Introduction

In two previous articles I explored the darkness of the cross, first in terms of the meaning of the darkness for Jesus, and second in terms of what the Holy Spirit was doing in the darkness.  In this third exploration I will consider the matter of glory and the cross and then the glory in the Christian experience of suffering.  As with the previous article there is a hiddenness to the glory at the cross and a hiddenness to the glory in the Christian experience of suffering.

To consider the presence of glory at the cross it is helpful to begin earlier in the Gospels.  In the Gospels the glory of God is both visible and invisible throughout.  John wrote that the disciples saw Jesus’ glory as he dwelt among them (John 1:14).  The glory of Christ was visible to his disciples.  At the wedding in Cana Jesus turned water into wine.  John remarks, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11).  The glory was not revealed to every person at the wedding, but it was revealed to the disciples.  The Synoptic Gospels also record that a few saw the glory of Jesus.  When Jesus was transfigured, Peter, James and John saw Jesus’ glory on the mountain (Luke 9:32).  The glory of God is also evident in other miracles of Jesus, but again only to some.  When Lazarus was sick, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).  Many people saw the glory of God through the raising of Lazarus, but for the Pharisees the glory was hidden.  This is evidenced by their response, which was to plot to kill Jesus (John 11:45-53).

The Cross

It is not, therefore surprising that the glory of God is not evident to all in the cross.  The glory in the cross should be evident to people of faith.  In John’s gospel glory is often connected with the cross.  “”Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again”” (John 12:28).  “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. … I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:1 ,4).  But the glory is by no means visible when Jesus is dying.

There is a cloud of deep darkness over the cross while Jesus is dying (Matt 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44).  The cloud of deep darkness is a place where God dwells in his holiness.  “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness” (Deut 4:11).  “Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne” (Psa 97:2).  Yet the cloud is also the place where the glory of God appears.  “While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud” (Exo 16:10).  “And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple” (1 Kings 8:11).  The cloud of deep darkness is present at the cross, so we must suppose that the glory of God is also present, but hidden.

The Spirit was present in the darkness, but hidden from our sight.[1]  He is the Spirit of glory (1 Pet 4:14).  The ministry of the Spirit is a glorious ministry.

Now if the ministry of death, chiselled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory?  For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!  Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory! (2 Cor 3:7-11)

The glorious ministry of the Spirit is that of justification and justification is brought about by the cross (and resurrection) of Jesus (Rom 5:9, 18).  The work of the Spirit at the cross must be a glorious work.  Therefore, the Spirit of glory being present at the cross must mean that the glory was present there too.  Yet it was utterly hidden, just as the Spirit was hidden in the darkness.

Even for the disciples the glory was hidden at the cross.  Such was not revealed to the disciples until after the resurrection.  On the road to Emmaus the disciples were in grief over the death of the one they thought was the Messiah, and yet he was crucified.  Surely crucifixion is shameful, the opposite of glory.  But Jesus came to them and opened the scripture to show them that the Messiah had to die and enter into glory (Luke 24:26).  Only at this point did the disciples begin to understand what had actually happened in the cross.  For those who do not know the risen Jesus, the glory is surely utterly hidden.

Why is the glory hidden at the cross?  Surely, like the dividing cloud of darkness between Israel and her enemy Egypt (Exo 14:19-20), there is a divide between the people of God and the enemies of God.  That is to say there are two kinds of people in the world, those who able to discern spiritual things and those who cannot.

1 Corinthians 2:6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”– 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Those who have the Spirit dwelling within are able to discern that which is hidden.  The hidden wisdom is connected with glory.  This is not wisdom which is available to those without the Spirit.  It is clear that the rulers of the world could not discern the glory present in Christ or they would have seen that he is the Lord of Glory and they would not have crucified him.  This knowledge was hidden from them.  But it is not knowledge hidden from believers.  We know that Jesus is the Lord of Glory.  This is only possible because the Holy Spirit, who knows the mind of God, gives us access to God’s wisdom.

In regard to the cross the darkness of the cross concealed the glory of God to the world that looked on.  In the darkness it seemed that Jesus was cursed by God (Gal 3:13) and a man who had failed in his mission.  Yet for those who can discern spiritual things, the Spirit discloses the glory of the cross.  Since the work of the Spirit is hidden at the cross except to those to whole the Spirit reveals it, the glory of the cross is similarly hidden except to those for whom the Spirit reveals it.

There will come a time when the glory of God will be revealed even to those who do not know Jesus, but it will be too late for them.  When the glory is revealed the judgement will be present.  “But in those days, following that distress, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’  At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (Mark 13:24-27).  In the present many are blinded to the glory of God, as they were in the days when Jesus walked the earth.  “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4).  It is therefore quite evident that glory which was present at the cross cannot be seen by the unbeliever until the Gospel opens his or her eyes to that glory.

Christian suffering and the glory

The darkness also hides the glory in the suffering of Christians.  In times of persecution and difficulty, the glory is hidden to those around.  It appears as if Christians are indeed cursed and abandoned by God.  The world and evil appears to have triumphed.  If the glory of God is present at the cross, but hidden in the darkness, then the glory of God is not absent in the Christian life even when there is darkness.  The parallel is spelled out in 1 Peter.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.  If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God (1 Peter 4:12-16 NAS).

The situation of persecution is said to be sharing in the sufferings of Christ.  This is the equivalent of the cross in the Christian life.  These situations of persecution, difficulty, suffering, insults, and rejection, are situations in which Christians are sharing in the sufferings of Jesus, that is, they are experiencing the darkness of the cross.  When these happen, the glory of God is not manifestly evident, but hidden.  We must await the revelation of the glory when Jesus returns.  But this does not mean that there is no glory in the present struggles.  On the contrary, the Spirit of glory rests on those who share in the sufferings of Christ.  The glory may be hidden, but the glory is present.  Because this glory is present on the suffering Christian, that person should glorify God in his or her suffering.

Suffering for the gospel is the means to see the glory of God.  Stephen saw that glory while being martyred.  As he was dying, “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).  Paul also saw the glory in the midst of suffering.  He understood the connection between seeing the glory of God and living a life which is conformed to the death of Christ.

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.  So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you” (2 Cor 4:5-12).

The glory of God is presently hidden in the darkness and visible only to those which spiritual eyes.  But the glory will be revealed fully in the future, when Jesus returns.  “When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Col 3:4).  Not only will Christ be revealed and his glory but we also will be revealed and the glory which was hidden in the suffering of the present will be made manifest to all (1 Pet 5:1).  In that day only the glory will be evident and the suffering will be ended.  There will be no more darkness to hide the glory.  John writes of the New Jerusalem: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev 21:23).

Conclusion

The glory of God is revealed to those with eyes and ears attuned to the Holy Spirit.  The times of darkness, then, are times of glory.  As we will continue to live in a world full of darkness, we need to ask for a revelation of the Spirit in regard to glory in the darkness.