The Glory of Christ

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. JOHN 17:24

Owen’s last book was about the glory of Christ, and he did not live to see it printed. He worked on it through his final illness, and it was published the year after his death as Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ. It is not a work of controversy, like so much of what he wrote, nor a manual of practice, like The Mortification of Sin. It is the work of an old man looking steadily at the Saviour he expected soon to see, and inviting his readers to look with him.

Its text is the prayer of Jesus in John 17, that His people might be with Him where He is and behold His glory. Owen draws from it a single conviction that shapes the whole book. To behold the glory of Christ is the great privilege of believers in heaven; and the way to be ready for it is to begin beholding it now, by faith.

Why we must look now

Owen presses this with some urgency. No one, he argues in effect, should expect to delight in seeing Christ’s glory in heaven who takes no delight in it on earth. Heaven is not a reward arbitrarily attached to the Christian life; it is the completion of what the Christian life already is. If the sight of Christ by faith seems dull to us now, if we would rather think about almost anything else, we should ask what we imagine we will do with eternity.

This is not said to frighten but to awaken. Owen believed that Christians in his day thought too little about Christ Himself, and that looking at Him has a power nothing else has.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18

To behold Christ is to be changed into His likeness. The Mortification of Sin ended by telling believers to look daily on Christ crucified; the Meditations take that counsel and widen it to the whole of who He is.

Glory in His person

What, then, is there to see? Owen leads his reader through many aspects of Christ’s glory, and a few of the chief ones can be named.

There is the glory of His person, as God and man in one. Owen never tired of this mystery: that the eternal Son, the brightness of the Father’s glory, took our nature into union with Himself, so that in Christ we see God in a way we could never see Him otherwise. He is the image of the invisible God. To look at Him is to look at the Father made visible.

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. HEBREWS 1:3

There is the glory of His humiliation: that one so high should stoop so low. Owen asks his readers to consider the condescension of the Son in taking a servant’s form, and to see in that very lowliness a greater glory than any display of power.

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. PHILIPPIANS 2:7–8

There is the glory of His love, a love that passes knowledge, that moved Him to undertake our salvation and bear our sin. There is the glory of His offices, as the Prophet who reveals God, the Priest who offered Himself and still intercedes, and the King who rules His church. There is the glory of His exaltation, now seated at the right hand of the Father, all authority His. And there is the glory of the union between Christ and His church, the Head and the members, which Owen regarded as one of the deepest mysteries of the gospel.

Faith now, sight then

Owen spends much of the book on the difference between beholding Christ by faith now and beholding Him by sight in heaven. The difference is not that one is real and the other imaginary; both are real. But the sight of faith is partial, dim and interrupted. It comes in glimpses, often clouded by sin and trouble, and it cannot last long without the mind wandering. The sight of glory will be complete, clear and unbroken, and it will not weary us, because we shall be made fit for it.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 JOHN 3:2

This is the thought that sustained Owen at the end. The story his friends told, of his reply when he was told the book was at the printers, is a summary of the whole work: he rejoiced, but said that the day had come when he would see that glory in another manner than he had ever done or could do in this world.

Counsels for looking

The Meditations close with practical counsel for those who want to grow in beholding Christ. Owen urges that such contemplation be grounded always in the Scriptures, since it is there that Christ is set forth; he was wary of imaginations that went beyond what God has revealed. He urges that it be frequent, woven into ordinary days, so that thoughts of Christ become as natural to the mind as thoughts of the things we most love. He urges that it be joined to love and to obedience, since the sight that does not change the life is not the sight of faith. And he says frankly that it will be a struggle, because our minds are weak and easily distracted, and because the world is always pressing in.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. HEBREWS 12:2

Some readers find the book slow, and it is; Owen circles his subject rather than marching through it. But it is meant to be read a little at a time, by someone who wants to learn to look.

The end of it all

It is fitting that Owen’s life of study and controversy should have ended here. All of it, in the end, was for this: that he and his readers might see the glory of Christ. The war against sin, the communion with God, the careful doctrine, the patient suffering, all come home in the prayer of John 17:24. The Son wants His people to be with Him and to see His glory. Owen wanted it too, and he spent his last strength preparing for it.

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. ISAIAH 33:17

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Ask yourself honestly whether thinking about Christ Himself is a delight to you or a duty you seldom perform. What does your answer suggest?

2. Choose one passage that sets forth Christ’s glory, such as Hebrews 1:1–4, Colossians 1:15–20 or Philippians 2:5–11, and read it slowly every day this week.

3. Take one of the glories Owen names, His person, His humiliation, His love, His offices, His exaltation, and spend a quiet quarter of an hour simply thinking about it.

4. Notice what your mind naturally turns to when it is free. Pray that thoughts of Christ would become more natural to you.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You prayed that I might be with You where You are and behold Your glory. Thank You that You want me there.

Forgive me for how seldom I look at You, and how easily my mind turns to lesser things.

Open my eyes by faith to see Your glory now: Your person, Your humility, Your love, Your reign. And as I look, change me into Your likeness.

Prepare me for the day when faith gives way to sight, and I shall see You as You are. Amen.