Hope In A Future Glory

We exult in hope of the glory of God.
–Romans 5:2

A right relationship with God gives us hope in a future glory. In Romans 5:2, Paul wrote, “We exult in hope of the glory of God.” He used that same phrase in Colossians 1:27, in which he said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

What is “the hope of glory”? In the English language, we use the word “hope” to mean a desire that may or may not be realized. For example, we say, “I hope it doesn’t rain during our Mother’s Day lunch” or “I hope I don’t get sick next week.” But in the Bible, hope is an assurance of something that has not yet been experienced. So when Paul said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” he meant that when you know you are in a right relationship with God, then you have the assurance of the glory of God.

What is “the glory of God”? Glory is one of those Christian words we toss around all the time without really knowing what it means. The word “glory” in Hebrew means something that is weighty as opposed to light. Something heavy and substantive. So when we talk about the glory of God, we are talking about the heaviness of God, the weightiness of God, the substantiveness of God. The New Testament Greek word for glory is “doxa.” When we sing the Doxology, we are praising the glory of God. The word “doxa” originally meant “to have a high opinion of.” It was a word that was reserved for kings. So when we say, “Christ, the hope of glory,” we are saying that Christ is the One of whom we should have the highest opinion.

The glory of God is the full manifestation of who God really is. Right now, none of us has seen the glory of God. We have our hope in God. We pray to God. Yet God is invisible to us. But one day, the Bible says, we will actually see the weightiness, the heaviness, and the substantiveness of God Himself. That is the assurance every believer has. The Bible says the assurance we have is that one day, if we are in a right relationship with God, we will see the full glory of the God in whom we have trusted.

Not only are we going to see the glory of God, but we are also going to share in the glory of God. In 1 John 3:2, John said, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” The Bible says that one day, because of our right relationship with God, we are going to see the fullness of God, and we are actually going to share in the fullness, the glory, the weightiness of God Himself. That is the hope and assurance of every believer.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Without a Doubt” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2014.

Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.