"Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! Who has set your glory above the heavens." (Psalm 8:1)
The first occurrence of the Hebrew word rendered "above" in this text is:
"Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:2)
In the Revised Version the text reads, "Who has set your glory upon the heavens." (Psalm 8:1,RV)
Both renderings are correct, for the original word has the idea of: nearness, over, upon, against. The glory of God is far above all heavens, but it rests upon them. One thing is taught by the text, and that is that the glory that shines in the heavens is the glory of God. The latest translation, the "Polychrome," gives the verse thus:
"How glorious is your name over all the earth! And in the heavens, how your glory shines!"
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork." (Psalm 19:1)
There is no real glory either in heaven or earth, except the glory of God, just as He is the only real King in the universe, and the only One who has power. His is "the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." (Matthew 6:13)
It is all His, no matter how much anybody else may claim, or how little He is recognized in His works. The heavens did not create themselves, neither do they manufacture their own light. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." (Genesis 1:1-3)
Darkness, absolute darkness, without one suggestion of light, was upon all things when they were first created. With the earth in chaos, the heavens were dark. "I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light." (Jeremiah 4:23)
So we know that the light is not originated by any created thing. In the shining of the heavens, they are simply showing forth the excellencies of Him who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all. But the darkness was not darkness to God. "The darkness hides not from You; but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You." (Psalm 139:12)
He is light, and the entrance of His Word gives light; so when He sent His Word into the darkness, light immediately shone forth.
Bodies of Light
Although it is a fact that none of the heavenly bodies evolve light from themselves, it is nevertheless true that they are bodies of light. Light existed, as we have seen, before the sun was formed; "And God saw the light, that it was good." (Genesis 1:4)
This was on the first day, and it was not until the fourth day that the sun was made to be a light. In some way, which only the Creator can comprehend, things which before were dark became light. They were not merely shone upon, but they were caused to shine forth. They do not originate light, but they emit from themselves the light which existed before they were formed. Although nothing but darkness in themselves, they are actually bodies of light.
Last of all God's works, man was created and was crowned with glory and honor, and set over the works of God's hands. "What is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man,that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas." (Psalm 8:4-8)
Man was made of the dust of the earth, and had in himself no more glory than the dust that still remained on the face of the earth; yet God made him in His own image, "crowned him with glory and honor," and caused him to have dominion over the works of His hands.
Since God is light, it was but natural that the being who was to be His representative on the earth, should bear His glory, even to a higher degree than the heavens, over which he was given dominion. "We are His workmanship," (Ephesians 2:10) even as the heavens are, and were created for His glory. He who made the heavenly orbs to be bodies of light, could most easily make their lord likewise a light bearer. We do not see it so now, because "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
Through sin man lost the dominion, and likewise the glory; but "the first dominion" (Micah 4:8) shall yet be restored, and to this end God has chosen us to be "a royal priesthood, a holy nation,...that you should show forth the praises [virtues, or excellencies] of Him that called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9)
It is evident, therefore, that "in the ages to come," (Ephesians 2:7) even as at the beginning, God's people will be crowned with His own glory. This is very clear from the fact that: "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2:9-10)
Jesus is the second Adam; as man, in every respect like other men, He has gained back the dominion which the first Adam lost, and so, as Adam was, He is crowned with glory and honor. That glory is glory that surpasses the brightness of the sun.
God Manifested in the Flesh
"The Word was made 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." (John 1:14)
In the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus turned the water into wine in Cana of Galilee, "and manifested forth His glory." (John 2:11)
Mark this: He manifested forth His glory. The glory was there all the time, only veiled. So on the mount with Peter, James and John, "[He] was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matthew 17:2)
The light did not shine upon Him, but shone forth from Him. Jesus was on earth an ordinary man, with nothing in His appearance to distinguish Him from other men. "He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." (Isaiah 53:3)
Yet He was full of the glory of God. That glory was in the form of grace and truth; it manifested itself in good works and kind deeds. His was the glory of God, which is the glory of a perfect character. Said Christ of His disciples, "And the glory which You gave me, I have given them." (John 17:22)
When "Christ dwells in the heart by faith, [we are] ... strengthened with might by the Spirit of God, ... according to the riches of His glory." (Ephesians 3:17,16)
As the image of God is renewed in the soul by the indwelling of the Spirit, the glory of God is revealed, yet not in a form that appeals to the eyes of the world, who are attracted by that which is gaudy, and which dazzles.
Preparing the Way
"The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." (Isaiah 40:3-5)
This is the preparation for the second coming of Christ. The only thing that hinders His coming at once, is the lack of preparation on the part of people. The way of the Lord is thus prepared by His forerunner: "He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17)
God's way must be prepared in the hearts of His people. This preparation is humility of heart, the acknowledgment that "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." (Isaiah 40:6)
When the heart is thus brought low, the way is prepared for the Lord to manifest himself. But God is light, so that whenever He appears in the way, His glory is revealed. That way is in His people; so that the glory of the Lord is to be revealed in the hearts and lives of men, and all are to see it there, even if they do not recognize it as God's glory. Some will see it, and will rejoice in the light. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name give glory, for your mercy, and for your truth’s sake." (Psalm 115:1)
The heavens make no claim for themselves, consequently they show forth God's glory, and are themselves glory. So when we are willing that self shall sink out of sight, confess that we are nothing, and make no claim to distinction, we also may be "to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:12)
The glory will manifest itself as good works wrought by God in us, and will be nothing to attract people to us. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2)
Wonderful thought! that these poor, frail, mortal bodies are to shine with the brightness of the heavens. But so it is. "Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:20-21,RV)
When Christ comes, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matthew 13:43) "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:3)
Truly, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)
What is the object of telling us about this wonderful glory? Is it merely that we may congratulate ourselves on the display we are one day to make? Far from it; for when that glory is revealed, we shall individually be as unconscious of it as we now are. Each will see the glory of the others, and delight in the sight, but like Moses, will not know that his own face sends forth rays of light. (Exodus 34:29) It is written for our encouragement.
Mark this: The glory is to be revealed in us; the righteous are to shine forth. God tells us of the future glory, in order that we may know what He gives to us in this present time. It is the power by which we are to overcome; for power is glory. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, (Romans 6:4) yet it was the working of God's "mighty power." (Ephesians 1:19-20) And this same power works in all who believe.
That glory is power will appear more fully in the article entitled, "The Fruit of the Light," (For this article, see the book, The Everlasting Gospel. It is in the "Related Articles" section of that book) and the power that God gives us in the conflict with sin, is "according to the riches of His glory." (Ephesians 3:16)
The power and the glory that the heavens reveal is only a portion of that which God now gives to us by His Spirit. "We all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as the Lord the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18,RV) "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves." (2 Corinthians 4:7,RV)--Present Truth, August 11, 1898--Psalm 8:1, 4-8.