HOPE OF THE GLORY
(week 46/09)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Romans 5:2 MKJV: through Him we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice on the hope of the glory of God.
Romans 12:12 MKJV: rejoicing in hope, patient in affliction, steadfastly continuing in prayer,
Here the Holy Spirit through Paul tells us to rejoice in hope during afflictions and tribulations.
The hope spoken of here is the hope of the glory of God.
It is vital we have a hope that in this lifetime and in the world to come we will experience the glory of God.
In particular in this lifetime there is a glory that will be made manifest by our experience of the perfection and fullness of Christ:
Colossians 1:27-28 MKJV: (27) For to them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, (28) whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
1 John 4:17 MKJV: In this is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that as He is, so also we are in this world.
It is the hope of this glory not the hope of some material or physical blessings alone that should be our hope in this lifetime: because ALL MATERIAL AND PHYSICAL BLESSINGS ARE GUARANTEED IN THIS HOPE OF THE GLORY OF THE PERFECTION AND FULNESS OF CHRIST IN US IN THIS LIFETIME!
The Lord Jesus said the same thing in other words in
Matthew 6:33 MKJV: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
If our hope is mainly centred on some financial or material (like a car, house or some new job or promotion) or physical (like having children or getting a spouse) promise; and there is a delay in the manifestation of the answer to these promises our hearts will become sick and discouraged:
Proverbs 13:12 ESV: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
However, if our hope is in the glory of God and we know that in that glory all other things will be added to us, then we will continue to pursue that glory even when the manifestation of other promises are delayed or deferred:
Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV: Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, (18) yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (19) GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
1 John 3:2-3 ESV: Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (3) And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
So, let us keep this hope of glory constantly fresh in our hearts by praying as a daily habit for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in this regard:
Ephesians 1:17-18 ESV: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, (18) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…
