Grace Preparing for Glory # 3

Grace Preparing for Glory # 3

Only by faith can we really apprehend God, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God" (Heb. 3:12).

Forty years ago we often heard the expression, so and so is a "a God-fearing man" - the fact we rarely hear this now is a bad sign. Now there are two kinds of fear - a servile fear and a filial fear - a dread of God and an awe of God. The first kind was seen in Adam when he was afraid of the Lord and hid himself. The second kind was exemplified by Joseph when tempted by the wife of Potipher - reverential fear restrained him. Only Divine grace can "teach" us this.

While love constrains unto obedience, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). It is only love's obedience which is acceptable unto God - the heart melted by His goodness, now desiring to please Him.

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Now this must not be divorced from its context, for there we are shown the necessary prerequisite, Grace preparing for Glory.

The passage as a whole is made up of three parts -

1. In the past, the grace of God brought salvation to the believer;

2. in the present, Divine grace is teaching him, both negatively and positively, how to live acceptably unto God;

3. in the future, the work of Divine grace will be perfected in the believer, at the return of Christ. 

Verse 13, then, is the necessary sequel to what has been before us in verses 11, 12. My head may be filled with Prophecy, I may be an ardent Pre-millenarian, I may think and say that I am "looking for that blessed Hope," but, unless Divine grace is teaching me to deny "ungodliness and worldly lusts" and to "live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world," then I am deceiving myself. Make no mistake upon that point. To be truly "Looking for that blessed Hope" is a spiritual attitude - it is the longing of those whose hearts are right with God. Thus, our text may be summed up in three words - grace, godliness, glory.

Now our "Hope" is something more than a future event concerning the details of which there may be room for considerable difference of opinion. Our Hope is something more than the next item on God's prophetic program. It is something more than a place in which we are going to spend eternity. The Christian's hope is a PERSON. Have you noticed how prominently and emphatically that fact is presented in the Scriptures? "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself" (John 14:3); "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner" (Acts 1:11); "We look for the Saviour" (Phil. 3:20); not the great tribulation draws near, not the millennium draws near, nor even the rapture draws near - but the coming of the Lord. It is with His own blessed Person - that our poor hearts need to be occupied.

That "blessed Hope" then, which the Christian is looking for is not an event - but a Person - Christ Himself.

To me "that blessed Hope" is summed up in three things:

First, that Christ is coming to receive me unto Himself.

Second, that Christ will then make me like Himself - for nothing less than that will satisfy Him or the renewed heart.

Third, that Christ is going to have me forever with Himself - an eternity of bliss spent in His own immediate presence. "Looking for that blessed Hope," for Christ Himself, is an attitude of heart.

The Christian "looks" with the eyes of faith, and faith always rests alone upon God and His Word. The Christian "looks" with the eyes of hope, joyously anticipating perfect fellowship with its beloved. The Christian "looks" with the eyes of love, for nothing but His personal presence can satisfy him. It is an attitude of anticipation, and expectation. 

A final word upon Christ's title here, "The glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," or as it is more correctly rendered, "And appearing of the glory, the great God and Saviour, of our Lord Jesus Christ." Three things suggested to us by Christ's being here called "the great God."

First, it points a contrast from His first advent, when He appeared in humiliation and lowliness and the "Servant." Second, it shows us He is called "God" not by way of courtesy - but by right of His Divine nature. Third, it evidences the fact that the Saviour is in no way inferior to the Father - but His co-equal, "the great God."

~A. W. Pink~

(The End)