What We Have To Look Forward To
Romans 5:1-5
The other day Peter and I were at Walmart picking up some things for Nance and I knew we needed bananas so I headed over to the banana bin where there were some huge bananas. But they were green—I mean really green. Now, Peter was with me and he didn’t like the idea of me buying these green bananas because being the banana conusuier that he is—he knew bananas are supposed to be yellow.
So, after unsuccessfully trying to explain to my three year old that these bananas would turn yellow in a couple days and be great to eat—I just bought them and soon he was asking why we can eat green apples but not green bananas. Now the interesting thing about these bananas is that when people are buying them—they are really not so much concerned with whether they are ripe and yellow right now because they know that in a couple days they will ripen up, turn yellow, and be fine to eat—because that is what real bananas do—even if they are immature and unripe when you buy them.
And you know what—that is what real Christians do to. They mature and they ripen up and over time they become what God has designed them to become, which is Christlike.
But sometimes this is so hard to see in our lives. I mean sometimes we go for years wondering if we are getting any riper—you know any closer to becoming Who God saved us to be. And because we don’t always see fast and great progress—we can be tempted to doubt whether we will ever arrive at the destination God has for us—in fact—sometimes we even doubt we are real Christians. And so, with this in mind—Paul in Romans 5:2 assures us that if we have truly been saved—we will arrive at the goal God has for us and furthermore—just the fact that we are looking forward to that and are finding joy in that—is the assurance that we have been truly saved.
You see, as Paul talks about the assurance of our salvation here in Romans 5, he makes the point in verse 2 that those who have been justified and who have peace with God and who are living in grace—should be—finding as their greatest cause for rejoicing and as their greatest excitement in life the fact that they are going to experience the glory of God.
Thus, the very first proof of salvation that Paul gives us is not what we do or how we act but rather what we are looking forward to—what we are as Christians excited about and living for.
So, we need to find out what exactly is this experience of the “glory of God” we are supposed to be living for, which gives us the assurance of our salvation?
But before we look at the phrase, “the glory of God”, let’s see what the word “exult” in the NASV means. In the NIV and KJV it is translated as “rejoice”.
All are good translations of the Greek word and really should all be used together to understand the basic meaning of the Greek word.
The Greek word is kauchometha. Its basic meaning is to boast in, glory in, to find jubilation and joy in, to be proud of, to brag about, to think highly of, and to esteem most highly. And since it is in the subjunctive mood—it is telling us that this should be taking place in our lives if we are truly justified—this is something we should be involved in. In other words, what Paul is telling us is that as those who have been saved from the wrath of God for our sins and who are now at peace with God and living under the grace of God—we should be finding our greatest joy, happiness, reason for celebrating, and really the thing in which we take the greatest amount of pride in—is that we possess the hope of the glory of God.
Now, what does the word “hope” convey as Paul uses it here?
It’s the Greek word elpidi. It means that which is certain and therefore expected.
So, Paul is teaching us that as believers we should have as our ultimate reality and the one thing we should be living for—the certain expectation of experiencing “the glory of God”. OK, we are making headway here—but again—it all hinges on what “the glory of God” is. The phrase is possessive in that we are talking about the glory that belongs to God. Now Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 4:6 that the most pure manifestation of the glory of God is found in the “face of Christ”. In other words, if you are to see God’s glory as it really is—you must see it in Christ.
That is why the writer to the Hebrews made the point in verse 3 of chapter 1 that Jesus is the radiance or the brightness of God’s glory.
You see, the word that the writer to the Hebrews uses in verse 3 is apaugasma. It is referring to God’s glory being made visible in its brightest and most radiant display. In other words, Jesus is the brightest and most radiant expression and display of the very glory of God the Father Who, according to 1 Timothy 6:16, dwells in unapproachable light. Therefore, whereas, God the Father dwells in unapproachable light—God the Son is that unapproachable light’s very brilliance and brightness. Jesus Christ in all of His glory is in essence the definition of the glory of God. Thus, to see God one must see Jesus and to see the glory of God one must look into the face of Jesus. And this is exactly what Jesus desires us to do.
Look at John 17:24-26.
1. Jesus Desires That We Who Know Him Be With Him Where He Is So That We Can Gaze Upon And Enjoy His Glory. (24C)
The words “so that” indicate purpose. The purpose or the goal of our going to Heaven is not to walk streets of gold and enjoy our mansions sublime.
The goal of heaven is that we will have the opportunity to gaze for all of eternity upon Christ and His glory, completely unfettered by sin, in glorified bodies with glorified eyes and minds.
You see, once released from the presence of sin in our bodies, we will have an insatiable appetite and craving for Christ and His glory as well as a limitless capacity to feast upon the glory of Christ.
