According to Hebrews 1:3, Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. In other words, the glory of God is altogether embodied in Christ, who glorifies the Father with the glory which the Father gave Him (John 1:14; 2:11; 5:41; 8:50, 54; 17:4-5). During the first stage of Christ’s ministry, the stage of incarnation, the glory of God was concealed within the shell of Christ’s humanity (John 12:24; Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:6-8; see Part 1). But what God really desires is that His glory would be expressed not just through one man, but through the church, composed of all the believers in Christ as a corporate enlargement of Christ Himself (Eph. 3:21). This was made possible through the second stage of Christ’s ministry, in which the glory of God was released through His death and resurrection. In fact, the resurrection of Christ is even referred to as His glorification in the New Testament (Luke 24:26; Acts 3:13; see Part 2).
This second stage of Christ’s ministry is coined inclusion by Witness Lee. A simple word, inclusion means the act of including, or the state of being included. The application of this term to the second stage of Christ’s ministry in resurrection describes the fact that His glorification was not an isolated event separate from the believers. Rather, Christ included all His believers in His death, resurrection, and ascension, and even imparted His divine life into them through this process (Eph. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:3).
Therefore, the glorification of the Father, while centered on Christ, also involves the church by virtue of Christ’s inclusion of all the believers. Christians today can truly glorify the Father, not merely through outward behavior, but by being joined to and filled with Christ, the One who is full of God’s glory (1 Pet 4:16). Ultimately, as the New Jerusalem, the consummation of the church, all of the believers will corporately contain the glory of God, shining forth as His full expression for eternity (Rev. 21:11; cf. 4:3).
Further Reading:
Witness Lee, The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, Chapter 2 (Print).
Witness Lee, Incarnation, Inclusion, Intensification, Chapter 3 (Print).
Witness Lee, The Life-Study of John, Chapters 38-39 (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
Holy Bible Recovery Version, all verses mentioned in this post and their corresponding footnotes (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
(Most references in the Further Reading can also be viewed on www.ministrybooks.org.)
In order for us to thoroughly consider the glorification of Christ, in faith, we must spend much time before His face.
“We need to see that Christ’s being glorified by the Father was a drastic change not merely in condition and situation but also in His nature, in His element, and in His essence.”
“The consummated Spirit is the transfiguration of Christ in resurrection.”
“His resurrection was His glorification.”
“Thus we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape, by His life power with His life essence; that is we are being transfigured, mainly by the renewing of our mind into His image…” from glory to glory.” 2 Cor. 3:18 Footnote 18^7