i6 ANOTHER GOOD RECKONING
that our wills are ours that we may make them God's, and so may ever see our will done both in heaven and on earth, may not we conclude, with the Apostle, " I deliberately reckon, I am fully persuaded, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in and upon us " ? 1
i. The Glory.
1. We might have expected joy to be placed over against suffering. It is glory, the perfection of our being — the blessedness of God. And what is glory ? It is a vague word to many of us. But this passage may serve to clear it up. Glory is the manifestation of excellence. Applied to God, as in the phrase so common in Scripture, " the glory of God," it means the manifestation of what God is, whether in power, or in wisdom, or in goodness, or in all of these together. Applied to men, to Christian men, in the sense here designed, it means the mani- festation hereafter of what they are, not in themselves — for that could only be the exhibition of weakness, faultiness, and sinfulness — but in their relation to God as His children, to Christ as His redeemed, to the Holy Spirit as His dwelling-place and His temple.
2. We cannot in our present state say much about this glory. Our words are apt to darken rather than brighten the simple statement of the text. " Now we see through a glass, darkly," and " It doth not yet appear what we shall be." But we are not, therefore, forbidden to think and speak of the future. If it is right to set our affection on heavenly things, it cannot be wrong to set our thoughts upon them too.
(1) We think of the glory of saved men as different from that of angels. The one is the brightness of robes never stained with sin ; the other the brightness of those who have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. The one is the glory of those who have been born to wealth ; the other that of those who from poverty have been made rich. The one is born in a palace ; the other is taken from a pit, and, by the grace of God, led up to empire. It is the glory of a complete triumph over sin.
(2) Then there is the glory of the Judgment Day — of standing at the right hand of God, of being acknowledged as His own
1 S. Cox.
ROMANS VIII. i8 17
before heaven and earth and hell, of God Himself being glorified, and His way fully justified in our redemption. Who would com- pare the slanders of the wicked with such a recognition ? Who would speak of the disgrace of the cross in view of such an honour ?
(3) Involved in all this, and indeed but the figure or shadow of it, is the glory that literally shall be revealed in us. The glory of perfect conformity to Christ. The unfathomable blessedness of being altogether one with God — partaking of His strength and beauty, His freedom and eternity ; enjoying at once the highest liberty and obeying the highest law ; being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.
^ How sparing the Holy Ghost is in the description of future glory ! How chaste, if I may so speak, is He in depicting the future triumphs of the saints ! It is well known by accurate observers of human nature that there is no one thing that would sooner wear out the frame and mind of man than exquisite enjoy- ment ; and God, in mercy to our frail nature, has been sparing as to future scenes. " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now," says Jesus to His disciples. So our God has many joys, much glory, much enjoyment for us ; but we cannot bear it now ; and so He puts it off until we attain to the maturity of manhood, and then the eternal weight of glory shall be revealed in us (or, as in the original, towards us, which, of course, means for our benefit). Sufferings are depressing, but glory hereafter will be exalting. Sufferings are disheartening, but glory will be exhilarating. Sufferings darken and sadden the countenance, but glory hereafter will brighten it. What is that glory, people of God ? Do you believe it ? Just as certainly as that the Man of Sorrows is now on a throne of joy — as certainly as that He who was crowned with the crown of thorns is now in the glory of His Father — so all the children of God shall, like Him, be crowned. As He has entered into His rest, where death has no more dominion over Him, so shall all the people of God for ever ! — for He is the Head, and they are the members. Where the Head is, there shall also His members be.^
Be comforted, be comforted, Ye tempest-tossed and worn,
Who wait amid the shadows For hope's celestial morn !
» J. Gregg.
ROMANS — 2
i8 ANOTHER GOOD RECKONING
The valley hath its burden,