What the heck does glory mean?

February 6, 2009

Today's Reading: Exodus 23, 24 and Matthew 26

In the reading today in the book of Exodus, God appears and it is pretty glorious. I believe the verse says something about how Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, seventy elders came up to see the God of Israel. Not only did they get to see God, but they walked on a path “made of sapphire”.

I’m not certain how this would look like, but this is one time I would let my imagination go wild. It would be pretty cool to see a road that is made of colored stones. There is also a promise that God will send an angel ahead to wipe out some serious enemies.

Contrast that to the reading today in Matthew, in which there is no obvious physical presence of glory. In fact, it feels like the glory of God is about to fade away. After all, all signs are pointing to a mock trial of Jesus, a verdict that would be a serious death. None of the disciples are there looking forward to that, and there was even talk of a betrayal. I’m sure it didn’t seem like God was close by.

I bring these two examples up because I have heard the word “glory” being thrown around in many a Christian circle, and it has become such a buzzword that I’m not even really sure what it really means.

Is it some feeling that we get? I’m not even really certain how to define the word without using God in it. I think we think of it as some shiny sort of glimmer that occurs if God or one of his angels ever just showed up.

If there is some sort of verse I’m missing that says what the heck the glory is? Or is this just something like when the pastor leads in prayer and I’m supposed to know what to think or something? Is there clearly some things not be communicated in Christianity.

Can I help it if I want to define glory as that part of God that we, as humans, even as saved humans, simply cannot attain? If that is true, I suppose that God’s glory is present no matter where we are, if there is an angel before us or when it seems like God is just up and left us.

Okay, I probably went and defined something that probably should be defined by someone who doesn’t have some sort of theological degree and no use of Scripture. Still, it is better than going along with buzzwords.