The first time we see the word “glory” in the Bible is in Exodus, when God is preparing to show his glory through rescuing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. On the other side of the Red Sea, they sing God’s praise, including this line about his glory: “Who among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11, NIV). These descriptions provide some helpful synonyms for glory: it’s holiness and awesomeness on majestic display.
After leading them out from slavery, God’s glory continued to lead his people, directing them to a mountain where his glory appeared as a “consuming fire” (Exodus 24:17). It was there that God gave his people instructions on building a tabernacle which would be filled with his glory, especially concentrated in the sacred “ark of the covenant.”
When they settled in the promised land, however, the Israelites often got lazy in their commitment to God and cozy in their relationship with the neighboring gods. During the period ruled by the Israelite Judges (narrated in the book of Judges), we don’t find the word “glory” once used. The next time it’s used is in the context of glory departing from Israel.
The Glory Has Departed
It was a turbulent time for Israel. During the time of the Judges, 98-year-old Eli was high priest at the tabernacle, and he had a couple of scoundrel sons: Hophni and Phinehas. They stole from the tabernacle and seduced the women there.
Let’s set the stage for what happened next. Israel was at war with the Philistines, and Phinehas’s wife was about to deliver their baby. During one battle, the Philistines crushed the Israelites, leaving 4,000 of them dead. So, the Israelites called a huddle and came up with a brilliant plan for the next battle: they would bring the ark of the covenant into battle with them. This wooden box overlaid with gold was where God resided in the tabernacle. Yet the strategy backfired. By the end of this battle, 30,000 Israelite soldiers lay slain. Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas had been killed. And, worst of all, the ark had been taken by the Philistines.
God was no longer with them.
“Worst of all, the ark had been taken by the Philistines.”
When Eli heard about the battle and his sons, he was devastated. But when he heard the words “The ark of the covenant has been captured,” he fell backward from his chair, his neck broke, and he died. When Phinehas’s pregnant widow heard the news, she went into labor, delivered the baby, and just lay there with a blank expression, no more resolve to live. The midwife tried to cheer her up: “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son!” Yet the widow paid her no attention. With her dying breath, she named the boy Ichabod, which means “no glory.” She said, “The glory has departed from Israel,” and then she died.
Where Was God?
Fast-forward about 3,000 years. The year is A.D. 1944. The place is a concentration camp called Auschwitz, in Birkenau, Germany. A Jewish fifteen-year-old named Elie Wiesel has just been separated forever from his mother and sister at the callous command of eight words: “Men to the left. Women to the right.” In line with his father, Elie sees huge flames rising in the distance, coming out of a ditch. A truck dumps its contents into the fire. Elie looks and is mortified: it’s a truckload of human bodies being dumped into the flames.
In his book Night, Elie recounts the horror: “I pinched myself: was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” As he watches in dismay, his fellow Jews around him begin reciting the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. He writes, “I don’t know whether, during the history of the Jewish people, men have ever before recited Kaddish for themselves.” His father joins in, “Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba…May His name be celebrated and sanctified…”
Elie writes, “For the first time I felt anger rise within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?”
“For the first time I felt anger rise within me. Why should I sanctify His name?” —Elie Wiesel
And with the flames in the distance and the fury rising in Elie’s heart, can you see it? Ichabod. The glory has departed. Where was God? He’s departed. The glory has departed.
Trading His Glory for Idols
A post-Christian society provides another snapshot of departing glory. A post-Christian reality means a culture which views the Bible as dangerous, God as a delusion, humans as disposable, and moral authority as repressive. The glory has departed.
Where is God in relation to you? Close? Distant? Do you follow God—or not so much? Do you welcome his presence in your life—or keep him on the outskirts of your life? Has God’s glory departed in your life?
The truth is, all of us have experienced God’s glory departing from our lives. And it was our choice:
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:21-23, NIV)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, NIV)
“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Humanity made a brainless exchange when we traded the glory of God for idols. The Adventures of Pinocchio is the original book that introduced the Pinocchio character to the world. It’s darker than the Disney version, however, and Pinocchio does some truly awful things. The first notable events of his puppet life are as follows: As soon as Geppetto creates his feet, Pinocchio kicks Geppetto. When Geppetto teaches him how to walk, he runs away from the house. The police think he must be running away from a bad home life, and so the police arrest Geppetto. Pinocchio returns home looking for something to eat. A talking cricket who has lived in the house for over a century begins to give Pinocchio advice on how to be a virtuous boy. Pinocchio, who doesn’t like what he’s hearing, hurls a hammer at the cricket and kills it. When Geppetto is released from prison, he sells his only coat to buy Pinocchio a school book. On his way to school, Pinocchio sells his school book to buy a ticket to a marionette show.
