More Than A Song - “To God Be the Glory”

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!” - Revelation 5:13

I can’t speak for you, but I grew up in a church that sang from a hymnal. There were many favorites, ones that we sang even monthly. Songs and hymns which the congregation would sing with vitality and gusto and life that I can hear and feel to this day. Songs like “And Can it Be?” and “Victory in Jesus”. One of those such songs is the Fanny Crosby favorite, “To God Be the Glory.”

I can hear the refrain echo out now:
”Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done.”

Perhaps the most significant line, to me, is the last line of the third verse. “But purer, and higher, and greater will be our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.” That is, our amazement, awe, and disposition will be at its peak – its maximum capacity – when we see Jesus! This takes on even more significance when you remember that Crosby, the writer of this Hymn, was blind from the time she was a little girl! She could not see anything with her eyes, yet she knew one day she would see Jesus with new and perfect eyes – with vision afresh; so she wrote “To God Be The Glory!”

But what does “To God Be the Glory” mean? What are we actually saying when we sing the hymn or repeat the phrase? What about the word glory? We think of it perhaps in terms of beauty and majesty. Like a King or Queen, a palace in all its royal splendor. That is an aspect of the word Glory, but what is a fuller sense? Glory, of course, is a biblical word. It is in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old, it translates the Hebrew word chabod. Chabod means ”heaviness” or “weight.” Significance, immensity, honor, distinction are ideas that flow from that basic meaning of “heaviness.” When a subject or situation is “heavy” or “weighty,” it demands the attention of those involved. It demands intent focus. You simply cannot be distracted because it is too important, there is too much riding on it. It must be reckoned with now.

The New Testament word for Glory is a bit different. Its not in opposition or contradiction to chabod, it actually heightens or intensifies it a bit. The word is doxa. Even before the New Testament was written, the word was used by Greek authors such as Homer and Herodotus to speak of a good opinion of someone, a renown, a fame. The basic meaning of the word doxa, however, and the one that fits the context of most of the New Testament uses is “light” or “radiance.” You can see how those fit together, “a good reputation” or “fame” like a shining testimony, a spotless reputation, a radiant character. The New Testament authors, however, take it to a level that secular Greek authors never used it with. Because of its ties to the Old Testament chabod in their thinking, doxa takes on the idea of “heavenly radiance, brightness, splendor.”

What is bright, magnificent light but something that you cannot ignore? Think of this. When you are woken in the middle of deep sleep to someone turning the lights on in the room, it is frustrating and disrupting. You cannot ignore the light! Even when you close your eyes, the effects of that light are “burned into your eyes,” so to speak. Couple that concept, “radiance, splendor” with “heaviness, weightiness, significance,” and we get something totally worthy of our focus. Something that grabs our attention utterly, decisively, and something that must be reckoned with.

When we say, “To God be the Glory,” what we are saying is this: “Lord, you are something that cannot be ignored. Your nature and character steal the show and dominate the stage. Your very existence is radiant, splendid, wonderful, and significant. I cannot help but focus on you.” When we say, “To God be the Glory,” we are saying “I am going to focus on the one who is worthy to be focused on.” We are saying, “everything else in my life is a distraction and pales in comparison to God.” We say, “God, you’ve got my focus, my eye, my adoration.” Now, think of Fanny Crosby, the blind hymnwriter. In effect, she says “my blindness could be my focus, but I will rather focus on God! And one day, I will see Him with my own eyes!”

There is a sense in which saying, “glory to God!” or “to God be the Glory!” transports us from our lowly state and focus on earth and lifts us to the heavenly realm. It is a change in perspective from the temporal to the eternal. It is a removal of emphasis from self to the Creator. It is a reallocation of our efforts, intentions, and affections to the One that they belong to. So “To God Be the Glory” is more than a song, it is an anthem of Christian living. An anthem of allegiance and worship. An anthem of dependency and supremacy; our dependency upon God, and His supremacy above all else in our lives.

For His glory!
Pastor Aaron Frost
May 14, 2021