Before the world even existed, Jesus was in Heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
As finite created beings, we humans cannot possibly understand what this must have been like. However, in John 17, the Bible records that, before He was to be crucified, Jesus prayed to the Father and asked that He glorify Him with the same glory which He had with Him before the world was. That meant that Jesus was going to the Cross, and He would show His glory by conquering death itself and rising from the grave.
Jesus lowered himself and gave up the glory He had in Heaven when He came to walk the earth. But when He rose from the grave and ascended into Heaven, He was glorified again.
God's glory cannot be adequately described, because we cannot even fully see it. In Exodus 33, Moses asked God to show him His glory, but God only let him see His back because God said no man could see His face and live. And that glory was so intense that Moses's face shone from it, so much so that he had to put a veil over His face when he spoke with the Israelites, because the people were afraid to look at it.
God is described in Scripture as a consuming fire, and as light. He is described as having no darkness at all. That means infinitely bright. The disciples got a glimpse of that light when Jesus was "transfigured" to where His face shone like the sun.
Question: what do you think would happen to your eyes if you stared intently into the sun for a while? You probably would go blind, right? Then imagine what God's full display of light would do to you!
Face it, we as mortal beings simply have no way to approach that kind of awesome, infinite power. The power to create everything out of nothing. The power to do anything, anywhere, anytime. The power to live forever. The power to do what we cannot even imagine.
And then consider God's other qualities: perfect knowledge, holiness, goodness, love, truth and wisdom...
How else can we describe Him?
Glorious!
In Luke 24, the Bible records the appearance of Jesus to the disciples after His resurrection. They knew His appearance well from having spent three years with Him, yet they did not initially recognize Him. But apparently He looked normal because they spent a good part of the day together talking. So we can expect that our own resurrected bodies will somehow resemble our present human form, yet look different.
Jesus instantly disappeared from their sight as they were sitting together at the dinner table. And later, Jesus appeared to them out of thin air as they gathered together in a room. But He was not a ghost, because they were able to touch His body. Jesus even ate in front of them.
So this glorified body must also have the ability to materialize and de-materialize. It can go through walls and travel instantly. For you Star Trek fans, that's way better than having Scotty beam you up!
Most importantly, glorified creatures do not have a sin nature. We know that the end result of sin is always death, both physical and spiritual. But when we are glorified and permanently removed from the presence of sin, we will live forever just like Jesus. Amazing!
It would take more than this blog post to completely describe what our future glory will be like, even if I knew everything. But in His Word, God has shown us a small part of what's in store for us by describing Jesus, resurrected and glorified.
The Bible says that one day we will be like Jesus. And that means that because He is glorified, we also shall be.
This Resurrection Sunday, we meditate on the glory that Jesus demonstrated through His resurrection, and we celebrate what He accomplished for you and me.
He is risen!