Well friends, would you turn in your Bibles to that passage we read in Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. And I want us to think this evening particularly about verse five, Isaiah chapter 40, verse five. I'm reading from the New King James. It's almost identical to what you have in the version in front of you. Verse five, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. and I'm sure you will notice from the hymns that we've already sung this evening that we're thinking about the glory of the Lord particularly. Here are great words of prophecy. And these words here are part of the introduction to the section of Isaiah, which includes passages which are known as the Servant Songs. I'm not going to go into the details of those this evening, but they are all messianic prophecies. Whatever liberal and critical people of God's Word may say, they are clearly messianic words introducing us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course Isaiah is doing that throughout his book in all kinds of different ways, in all kinds of wonderful ways, as he declares the great salvation that is promised in the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah. And of course here, in these words of chapter 40, is a reminder of the promise of the coming of John the Baptist, the prefiguring the coming of the Saviour, and of course Isaiah 40 prophesies the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord Jesus. Messiah being the Hebrew word, Christ being the Greek word, transliterated to speak of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, when Isaiah says here, when he speaks about, in verse 3, prepare ye the way of the Lord, he is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist came to announce the coming and to prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the Lord. Prepare ye the way of, verse 3, the Lord Jehovah. capital L-O-R-D in our English Bibles, is indicative of the word Jehovah, Yahweh, as the transliteration perhaps is pronounced. But the Lord of the Old Testament, the one who is Jehovah, is indeed God, God, and time and again in the New Testament, the same prophecies are applied to God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's fascinating actually to see particularly how the Gospel writers do that. Mark especially has a great knack, Matthew also in a different way and Luke in a different way, but Mark particularly has a knack of introducing Old Testament prophecies which was clearly in the context speaking of the Father and applying them directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was the coming of God himself. Now I'm sure none of you here, under the preaching that you're used to hear, will have any question about that. I hope that is the case. If anyone doubts that, we'll have a word with me afterwards or talk to your pastor so that you may be, can I dare it say, put right. Bless you. That is so important and so wonderful because as we understand the progressive revelation of God's truth and the way in which he reveals these things, all the way through the Old Testament we are being pointed to Christ. Now we have to say that these days because there are people who are trying still to argue against that. And sadly, there are people, there are a number of high-powered people who claim some kind of evangelical background in America, especially who are arguing against that, particularly with regard to Moses and the law given by Moses, and arguing strongly that there's no grace in the Mosaic covenant. Well, my friends, I would want to stand entirely and utterly against that, I believe. Of course, it is a legal covenant, but it is a covenant that is packed full of the grace of God. And what was the Lord Jesus Christ coming to do? To reveal the glory of God in all the grace and work and witness of his testimony. And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, God comes. Perfect man and perfect God. Here is the displaying of the beauty of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The character, the nobility, the grandeur, the glory of God displayed in Christ. But how can mortal man understand the glory of God? How can we see the glory of Jehovah? God is a spirit. Man cannot see God. 1 Timothy 6, 16, Paul tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light. If God is unapproachable, how can we ever see or appreciate Him and His glory? But here is a text speaking about the glory of God being revealed, appearing. So how do we answer that? Well, I hope this evening, in a sense, to answer that, and I hope to thrill your souls. I hope to thrill your souls with these things. Here is the first thing of a number of headings. God's glory is seen by faith. God's glory is seen by faith. Now, even when the spiritual eye of God, faith, approaches God, he cannot see the glory of God fully. We can only see God's glory as it is reflected. Moses comes to God in Exodus chapter 33 and God says, you shall see my back parts, I will cover you in the cleft of the rock and I will pass by and you will see my glory. But only as it were an aspect of that glory. For no man can see the full glory of God and live, we are told. And yet Moses does see the glory of God, so much so that when he comes down from the mountain, his face shines with that glory. Moses didn't go around saying, look, my face is shining. He didn't even know it. My friends, do we show to the world