Glorification
Romans 8:17
Glorification!
Romans 8:17-18, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Glorification of Christian is the culmination of everything.
We as Christians in our Christian faith, live in the hope of the glory which is to come. We all anticipate the time when we will be free of this fallen flesh, free of our sinful tendencies. We all anticipate the time when we will be completely delivered form any taint of sin when we will enter into the presence of Jesus Christ and be made like Him.
1 John 3:2-3, Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. We live in the light of this great hope. The hope of glory is the theme of this passage, starting in verse 17 all the way down to verse 30.
V 30, Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. From verse 17 to 30 covers the future glory of the children of God. V 1, "There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
If you are a Christian, you will never be judged. “Condemnation” is another word for “judgment.” You are in a no-condemnation status with God. This is security for us. This is safety for us. This assurance of a no-condemnation status, in spite of our weakness, which was indicated in chapter 7.
We don't do what we ought to do. We do what we ought not to do. We are weak, and we don't have the ability to secure ourselves. We don't have the ability to create our own safety. We don't have the ability to hang onto God, to hang onto Christ, to hang onto righteousness, to hang onto obedience on our own.
We are converted, and we are regenerated, and we are new creations, but we still have the flesh. We have a new creation, incarcerated in unredeemed flesh. Romans Chapter 8 defines for us then the special ministry of the Holy Spirit by which He does what we cannot do.
V 2&3, Holy Spirit frees us from sin and death through the wonderful work of imputation. Whereby our sins are imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. He has delivered us from the law of sin of death because Christ has paid the penalty.
V 4, Holy Spirit enables us to fulfil the law. He enables us to fulfil the law by granting us the righteousness of Christ. V 5-11, Holy Spirit changes our nature. V 12-13, Holy Spirit maintains our no-condemnation status by empowering us in that new nature for victory.
We are able to put to death the deeds of the body and to live. V 14-16, Holy Spirit confirms our adoption, that we are indeed the children of God. V 17-30, Holy Spirit here confirms our no-condemnation status by guaranteeing our glory.
The freedom we enjoy from sin's dominion as Christians, the ability to do what is truly righteous, the desire to mind the things of the Spirit, the power to overcome the deeds of the flesh, the sense of belonging to God as beloved children, all these culminate in the wonderful, wonderful work of the Spirit by which He guarantees our eternal glory.
That goes from verses 17 to 30. V 31-39, we have the great paean of praise, or benediction, the great affirmation that nothing ever can separate us from God or Christ. This is a result of the work of the Holy Spirit. V 17-30, we are going to come to understanding our future as Christians.
We are on the road to glory.
When we are completely delivered from sin, when we are given a redeemed body, like the resurrection body of Christ, and we are made like Jesus Christ. This is the goal of our salvation. We are saved to be brought to full glory.
We are all pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We are headed toward eternal glory. It doesn't yet appear what we will be. The world has not seen the glorious manifestation of the children of God.
We are not what we have been designed to be. When we look at Jesus Christ, for example, one thing that stands out about Jesus Christ is that He was God incarnate. When He pulled back His flesh on the Mount of Transfiguration, He revealed His glory.
Glory is the sum of all the attributes of God in their perfection. Remarkable to think that we are going to share His glory. We are going to manifest, not to the same degree, but in the same essence, we are going to manifest the glories that are characteristic of God Himself.
When God made man originally in His image in the Garden, he had a measure of glory. When man fell, he lost his original glory, honour, Godlikeness, having been made in God's image.
Romans 3:23, "That man has sinned and come short of of the glory of God." So that every individual since the Fall born into the world is born without glory, and on his or her own can never gain that glory. Man seeks a measure of glory through the elevation of himself educationally or artistically or socially. He seeks a self-styled honour. He seeks a respect. He seeks esteem from others. He is driven, very often, by ambition and pride and envy and jealousy and wants to climb up on top of the pile and rise above others.
But he will never be able to gain the glory lost. Man, after the Fall, is not the bearer of pre-Fall glory.
But, because of Jesus Christ, and the work of salvation, God will give man back his glory and even a greater glory than what Adam experienced before he sinned. Salvation grants to man perfect glory far beyond even the glory that was lost in the Garden.
Salvation will not stop at any point short of your entire perfection. We have been saved. Past: When we put your trust in Christ, from the penalty of sin. Present: We are being saved right now as the Spirit works from the power of sin.
Future: We will someday be saved from the presence from sin. But we are not there yet.
Romans 13:11, And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
2 Corinthians 3:18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. All the mystery has been removed, unlike those in the Old Testament who were looking into a glass darkly, who were
seeing with a certain veil over their face because they couldn't understand what had not yet been revealed in Christ. But we have the veil off, and we are like looking into a mirror, a clear glass, and reflected in that glass to us is the glory of the Lord.
