Hope of Heaven’s Glory

 

Paul has one more mystery to share with the Colossians. It was the revelation that had been given to him on the Damascus Road when he was made a chosen vessel for the Lord’s work.

Jesus told Ananias about Paul in Acts 9:15-16 15 …Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

 

So Saul the great persecutor become Paul the little servant commissioned to tell the Gentiles that Jesus Christ was the hope of glory. Never before had the pagans of the world heard such a message, that God would forgive them, save them, and make them the children of God and that God the Holy Spirit would indwell them, that the Messiah of Israel, the Lord of creation and King of Heaven would be their Hope of Glory. In the Old Testament the Shekinah Glory of God indwelt the tabernacle, and the temple showing that they were God’s people and that God would never desert them, but now the Shekinah glory of God would be in their souls showing they belong to God and that through Jesus they had the hope and assurance of the glory of heaven.

 

Reveling in the Revelation

 

What incredible mystery Paul revealed to the Gentile, pagan world and in bringing it to them, he brought it to us. Those pagans in the ancient Roman world become Christians and missionaries and went to the “uttermost” taking the hope of the Gospel with them. One day it came to us, this same mystery. How could God love us so much that he would send his own son to save us. Why would His Son die in our place? How did He then defeat death and rise from the grave bringing eternal life to us? How could we be indwelt by the spirit of the One who made heaven and earth and all things in it. How could the immensity of the Almighty be condensed to the confines of my heart? It was a great mystery then, but it now it has been fully revealed through the Gospel and we should revel in that revelation. Paul states it so elegantly in this phrase, Christ in you the hope of glory.”

 

I love hearing that, over and over again. “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” It is a joyous truth that fills me with hope and assurance. No matter how terribly I may feel out there, Christ is in here. It is of no consequence if the world is overrun by sinful men, or the country is controlled by corrupt men because my soul is being run and is under the control of Jesus Christ. When the time comes that his body and this mind fails, ravished by time and its consequences, it will not mean anything, because in my soul, deep in the part of me that is truly who I am, Christ will still dwell and He will still be my hope of eternal glory.

 

Say it and believe it over and over again, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory!” Make sure you put an exclamation point on it! In fact, put two, one at the end of Christ in you! And another at the end of the hope of glory! Because you should be joyful and emotionally overwhelmed by both parts of that truth. Christ in me is the hope of Glory, the hope of heaven, the hope of eternal life.

 

Illustration: Hymn, O That Will Be Glory For Me.

 

During a revival a famous preacher looked out in the audience and saw a man with a radiant glow on his face. Service after service the man was there with his beaming face. On the last night of the revival the message was about Jesus’ returning to earth and claiming his own. As the preacher preached the man with the beaming face called out, "Oh, yes. And that will be glory for me!"

After the service the preacher asked the pastor of the church, "Who is the man with the bright face and blessed testimony?"

 

"Well, that is brother glory face," replied his informant. "He's a Christian who always seems to be on the mountaintop."

 

Later Charles H. Gabriel was so impressed with this same man that he was inspired to write the gospel song, "O That Will Be Glory For Me."

 

The hymn joyously sings. When all my labors and trials are o’er,

And I am safe on that beautiful shore,

Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,

Will through the ages be glory for me.

 

Refrain: Oh, that will be glory for me,

Glory for me, glory for me,

When by His grace I shall look on His face,

That will be glory, be glory for me.