Our Hope and the Coming Glory (4)
Christ in us is our hope today and our glory to come, and He is the glory of New Jerusalem.
According to Titus 2:13 we are “awaiting the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” The appearing of our Lord’s glory is certainly more blessed than any earthly hope. This energizes us to focus on the unseen, heavenly, eternal things.
The appearing of His glory has two aspects. First, as the Lord told us in Matthew 25:31, men will see that “the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, at that time He will sit on the throne of His glory.”
Christ in glory will appear at the end of this age, the beginning of the kingdom age. His glory will be manifested throughout that time and even more when New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven having the glory of God (Rev. 21:10-11).
The second aspect is presented in 2 Thessalonians 1:10, “He comes to be glorified in His saints.” Romans 8:30 promises our glorification, which will be brought forth when “He comes.”
Romans does say that we will be glorified, but we should not boast in this. The other side is in 2 Thessalonians which says that Christ comes to be glorified in us. We are not the source of glory and we alone are not worthy to be glorified. We and ultimately New Jerusalem are the expression of Christ as the glorious One.
Photo of Boston from space, courtesy of NASA.
Posted by Don on September 20, 2021