something of the glory of God as it rests upon us, not in a boasting way, but in a humble way, as Moses did. And when God's people, while Moses was up in the mountain, end up worshipping the golden calf and setting it up, God's anger breaks out upon the people. Why? Because they are defiling God's glory. Moses desires then again to see God's glory, but he cannot receive a full view of that glory. And yet, and yet, God does give to Moses an insight into his glory and his praise in a wonderful way. God's glory is seen by the eye of faith. Are you a man or woman of faith? Do you understand that? Have you seen the glory of God? A man or woman who's seen the glory of God is never the same again, is never the same again. Have you seen God's glory? Have you understood that? God's glory is seen by faith. Secondly, God's glory is displayed in his works. Now I'm not going to develop this fully because that would take a whole, well I was going to say it would take a whole sermon. It would take far more than a whole sermon. It would take a whole series of sermons to give you any full indication and understanding of these amazing and glorious descriptions of God's glory in creation. But I love the way in which some of the psalms speak of the glory of God in creation and encourage us to understand something of the ways of God with men. Psalm 19 is a wonderful psalm that speaks about that. The heavens declare what? The glory of God. and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utter speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. But you say days don't speak, and night don't give us knowledge? What is it? There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard, says the psalmist. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. look at creation and see the glory of God. My friends, that's an incredible thing, isn't it? It's a wonderful thing, actually. That God should speak in the way, in that way. When Burton Russell was asked what he would say to God when he faced God and God said, why did you not believe in him? His answer was not enough evidence. My friends, what a foolish, what a crazy, what a remarkably Unsightful word that was. Tragedy is that Bertrand Russell has now died. Bertrand Russell now knows the truth. It's too late, my friends. It's too late. My daughter is a research scientist and she does a lot of work with cells and going down to the lowest level using microscopes and even electron microscopes and her comment is the more you look into the cell the more amazingly complex it is. The more complicated it is, the more amazing it is. She said anyone who cannot see God in creation is blind, is blind. My friends, that is the case. The heavens declare the glory of God. They shout of God's glory. But men and women are blind to it. Psalm 29 is another psalm that describes the power of the glory of God in creation. It is a very frightening psalm in many ways. Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And then we hear about the voice of the Lord thundering over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters, the voice of the Lord is powerful, and so on. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, splinters the cedars of Lebanon, and so on, shakes the wilderness of Kadesh, makes the deer give birth, strips the forests bare, and in His temple everyone says, Glory! The Lord sits enthroned at the flood, and the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to his people and bless his people with peace. God's glory is displayed in creation. His works of judgment upon men's sin. The flood. My friends, people don't believe in the flood. I don't know how they can possibly not believe in the flood. You only have to look at the geology of the world, never mind the geography. to see evidences of the flood everywhere you go. I've been to India many times, South India particularly, and there up on the plain where many of the church groupings and the plain is flat and you can see it. But all around that plain we are, I don't know, a thousand or more feet above sea level and it's flat, it's a flat plain. But you see everywhere outstanding crops of rock and you see these big pillars of rock and on the top is balanced another piece of rock which is so big that no human person could ever move it. And it's evidence of the flood! And anyone who doesn't see that is blind! How else could that have been done in that way, apart from a flood? Well, if you can find some way of explaining it, do! Nobody can! And people say today, we don't know how this happened. My friends, the Bible tells us how it happened. Evidence of the flood. God's judgment upon sin. People don't believe in it because they don't want to believe in a God of judgment. or the plagues of Egypt, God's judgment upon sin, God's glory was displayed in his judgment upon Pharaoh, the golden calf, which I've already mentioned, and often in natural disasters. And of course, again, at the end of the world, when the earth will be consumed by fire, people say, well, oh, it's terrible, global warming. Why don't they read the Bible? The Bible says that the earth will be destroyed by fire at the end. Now, my friends, I'm not saying that's happening because of global warming, but God knows what is happening in his creation. God is in control, that's the point. And everywhere we go we see the glory of God, if we look by faith. God's glory is displayed in his