Question
Gramps,
We often hear that those who are fortunate to enter the Celestial Kingdom will have glory placed upon their heads; that glory will be theirs forever and ever; that glory awaits those who live the commandments, etc. Is there a clear definition for the word glory to help us understand it, or how glory is to be interpreted?
Grant
Answer
Dear Grant,
It’s one of those words that sounds inspiring, yet it’s surprisingly difficult to define. In everyday language, glory often means honor, praise, or great achievement. While those ideas aren’t entirely wrong, the scriptures use the word in a much richer, deeper sense. In Latter-day Saint doctrine, glory describes God’s very nature. It includes His light, truth, power, holiness, joy, and perfect presence. It is both who He is and what He desires to share with His children.
One of the clearest scriptural definitions comes from modern revelation. The Lord declared, “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:36).
The Church’s Guide to the Scriptures expands on that definition by explaining:
“In the scriptures, glory often refers to God’s light and truth. It may also refer to praise or honor and to a certain condition of eternal life.”
You can read the full entry here:
That definition helps us see that glory is far more than brightness or recognition. It is closely connected with knowledge, wisdom, truth, righteousness, and divine understanding. God’s glory is the perfect fullness of all these things.
Elder Theodore M. Burton beautifully connected this idea in a General Conference address titled “Light and Truth.” After quoting Doctrine and Covenants 93:36, he concluded:
“To summarize then, light and truth is, simply, pure intelligence.”
He taught that as we receive more light and truth from the Lord, we receive more of what the scriptures describe as God’s glory. His entire talk is an excellent study on this subject.
That also helps explain why people who came into God’s presence often struggled to describe what they experienced. They almost always spoke of overwhelming light, majesty, beauty, and power. When Moses stood before God, he later explained that he had not seen Him with his natural eyes because he would have withered and died. Instead, he was strengthened spiritually so he could endure the experience (see Moses 1:11). God’s glory wasn’t simply a brilliant light surrounding Him. It was the visible expression of His divine perfection.
The wonderful message of the restored gospel is that God does not intend for us merely to admire His glory from a distance. His plan is for His children to eventually receive that glory themselves. Jesus taught this beautifully in His great intercessory prayer when He said to the Father, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them” (John 17:22).
That statement is remarkable. Through the Savior’s Atonement, Heavenly Father intends for His faithful children to inherit what Christ has inherited. Of course, we never replace God or become independent of Him. Rather, through Christ’s grace, we become like Him. The scriptures repeatedly teach that we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if we remain faithful.
President Dallin H. Oaks emphasized this truth during the October 2023 General Conference:
“Our Heavenly Father loves all His children so much that He wants us all to live in a kingdom of glory forever. Moreover, He wants us to live with Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, eternally.”
Read the complete address here:
This is why the scriptures often speak of receiving glory instead of simply receiving rewards. Glory is much more than being recognized for living a good life. It is becoming something new. As we draw closer to Jesus Christ, our capacity to receive light and truth increases. We become more loving, more patient, more forgiving, and more like our Heavenly Father. In that sense, glory is not only a future inheritance—it is a process that begins the moment we choose to follow Christ.
This idea helps us better understand passages like Abraham 3:26, where the Lord promises that those who keep their first estate and faithfully endure mortality “shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever.” Sometimes we picture this as receiving a beautiful crown, and scripture certainly uses crowns as symbols of eternal life and victory. But the phrase means much more than receiving an impressive reward after this life.
Notice that the scripture says glory will be added upon their heads. That suggests growth rather than a one-time event. Throughout our mortal lives, we gradually receive more light as we learn truth, keep our covenants, repent, and allow the Holy Ghost to change our hearts. That process does not suddenly stop after the Resurrection. Eternal life is a life of eternal progression, and our ability to receive God’s light and glory continues forever.
The Apostle Paul hinted at this idea when he wrote that “there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars” (1 Corinthians 15:41). Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord expanded that teaching in Doctrine and Covenants 76 by revealing the three degrees of glory—the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial kingdoms.
Sometimes people think these kingdoms differ simply because one is a nicer place than another. The scriptures suggest something deeper. Each kingdom possesses a different measure of God’s glory because its inhabitants are prepared to receive a different measure of His light and presence.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson expressed this beautifully:
“While the glory of even the least of the three kingdoms, the telestial, ‘surpasses all understanding,’ our Father’s hope is that we will choose—and, through the grace of His Son, qualify for—the highest and most glorious of these kingdoms, the celestial.”
His message reminds us that every kingdom is glorious beyond our current ability to comprehend, but our Heavenly Father lovingly invites each of us to inherit the fullness of celestial glory.
You can read his address here:
Perhaps the simplest way to understand glory is to look at the life of Jesus Christ. Everything about Him reflected the Father perfectly. His love was perfect. His obedience was perfect. His mercy, wisdom, compassion, and truth were perfect. He possessed the fullness of God’s glory because He perfectly reflected the Father’s character.
That is the direction Heavenly Father is leading each of us. Every sincere prayer, every act of repentance, every covenant we honor, every quiet act of service, and every time we choose faith over fear allows a little more of Christ’s light to become part of our lives. We may not notice dramatic changes from one day to the next, but over time, the Lord transforms us into people who are more capable of living comfortably in His presence.
So if someone asked for a simple definition of glory from a Latter-day Saint perspective, you might say something like this:
Glory is the fullness of God’s light, truth, power, holiness, joy, and presence, which He lovingly shares with His faithful children as they become more like Jesus Christ.
When the scriptures promise glory to the righteous, they are offering something far greater than honor or recognition. They are describing the incredible promise that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can inherit God’s presence, receive His light and truth in ever-increasing measure, and eventually become like our Heavenly Father. That is why the scriptures speak so often of glory. It is both our eternal destination and the beautiful process of becoming what God has always known we could become.
Gramps
