v. 48). Nathanael was greatly surprised by the Lord’s word, and he responded, saying, “You are the Son of God” (v. 49). In this lowly person, Nathanael saw something that could not be found in ordinary people, so he could not help but say that Jesus was the Son of God. Nathanael beheld the glory of the Lord.
In chapter 2 the Lord Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee (vv. 1-11). In this situation people witnessed the glory of God being expressed and coming forth in a lowly man. Consequently, verse 11 speaks of the miracle as the “beginning of signs Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee,” which “manifested His glory.” The God who was hidden in Jesus was expressed, and this expression was glory.
In chapter 4 we also see a manifestation of glory. As a lowly man, the Lord Jesus was weary from His journey; He was hungry and thirsty. After His disciples left to buy food, a woman came to the well where the Lord was resting. In this situation His outward appearance surely could be likened to the porpoise skins on the tabernacle. When the woman came, He said, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever” (vv. 13-14). Through this word the Lord manifested His glory. Even though the woman was puzzled, the Lord had stirred up a longing within her for this living water. Therefore, she said, “Sir, give me this water” (v. 15). The Lord said, “Go, call your husband and come here” (v. 16). The woman, thinking that the Lord had unintentionally touched the dark side of her living, tried to cover up her situation by telling the truth, so she said, “I do not have a husband.” The Lord immediately responded, saying, “You have well said, I do not have a husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband” (vv. 17-18). With this word the Lord revealed that He knew her background. When she heard the Lord’s words, she must have felt that there was something extraordinary about this tired and thirsty man with a marred visage. It is no wonder that she went into the city and testified to the people, saying, “Come, see a man who told me all that I have done. Is this not the Christ?” (v. 29). She saw a manifestation of glory.
In chapter 5 the Lord arrived in Jerusalem and came to the porticoes at Bethesda. There were many sick people lying there, but no one paid attention to the Lord Jesus, who had no attracting form. The Lord saw a person who was sick for thirty-eight years, and He asked, “Do you want to get well?” (v. 6). The man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me” (v. 7). The Lord then said, “Rise, take up your mat and walk” (v. 8). “Immediately, the man became well, and he took up his mat and walked” (v. 9). I believe that in this situation the glory of God was expressed through the Lord Jesus, a seemingly ordinary man.
In chapter 6 the Lord used five loaves and two fish to feed many people. The Lord was full of wisdom and authority when He preached to the crowd; hence, they did not want to depart. The other Gospels also record this case, saying that the disciples came to the Lord and said, “Send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy for themselves something to eat” (Mark 6:36). The Lord answered, “You give them something to eat” (v. 37). The disciples tried, but they could find only five loaves and two fish (cf. Luke 9:13). Then the Lord Jesus ordered the disciples to have the crowd recline by companies on the green grass. The Lord took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Eventually, those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men (Mark 6:39-44). In the beginning the disciples might have said, “How can we divide five loaves and two fish among so many people?” but eventually, everyone ate and was satisfied, and they gathered the leftover pieces and filled twelve handbaskets (John 6:13). That was truly a manifestation of the Lord’s glory.
In John 8 the scribes and Pharisees brought to the Lord a woman who had been caught in adultery (v. 3). According to the law of Moses, she should be stoned to death. The scribes and Pharisees used this case to test the Lord Jesus. They asked Him, “What then do You say?” (v. 5). This was a very difficult question. If the Lord said she should be stoned to death, how could He say that He loved sinners and had come for the sake of sinners? If the Lord said that she should not die, then He would be accused of violating the law of Moses. At this moment the One who had a marred visage stooped down to write on the ground. When they persisted in questioning Him, the Lord Jesus stood up and said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). The Lord’s words not only had much authority, but they were also full of love! He did not say whether or not they should stone her. He only said that whoever was without sin could throw the first stone. After saying this, He again stooped down and wrote on the ground (v. 8). When the people heard what He said, they left one by one, beginning with the older ones. Eventually, Jesus was left alone and only the woman stood in the midst (v. 9). Then the Lord Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” (v. 10). She said, “No one, Lord,” and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you” (v. 11). What glory was expressed with this word! His sweet love is indescribable. This situation illustrates John’s word in 1:18: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
In chapter 9, when the Lord Jesus saw a man blind from birth, His disciples asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” (v. 2). The Lord Jesus said, “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but he was born so, that the works of God might be manifested in him” (v. 3). The expression that the works of God might be manifested refers to the manifestation of God’s glory. The Lord intended to manifest a situation of glory on this blind man.
