Kingdom Priority (3)

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 5.1, 2

What greater glory?
In Paul’s mind a close connection exists between the glory of God, in which we hope, and the love of God, which the Spirit enables us to know and to express. God is love, John explained (1 Jn. 4.8); so, just as, where God is, glory is, so also where God is, love is, and we may expect to experience the glory of God, that awesome and wonderful spiritual weight, as an intensely personal and all-pervading awareness and experience of God’s unfailing and unchangeable love.

We stand in hope of the glory and love of God. This is perhaps the primary way we experience the glory of God. Though God’s glory takes many forms and witnesses to many aspects of His deity and will, yet the hope in which we stand comes to full realization as it taps into the streams of God’s love, flowing in our souls in the Spirit of God.

What greater glory could we know than the love of God within and upon us? Eternal life consists in knowing God and Jesus Christ (Jn. 17.3); it is this knowledge of God that enables us to stand in the hope of glory as we gaze into the face of our Savior through the mirror of His Word and Spirit.

Obviously, this is not merely an intellectual knowledge. Believers are called to know the love of God in a way that is more than merely intellectual (Eph. 3.15-19), a way that gives us the sense, the experience, Paul says, of being filled up into all the fullness of God.

Into the fullness of God
“Into” the fullness of God, not “by.” Though God dwells in our hearts by faith, our hearts and lives cannot possibly contain Him. Part of the hope of glory in which we stand is that we may continue to increase in faith and in the love of God so that, in effect, we grow beyond ourselves – beyond our experience or the present state of our souls, our abilities, our personality – into a greater measure of the fullness of God. So great is God’s love, and so powerful is His transforming glory, that He actually fills us beyond ourselves into a greater measure of Himself, as we partake of His Word and Spirit and meet Him in the increasing experience of His glory and love.

Surely this is the most wonderful and extraordinary thing any person can hope for or know. No wonder this is the priority of every person who has made the Kingdom turn.

What great joy such love engenders, what a powerful sense of security and wellbeing it entails! What boldness it excites, and what eagerness to embark on new adventures of serving the Lord! How this love transforms us into people who love selflessly, consistently, and well! We are Christians, we stand in the hope of glory, so that knowing glory and love, we may refract glory and love to the world around us. To hope in this glorious experience of divine love is to seek and expect it, to prepare for it, to anticipate it eagerly, and to enter into it as often and as fully as possible, by contemplation and resting in the presence of the Lord.

To know this love, this glorious making-Himself-known-in-us presence and protection and approval, is to be crushed with delight, humbled with gratitude, enfolded in mystery, held in divine strength and power, and stretched more wondrously into the image of Jesus Christ. It is to see ourselves, the world, and everything in the world as restored in divine love to pristine newness and boundless potential, and to engage such a world in order to bring forth fruit for the glory and love of God.

To know the love and glory of God is to despise all sin, to resolve on greater love for neighbors, and to long earnestly to sojourn in the Lord’s tent always, just like the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Glory even in trials
We rejoice to have such honor, such a transforming relationship and experience, held out to us. And we organize and orient our entire lives on the basis and toward the realization of this hope of glory. Even in the midst of trials, setbacks, and disappointments, Christians persevere in the hope of glory until God forms us in His strength to be people of proven character and even greater hope.

Because the glory of God is the love of God, and nothing can separate us from His love, the love which He has shown us and continues to show us every day in our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8.37-39).

“O, love of God, how rich, how pure!/How measureless and strong!/It shall forevermore endure – /the saints and angels song!”

Next steps: What does it mean, therefore, to hope in this glory and love? How do you experience this hope? How do you express it? Share your thoughts about these questions with some Christian friends. How can you help one another to “hope in the glory” and love of God more consistently?

T. M. Moore

Additional Resources

This week’s study, Kingdom Priority, is the fourth of an eight-part series on The Kingdom Turn, and is available as a free download. T. M. has written two books to complement this eight-part series. You can order The Kingship of Jesus by clicking here, and The Gospel of the Kingdom by clicking here.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training, free and online, and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

Want to learn more about the Celtic Revival? Visit our website and sign-up for our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.