Jesus Shares His Glory With His People!

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/17/10
Isaiah 62:1-5


Jesus Shares His Glory With His People!
I. He delights in them.
II. He claims them.


We share a dish of ice cream with a friend. We share information on a daily basis. We share news, both good and bad. We enjoying sharing a seat on a bench in a park with a friend or loved one. We share time with people who are near and dear to us. We share a ride to save fuel. We share a bit of humor to brighten someone’s day.

But how do you share glory with someone else? Well, you might say that’s what you do when something wonderful happens to you and you invite another person—usually someone who is very close to you—to come and enjoy the wonderful moment with you. For instance, after putting in a tremendous amount of effort, you’re honored with an award, and you invite someone to share the stage with you. In a way, you’re sharing that glorious moment with them.

One of the themes that runs through the season of Epiphany is the revelation of the glory of the Lord. On the night of his birth, the Bible says that the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. On the last Sunday in Epiphany every year we view our Savior in all his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. But Jesus didn’t come to this earth merely to show his glory; he came to share it with you, his people. And that’s not merely a figure of speech or a mental symbolism; it’s a spiritual reality.

That might be hard for us to believe, given that our lives are so often so unremarkable, so far from glorious. Even our best attempts at being the Christian our God wants us to be are often met with frustration and failure. That’s hardly glorious. And yet God’s solid truth as Isaiah expresses it stands firm. Jesus shares his glory with his people. That’s you and me. Let’s see how he shares it with us as he explains through his prophet
Isaiah.

Part I.

A personal statement is always more convincing than a general one. For instance, if I send a form letter out to every member of our congregation stating what wonderful members you are, you might believe me. Others might wonder if I was really talking to them. But if I stop you and shake your hand and look you in the eye and call you by name and tell you what a wonderful member you are, you’re pretty likely to believe that I mean what I say. You don’t have to wonder if I mean you.

But we wonder to whom the Lord is speaking these words of our text. His words speak about a glory that will belong to Jerusalem. Later he says that he will take delight in you. So whom does he mean? Do his words include all the Jews, or just the Jews living in Jerusalem? Might they somehow be spoken by extension to you and me?

Well, we can rule out the Jews living in and around Jerusalem at the time of Isaiah. You see, one of the messages that the Lord foretold through Isaiah was that his patience with the Jews in Jerusalem had ended. The Lord, who was always faithful to his people, would no longer put up with their unfaithfulness. He would allow Jerusalem to be attacked and destroyed. Many of the people would die. The ones who remained would be exiled. Their glorious city, their homes, and their possessions would be destroyed. There’s no glory in that. So when the Lord speaks about glory for his people, he certainly wasn’t speaking to the Jews in Jerusalem at Isaiah’s time.

Instead, he was speaking about his spiritual Jerusalem, his spiritual Zion, his Church. That Church is not a building of wood or stone, nor is it just one gathering of his believers. His Church is the spiritual gathering of all who trust in the one true God for their salvation through the Savior. It includes all those who trust in Jesus on earth right now and all those saints in heaven as well. About the members of his Church, Isaiah says, “The Lord will take delight in you.” He delights in you. And he’s speaking to you.

But how can that be if our confession of sin at the beginning of worship was honest? God hates sin. How can he delight in a sinner? Listen to what he says, “The nations will see your righteousness.” The very heart and center of our Christian faith is that our God justifies sinners, that is, he declares us to be holy. He can do that because he gives the holiness of Jesus to those who trust in Jesus. Imagine that! What we could never attain on our own—our holiness before God—God gives us by faith in Jesus. Thus you stand before God in the holiness of Jesus.

And in order to emphasize just how delightful we are to our Lord, he describes us in glowing terms, He says, “You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of our God.” I’m pretty sure none of us has ever held a priceless crown in our hands. Imagine how our hands would tremble if we were allowed to do so. That’s how your God views you because of the glory your Savior has shared with you.

In fact, he changes your name. He says, “You will be called Hephzibah.” If you looked on a list of popular first names, I don’t think you’ll find Hephzibah near the top. In fact, it probably won’t even make the list. It’s a Hebrew name which means, “My delight is in her.” We might shorten it to “Delightful.” Imagine having “Delightful” as your name.

In a very real sense, your God has renamed you. It happened at your baptism when your God gave you his name. By faith in Jesus he named you “Child of God.” There’s no greater name! How glorious! It shows how much your God delights in you.
Jesus shares his glory with his people. He delights in them.

Do you feel like God delights in you? Not always, especially when times are tough or tragedy strikes. When we face one mishap after another while others seem to be breezing through life, our minds quickly draw the conclusion that our God must be upset with us, not delight in us. In other words, we base our relationship with God on our subjective analysis of our outward circumstances rather than on the rock-solid certainty of what our eternal God has done for us. Your God is not attempting to slap of a veneer of glory on your otherwise dreary, pointless life. In every sense of the word he has eternal glory in store for you. Jesus won it for you. Jesus has given you his righteousness, his holiness. He has given you his name not so that he can harass you, but in order to bless you. You belong to the people of God. Jesus shares his glory with his people. He delights in them. He delights in you.

Part II.

Whether we’ll admit it or not, there’s a struggle going on inside us. It involves our desire to be completely free of claims on us. But we also have this sense of belonging. We need to know where we fit in with others. We don’t want to be completely alone. We struggle between not wanting to be claimed by others and wanting to be claimed by others.

In a perfectly blessed way, Jesus claims us and thank God that he does! Several times in our text the Lord refers to being married. That’s a perfectly good translation for the Hebrew word here. But the Hebrew concept of marriage also has the sense of belonging to someone else. And that’s part of our concept of marriage as well. In a very good and holy way our spouse belongs to us and we belong to our spouse.

With that connotation of marriage, then, it’s no wonder that Jesus refers to his Church—all those who trust in him—as his bride. Remember that Isaiah called that Church “Jerusalem.” In the book of Revelation we read, “Then I saw…the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” Perhaps a woman’s most beautiful day is the day she’s a bride. Wedding guests frequently comment how beautiful she is on her glorious day. That’s how your God views you—as his beautiful, glorious bride whom he claims as his own.

And our Savior’s response to his beautiful bride is holy joy. Isaiah says, “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.” He has every reason to rejoice; after all, we’re the object of his grand plan. His saving plan is to bring sinners the forgiveness of sins, to fully and freely forgive us, to clothe us in the holiness of Jesus and bring us to live with him forever. That’s exactly what your God has accomplished in you. Of course he rejoices over us. And in his joy he claims us as his own.

Jesus shares his glory with his people. He claims them.

Some married couples will describe their marriage as a tug-a-war. There are times they enjoy being claimed by their spouse and there are times when they want nothing to do with their spouse. And it always involves sin.

The same holds true in our relationship with Christ. As we sit here in our comfortable pews in God’s house, we rejoice that Jesus has claimed us as his own. We praise him for the blessings that his claim on us brings to us. But sin ruins that joy. Sin denies his claim on us. Sin makes the rebellious statement that we’ll do as we please, thank-you very much! And yet our Savior is always faithful to us. He recalls us to himself, he reclaims us as his own, he washes us with his blood and renews us as his lovely bride, dressed in his holiness. In a very real sense, he shares his glory with us. In a very real sense, we stand before our holy God in the glory of our Savior.

Jesus shares his glory with his people. Thank God he shares that glory with us daily by faith in him! Whether life is at its best or worst, find your abiding comfort and joy in that glory which Jesus shares with you. Amen.