Whereas, Moses in Exodus 33:18-23 only had the capacity to gaze at the backside of God’s glory and was unable to look into the face of God as a mortal unglorified man—we—when we get to heaven will behold the very brightness and radiance of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ without a veil and face-to-face.
When we get to Heaven and see Christ—we will see Him who is very God of very God, Him who is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, Him in whom all the fullness of deity resides in bodily form, Him who is the image of the invisible God and as such is completely equal to God and we won’t die.
This is what Jesus longs for. This is what Jesus desires. He wants us to see Him as He really is because this is what will give us the greatest thrill, happiness, and pleasure in all of life.
And if this is Christ’s desire for us—shouldn’t it be ours too?!
Now if you’ll remember, back in Exodus 33:18-19, after Moses asked to see God’s glory—God’s reply was that He would make all of His “goodness” pass before him.
Now understand that everything God is and does is good and that there is no badness in God—Therefore, Moses was about to have all of God’s character, attributes, and majesty paraded before him but in his unglorified state he did not have the capacity to take it all in nor could he even sneak a glimpse of God’s face and survive.
But on the day we enter glory we will have the capacity to see and enjoy all of God and we will look directly into His face and live. And this is the great expectation we have as believers—that we should be rejoicing in and living for.
Now, it is not that we are unable to see Christ and glimpses of His glory now.
In fact according to 2 Corinthians 3:18 it is only as we gaze upon Christ as presented to us in His Word that we are able to grow spiritually.
But we must realize and understand that whereas it may seem to us that we have a tremendous appetite and capacity for Christ—in comparison to our appetite and capacity for Christ once we are in heaven—we are only nibbling and snacking right now.
The other thing we must keep in mind is that now we are beholding Him by faith as we believe the Word whereas then we will see Him face-to-face.
We often fail to understand the terrible toll sin has taken upon us even in our redeemed state of life. It limits our appetite for Christ as well as our capacity for Him. But once sin is removed from us—there will be no limit to the enjoyment we will experience as we gaze upon Him and His goodness in all of His glory.
But even this is not the end-all of heaven or as Paul put it in Romans 5:2—the ultimate experience of the glory of God.
You see, even seeing Christ in all of His glory is the means to a greater end and a greater glory.
2. Jesus Desires That We Who Know Him Be With Him Where He Is And Gaze Upon His Glory So That We Will Love, Treasure, Enjoy, And Delight In Christ As Much As God The Father Does. (25-26)
Here in verse 26, we have unfolded for us in 30 words the reason why God sent His Son to save us and bring us safely home to Heaven for all of eternity. We have, in this one verse the essence of God’s divine goal in saving us.
And here it is—Jesus’ divinely decreed purpose in saving us was that the pleasure, enjoyment, and love that God the Father has in His Son might become ours.
In other words, Jesus saved us so that we will become as happy and as thrilled and as satisfied in Him as God the Father is.
Listen to John Piper’s rendition of how the great theologian Jonathan Edwards expressed this:
“Who can look upon the Son’s face shining in full strength? The answer is that only God can. The radiance of the Son’s face shines first and foremost for the enjoyment of his Father. ‘This is the Son whom I love; he is my pleasure. You must fall on your face and turn away, but I behold my Son in his radiance every day with love and never-fading joy.’
. . . surely this is the one thing implied in John 17:26 that the day is coming when we will have the capacity to delight in the Son the way the Father does.
Our fragile eyes will get the power to take in the glory of the Son shining in His full strength just the way the Father does.
The pleasure God has in His Son will become my pleasure, and I will not be consumed, but enthralled forever.”
And it is important to understand that the Father has always loved and delighted Himself in His Son—thus the reason for the last phrase in John 17:24 (“for you loved me before the foundation of the world.”). There has never been a time when the Father has not delighted Himself and found complete enjoyment in His Son.
And because Jesus is One with the Father (John 10:30), we must conclude that the pleasure God the Father has in His Son is actually pleasure in Himself.
Since Jesus Christ is the express image of God and the radiance of God and the fullness of deity in bodily form and is equal with and to God, and is in fact God—God’s delight and pleasure in the Son is actually delight and pleasure in seeing Himself in Christ.
As Jonathan Edwards explained it, “the deepest and most foundational joy of God is the joy he has in His own perfections as He sees them reflected in the glory of His Son.”
Paul referred to this in 2 Corinthians 4:6 when he speaks of the glory of God in the face of Christ. In other words, when we gaze into the face of Jesus—we are gazing into the face of God because all that God is—is reflected fully and perfectly in the Son.
And because of the fact that God sees Himself and all His character and perfections reflected back in His Son--God is infinitely pleased, delighted and happy.
