Have You Beheld His Glory?

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

“We beheld.” — John does not say, we heard about his glory, or we read about his glory, but “we beheld his glory.” What a privilege that is!

This is much more than a physical, carnal vision of the Lord Jesus. Many saw him with the eyes of their heads, who never saw him with the eye of faith, who never beheld his glory. And many today behold him with the eye of carnal reason, who never behold his glory; because they do not know him and do not behold him by faith, having him revealed in them by the Spirit of God.

When John says, “We beheld his glory,” he is saying the very same thing Peter said when he wrote, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). He is talking about that which he, with Peter and James, beheld on the Mount of Transfiguration. Christ was transfigured before them. They saw him as he now appears in heaven, glorified with the glory he had with the Father before the world was. They saw the Lord Jesus Christ as the sinner’s Substitute, who accomplished redemption by his death upon the cursed tree (Luke 9:28-31).

The word “decease” in Luke 9:31 is literally the word “exodus.” These disciples beheld his glory upon the mount, the very same glory that is revealed to us by the saving operations of his Spirit. By the death he accomplished, our Lord Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets, pleased the Father (Matthew 17:5), obtained eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12), earned the right to be Lord as our Mediator and revealed the glory of God as “a just God and a Savior” (Isaiah 45:20-22). — In Christ crucified God sent forth “his mercy and his truth” from heaven and saved us (Psalm 57:3; 85:10; Proverbs 16:6; Micah 7:20).

Have you beheld the glory of Christ by the Spirit’s gift of faith? If you would behold his glory, he says, “Look unto me!” Look and you will see. He does not say “Work for me,” but “look unto me.” He does not say, “Figure me out,” but “look unto me.” He does not say, “Serve me,” but “look unto me.” He does not say, “Feel after me,” but “look unto me.” He does not even say, “Pray to me,” but “look unto me.” Look away to Christ and, looking, you will behold his glory.

Trusting Christ, we see his glory, just as Isaiah did, “the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Isaiah 6:1-7). It is by faith, only by faith that we behold his glory (John 11:40). Trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, we behold his glory in redemption, in the saving operations of his grace and in his blessed providence!

Don Fortner

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