works. Thirdly, God's glory is displayed in redemption. in his saving acts, in his works of grace. How glorious it is that our great and mighty God saves men and women. And yet even in the Old Testament, I say even in the Old Testament, that sounds very critical in one sense, but even in the Old Testament, God sometimes comes and displays himself personally as the angel of the Lord to demonstrate that these things are true. You know how he comes to Ezekiel particularly, there are so many examples of course of the appearance of the angel of the Lord, let me just mention two, as he comes to Ezekiel and displays his glory to Ezekiel. You can read about it in the first chapter of Ezekiel. If you carry on reading in Ezekiel you'll find a time when that glory left Jerusalem in Ezekiel's vision. And it is tragic to see that. And there is the picture envisioned to Ezekiel of what had happened to the people of God who had so denied the vision and glory of God that had rested upon the tabernacle in the wilderness and even upon the temple when Solomon dedicated so much so that the priests couldn't stand to minister, but now they had so abandoned God and his word, and they were taken into exile and Ezekiel has that vision of that great glory of God which rested upon him in chapter 1 in a later chapter leaves and Ezekiel sees that glory leaving Jerusalem. God's judgment upon his people, how sad. Or what about Isaiah's vision in Isaiah chapter 6, when he sees the vision of the glory of God and he is commissioned and given power to serve God. My friends, we are never commanded to make an image of the likeness and glory of God. In fact, we are told we must not do so. but we are to understand that God is the God of glory. How can we understand or appreciate that or begin to explore that when we have no visual representations of it? Because God's glory fundamentally to us is spiritual and it can only be seen, as I've already sought to say, by the eye of faith. God's glory is displayed in redemption. Every time God saves a man, a woman, a boy, or a girl, He demonstrates His glory to them. Do you know that, my friend? Fourthly, God must display His glory in revelation. Of course, supremely, He does that in the Bible and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if God had not revealed his revelation to us, there is no way whereby anybody could ever understand the glory of Jehovah. And that's why the psalmist cries, all that I might know him. And Job prays a similar prayer. So how may we know him? Well, my friends, we know him when we worship him in the right way. as we seek Him in His Word, as we see how He has displayed His glory in the past. God's glory will be seen by all flesh, says Isaiah. There is a day coming when no one can avoid the glory of God, the ultimate display of His glory suited to mankind. No wonder that preparation is needed. Mount Sinai, when God comes down and reveals himself, the people had to prepare themselves. Moses was instructed to tell them that they were to sanctify themselves. As I sometimes say, I know there's no such word in the English language, but it's a convenient thing to say, they were to holify themselves, they were to prepare themselves, they were to be holy, they were to be separate. And you can read in Exodus 19 how that happened, what they did. There are various ways in the Old Testament, well, and in the New, in which God's glory was displayed. I've already mentioned the occasion in Exodus chapter 33 as Moses seeks God's glory. And how does God describe his glory in Exodus 33? Well, let me read verses 18 and 19 of Exodus 33. Then God said, Moses said in verse 18, please show me your glory. Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. How is God's glory seen? In his goodness, in his grace, in his compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face, for no man shall see my face, me and live. And the Lord said, here is a place by me and you shall stand upon the rock. So it shall be while my glory passes by. that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until while I pass by, and then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face you shall not see. God's goodness, God's goodness is his glory. Has God been good to you? My friends, of course he has, of course he has. In Exodus 34, I've already mentioned the fact that Moses' face shone. Verses 29 to 35, you read about that. The skin of Moses' face glowed, shone while he talked with him. And the children of Israel saw that his face shone and they were afraid to come to him. And so he put a veil upon his face. But of course, as we know from 2 Corinthians, that glory was a fading glory. God's glory reveals to Moses. But more than that, my friends, God's glory was promised In Deuteronomy chapter 15, I won't stop with it now, we read of the prophet who would come like unto Moses, and what would he do? He would bring God's glory, and he would demonstrate God's glory. God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is evidenced by the fact that he was the perfect prophet. In Psalm 110 and verses 1 to 4, he is revealed to be the priest, the great high priest, after the order of Melchizedek. And that, of course, is taken up by... Melchizedek isn't mentioned in Psalm 110, but it is in Hebrews, and that is taken up by Hebrews as the priest. And in Psalm 72, in that wonderful messianic Psalm 72, which is entitled, Of Solomon, which doesn't