102. See the glory of God
John 11:40 Said I not unto thee, that, if thou shouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Specifically in this context, Jesus is speaking to and making a promise to Martha: shortly she will see the glory of God in the resuscitation of Lazarus. But in the wider Biblical context, Jesus is also speaking to us and making a promise for all believers: you will see the glory of God.
The glory of God is hard to define: for us on earth, it usually means the manifestation of the Presence of God on the earth, in the physical world; for God in heaven, it simply means the outer manifestation of the inner character of God in fullness. For the Gospel of John, the glory of God is the suffering and the death of Jesus on the cross. There, for us all, God manifests His Glory and it looks like Love. All believers have seen the Glory in the Cross, for we understand the Gospel meaning.
The Glory of God is visibly seen in all the dozens of miracles and healings performed through Jesus during His lifetime on the earth. Any miracle, something not explainable by empirical science, in human history is “seeing the glory of God” at any time. The glory of God, in the evident presence of God and in the wonderful answers to prayer, is actually seen more often than we think.
The biggest miracle or the most glorious event in our lives is the miraculous conversion, the simple salvation, the experience of being born again, the coming from death to life by faith in Jesus Christ. This actually happens more than once in our lives: we see the glory of God every time we hear the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. And finally, the day will come when we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; then we will see the shining fullness of the glory of God face to face in the eternal kingdom. We will see all glory clearly when the veil of Sin is removed, the darkness of Death is defeated, and lies of the Devil are destroyed once and for all and forever. Then we will see clearly face to face; until then we see through a glass darkly, but we do see, by faith.
Yes, we will see the glory of God! Have you seen it yet?