I. Introduction: The Longing of the Age
The world staggers under its own weight. Streets bustle, screens flash, and yet, a quiet heaviness presses into hearts — an unspoken lament, a groaning of lives weighed down by sorrow, injustice, and oppression. Creation itself seems to stagger like a drunkard under the burden of sin (Isaiah 24:20).
Amid this, the question rises: Where is the glory — the δόξα — that should mark the present age?
Imagine Nehemiah hearing of Jerusalem’s broken walls. While the palace buzzed with daily routine, he sat in mourning, weeping through the night, fasting and praying. One man, broken with grief, aligned fully with God’s heart — and history began to shift.
This is the kind of longing God calls His people to bear. It is not despair. It is covenantal intensity, the ache that positions hearts to receive and release the glory of heaven.
II. Understanding δόξα: Glory Reconsidered
The Greek word δόξα carries a depth the English word “glory” cannot contain. Biblically, it is manifested presence, weight, honor, radiance.
Under the Old Covenant, glory was external and temporary — Moses’ face shone, but even that radiance faded. Under the New Covenant, glory is internal, transformative, and enduring (2 Corinthians 3:7‑18).
This glory is not merely aesthetic; it is powerful and visible through obedience, sensitivity, and holiness. When saints bear it, their lives become a canvas for heaven’s radiance, illuminating darkness without fanfare.
III. The Saints’ Ache as Access Point to Glory
The groaning of saints is the Spirit’s own voice echoing through human hearts. Paul groans over Israel, Nehemiah weeps over Jerusalem, Jesus weeps over a city bustling in unawareness.
This sensitivity is not weakness. It is alignment with God’s mind. It is the heart that refuses to normalize brokenness, the soul that cannot rest while injustice thrives.
Take Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China: for decades he carried a deep burden for a land most in Europe ignored. His persistent intercession became fuel for decades of obedience, opening doors no one else could reach.
It is in this holy ache that God finds hearts He can entrust with His glory.
IV. Radical Longing and Covenant Language
History is full of saints whose intensity startled the world. John Knox prayed, “Lord, give me Scotland or I die.” Corrie ten Boom spent years risking her life to protect the persecuted.
These cries are not about physical death; they are covenantal declarations: the world is secondary to God’s purposes, and nothing — not comfort, not fear, not life itself — should stand in the way of obedience.
As believers already “dead in Christ” (Romans 6:4), fear no longer governs. Pain and longing become channels for divine intervention. The unfulfilled ache is not a burden — it is the mechanism through which heaven begins to break into earth.
V. The Subtle Presence of Present Glory
New Covenant glory often moves quietly, which is why it can feel absent in a world conditioned to expect spectacle. We look for fireworks and dramatic signs, yet heaven’s radiance advances through transformed lives, faithful obedience, mercy, and endurance. The ache of saints is the signpost of its presence.
Picture a modern intercessor, quietly praying through the night, sensing suffering unnoticed by others, compelled by grief to act in mercy. Or consider a believer in a war-torn region who chooses forgiveness over revenge, feeding the hungry enemy at great personal risk. A life reconciled, a family healed, a soul encouraged — these quiet breakthroughs are manifestations of glory breaking in through sensitive hearts.
Though the world appears dark, heaven is already at work through those willing to feel its grief, pray its prayers, and act in its strength.
VI. The Call to Action
God invites us to live as conduits of this glory in practical ways:
– Cultivate the mind of Christ to perceive what others ignore.
– Let your sensitivity guide intercession and obedient action.
– Act faithfully, even when the outcome is unseen.
– Rely on God’s sufficiency, not your own strength (2 Corinthians 3:4‑6).
Nehemiah rebuilt walls. Paul carried the weight of nations in his prayers. Those who groan with God, who refuse to settle for apathy, become instruments of heaven.
VII. Conclusion: Hope Anchored in Glory
The glory of the New Covenant is both present and future. The world may stagger. Hearts may groan. Yet heaven is moving, through those who are aligned with God’s grief, carrying His burden without compromise.
Let this be your challenge and encouragement: do not hide from the ache, do not soften the longing, do not ignore the brokenness around you. Live so aligned with God’s heart that heaven breaks through your life into the world.
This is the glory of the present age — not fleeting radiance, but enduring, transformational, divine presence — revealed in the groaning saints, faithful to their calling.