| The Christian Life | September 1942 |
The Hope of Glory
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Colossians 1:27
THE Messianic promises which God made to the natural house of Israel constituted a basis for a hope of glory for that nation. Under the leadership of the Messiah Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The victorious fruition of this hope depended upon their faithfulness to God and to His law. As a nation, the Jews proved unfaithful, hence the opportunity of participating in the glory of the Messianic Kingdom arrangements was extended to the Gentiles. It is to this that the apostle refers in our text; and he shows that now believing Gentiles may entertain a hope of glory if they are in Christ, and Christ is in them.
This hope of Messianic glory is referred to by the Apostle Peter, saying, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”—I Peter 1:10-13
In this passage, the apostle shows clearly that followers of the Master entertain the hope of glory set forth in the Messianic promises of the Old Testament. He shows, furthermore, that in order to obtain this glory it is necessary to “gird up the loins” of our minds, “be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought … at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” In chapter 4, verse 13, of this same epistle, Peter bids us to rejoice, inasmuch as we are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings”; because this means that “when His glory shall be revealed” we shall “be glad also with exceeding joy.” The Apostle Paul confirms this thought, saying, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”—Romans 8:18
Jesus knew that the Messianic glory promises applied also to His body members and He willingly and gladly passed them on to His followers. In John 17:22 He is quoted as saying, “And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one.” At the time Jesus uttered these words the “glory” had been given to Him merely by promise. In this same sense He had given it by promise to His disciples. Jesus had told His disciples that they were to sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In various other ways he had indicated that His disciples were to share in His Kingdom glory.
This procedure on the part of Jesus was fully in line with that which was written in the “book,” and which He had agreed to fulfill. One of the glory promises made to Him is recorded in Isaiah 53:12, and reads, “Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great.” The “Great” One referred to here is undoubtedly Jehovah, the Heavenly Father, and following His resurrection Jesus was given a portion with Him. Jesus bears witness to this fact Himself, saying, “even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” (Rev. 3:21) But Jesus knew that this reward was not for Him alone, for the prophet adds, “and He shall divide the spoil (reward) with the strong.” The followers of Jesus are here referred to as “strong,” because, like Him, they are all overcomers—not in their own strength, but in the strength of the Lord. Jesus says to them, “To Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” (Rev. 3:21) Here Jesus is saying, in effect, that He is glad to share His reward of glory with the “strong,” the overcomers, that He will grant that they sit with Him in His throne.
THE GLORY OF GOD
It is impossible for us to fully grasp the great height of “glory” involved in the Messianic promises. Paul hints at it in Romans 5:2, where he says that we “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” “The glory of God”—what can that mean? Even the Apostle John didn’t know, for he said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:2) In this statement John agrees with both Peter and Paul that it will be when “He shall appear” that the reality of the promised glory shall be revealed to and participated in by the church. Now, while it is still a hope, we can only approximate what it will be.
We know, however, that the promised glory will, for one thing, be a glory of the divine nature—the glory of God. Concerning this we read, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” (II Peter 1:4) In I Corinthians 15:38-53 the apostle has a great deal to say about the “glory” of nature. Here he says that there is a terrestrial body and also a celestial body, and that the glory of one is different from the glory of the other. The celestial is the heavenly glory, and the apostle shows that that the church is to be changed into this glory at the sounding of the last “trump.” This is the seventh symbolic trumpet of the Scriptures, which begins to sound early in the dawn of the Millennium, following the return of Christ. The general lesson here is the same as that of the Scriptures already noted, namely, that the glorification of the church comes at the end of the age, following the return of the Master, when He is “revealed … in flaming fire” taking vengeance on the corrupt and selfish world order of things under the rulership of sinful men.
OFFICIAL GLORY
In addition to the glory of the divine nature which is promised to the church, she is also promised a share in the official glory of the Messianic Kingdom. By official glory we mean the glory that is described in the various official titles which the Scriptures apply to the glorified Jesus. For example, Jesus is described as earth’s new King; in fact, He is to be the “King of kings.” He is to be the world’s High Priest—after the order of Melchisedec, who was a priest upon his throne. Jesus is also to be the Judge of the world, and will be the great Mediator between God and men. We see then, that Jesus possesses kingly glory, priestly glory, judgeship glory, as well as a glory of mediatorship. The church is promised a share in all these phases of Christ’s official glory.
