THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION
As we have indicated, the Lord was temporarily glorified in the presence of three of His disciples on the mountain of transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-4). Matthew 17:2 says concerning this: “He was transfigured before them, and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.” The glory that was concealed within the Lord’s humanity was manifested. This was the Lord’s glorification in the presence of His disciples. When the Lord was glorified on the mountain of transfiguration, His divine life and nature were expressed in a full way. Nevertheless, this glorification lasted only a short while, and then His glory was concealed again.
GLORIFIED THROUGH DEATH AND RESURRECTION
After living and walking with His disciples for more than three years, He gave them the message recorded in chapters fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen of the Gospel of John. Then in His prayer to the Father the Lord prayed that the Father would glorify the Son. In this prayer the Lord seemed to be saying to the Father, “Father, My humanity is opaque. Your life, nature, and glory have all been covered by the opaqueness of My flesh. Father, glorify Your Son. Father, cause My opaque humanity to become completely transparent so that Your life and nature can be expressed from within Me. My humanity, Father, is opaque because it is natural. The marvelous divine life, nature, and glory are covered by this humanity. Father, I have glorified You on earth. Now the time has come for You to glorify Your Son.”
We have seen that for the Father to glorify the Son was to cause the Son’s opaque humanity to become transparent. By what way could the Son be glorified? He could be glorified only through death and resurrection. Through death and resurrection the Lord’s natural humanity was transfigured. This means that through death and resurrection the Lord’s opaque humanity was made transparent. Therefore, when He was in resurrection, He was in glorification (Luke 24:26).
We may use electric lights as an illustration of Christ’s glorification. We may say that light is the glorification of electricity. In a sense, light is hidden in electricity. But when the switch is turned on and the light shines in a room, this light is the glorification of electricity.
The divine electricity—the divine life with the divine nature—was concealed within the Lord’s humanity, and that humanity was natural, something of the old creation. Hence, it was necessary that the Lord’s natural humanity should be transfigured through death and resurrection. The old creation was terminated by death. Then in resurrection the Lord was glorified. The divine electricity within Him was made manifest.
Through death the Lord terminated the old creation. When He entered into resurrection, He did not enter alone. Rather, the Lord entered into resurrection with the chosen people of God. Truly the Lord’s glorification is a wonderful, mysterious divine sign.
GLORIFICATION IN THE CHURCH LIFE
The sign of the Lord’s glorification signifies many things. It signifies that the old creation has been terminated and also that the new creation has been germinated. Adam has been terminated, and the new man has come into being. It was through this glorification that the old man was done away with and that the new man has been brought forth. Therefore, in resurrection the new man was born with glory. Even in the church life today there is at least some amount of glorification.
We all need to be clear that glory is the expression of the divine life and the divine nature. If we live by the divine life and nature, we shall express the divine glory. We can testify of this from our experience in the church life. The more the saints live by the divine life and the divine nature, the more glorious the church life is, the more divine glory there will be in the church. The expression of this glory is the glorification of the Lord Jesus.
The Father is glorified in the Son. This means that when the Son is glorified, the Father is glorified as well. In John 12:28 the Lord prayed, “Father, glorify Your name.” To glorify the name of the Father is to cause the Father’s element to be expressed. The Father’s element, the divine element, which is eternal life, was in the incarnated Son. It was necessary for the shell of the Son’s humanity to be broken through death so that the Father’s element might be released and expressed in resurrection. This is the glorification of God the Father in the Son. The Father is glorified in the Son’s glorification because in this glorification the Father is expressed.
When we live by the divine life with the divine nature, we express the Lord Jesus. This is the Lord’s glorification in us, and in this glorification the Father is glorified. Day by day this glorification is taking place.
The more glorification there is in the church life, the more the old creation is done away with and the more the new man is brought in. Therefore, glorification is actually the bringing in of the new man. The new man is absolutely in the divine glory. For this reason, the more glorification we have in the church life, the mo the new man is brought forth. However, if we have little or no glorification in the church, then more of the old man will be seen in the church life.
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 50, by Witness Lee)
