The sovereign majesty of God in Scripture is intimately connected with the glory of God, kabod in Hebrew, doxa in Greek. The glory revealed on Mount Sinai is the glory of the Name, the majesty of God unveiled in tabernacle and temple, the majestic glory that leaves the corrupted temple and adorns Christ in his incarnation, full of grace and truth. Icons of this glory manifest when earthly kings and queens humbly reflect its glory on earth, as it is graciously revealed in heaven. No-one can visually perceive God, but God reveals God through Christ, empowering the vision of God in glory and sovereign majesty. Prophets and apostles see God in glory, awakening to wisdom that discerns God’s signs, turning water into wine, healing the sick, feeding the hungry with the bread of life and opening the eyes of the blind, raising Lazarus and resurrecting Christ from the dead. Glorification of God is blessed by glorification by God, revealing the ground of co-inherent majesty in the majestic heart of God.
The cross and resurrection of Christ reveal the glory of God and his majestic reign, unveiling the glory of God’s Holy Name. When the son of man is glorified, the honour and splendour of his majesty are revealed, completing the hesed and charis of grace through the agape of love. The glory of saints is the glory the Father shares with the Son, the glory Christ shares as a vine shares with its branches. Love generously completes incompleteness in the fulness of completeness, communicating the life of God to be the life of unselfish love, the life that death cannot destroy. The fulfilling completeness of God is the completeness of love, the completeness of glory revealed through Christ, in the Holy Spirit. God’s steadfast love is faithful and true, resurrecting sinners and glorifying saints. The ascension of Christ exalts saints by imparting glorification, which perfects illumination through purification, revealing the way of truth, lived in the light of completeness.
The gracious majesty of God reigns in God’s Kingdom in heaven as the archetypal presence of God on earth, inspiring kingship on earth as it inspires Christ’s kingship in heaven, ensuring the royal union of heaven and earth. Prayer of the Name on earth fulfils prophecy when earth humbly follows the sovereignty of heaven, completing earthly incompleteness in heavenly completeness. Earthly kings cannot possibly fulfil all the expectations that are inspired by the uncreated imagination, so they humbly bear witness beyond themselves to Christ, who reigns in the Kingdom of heaven. Iconic mirroring works because gracious majesty is invisibly at work in heaven, validating incompleteness in the glory of completeness. Glory is the truth of earthly majesty, just as completeness is the truth of earthly incompleteness, guaranteeing the continuity of contingent majesty in the light of the completeness of God’s sovereign majesty, majesty sustained by uncreated glory.