What a glorious hope! To us who cherish such a hope is should be a power in our lives to transform us more and more into the image of Christ. No wonder the apostle says, “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” (I John 3:3) The thought of purification and transformation as a preparation for glory is beautifully set forth in II Corinthians 3:18, which reads, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Here we are shown that there is a gradual transformation, or changing, from “glory to glory.” It doesn’t mean that we actually partake of any degree of glory while still in the flesh; the thought is, rather, that we are prepared for glory through advancing degrees of transformation. The transformation is accomplished by our beholding as in a glass—that is, reflected through the mirror of God’s Word, the “glory of the Lord.” If we are rightly exercised by the vision of His glory, then a work of purification and transformation goes on in our hearts and lives, which prepares us for the fruition of our hope of glory.
In this general lesson of 2nd Corinthians 3, Paul tells us that our hope of glory was symbolized by the glory that appeared on the countenance of Moses as he came down from the mountain to administer the Law of the old Law Covenant. We have not yet entered into this anti-typical glory, for as yet it is only a “hope,” as the apostle says in verse 12. As Paul thus puts the church in antitype with relationship to the New Covenant, where Moses was in type with relationship to the Law Covenant, namely, prior to its inauguration; it is clearly evident that the New Covenant cannot be inaugurated until the church’s hope of glory has been translated into reality.
IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD
When Moses appeared to the people he put a veil over his face to hide the glory that shone upon it, but when he was in the presence of God receiving the Law, it was with unveiled face. So it is with the church. The expression “open face,” in verse 18, is better translated “unveiled face.” So we, with “unveiled face,” are now beholding the glory of the Lord and as we behold, we are being transformed and purified in readiness for actually partaking of that glory. We do not see the Lord face to face, but we see Him through His Word and by our obedience to that word, the transforming work is carried on.
In Hebrews 2:10 the apostle again speaks of our hope of glory, and here reveals that even Jesus, before being glorified, went through a course of training and preparation for it—a training that was accomplished through suffering. We read, “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Heb. 2:10) This doesn’t mean that the Master was ever imperfect, but it does mean that He was trained to properly fill the various positions of official glory that had been promised to Him.
So the church is likewise trained upon the basis of her obedience to the Word of God and by means of the suffering that is occasioned by that obedience. This is in keeping with God’s arrangements for the entire Christ. The prophets had all testified concerning the sufferings of the Christ which were to precede the glory. This means that if we are to entertain a “hope of glory” we must be prepared to share in the foretold suffering. Paul rejoiced in the privilege of filling up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ and we should rejoice in this privilege also.
God’s methods of training us for glory are very practical. Kingly glory is the glory of rulership. A king is one who rules over those whose wills are made subject to his. We have the thought in our Lord’s prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.” It will be the church’s happy privilege to be kings with Christ in the work of subduing the whole human race to the will of God; but to be qualified for that high official glory we must now subject our own wills to the will of God. This is what the apostle means when he says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”—I Peter 5:6
Our humble submission to the will of God must be put to a severe test, the test of suffering. Jesus learned to be obedient, even through sufferings, and we must be similarly tried. In Romans 12:12, we are exhorted to be “patient in tribulation.” Yes, beloved, we must learn to bear under, or submit to the trials which the Father sees best for us, and through it all, continue to yield humble obedience to Him. Thus, when we have ourselves learned to do His will, even under the most trying circumstances, the Lord, through His grace, will consider us qualified to be entrusted with kingly glory, by sharing with Jesus in establishing His will throughout the whole earth during the Millennium.
JUDGESHIP GLORY
We are also prepared for judgeship glory by means of practical experience while still in the flesh. Paul points this out clearly in I Corinthians 6:1-4. Here he says that inasmuch as we are entertaining a hope of one day judging the world, should we not learn to judge matters pertaining to our present associations with each other? Here, indeed, is a very heart-searching thought. It means that we should now be learning the great principles of God’s law and of how those principles properly apply to various problems of life, and of the manner in which they should be used to correct difficulties that may arise among us. If we cannot learn these principles now, how can we expect to be qualified for judgeship glory later?
One of the most important factors in connection with our training for judgeship is to have and keep our hearts cleansed from prejudice and hatred. No judge can render impartial judgment if influenced by petty personal prejudices and hatreds. As God’s glory is reflected to us from His Word we see how He even loves His enemies, and has made a provision for their recovery from the fall and for their restitution to His image during the Messianic Kingdom period. How necessary it is that we also learn to love our enemies and be willing and glad to bestow blessings upon them. Only by having such an attitude can we be qualified to be co-judges with Christ in the age to come and thus to enter into this phase of His glory.