Our decisions to trade God’s glory for idols is not only brainless; it’s hurtful. It’s insulting. It’s a form of betrayal.
The bitter old man whose god has been money lives out the end of his days in luxury, but knows he missed the point along the way. The once bright-eyed girl who gave herself over to what she thought were men she could trust now walks with a mangled heart and wounded eyes. The cynic who trusts no higher power gullibly trusts himself—the one person he has proven over and over that he can’t trust. Their blank expressions tell it all: the glory has departed.
“Their blank expressions tell it all: the glory has departed.”
Big God with a Big Heart
The atheist Friedrich Nietzsche put it this way: “We have unchained ourselves from the sun.” For him, that was a good thing. But he predicted (and we are experiencing) the maddening darkness that would follow.
Between us and God lies a canyon of humanity’s own digging. God has other places in the universe where the welcome mat is spread. It’s not like God has ever been lonely. The Bible reveals God as 3 persons, described as Father, Son, and Spirit. God could have stayed and interacted in any other corner of the universe and experienced no stress about humanity’s rebellion.
By the way, this universe is huge! The following information is derived from data from Nasa’s X-ray Observatory called Chandra. If the earth were a 2” diameter ball, the sun would be 16’ in diameter, and the distance between the earth and sun would be 1800’ (around 6 soccer fields). Or if the sun were a 2” diameter ball, the earth would be a grain of salt 20’ away. Meanwhile, the nearest star would be 900 miles away. Or if our solar system were a 2” diameter ball, the sun would be a shining speck in the center, and the Milky Way Galaxy would be the size of North America. Or if the Milky Way Galaxy were a 2” diameter ball, the nearest spiral galaxy would be around 5’ away. Scientists have estimated that there are around 125 billion galaxies in the universe.
“Between us and God lies a canyon of humanity’s own digging.”
God created all of that. God is really big. And, for some reason, God singled out this little blue and green ball full of little idiots shaking our fists at him to bring redemption. They broke up their holy huddle, their perfect communion. God the Father sent God the Son, his precious Son, the impossible distance to this Ichabod earth. And God the Spirit implanted God the Son within a virgin named Mary.
The glory has returned.
The Return of Glory
In Luke 1, an angel visited Mary and announced that she would bear the Son of God. Let’s not miss the magnitude of this miracle! The God who created the immeasurably vast universe crammed his glory into a single cell. This “Ichabod” earth (“the glory has departed”) is visited by a baby called “Immanuel” (“God with us”). The glory is back!
The baby born will save his people from their sins and be called Immanuel, which means “God with us” (see Matthew 1:21-23). As John 1:14 (NIV) describes, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Colossians 1:15-20 (NIV) says, “…The Son is the image of the invisible God…God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.”
Restoring Us to Our Original Glory
Which brings us to us. Why were humans created? According to Genesis 1:26-28, God created us in his image to rule over creation. Yet we exchanged God’s glory for idols, and sin distorted our glory. When King Jesus came, He brought God’s glory and is repairing God’s image and glory in us. As Romans 8:17-21 describes, we are children of God, sharing in God’s glory, and waiting through suffering for God’s glory to be revealed in us. As it waits for us to be revealed in glory, creation groans in anticipation of its liberation from decay. 2 Thessalonians 2:14 (NIV) explains, “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
When the glory of God has departed in our lives, we have two options. If we are to become what we were created to be, we need to repent of our brainless exchange (Romans 1:22) and recognize the glory we have been desperately missing: the glory of him who is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15). When we make Jesus our king and place our trust and allegiance in Him, the Holy Spirit begins to reshape us to our original created glory.
So, which will it be: continuing to worship idols which disappoint (e.g., money, sex, and power) or bowing the knee to Jesus? Will you open your eyes to the glory of Jesus or settle for shadows?