mean to say that it's all entirely for Solomon, because clearly the words there go far beyond Solomon. They remind us that this one who shall come will be king. And the final verses of that psalm cannot possibly apply to Solomon, they apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. His name shall endure forever, His name shall continue as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in Him, and all nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only does wondrous things, and blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Here is the King. prophet, priest and king, revealing the promise of God's glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that was fulfilled, wasn't it? Or it began to be fulfilled. It wasn't fully fulfilled, but it began to be fulfilled when the angels appeared to the shepherds in Luke chapter 2 and verses 13 and 14, when the angels praised God saying, glory to God in the highest. and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And then the shepherds went to see these things. And when they had seen the babe lying in the manger, they returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them, God's glory revealed to the shepherds. But God, of course, has revealed himself to us, has he not? And, of course, those words that we read in 2 Corinthians and chapter 4 reminded us of that. But even in the previous chapter, in chapter 3, we find out God's glory revealed, 16 to 18. Now, even to this day, when Moses had read, a veil lies on their hearts, the Jews. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord. I wonder how you understand that verse. Now of course there are some people who say that we shall see this fully in glory, when we get to glory. Well that's true. It's quite interesting that Charles Hodge sees this as an application in Scripture. so that we in Scripture are to see something of the glory of the Lord as we with unveiled face read God's holy word. We are transformed into the glory, not fully, but at least in part, and I think there's something to be said in that. Because in 2 Corinthians 4, in the passage that we read, Earlier on, we read in verse 17 and 18, our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us, even now. an far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. This is before we die, this is before we get to heaven. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that amazing? that we, even here and now, can share in that glory by faith. We don't see it physically, but these are things that are unseen and eternal, and God reveals His glory to us. This world is empty and passing and futile. I'm not taking away from the wonder of the glory when we get there. But this glory, this weight, this heaviness, there is an aspect of it which is known here below. The Puritans knew that, didn't they? What's the book? Is it called Heaven on Earth? We're not saying like others that we're only looking for heaven here below, no. But there is a sense in which we begin to anticipate the glories of heaven before we get to heaven. And the Puritans have got something of that when they spoke of it in that way. While the Lord Jesus was here on earth, his disciples did not fully comprehend the glory of God. You remember how they questioned the Lord Jesus about that, particularly in those latter words before he died, how they met with him. And in John 14 and verses 8 and following, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. And in the context, God the Son is declaring the glory of God to his disciples. In that passage, I have time to open that all up this evening. But even after the Lord Jesus had gone back to heaven, then the disciples began to realize the full impact of the glory of God revealed in Christ. And I believe John the Apostle is indicating that in chapter 1 in his opening words when he says, the word became 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. Colossians 1.15 takes that up. These are wonderful. These are precious words for the believer. Colossians 1.15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than that of angels, and so on. Jesus Christ himself is the clearest revelation of the glory of God. And that's why we read those wonderful words in 2 Corinthians. For we do not preach ourselves. The God of this world has blinded men's age, lest the light of the glory of gospel, of the glory of God, Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light to the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ. How can we ever put that into a picture? We can't. That's why the second commandment tells us not to make pictures of the Lord Jesus. The more we know of the glory of God, the more we will understand how it is impossible to quantify it. But we can worship. And that's what the wise men did when they came to the house. They worshipped. Why? Because they saw something of the glory of God, even in the infant. The brightness of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. No, now, not through dreams and visions, but through his word. For God was manifested in the flesh. God became man. Without leaving anything of his Godhood, he took on our humanity. And when Jesus came into the world, light came into the world. John had to say that the light has come on. Literally, I know they didn't have electricity in those days, but literally the sense of the word is that the light was switched on. Why do we have to