Q: The Bible says God will come on the clouds with glory. Then how can he come in the flesh?
A: It’s true that God came with glory and power at His first coming. But, most Christians have a physical point of view and expect to see physical glory in Jesus, like the Jews expected 2,000 years ago. The glory that Jesus came with was not visible, but only those who believed in Him could see it.
Jesus hid his glory so well that even John the Baptist asked, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we expect someone else?” (Mt 11:3).
Looking into Jesus’s physical life, it’s hard to find glory. He was born in a stable and brought up in Nazareth, which Jews of that time looked down upon (Jn 1:46), among other circumstances that covered His glory. So, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that he would appear as a root out of dry ground.
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
What glory did Jesus Christ have? What glory did His disciples see? It wasn’t physical glory, but spiritual glory that everyone who believed in Him saw. Apostle John wrote, “We have seen His glory” (Jn 1:14). But those who did not believe the prophesies Jesus fulfilled never saw His glory.
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
The World Mission Society Church of God believes in second coming Christ who has come in the flesh to reestablish the New Covenant. If Christ were to come with visible glory, who wouldn’t believe in Him? Even people who don’t believe in God would begin to act like they follow Christ. The disciples acknowledged the spiritual glory of Christ who brought the truth and eternal life. In the same way, we should recognize second coming Christ through the truth and receive Him.