PRIESTLY GLORY
If faithful unto death we will also share the priestly glory of the Messiah. Revelation 5:10 says, “And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” The Apostle Peter writes, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light:” (I Pet. 2:9) The thought in this text evidently is that we are being prepared to be members of a royal priesthood, for there is no “royal” position for the Christian while still in the flesh.
There is a twofold purpose connected with the office of a priest. (1) A priest is one who offers sacrifice, and (2) he afterwards bestows blessings upon those for whom the sacrifice is offered. The church shares in both these phases of the priestly work. In I Peter 2:5 the apostle explains that we are a priesthood “to offer up sacrifices,” and Revelation 5:10 makes it clear that later we will have the privilege of being reigning priests. The purpose of the Kingdom reign of a thousand years is to bestow God’s promised blessings upon all the families of the earth.
It is clear, then, that the condition upon which we may share in the priestly glory of the Kingdom is that of faithfulness as sacrificing priests now. The example of sacrifice is reflected to us from the Word. Therein we learn that even the Heavenly Father Himself “gave” in order that the world might be blessed; that is, He gave His only begotten and dearly beloved Son. Jesus was also faithful in sacrifice and by His sacrifice the world’s ransom price was provided. The church is invited to follow this example of sacrifice, and following Jesus into sacrificial death we are said to be “baptized for the dead.”—I Corinthians 15:29
But, beloved, this must needs become more than merely a theory which we learn as we would learn a creed. The principle of sacrifice must become a guide in our life, so that our principal habit will be that of sacrifice. If we are to be royal priests with Jesus by and by, it is necessary to be sacrificing priests now; not living unto ourselves, nor for ourselves, but unto Him who loved us and died for us. This sacrifice must also be expressed by our laying down our lives for the brethren; yea, even for the world as we have the opportunity—doing good unto all men at great cost to ourselves. Thus, and thus only, can we be prepared for priestly glory.
GLORY OF MEDIATORSHIP
A mediator is one who acts to reconcile two or more parties who are estranged from each other. Jesus is the great Mediatorship between God and men. In order to effect a reconciliation He laid down His life as a ransom, in order that He might pay the penalty of death resting against the condemned world. The church does not share in providing the ransom, but the church does share in bringing the merit of the ransom to the world; and thus we will share in the future work of the Mediatorship.
There is no other name except that of Christ’s, whereby the condemned race may return to God; but this name is not efficacious unless it is made known to the people and accepted. “How can they believe on Him of whom they have not heard?” asks the apostle. So for the whole period of the Gospel age the Lord has been getting the body members of the Christ ready to be the “epistle of Christ” during the next age, and it will be through them that the blessings, or merit of the ransom, will thus reach the people. Thus the church will share in the work of reconciliation.
But there is a preparation for this future work of the ministry, and that preparation is, as along other lines, the serving of an apprenticeship. God wants us to demonstrate how truly interested we are in blessing the world of mankind in the next age, by showing to what extent we are willing to lay down our lives in blessing the people now. It is for this reason that even now we are “ambassadors for Christ,” and as such are ministers of “reconciliation.” (II Cor. 5:18,20) A minister of reconciliation is a mediator, and the glory of this mediatorship will be ours in the Kingdom if we are faithful in the use of the “word of reconciliation” while still this side the veil.
This implies the necessity of a continued faithfulness in preaching the truth far and wide. It isn’t expected that the world will be reconciled now thereby, but this doesn’t mean that we should in any way relax our efforts to preach the truth. Paul said at the beginning of the age that God had commanded “all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17:30) This command hasn’t been given in an audible voice from the sky, but rather, has gone forth from the faithful church while serving her apprenticeship in preparation for the future glory of the Messianic Mediatorship.
Faithfulness in connection with all phases of our preparation for glory calls for sacrifice and suffering—the sacrifice of the flesh and of fleshly interests, and suffering the reproaches of the world. Thus we share in the sacrificial work of Christ as it was foretold by the prophets; and are inspired to faithfulness in so doing by the many promises of the “glory that should follow.” This is possible because of our being in the body of The Christ and because of Christ’s spirit of sacrifice ruling us. What a hope of glory thus is ours! No wonder the apostle speaks of it as the “riches of the glory of the mystery.” Truly, as Peter says, it is only by divine grace that we can claim such a hope for our own.—I Pet. 1:13