The Glorified Christ

In the television show Undercover Boss, corporate executives disguise themselves and pretend to be ordinary employees. At the end of the show they meet with those with whom they have worked side by side. The employees are often astonished by the transformation.

Jesus did not come in disguise, pretending to be someone He was not. But He did temporarily lay aside the glory that was His due as God. According to John 1:1 and 14, prior to taking a human nature to Himself Jesus was both with God and was God. John saw Jesus glorified briefly when He was transfigured on the mountain (see Matt. 17:2; Mark 9:2). But during His earthly ministry Jesus revealed a different kind of glory. As John and the other disciples lived day to day with the God who had become flesh, they observed what New Testament scholar Leon Morris has described as His “humble glory.” Not only was this the glory of Jesus’ lowliness, it was the glory of His holiness.

All of this changed with Christ’s resurrection and ascension. The Jesus who appeared to John at the beginning of the book of Revelation was the same person the Apostle had known before. But John had never seen Jesus like this, not even on the Mount of Transfiguration. John says that when he was confronted by Jesus in His glory, “I fell at his feet as though dead” (v. 17).

As if to reassure John that this was the same Savior he had always known, Jesus reassured His stricken disciple with a reassuring touch and words of comfort. Jesus interpreted the vision for John and assigned to him the task of recording what he had seen for seven churches in Asia Minor (now known as Turkey).

Pray With Us

Would you pray today for the Strategic Marketing team at Moody Radio? Pray that God would give inspiration and perseverance in their mission to George Economos, Brittany Bernholdt, Hannah LaMaster, and Rhonda Carlson.

BY Dr. John Koessler

John Koessler is Professor Emeritus of Applied Theology and Church Ministries at Moody Bible Institute. John authors the “Practical Theology” column for Today in the Word of which he is also a contributing writer and theological editor. An award-winning author, John’s newest title is When God is Silent: Let the Bible Teach You to Pray (Kirkdale). Prior to joining the Moody faculty, he served as a pastor of Valley Chapel in Green Valley, Illinois, for nine years. He and his wife, Jane, now enjoy living in a lakeside town in Michigan.