In chapter 11 a man named Lazarus was sick and then died. His sisters asked the Lord Jesus to come and visit him in order to heal him, but the Lord did not come immediately. He waited until Lazarus was dead and buried (v. 17). According to our natural understanding, this was a hopeless situation. When the Lord Jesus arrived, they took Him to the dead man’s tomb (v. 38). Then the Lord commanded them to take away the stone that was covering the entrance to the tomb (v. 39). When He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (v. 43), Lazarus came out. This situation was truly glorious!
Every case presented in the Gospel of John shows that people realized God was being expressed through Jesus the Nazarene. With Him there was glory, a glory that could not be found in anyone other than Him, just as a father can be truly expressed only by his son. This is the reason 1:14 speaks of His glory, the “glory as of the only Begotten from the Father.” The expression from the Father indicates that the glory He expressed can be likened to a son expressing all that his father has given him. Only a son can obtain and express all that is of his father.
Hence, verse 18 continues, saying, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” The Son’s declaring is glory. God is declared in the way of glory. In the universe only the Lord can declare God, and only He has glory. After seeing all these cases, we should have a better understanding of what it means to behold His glory.
The incarnation of the Lord as the Word speaks of the only begotten Son of the Father becoming flesh. However, the incarnation of the Lord has also been enlarged to include you and me and all who have believed in Him. Everyone who believes in Him has the reality of the incarnation and is a part of this tabernacle. The principle of incarnation and tabernacling should be applied to us all.
The significance of the incarnation is the mingling of God with man and the living out of God in man. As a result of this mingling, we become His habitation, a tabernacle, in which He may rest and make His home. Whenever and wherever a group of people live in the principle of incarnation and tabernacling, there will be glory. Such ones may look very ordinary, but among them and within them there will be the manifestation of glory. Being a Christian is not related to doing good deeds. Christians must cause others to touch a sense of glory in them, not just a sense of good.
Before I was saved, there was a fire at my place of work, and everyone was busy moving things away from the affected area. During this time I saw a small ink bottle made of fine china with a small Western brush that I liked very much, so I secretly took them home with me. After I was saved, the Spirit told me to deal with this unrighteous matter. Although I still had the ink bottle, I had lost the brush. Therefore, I decided to pay for its loss with money. I took the ink bottle and a dollar and went to see the owner. I confessed shamefully to him that I had taken the two items and that I was returning them willingly. After he listened to me, he insisted that it was not necessary for me to return them. After I pleaded with him repeatedly, he said, “I will accept the ink bottle, but I cannot accept this dollar.” Then he saw that I was holding a combined solar-lunar calendar, which was a very popular calendar but not easy to obtain, and he said, “I will accept your calendar as a substitute for the brush.” Although I did not want to part with my calendar, I gave it to him because I was indebted to him. When I left, I still felt that I should not keep the dollar. So I prayed, “Lord, please show me a beggar to whom I can give this dollar.”
