Because God is Glorious, We Have PEACE
Last week, we began looking at how four eternal truths about God can help us embrace the reality and beauty of Advent more deeply. To refresh your memory, the four eternal truths, or four G’s, are:
God is great, so we don’t have to be in control.
God is glorious, so we don’t have to fear others.
God is good, so we don’t have to look elsewhere for satisfaction.
God is gracious, so we don’t have to prove ourselves.
We looked at the first “G” last time, so today, we want to consider the second: God is glorious, so we don’t have to fear others. Understanding this eternal truth about God helps us recognize the great peace available to us as we celebrate this time of the year.
First, to say that God is glorious, so we don’t have to fear others means recognizing and believing that God is the most glorious in our life. We see the word ‘glory’ repeatedly in scripture, so it would be helpful to understand what the word means.
First, glory can convey the idea of bright light or brilliance. Think of the most brilliant, beautiful thing that could exist, and that’s what the glory of God is like. You see that in some places in scripture, like Luke 2, where it says the “glory of Lord shone around them.” The glory of God was bright, brilliant, and beautiful.
The other meaning is from the Hebrew word meaning “heaviness”—not physical weight, but significance. It’s the idea of weighty and substantial influence. The more influence something has over you, the more weight it carries in your life. That’s the idea of glory. Psalm 145 says:
5On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate…10All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! 11They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, 12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (Psalm 145:5; 10-12 ESV)
Scripture tells us that there is nothing more glorious, more significant, more powerful than God. His glory is on display. Our struggles are often because we begin believing lies about God’s glory. Instead of believing that God is the most glorious person to us, we start seeing others as more glorious. People become more “weighty” to us than God. When we spend tremendous amounts of time and energy worrying about what other people think, we begin to feel anxious and lose our sense of peace.
Here’s a litmus test: imagine someone you fear or whose approval you crave. Now imagine God next to that person. Which of them is more glorious? Which of them is more significant? More loving? More powerful? More brilliant? If God is truly glorious in our lives, we don’t have to give so much weight to what others think of us.
When we rest believing that God is glorious, we can have peace in our lives knowing that we don’t have to work for people’s approval. When we see God as glorious, we don’t have to fear what others think of us; we can love them with grace and truth.
If the fear of man is a snare for us (see Proverbs 29:25), what releases us from the trap? The answer is not fearing others but fearing God. The Bible tells us in Proverbs that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; the fear of the LORD is a fountain of life. To fear God is to respect, worship, trust, and submit to him. The fear of man is caring for and living for the expectations of people; the fear of the LORD is caring for and living for the expectations of God. It’s about worship.
Jesus came to earth as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) to give peace to all who would trust in him alone as the most glorious One:
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14 NIV)
Jesus left the glory of his Father in heaven to enter into our mess. He is the Word who took on flesh and dwelt among us. He died on the cross for our sins so we would be clothed in his glory and experience his peace. He rose from the grave so that we should be changed into his glorious image as we live for his glory and reflect his glory to the world.
Do you believe that this Advent season? The reality of who God is and what he has done to bring us peace should fill us with peace, worship, and joy!
–Pastor Wade