tell people that the light has come on? Surely if the light comes on everybody knows it. Why do they not understand it? I'll tell you why. Because men and women without Christ are blind and deaf. and dumb to the things of God. They are dead in trespasses and sins. God, we need to pray that God by His Spirit will open their eyes to see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God's glory is seen by faith. God's glory is displayed in his works. God's glory is displayed in redemption. God must display his glory in revelation. Fifthly and finally, have you seen the glory of God? Have you seen this glory of God? My friend, you need to see it. You need to see him. When we first see the glory of God we'll be full of fear and we will quake because we're standing in the presence of omnipotence. What one preacher said some years ago, we stand in the presence of an unfamiliar reality. And that's why the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was described as his epiphany. What is that? Suddenly the light shines. The unveiling. We see the truth. We see his glory. We find that we're standing in the presence of the just judge who will punish sin and all unrighteousness and that causes us to tremble because it is awesome. It brings us to silence before him. Habakkuk 2.20, let all the world keep silent before him. And that was the difference between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. What did they do, Baal or Baal? They jumped, they screamed, they cut themselves, they did all kinds of things to wake their God up. Elijah draws near to the sacrifice, and in quietness and in confidence, he prays to God, and the God who answers by fire sent the fire. Now why is it that people don't understand these things? Well, Rabbi Duncan was not a rabbi, he was a godly man, John Duncan, a Scottish man who evangelized much amongst the Jews, and that's why he was called Rabbi Duncan, although he wasn't a Jew in that sense. But he said this, and I found this so helpful, let me just read this to you, we're nearly at the end, but let me just read this to you. would not do to tell a man that he may come to Christ, says Rabbi Duncan, but that he must come. Some indeed would have man to do all, though he could do nothing. And others would have him do nothing, because all was done for him. As long as I am told that I must come to God and that I can come, I am left to suppose that some good thing or some power of good remains in me and I arrogate to myself that which belongs to Jehovah. The creature is exalted and God is robbed of his glory. If, on the other hand, I am told that I cannot come to God, but not also that I must come, I am left to rest contented at a distance from God. I'm not responsible for my rebellion and God Jehovah is not my God. But if we preach, and this is the nub of the matter, if we preach that sinners cannot come and yet must come, then the honour of God is vindicated and the sinner is shut up. Man must be so shut up that he must come to Christ, and yet know that he cannot. He must come to Christ, or he will look to another. When there is no other to whom he may come, he cannot come, or he will look to himself. This, says Rabbi Duncan, this is the gospel vice, to shut men up to the faith. Some grasp at one limb of the vice, and some at the other, leaving the sinner open. But when a man, a woman, is shut up, that he must come, but he cannot, he is shut up to faith! To faith! And then he'll be shut up in the faith. In the faith. God is declaring, is declared to be Jehovah. and the sinner is made willing to be saved by him in his, in God's own way, as sovereign in his grace. Now, I hope you understand that, my friends. You see, there are plenty of people who say you must come to Christ. Well, you must, but they also need to say you cannot come. You are utterly, utterly dependent upon God to do this great work. And that's wonderful. Because you see in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is an attractiveness that draws us closer to Him. He is altogether lovely. He is the chiefest amongst the 10,000. He is the glorious Saviour. He is the mighty Lord. What is this world when we have seen Him? You see the effect upon the Apostle Paul when he saw the glory of God. First he was filled with conviction. The glory of God overwhelmed him and changed him from the greatest persecutor to the greatest preacher of the gospel. This glory is good news. And our chapter tells us that, verse 9, O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Have you heard the good news? Have you seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Have you been humbled under the mighty hand of God? Have you been lifted up by that same mighty hand from your sin to salvation? Have you seen the light, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? For it is the God who commanded light, light, to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. My friend, if you have not seen that glory, you will one day. when the glory of God is seen and when He comes again, but that'll be too late. So see Him as Lord and Saviour then, now, otherwise He will be your Lord and Judge then. We're going to sing a hymn as we close this part of the service, 827. It speaks further of these great things, and may this hymn be our prayer. 827, O thou who camest from above, the pure celestial fire to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart. 827.