What Is It?
It’s the display of the glory of God within His creation, His fundamental purpose in all creation (Numbers 14:21). It is particularly seen in the display of His character and attributes. When Adam fell he no longer displayed the image of his creator as previously, and became estranged (Genesis 1:27; 3:24). God’s purpose is that men and women should become manifestations of Himself.
God: Source of All
No man can see God and live (Ex. 33:20; 1 Tim 6:16; John 1:18). So He has shown Himself by intermediaries, by God-in-manifestation. God is revealed in the meaning of His Name, Yahweh. The angel in the burning bush spoke to Moses (Ex. 3:2) as God: “I AM” (v.6). He explained His Name as signifying “I AM that I AM” (v.14), or “I will be Who I will be” (RSV), emphasizing that He is a God of the future as well as the present and past (Ex. 6:2-8).
His Name is a memorial to all generations (Ex. 3:15), to those whom He is creating as manifestations of Himself. He is the source and sustainer of all things, and they were created for His glory (1 Corinthians 8:6; Acts 17:28; Romans 11:36; Rev 4:11).
Revealed in the Angels
Angels, which are messengers or agents of God, displayed the joy of God (Job 38:7, Luke 2:10-14), carried the Name of God (Genesis 16:13; 18:1; Ex. 23:20, 21), and at the Exodus and at Sinai showed the power and glory of God (Ex. 14:19, 20; Acts 7:38). God’s angel proclaimed His Name and character to Moses; “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ex. 34:6, 7).
Revealed in Christ
“The Word (or LOGOS) was God”: that is, the thought, mind and purpose of God was expressed in speech and later personally in the likeness of Adam’s flesh as the Son of God, “the only begotten of the Father” by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit (John 1:1, 14, 18; 2 Samuel 7:14; Luke 1:35). As a result he was called “Emmanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14).
One purpose of his manifestation as the Son of God was “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14). It is essential to recognize that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (1 John 4:2, 3; 2 John 7). Made “in the form of God” by his birth, he is“the image of the invisible God”, “being the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Phil. 2:6; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). He has declared the Father, and manifested His name (John 1:18; 17:6, 26).
In him the Father was seen (John 12:45). He brought life for the human race and was thus “the light of men” (John 1:4 ,9; 12:46; 2 Cor. 4:4). This light is not of himself but of the Father, shining “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6; John 1:14-17). By service and suffering he was made perfect, a full manifestation of his Father (Phil. 2:7, 8; Heb. 2:10; 5:8, 9). He has therefore been raised to the manifestation of God in Divine nature, inheriting a name greater than the angels, and glorifying God in the process (Heb. 5:5; 1:4; Phil. 2:9-11).
He is now the anointed Son of the Father in a greater sense (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:9). He carries the name YAHWEH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS and particularly when he returns, men will bow to the Father through him, and his glory will be revealed (Isaiah 45:23; Jer.23:5, 6).
Revealed in the Faithful
Reception of the Word of God is made the mark of the faithful as in the case of the judges of Israel (John 10:34-36; Psalm 82:1, 6; Ex. 21:6; 22:8, 28). Baptized into “the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19) involves understanding, believing and obeying a body of truth defined in the Word of God. By this we become children of God – that is, we are “born from above” (John 2:27-3:3). God-manifestation should be part of the daily living of the man or woman of God (1 Tim. 6:6, 11; 2:10; Luke 9:23).
Abiding in the teaching of Christ is essential, and by it we have, and manifest, both the Father and the Son (John 15; 2 John 9; 1 John 5:12). Even now we are the sons of God (1 John 3), but are being changed into or conformed to the image of God’s Son (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6, 7; Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:10). The ecclesia (church), the one body of Christ, is spiritually one with Christ (1 Cor. 10:16, 17; 12:12, 13; Gal. 3:27, 28; Eph. 4:12). He is its head and through him its members take on the Name to the glory of God (Eph. 5:23, 27; John 17:22, 23).
To Be Revealed in the Saints
The future manifestation of God in the saints will fulfill promises and prophecies, one of which is to partake of the Divine Nature, incorruptible and immortal (2 Peter 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:53, 54; James 1:12) and to reign in glory with Christ on the earth (Dan. 7:27; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10). Sons of God are being brought to future glory and by being set apart through Jesus are of the one Father with him (Heb. 2:10, 11).
The full significance of this glory cannot be appreciated by mortal man (1 John 3:1-3). God’s title “Father of Glory” will take on an extended meaning through “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:17, 18; Col. 1:27). We wait for “the glory which shall be revealed in us”, “the manifestation of the sons of God”, “the glorious liberty of the children of God”, “the redemption of our body” (Romans 8).
Today we are either prospective manifestations of God as saints, already bearing some Divine likeness, or manifestations of the carnally-minded, natural person abiding in death (1 John 4:4).
