Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. I. THE GLORY OF GOD. Glory signifies something splendid, dazzling, overwhelming. The term is misapplied to things mean and unworthy, but is always most rightly applied to anything pertaining to God. "The meanest labour of His hands" is more deserving of the term than the greatest works of men. "Even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." The glory of God means — 1. God Himself. Moses prayed, "I beseech thee, show me Thy glory," that is, "Reveal Thyself more fully to me." It would have been well if God's answer had repressed all similar curiosity. No man can see Him personally and live. We could not sustain the vision, even were we physically capable of it. But when we have laid aside all that is mortal, and "put on immortality," "we shall see Him as He is." 2. The glory of God which is beheld in His works. "The heavens declare the glory of God." And what splendours do these heavens exhibit! The most capacious mind may well quail in its effort to comprehend the glory of the infinite Creator, which they both reveal and conceal. We require to be a God to comprehend all of God which His works contain. And if the works of God be so glorious, what must Himself be? 3. The glory which appears in God's ways and dealings with us in providence. We may take three views of this and call it a natural providence, a judicial providence, and a gracious providence. By the first, He provides for all creatures, according to their capacities and necessities; by the second, He holds us accountable to Himself, and takes cognisance of our hearts and lives; and by the third, He is reconciling us to Himself, in Jesus Christ, and dispensing mercy and grace to all who ask them at His hands. And how gloriously does He act in all these respects! 4. The perfect purity and bliss which await the godly in heaven. (1) Their state is glorious. What was the glory of Eden, of Sinai, of Zion, of Tabor, compared with this! No sin, disease, pain, death. (2) Their society is glorious. If it was "good" to be present when Moses, Elijah, and Christ conversed, what must the intimacies of heaven afford? (3) Their employments are glorious. Think of being forever engaged in contemplating, loving, adoring, and serving God! of ever receiving and performing reciprocations of level. (4) Their prospects are glorious. The infinite and various excellences of God will be ever affording new discoveries; the river of their bliss will increase as it roils; that the sun of their heaven will still brighten as He shines; and that their state of glory will ever admit of "a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory." II. THE JOY WHICH THE HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD AFFORDS. 1. They are to possess it. It is theirs, as Canaan was the inheritance of the descendants of the patriarchs. It is given to them by a covenant never to be broken. It is the chief part of the "eternal redemption" procured for them by the Redeemer. It is that to which they receive a title in their justification, to which they are "begotten again" by the Holy Spirit, for which they are sanctified, preserved, and fitted in this life. 2. Of this ultimate possession they have now a hope — "a good hope through grace." And their "hope maketh not ashamed," and is "an anchor of their souls, sure and steadfast, entering into the things within the veil." We see the powerful influence of this hope. With what firmness and composure does many a good man endure calamity and meet death! Such a person may be likened to a mariner, who, while prosecuting his long and dangerous voyage, has the eye of his mind fixed on the desired haven: or he is like an heir of some vast estate, looking forward, during his minority, to the period when he shall receive his property. 3. This hope begets joy in the bosom of its possessors. (1) The foundation of it is a cause of joy. It does not rest upon merits, sacraments, etc., but upon the foundation which God has laid in Zion, and "other foundation can no man lay." Everything besides is as "shifting sand, fleeting air, or a bursting bubble."(2) Its attendant principles occasion joy. It is one of a class of graces which are the "fruits of the Spirit."(3) Its effects minister, joy. It is not an uninfluential grace, but is ever active, and all its influence is for holiness. A genuine hope and allowed sin cannot co-exist in the same person. (4) Its certainty yields joy; other hopes may and do fail. We have seen the candidate for wealth, power, fame, pleasure, flushed with hope, only to become the victim of disappointment and mortification! (5) Its object gives joy — the glory of God in heaven. In other things, the ultimate enjoyment may not equal our present hope of it; but here realisation will infinitely sustain our largest and most sanguine hope. We shall find that notwithstanding all that is written in the Scriptures of this glory, all the glimpses and tastes we may have of it now, the half has not been known. Conclusion: 1. How little we know at present of the glory of God! Who can find Him out to perfection? And a cloud rests upon His works. His providence, too, is all beyond our comprehension. The difficulties do not diminish if we think of Divine revelation; in which we have certain facts stated, but the circumstances of many of these facts are not explained. And then how dense is the veil which conceals the world of spirits from our view! And in all these things the mere philosopher has little advantage over the clown. But the Christian has the advantage of faith; "what he knows not now he shall know hereafter." 2. Is our hope for eternity the hope of the gospel and the real Christian? Self-deception and vain pretensions are common in the world and in the Church. We can hardly meet with a person who does not hope to go to heaven when he dies. But, in thousands of instances, how vain is the hope! "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Here is a sure test by which to ascertain the genuineness of our hope. 3. The subject is well fitted to relieve the present obscurity, and to mitigate the present sorrows of the people of God. We shall not always remain under a cloud and in trouble. A day of revelation is approaching when we shall "shine as the sun in the kingdom of our Father," and when we shall no more "hang our harps upon the willows," but retain them, ever strung and attuned to the songs of immortality. (James Davies.) Parallel Verses KJV: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. |
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