December 11

The glory which shall be revealed in us. - Romans 8:18.

HERE we have the glory of the future state contrasted with the present state of suffering. “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” And all this is spoken of with hope and confidence. Let us not overlook the words which the Holy Ghost useth, for they are words of wisdom as well as of kindness. “Glory.” In other places heaven is called a rest:-“There remaineth a rest for the people of God.” And it is very desirable to be freed from evil. Those who are in bondage, how they desire freedom! and those in pain, how they desire ease! But it is not only called “rest,” but frequently “an inheritance.” “Ye are not yet come to the inheritance which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” This inheritance is immensely valuable. But glory is something more.

The radical meaning of glory is brilliancy or brightness; but this is too childish an idea. The second meaning is excellency displayed: and heaven will display every kind of excellency. There will be natural excellence,-the place will be excellent; social excellence,-the company will be excellent; intellectual excellence,-the knowledge will be excellent; we read of “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord;” spiritual excellence,-our holiness will be complete, and in our measure and degree, we shall be glorious in holiness. The employment will be glorious; the enjoyment will be glorious; the state, whatever view we may take of it, will be glorious. Then this is to be revealed.

Peter speaks of it as a future discovery. It is prepared from the foundation of the world, and taken possession of in our name, when Christ arose and “ascended up on high, there to appear in the presence of God for us.” But now it is concealed. “Your life,” says the apostle, “is hid with Christ in God.” How is it hid? and from whom is it hid? It is hid from the world; but the meaning of the apostle is this:-it is hidden from Christians themselves in a great measure. They are indeed informed of it, for if they were not they could not desire it. But, after all that, the Scriptures have said, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.”

Who can tell what new powers of mind may break forth and display themselves when we have thrown off the burden of the flesh? We have no medium by which to view it, no image by which adequately to express it, no vision with which we could bear the full disclosure of it now. The light would be too much for the eye, the melody too much for the ear; and that weight of glory would break down our poor weak frame now, for flesh and blood can no more comprehend it than it can inherit the kingdom of God. No, it is to be revealed. It will be revealed. Then all the believers’ privileges will be known, all their grandeur will be seen, and the Saviour in all his charms will be beheld by their admiring eyes. Then every thing that perplexes us now will be explained; then in his light shall we see light. This glory that is to be revealed in us will be a glory to all the human race. It will be a glory even to the wicked for their conviction and confusion. “Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him.”

Thus it is with Christians even here. The Saviour is not only revealed to them, but in them. It is the apostle’s own expression:-“It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me.” So it is with Christians now: they not only hear of Christ, but receive him. Hence he is not only with them but in them, and in them the hope of glory. They are not, therefore, only witnesses of his grace, but the subjects of it. So when his glory shall be revealed, they will not only be partakers, but it will be realized in them in all their powers, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe. But all this is known and appropriated. Paul speaks with confidence, and says, “The glory that shall be revealed in us.” Those, therefore, who are authorized to use this language, must be a very blessed people. “Yea, happy the people who are in such a case.”