What Is The Glory Of God?
- The Old Testament Hebrew word for glory, kavod, means heaviness, weight, or substance, not primarily radiance, although radiance is connected tangentially.
- God’s glory is the substance and weightiness of God, representing a profound spiritual reality beyond our physical, temporary world.
- The spiritual realm is the true, ultra-high-definition reality, far clearer and more real than our current temporary world, which will pass away in light of eternity.
We read about the glory of God in the Bible. What does glory mean? Is it radiance?
The Old Testament Hebrew word for glory is kavod. It carries the idea of heaviness, weight, or substance, as in something being substantial. It does not primarily refer to radiance, although that would be connected tangentially. People in the 60s and 70s used to say, “Man, that’s heavy.” In using that term, they would not mean that it’s literally heavy, but that it’s full of substance, importance, or meaning. If we take that idea to the highest possible sense, and then go beyond that a bit, that is God’s kavod. There is also the idea of radiance in glory, because God displays His glory through flashings of light and thunder and color; we see that in the Scriptures. But fundamentally, the idea is of heaviness.
The glory of God is a good concept for us to ponder and think about. We’re talking about the glory of God, the substance of God, the weightiness of God. Our tendency is to think of things through the lens of the real world, limiting reality to three dimensions of time and space and matter, and supposing that the spiritual realm is some kind of light, ethereal fairy-like, whimsical otherness. But the reality is the exact opposite.
The spiritual realm is the prior realm. The spiritual realm was created by God, who is Spirit. Yes, He dwells in unapproachable light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. That would apply to the idea of radiance. When we step from this physical plane into the reality of the spiritual realm in God’s presence, we’ll realize that spiritual reality is the true reality, and our previous understanding of reality was the whimsical, abstract, and temporary realm.
It’s like assuming we live in a high-definition world, and that heaven and the world beyond is fuzzy, out of focus, and lacking clarity. But the exact opposite is true. We’ll see the ultra-high-def in Heaven, and we’re going to realize that our current reality is the cheap, fake, phony, low resolution.
I remember some years ago walking through an appliance store, and seeing a brand-new TV monitor, which was the high definition for the time. I remember walking by it, looking at it, and being stunned. My brain didn’t know how to process it. I thought, “Oh my goodness, I didn’t know colors could be that bright and precise.” It took my brain a little while to actually adjust and to realize I was actually seeing with such enhanced clarity. I was so used to seeing a regular TV monitor that my I almost couldn’t process the reality of what I was experiencing. And it’s the same thing with the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm is a higher reality than this world. It’s more real, not less real. Right now, we live in the less-real world. Because it’s temporary, the world is going to pass away. In light of eternity, we need to consider what we’re living for, and whether it’s temporary or eternal.