And while this would be outrageous for us to say, it would be idolatry for God not to revel in Himself because He is perfection and of the greatest value and worth.
In Henry Scougal’s book, The Life of God in The Soul of Man, written around 1670, Scougal states that “the worth and excellency of a soul is measured by the object of its love”.
If this is true and I think it is—then God is the most excellent and worthy of all beings—for He loves His Son--Who is the most worthy and excellent of beings--the very image of His own glory from all of eternity.
For God not to love His Son and find the greatest pleasure and happiness in seeing Himself reflected in His Son would make Him unworthy and less than an excellent being.
Now go back with me to John 17:25-26 and see if this is not exactly what Jesus said. He states in verse 26 that He has made the Father’s Name, which is referring to God’s character, perfections, and glory known and will continue to make it known (in heaven) so that the love with which the Father had and has for the Son may become ours.
In other words, in giving us the opportunity to love the most worthy and excellent Being—God The Son--with the very love that God The Father Himself loves the Son with—we have been given the opportunity to experience and enjoy the same love and the same joy and the same pleasure and delight that God the Father experiences when He looks at His Son.
A day is coming when the happiness and joy and enjoyment that God the Father has in His Son will be ours as well—thus we will become as happy as God—and this is what God created us for—to share in His happiness and joy.
Thus, the reason why, the Greatest Commandment is to LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, ALL YOUR MIND, AND ALL YOUR SOUL.
You see in commanding us to love Him, the greatest and most excellent Being, with the intensity of our entire being—God was giving us the key to eternal and never-ending happiness.
And you see this ultimately glorifies God because He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied or happy in Him.
CONCLUSION
Essentially, the hope of the glory of God that we should be living for and rejoicing in and looking forward to is the fact that one day when we get to Heaven we will be able to see the glory of God in Christ and find ourselves to be experiencing the very same love and joy in Christ that God the Father experiences in Him.
In other words the promise of heaven—the promise of glory is that we will enjoy the greatest object of happiness there is—namely Christ Jesus to the same degree that God the Father does.
Imagine what it will be like to enjoy what and Who is most enjoyable in all the Universe with unlimited energy, passion, and time.
You see, the hope of glory is not that we will become as powerful as God or as glorious as God or as smart as God or as independent as God—all things that Satan convinced Adam and Eve they would become once they disobeyed God and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden.
No—the hope of the glory of God is that we will become as happy as God as we enjoy to the fullest the very One He enjoys to the fullest—Jesus Christ—in a perfect sinless world with nothing to hinder or limit our joy.
This is what we were created for—to look at, contemplate, and enjoy God as much as He enjoys Himself as God—anything less would be idolatry for both He and us.
And one final note—Jesus is not the only object of God’s happiness.
He is the ultimate cause and object of God’s pleasure and our pleasure but not the only object of divine pleasure and joy.
You see, according to Colossians 1:27, as those who have been united to Christ in salvation—the hope of glory that we have is the fact that Christ is in us.
In other words, His Spirit indwells us and is working in us to make us more and more like Him.
Thus, God also experiences great happiness when He is seeing Himself in us as He sees Christ in us.
And what will give God great joy and great happiness is seeing Christ’s image completely formed in you the very moment you arrive in glory.
So let me ask you—is this what you are living for?
Is this why you get out of bed every morning?
Is this what you rejoice in and get excited about?
Is this truth that one day we will be as happy as God and in fact should be in the process of becoming that right now as we grow in Christ—manifested in how we live and how we worship?
Are we making decisions in life which demonstrate that Christ is our greatest treasure and pleasure in life—our greatest happiness?
Do we enjoy all things in Christ and Christ in all things?
And finally, as we grow in Christ, are we finding Him to be more enjoyable and more pleasurable than anything and anyone else in life—including sin?
We should or we are not growing in Christ or worse than that—we may not even be in Christ.
You see, the hope of glory in which we become as happy as God is in seeing, interacting with, and enjoying Christ is a process that while culminating in heaven began the day you first came to Christ for salvation.
Thus, the true mark of a believer is whether Jesus Christ is becoming your greatest treasure and pleasure in life.
Let us then stand in awe of this great God!
And let us turn from all our trivial pursuits and fleeting treasures
And petty materialism and ridiculous desire to be made much of and thought well of.
And let us be caught up in the pleasure and the happiness that
God has in the glory of His Son, Who is the brilliant radiance of His Father and in
Whom all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form so that to see God we must see Jesus.
And let us live for that day when the very
Pleasure that the Father has in His Son will be our pleasure
In His Son.
And may God’s enjoyment of God—unbounded, everlasting,
Unhindered, unashamed, passionate, and divinely satisfying begin to become
Ours now as we gaze at the glory of God in the face of our God our Savior—Jesus Christ.
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