Filled with God’s Glory

How do I become filled with God’s glory? Many people asked this question in the Old Testament, and Moses uttered this cry: “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory” (Exodus 33:18, KJV). This “beseeching” implies a pleading, a groaning in the soul.

God must have been pleased by Moses’s request because he agreed to reveal his glory. He instructed Moses to hide behind a rock and peek out as he passed by. Moses beheld God’s glory in small part, yet that ray of glory affected him powerfully. 

Most of us have been taught that after Moses descended, he placed a veil over his face because it shone so brightly. Yet scripture actually says, “When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face” (Exodus 34:33, ESV). It was after Moses spoke to the people that he covered his face. 

Paul explains this: “Moses…put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end” (2 Corinthians 3:13). Paul’s bold statement that a form of God’s glory actually comes to an end was referring to the glory on Moses’s face. Even the brilliant glory of God’s presence would eventually fade. 

Yet, Paul explains that there is a type of God’s glory that does not fade away. “If what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory” (2 Corinthians 3:11). 

Paul is speaking of God’s glory as embodied in Jesus Christ alone. He explains, “When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18). 

In Christ, we have within us a glory that does not fade. Our boldness exceeds even that of Moses because it is empowered by Christ’s own Spirit.  Because of Jesus, God’s glory in us never stops working. It continually transforms us from one degree of glory to another. We have a permanent, unchanging, unfading glory!