The Glory to Come

“The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.”
—Psalm 112:6

Not only a man’s true life, but a man’s true history begins with his conversion. Up till that time, he is a being without a history. He has no story to tell. He is but part of a world lying in wickedness, having nothing about him worthy of a record.

I. GAINING A HISTORY

But from the moment that he is born again and thus taken out of the mass, he receives a personality, as well as a dignity, that fits him for having a history—a history that God can own as such and that God Himself will record. From that time, he has a story to tell, wondrous and divine, such as angels listen to, and over which there is joy in heaven.

In that broad ocean, there are millions of drops—yet they are one mingled mass of fluid; no one of them has a history. There may be a history of the ocean, but not of its individual drops. But, see, your drop is beginning to part from the mass. It takes hold of a sunbeam and rises into the firmament. There it gleams in the rainbow or brightens in the hues of sunset. It has now a history. From the moment that it came out of the mass and obtained a personality, it had a story to tell, a story of its own, a story of splendour and beauty.

Such is the case of a saint. From the moment that the hand of the Spirit is laid on him to begin the process of separation, from that moment his history begins. He then receives a conscious, outstanding personality, which fits him for having a history—a history entirely marvelous, a history whose pages are both written and read in heaven, a history that in its divine brightness spreads over eternity. His true dignity now commences. He is fit to take a place in history. Each event in his life becomes worthy of a record.

On earth, this history is one of suffering and dishonour, even as was that of the Master; but hereafter, in the kingdom, it is one of glory and honour. “All the time,” says Howe, “from the soul’s first conversion, God has been at work upon it, labouring, shaping it, polishing it, spreading His own glory on it, inlaying, enamelling it with glory. Now at last the whole work is revealed, the curtain is drawn aside, and the blessed soul awakes.” Then a new epoch in its history begins.

What that history is to be, we know not now. That it will be wondrous, we know; how wondrous we cannot conceive. That it will be very unlike our present one, we know—yet still not severed from it, but linked to it, nay, springing out of it as its root or seed. Our present life is the under-ground state of the plant; our future life, the shooting, blossoming, and fruitbearing; but the plant is the same, and the future depends for all its excellency and beauty upon the present.

II. GLORY

A. Defined

If life on earth, in all its various forms and unfoldings, be so very beautiful, what will it not be hereafter, when it unfolds itself to the full, transfused throughout all being with an intensity now unknown, as if almost becoming visible by means of the new glory that it then shall spread over all creation? “The wise shall inherit glory” (Pro 3:35). “Let the saints be joyful in glory” (Psa 149:5). They are “vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory” (Rom 9:23). That to which we are called is “eternal glory” (1Pe 5:10). That which we obtain is “salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2Ti 2:10). It is to glory that God is “bringing many sons” (Heb 2:10); so that as He, through Whom we are brought to it, is “crowned with glory and honour,” so shall we be (Heb 2:9). We are to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1Pe 1:8). We are not only “a witness of the sufferings of Christ, [but] also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed” (1Pe 5:1). So that the word of exhortation runs thus: “Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1Pe 4:13). And the promise is not only, “if we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (2Ti 2:12); but, “if we suffer with him…we may be also glorified together” (Rom 8:17).

This glory, then, is our portion. It is the “better thing” that God has provided for us, and because of which He is not ashamed to be called our God. This is the glory that throws all present suffering into the shade, making it to be eternally forgotten.

Glory is the concentrated essence of all that is holy, excellent, and beautiful. All being has its more and its less perfect parts; and its glory is that which is most perfect about it—to which, of course, that which is less perfect has, according to its measure, contributed. Light is the glory of the sun. Transparency is the glory of the stream. The flower is the glory of the plant. The soul is the glory of the man. The face is the glory of the body. And this glory is strangely manifold: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory” (1Co 15:41).

What is really glorious is so hidden, so blighted, so intermixed with deformity and corruption here, that Scripture always speaks as if the whole glory were yet in reserve, none of it yet revealed—so that when He came to earth Who was “the brightness of LORD’s glory” (Eze 10:4; Heb 1:3), He was not recognized as the possessor of such glory; it was hidden, it shone not. Few eyes saw any glory at all in Him; none saw the extent or greatness of it. Even in His case, it did not appear what He was , nor what He shall be when He comes “to be glorified in his saints” (2Th 1:10).

B. From God

All that is glorious, whether visible or invisible, material or immaterial, natural or spiritual, must have its birth-place in God. “Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever” (Rom 11:36). All glorious things come forth out of Him, and have their seeds, gems, or patterns in Himself. We say of that flower, “How beautiful!”; but the type of its beauty—the beauty of which it is the faint expression—is in God. We say of the star, “How bright!”; but the brightness that it represents or declares is in God. So of every object above and beneath. And so especially shall it be seen in the objects of glory that shall surround us in the kingdom of God. Of each thing there, as of the city itself, it shall be said, “it has the glory of God” (Rev 21:11).