When I returned home, it was dark, but shortly after I shut the door, someone knocked on my door. I opened the door and saw a stranger who was asking for help because he had not eaten for the whole day. I immediately felt that he had been sent by God. I took him in, fed him, and gave him some steamed buns for his journey. Since he was unfamiliar with the surroundings, I helped him find a place where he could stay for the night. While we were on our way, I took out the dollar and put it in his hand. He was very surprised and said, “I cannot take this.” I said, “Please do not refuse. You must take it.” Then he said, “Sir, you are very good. You are a really good man.” I smiled and said, “You are wrong. I am not good. I am a sinner. I am not good at all. Jesus is good. Jesus told me to feed you, and Jesus told me to give you the dollar.” When we came to a crossroad, I pointed to a place where he could find accommodations. He thanked me and left. At that very moment a brother called to me from across the street, saying, “Brother Lee, where are you heading?” Then he walked over to me and gave me a package. “This is for you,” he said. When I returned home, I opened the package, and incredibly, it was a combined solar-lunar calendar. The joy in me at that time was indescribable.
I had this experience when I was young. I was led by the Lord to confess and deal with my sins and to receive a stranger. This was not something that I would normally do; it was the Lord in me. This kind of behavior surpasses human goodness and morality. This is glory. As Christians who pursue the Lord, we should have daily experiences of incarnation so that people can see glory in us.
On the outskirts of Foochow there were two flesh brothers who were also brothers in the Lord. They were farmers, and their land was on the hillside. Whenever there was a drought, they had to manually carry water up to their field to irrigate it. During one drought they carried water all day up to their field. The next day they discovered that their neighbor had dug a hole at the ridge of their field and had drained their water into his field, which was located on a lower terrace. They did not want to say anything, so they plugged the hole and again watered their field. However, when they went to their field the next day, they found that the neighbor had again stolen their water. The brothers were very angry, but they did not want to have an argument with him because they had recently preached the gospel to him. They went to see a brother to ask him what to do, and this brother led them to pray and read from Matthew 5:39-42, which says, “Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And to him who wishes to sue you and take your tunic, yield to him your cloak also; and whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. To him who asks of you, give; and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.” After reading the Scripture and praying, the two brothers irrigated their neighbor’s field, and then they irrigated their own field. When the neighbor came to steal their water, he was surprised to see that his field was already irrigated. This occurred over a period of several days, and it greatly puzzled the neighbor. When he discovered that the two brothers were irrigating his field for him, he said in his heart, “Even though I stole their water, they have not rebuked me; instead, they have irrigated my field. What kind of thing is this?” The neighbor was greatly moved by their actions, and he apologized to the two brothers. Shortly thereafter he was saved.
This is an experience of incarnation. It is not being merely good or ethical. It is a mystery; it is the Lord Jesus living within people and living out from within them. I hope that these two simple testimonies will help you understand this principle. The One who was the Word in the beginning has been incarnated, and furthermore, He has come into us as life and has mingled Himself with us. He is now tabernacling in us. As we experience this mingling and His tabernacling, God will be manifested through us. We will have wisdom and discernment that others lack, and we will be able to endure sufferings that others cannot bear. In us there will be a situation that surpasses mere human goodness and virtue because God is being expressed through us. This is glory.
This is according to our experience. Before we were saved, we were full of pride and critical of others. Furthermore, we were estranged from others. Then we received the gospel, and we were regenerated. At that time there was no need for anyone to speak to us about our pride or to advise us to be reconciled with others. These responses were manifested in us because we met the Lord Jesus inwardly. In considering these responses, a husband may say, “My wife has changed,” and a neighbor may say, “Oh, she is so different.” Even parents may say, “My daughter is a different person.” The more we contact the Lord, the more we are changed, and the more people will speak of God’s glory being in us. Although our response may be manifested seemingly as mere zeal, patience, or goodness, the source of these virtues is mysterious and marvelous.
When people see God’s glory in us, they can receive God through us as grace. They can also meet God and touch God in us as the reality. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.” The Lord is full of grace and reality because of glory. When people receive glory, they receive grace; when people touch glory, they touch reality. Glory, grace, and reality are related to the manifestation of God.
The living and the tabernacling of Christ that are seen in the Gospel of John are related to our Christian living. The Word became flesh, and as the tabernacle of God, He was filled with God’s glory, and He manifested God’s glory. We have beheld His glory, and others can see this glory by receiving grace and touching reality through us.
