To Behold His Glory! John 1:14

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

This Christmas Day we going to talk about our Lord’s glory. It’s based on our Gospel, especially verse 14: .And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

What a blessing it was for the disciples to behold the glory of God in His Son. What a blessing it is for us to behold His glory in our hearts.

To “see” His glory doesn’t seem strong enough, or impacting enough; it doesn’t do justice to how great God’s glory is. So we can say that we more than “see” His glory, we “behold” it, and are amazed.

We behold Christ’s glory in His Word, where we’re told how and who Jesus is. The disciples saw His glory in the way the lived, and what He taught, and the miracles He did. 

And for a brief time on the mountain, when Jesus was transformed, they saw His glory manifested physically, as He shone with such glory that His face looked like the sun, Matthew says, and His clothes like pure, white light.

John was one of the three disciples on the mount of transfiguration who saw that, so he surely had that in mind when He wrote: we have beheld His glory.  

On what Isaiah calls the “mountain of the Lord”, the time and place of His second coming, we will behold the glory of Christ, and be amazed at it.

The disciples also saw His glory when He appeared to them after He rose, when they were hiding behind locked doors, and He suddenly appeared to them. 

But what about His birth? How do we behold the glory of Jesus at His birth? 

He was born a crying, naked baby, like all of us. Unlike pretty much all of us, He was born in a barn. 

So if he was being messy, or making a mess when he was a child, and His mother said, “Were you born in a barn?”, Jesus could have said, “Yes. You were there, mom!”.

There’s debate about whether it was actually a barn, a stable, or not, but wherever it was, there were animals there, because there was a feeding trough, a manger. And after the baby fell asleep, that’s where Mary laid him. Not a very glorious place for God’s Son to have His first night’s sleep.

To behold His glory, Mary and Joseph had to believe the angel who had told them that their baby had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, and was the Son of God Most High. 

Jesus looked like every other Jewish baby boy, but hidden in Him was a glory that would be revealed after He rose from the grave, and ascended into Heaven.

Revelation says that Heaven needs no sun, because the Lamb, Jesus, lights it up with His glory, the glory we will some day behold and live in.

To give us a glimpse of His glory on the day He was born, His Heavenly Father, commissioned an angel, perhaps it was Gabriel who had appeared to Mary, and was perhaps Gabriel was the angel that had appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel had such power as to enter into Joseph’s dream, and communicate to him that Mary’s baby was the Son of God, and so he should marry her. 

It may have been that same angel, Gabriel, who startled the shepherds, announcing Jesus’ birth to them. Suddenly with him were countless other angels, commissioned by God to glorify Jesus at His birth, filling the sky with glory.

Only those few shepherds saw the glory of the Heavenly Host praising God that night, but it’s recorded in Luke for the rest of the world to believe.

Luke tells us they hurried to Bethlehem, and were able to find the baby in the manger, looking like an ordinary new-born baby, but believing that hidden in that tiny child, was God’s glorious Son, who would save the world!

We don’t know what happened to the shepherds after that night, but if they kept on believing in God’s Son, they now behold His glory in Heaven. 

We told about some of incredible things that happened the night Jesus was born, but there’s so much we don’t know about it. How wonderful it will be to talk to those shepherds, and hear how they describe that night, the holy sight and sounds of the angels, and the sight of the baby in the manger. 

Some mangers were made of wood, some were hewn out of rock. They’ll be able to tell us what kind of manger it was. 

How wonderful it will be to talk with Mary and Joseph, and learn about the details of their trip to Bethlehem, and exactly where it was that Jesus was born, and we’ll hear all about His childhood and teen and young adult years before His ministry began.

And we’ll have forever to learn about these and so many other extraordinary things. A part of the glory of Heaven, is that it’ll never end. We’ll have all the time in the world, or in heaven, to learn and experience new and amazing things. 

Moving from Christmas into Epiphany for a moment, the wisemen were first given a glimpse of God’s glory in the star that appeared in the Eastern sky, announcing the birth the baby Messiah.

Following the star all the way to Judea, they arrived at Jerusalem, expecting to find the baby king there, but were sent on to little Bethlehem, not a glorious place at first sight, but the glory of God had set up camp there, if you will. God’s Son was living there.

Knowing the prophecy that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph stayed, intending to raise Jesus there. There the wisemen found the baby, no longer newborn, probably a few months old, or more. Perhaps Jesus was starting to walk by the time the wisemen arrived. We’ll have to ask the magi about that when we arrive in heaven. 

While the star gave a glimpse of His divine glory, it was hidden in a baby boy, until the time would come for Him to rise in glory, and ascend into Heaven. 

The magi could only believe that the baby they worshipped and gave precious gifts to, was indeed the all-glorious Son of God. They couldn’t see His glory, but they beheld it by faith.

In what’s called Byzantine art, art from about 300-600 AD, or more, Jesus was often portrayed with a halo, a holy circle of light around his head. There are paintings of Him at the manger, with a halo shining around him. 

We know he didn’t have that; He had the appearance of an ordinary person; He hid His divine glory. But that was the artists’ way of showing that He’s the true Son of God.

The glory of God is something that can’t be seen now, but will be seen some day. For now, we have something better than seeing, we have the Holy Spirit in us, with the power to believe in God’s glory.

The glory of Christ is the true glory of Christmas. That glory may be hard to see by the secular eye, and the worldly mind, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, it can be believed and beheld in the heart. 

Luke says that Mary treasured up all these incredible things surrounding the birth of her baby, and pondered them in her heart. 

In the Gospel, we have a treasury of the glorious things Jesus did, especially His resurrection. In His Word, we’re told the glorious truth of who He really is, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His glory is in His amazing love and extraordinary power for us. Though we cannot yet see it with our eyes, we can believe and behold His glory in our hearts. That lifts up souls in gloomy times, and empowers us to sing for joy. 

How we love to sing our Christmas hymns. We feel and behold the glory of Christmas, the glory of Christ, as we sing. May you always behold by faith the glory of your Savior, until you behold His glory eternally with your eyes in Heaven. 

Until that glorious day, may His peace, which passes understanding, guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our glorious Lord. Amen.