As Christians, we are looking at the glory of the Lord. The full glory of Jesus Christ is revealed in Scripture. At the time that we became saved, we were first given that gaze. Since then, we continue by looking at the Scripture to see the glory of the Lord.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Spirit. As believers now, we can see the glory of Jesus Christ. As we gaze at that glory, as we see it revealed in the Scripture, we are being transformed into the very same image, from one level of glory to the next, and to the next.
This is nothing but the process of sanctification by which we are increasingly being made like our glorious Christ. Someday, when the work is complete, we will be exactly like Him.
Romans 8:29, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
The prize of the upward call, to be made like Jesus Christ. That is the goal of salvation. God didn't design from eternity past to begin the process of salvation in anybody and not finish it, but He designed to complete it. That's why we talk about believing in the security of the believer and the perseverance of the saints.
This is the reason why we see here a no- condemnation status, which the Holy Spirit continues to make reality until, finally, we will all be brought to glory, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. No one can successfully bring any charge against God's elect that would cause God to turn against us, because God has ordained the end of our salvation and not just the beginning of it.
We are headed for eternal glory, all of us who are truly in Christ. Now, as we look at the passage from verse 17 to 30. This is the glory of salvation the Lord wants us to fully anticipate and understand what He has prepared for us.
Three things describe our future glory, three things that unfold for us these verses. The incomparable gains of glory, The indescribable groans of glory, and The Perfect guarantees of glory. The incomparable gains of glory.
V 17-18, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
The whole theme of glory for the believer is tied to our adoption. Because we have been made children of God by have been adopted. V 15-16, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, We are the children of God adopted for the purpose of inheriting the full rights of sons. The Holy Spirit, in granting us
adoption, has granted us the full inheritance as God's true children. This is the great reality. The heirs. V 17, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
The word "heir"appears three times in that brief statement. The construction of the Greek here introduces a fulfilled condition that should be translated “since.” Since we are children, since we have been adopted, remember the Roman adoption which, in many ways, was even more honourable than giving birth to a son in a family, because you were a son by choice and not simply by birth. You were selected by a father and given the full rights and honours and inheritance of a true son.
Since we are adopted children, we have the privileges of children, we are heirs also! We are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
We have also become heirs.
Hebrews 1:14, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Our inheritance is everything bound up in God's salvation.
James 2:5, Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? Everything that is within the framework of God's sovereign rule, becomes ours as His heirs.
Colossians 1:12, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Everything in the realm of salvation, everything in the realm of God's sovereign kingdom, everything in the realm of holy light, which speaks both of holiness and truth, we inherit. Roman adoption law indicated the adopted child was in no way inferior to a natural child. In fact, was equal and in many cases considered superior. Jewish tradition granted a double portion of the inheritance to the oldest son, but Roman custom, which is the model here as
Paul writes to the Romans, made all equal inheritors, even adopted children. Using this Roman custom as Paul’s analogy, he says we are all going to inherit all that belongs to God. Everything in the sphere of salvation, everything in the realm of His kingdom, and everything in light. This is the promise of our inheritance.
John 1:12, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His
name
We believed, we received, and we are children, and, since we are children, we are heirs, and that cannot change. We cannot be disinherited.
Galatians 3:29, And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Heirs of salvation, heirs of the kingdom, heirs of all that God has in the light of holiness and truth, and heirs of all of God's glorious promises. This is the glorious future of the children of God.
Heirs of God. The glorious gains of our inheritance come to us from God. God is the One who gives us the inheritance. God is the One who possesses it all. God is the One who has laid it up. He is the One who disperses it.
Colossians 3:24, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
It is God Himself who is the source of this inheritance, and He is from everlasting to everlasting, and He never changes. If you were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, if you were redeemed by the power of the Spirit of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, if you were adopted into His family and made an heir, that never changes.
It is the One who adopted us who has given us the promise of the inheritance. It is God who is the source. The extent of our inheritance. V 17, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Again, this emphasizes the Roman custom of equal inheritance where all the children received the same. What is remarkable about this is that when we are made like Christ in the glory to come, we will inherit all that He inherits.
Magnanimous grace.
Ephesians 1:3-6, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Christ is going to give us the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. He is going to give us all things in heaven and all things on earth.
Ephesians 1:11, In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
We have an inheritance that's unlimited. All that Christ possesses, we will possess. This is immense grace!
The Lord Jesus Christ is the heir of all things. He describes Himself as the heir in the parable of the husbandman and the vineyard Matthew 21.
Hebrews 1:2, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; He is the heir of all things. He is the inheritor of all things.
The Father passes everything to the Son. To be joint heirs with Him means that we receive, by grace, what He receives by right. How could God give us what He gives Christ? Foregone conclusion, to give us all this inheritance when He gave us Christ's righteousness.