Glory, then, is our inheritance. The best, the richest, the brightest, the most beautiful of all that is in God—of good, rich, bright, and beautiful— shall be ours. The glory that fills heaven above, the glory that spreads over the earth beneath, shall be ours. But while the glory of the terrestrial shall be ours, yet in a truer sense “the glory of the celestial” shall be ours (1Co 15:40). Already by faith we have taken our place amid things celestial: God “hath quickened us together with Christ…and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places” (Eph 2:5-6). Thus we have already claimed the celestial as our own; and having risen with Christ, we set our “affection upon things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2). Farranging dominion shall be ours. With all varying shades and kinds of glory shall we be encompassed, circle beyond circle stretching over the universe. But it is the celestial glory that is so truly ours, as the redeemed and the risen; and in the midst of that celestial glory shall be the family mansion, the Church’s dwelling-place and palace—our true home for eternity.

III. HEAVEN

All that awaits us is glorious. There is…“an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” (1Pe 1:4). There is a rest, a sabbath keeping in store for us (Heb 4:9); and this “rest shall be glorious” (Isa 11:10). The kingdom that we claim is a glorious kingdom. The crown that we are to wear is a glorious crown. The city of our habitation is a glorious city. The garments that shall clothe us are garments “for glory and for beauty” (Exo 28:2). Our bodies shall be glorious bodies, fashioned after the likeness of Christ’s “glorious body” (Phi 3:21). Our society shall be that of the glorified. Our songs shall be songs of glory. And of the region which we are to inhabit, it is said that “the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof ” (Rev 21:23).

The hope of this glory cheers us. From under a canopy of night, we look out upon these promised scenes of blessedness and we are comforted. Our dark thoughts are softened down even when they are not wholly brightened—for day is near and joy is near, the warfare is ending, the tear shall be dried up, and the shame [shall] be lost in the glory. We shall be presented “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24).

Then the fruit of patience and of faith shall appear, and the hope we have so long been clinging to shall not put us to shame. Then shall we triumph and praise. Then shall we be avenged on death, pain, and sickness. Then shall every wound be more than healed. Egypt enslaves us no more. Babylon leads us captive no more. The Red Sea is crossed, the wilderness is passed, Jordan lies behind us, and we are in Jerusalem! There is no more curse; there is no more night. The tabernacle of God is with us; in that tabernacle He dwells, and we dwell with Him.

It is “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus” (1Pe 5:10). It is “when the chief Shepherd shall appear,” that we “shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1Pe 5:4). And this after we “have suffered a while,” and by suffering have been made perfect, stablished, strengthened, and settled (1Pe 5:10)—so that suffering is not lost upon us: it prepares us for the glory. And the hope of that glory, as well as the knowledge of the discipline through which we are passing, and of the process of preparation going on in us, sustains us; nay, teaches us to “glory in tribulation.”

This comfort—nay, it is happiness—[is] strange in the world’s eye, but not strange in ours! All that the world has is but a poor imitation of happiness and consolation; ours is real, even now—how much more hereafter! Nor will a brief delay and a sore conflict lessen the weight of coming glory. Nay, they will add to it; and it is worth waiting for, it is worth suffering for, it is worth fighting for. It is so sure of coming, and so blessed when it comes.

“The mass of glory,” says Howe, “is yet in reserve; we are not yet so high as the highest heavens.” All this is hanging over us, inviting us on, stirring us up, loosening us from things present, so that the pain of loss, sickness, or bereavement falls more gently on us, and tends but to make us less vain and light—more thoroughly in earnest.

IV. THE GLORY OF CHRIST

“That they may behold my glory,” the Lord pleaded for His own (Joh 17:24). This is the sum of all. Other glories there will be, as we have seen, but this is the sum of all. It is the very utmost that even “the Lord of glory” could ask for them. Having sought this, He could seek no more; He could go no further. And our response to this is, “Shew me thy glory” (Exo 33:18); yes, and the glad confidence in which we rest is this, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness” (Psa 17:15). This is our ambition, divine and blessed ambition, in which there is no pride, no presumption, and no excess! Nothing less can satisfy than the directest, fullest vision of incarnate glory. Self-emptied before the Infinite Majesty, and conscious of being wholly unworthy even of a servant’s place, we yet feel as if drawn irresistibly into the innermost circle and center, satisfied with nothing less than the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.

“The glory which thou gavest me I have given them” (Joh 17:22). No less than this—both in kind and amount—is the glory in reserve according to the promise of the Lord. The glory given to Him, He makes over to them! They “are made partakers of Christ” (Heb 3:14), and all that He has is theirs. Nay, and He says, “I have given”; as if it were already theirs by His gift, just as truly as it was His by the Father’s gift. He receives it from the Father only for the purpose of immediately handing it over to them! So that even here they can say, This glory is already mine, and I must live as one to whom such infinite glory belongs. “Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, [they] are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2Co 3:18). To fret or despond is sad inconsistency in one who can say, even under sorest pressures, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). Look at them by themselves, and they do seem at times most overwhelming; place them side by side with the eternal glory, and they disappear.

From The Morning of Joy