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The names of God #11: The God of glory

The names of God #11: The God of glory   

Scripture: Acts 7:2

Here is another name of God that is revealed in the context of Abraham’s experience of God. The name is used by Stephen many centuries later when describing the experience of God that Abraham had in Ur of the Chaldees. The ancient experiences of God known by His servants can provide fresh insight into His character and person.

That dramatic encounter with God proved to be the turning point in human history as God stepped in to the apostasy of Babylon and set apart a man and his family as the foundation of the nation of Israel and called him to be the friend of God and the father of the faithful.

I  THE GOD OF GLORY

  1. Light. The word used relates specially to splendour, brightness, magnificence, majesty. Cp 1Cor 15:41, Luke 2:9, Rev 21:23. This is a name that is explained by the statements in 1Jn 1:5, 1Tim 6:16.
  2. Moral. The also term relates to the moral character of God. Cp Ex 33:18-19, 34:6, 29.

II  THIS REVELATION MADE A PAGAN A PILGRIM.

  1. Revealed. God must show Himself in this way to man. Sin has left him in the dark and blind. In mercy God reveals Himself to those who are ignorant of His glorious person.
  2. Abram the idolater. Cp Josh 24:2, 14. Clearly there was no concept of God as uniquely glorious when idols were worshipped.
  3. Such a revelation sets the sinner on a journey to a new land. Cp 1Pet 2:9-12, Heb 11:13-16.

III   AN IMPORTANT CONCLUSION.

Stephen uses the experience of Abraham as the first argument in his defence.  He is proving the assertion that the Temple and its Levitical rituals is no longer necessary to an experience of God. His argument here is that God met Abraham and showed him His glory far from Jerusalem, without a Temple and while he was an active idolater.

This is the God we can expect to have experience of as we worship Him in spirit and in truth.

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