When, by imputation, He made us as righteous as Christ, and at salvation began treating us as if we lived Christ's perfect life, and that's exactly what He does. He sees us covered with the righteousness of Christ. The inheritance of Christ then is a foregone conclusion.
Matthew 25:21, His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
What joy? The joy that was set before Him when He endured the cross, because He knew what was going to be on the other side. Rejoice with the Lord because you have received his inheritance. Here we are, these, crumby, mucky, sinful, undeserving, unworthy, wicked sinners with absolutely no rights. And by the limitless grace of God, we inherit everything that belongs to Jesus Christ.
He receives it by right, and We receive it by grace.
Revelation 3:21, To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. I will grant to him to sit down near My throne. Is that what it says? "On my throne."
We are going to inherit all that the Son inherits. We are going to be on His throne.
Jesus sat on after He overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. His throne and the Father's throne are the same, and we are on His throne. Therefore, we are on the Father's throne! Incredible promise. It would be enough for us to have some place in heaven down the road and off to the right.
Revelation 20:4, And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Not only are we going to be on the Father's throne, but we are going to judge from that throne. Believers are going to come back with Christ when He sets up His kingdom.
We are going to reign with Him. We are going to sit on His throne. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the Scripture says that He was given a name which is above every name.
His earthly name was Jesus, but the name He was given in triumph was the name Lord. He was given a new name to indicate His sovereign lordship. We are going to receive a new name!
Revelation 3:12, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. Pillars were put in temples as places of honour. When great temples were built in the Roman and Greek world, kings would send the material. They would build a great column or a pillar as a sort of a testimony to their greatness. It would be representation, statuary, monument, or something like that to bring honour to that monarch that had sent it.
When we get to heaven, we are going to become monuments in the very temple of God. That is how we are going to be elevated. We will never go out of it anymore, and we are going to have written on us the name of my God.
We are going to be so honoured as to have God's name written on us, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which come down from heaven from my God. New name. We are going to have the name of God written on us, the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem, and the name of the glorious Christ.
We are going to bear God's name. We are going to bear Christ's name. This is the extent of this inheritance. It is incredible when you think about the extent of this glory being joint heirs.
1 Corinthians 15:49, And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
It is not enough that we will sit on His throne, and not enough that we will reign with Him, not enough that we will inherit a new name, His name, the name of God, the name of Christ, and sit in judgment. We will actually bear His image.
This is being made like Him. Being made like Him.
Luke 22:29-30, And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Jesus said to His disciples. You are going to be there at My table. You are going to be there sitting at the same table that I am sitting at in fellowship with Me. Jesus even said at that meal in another parable about a man who came home, I am going to put on a towel and an apron, and I am going to go around and serve you. Just astonishing to me. So, the extent of our inheritance is we are joint heirs with Christ. Everything He enjoys in the kingdom, we will also enjoy, including ruling and reigning and honour and glory. If children, heirs, also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
The very glory of Christ will be our glory. John 17 Jesus is praying to the Father about us. John 17: 22- 24, And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them
as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. I want them there, Father. I want them there because I want them to see My glory. The glory which you have given Me, and the glory which I've given them.
When you think about what this means to have His glory, not only to sit on a throne and rule alongside of Him, not only to reign with Him, not only to judge with Him, not only to inherit His name and the name of God and a crown of gold and bear His image and sit at His table and have Him serve us.
But to share His glory!
1 Corinthians 13:12, For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
When you come to glory, you are going to know as you are known. You are going to be taken to perfect knowledge. You will share His knowledge. You will share His riches.
2 Corinthians 8:9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is all grace. We don't deserve it. His riches as God before the incarnation. He was rich because He owned the whole infinite universe and everything in it. Jesus giving up His heavenly position and wealth to come to earth and take on the form of a servant and die for sinners.
He stepped down from His riches in order to make it possible for you to step up and inherit them all. Our salvation is not like we get into heaven by the skin of our teeth. It's not like we barely get in, and we are going to have a wonderful life in heaven, but somehow it won't be all that it could be.
Why is God doing this? To give us as a love gift to the Son. "All that the Father gives Me,"Jesus said. He saved us to give us to the Son so that we could reflect His glory, because that brings honour to Him.
He also does this to display grace. If there was no sin, and there was no forgiveness, there would be no grace. No grace was shown to angels who fell. It took salvation, worked through humans to put grace on display. It also is done by God to show His ultimate absolute power over everything.
It's not conditional. It is secure. Nothing can separate us from it. It is future.
1 Peter 1:4-5, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. You are protected. It's just waiting for you to show up. It's going to stay there, and you are going to be protected to make sure you get there.
This is what God has prepared for those that love Him. This is the ultimate glory.
Romans 5:2, "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. All of us who are adopted into the family of God are God's children. God, who owns it all, and gives it as His inheritance.