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THE GOSPEL OF GLORY
A. Introduction: One of the greatest promises that God has made to His people is the promise of future glory.
However, this promise isn’t all that exciting to many, if not most, of us because know very little about the
glory that is to come. So we are taking time to look at what the Bible says about glory.
1. This topic doesn’t seem practical in the face of life’s many problems. However, knowing what is ahead
lightens the weight of this life by giving us hope for the future, which helps us have peace of mind in the
present. Paul the apostle (and eyewitness of Jesus) wrote these words about life’s hardships and glory:
a. II Cor 4:17—For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce
for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever (NLT).
b. Rom 8:18—For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
the glory which shall be revealed in us (NKJV).
2. The word glory is used several ways in the Bible. We’re focusing on how glory is used in connection
with God, as well as how it’s used in connection with the salvation He provides for us through Jesus.
a. Glory and God: Glory is the essence of God Himself. God is by nature glorious—splendid,
magnificent, beautiful. He is a glorious Being who does glorious things. The glory of God is God
showing Himself, a visible manifestation His Person or power, in any way that He chooses.
b. Glory and us: God created human beings with the capacity to be indwelled by Him, His Spirit and
His uncreated life—or God’s glory—and then reflect His glory to the world around us by the way
that we live. This in turn brings glory (honor and praise) back to Him.
1. Possibly you’re thinking: That can’t be right because the Bible says that God won’t share His
glory with anyone (Isa 42:8; Isa 48:11). When we read those verses in context we find that the
Lord is saying that He will not share the glory that is due to Him as God with idols.
2. To appreciate the glory that God gives us, we need to know that God has communicable and
non-communicable attributes, attributes that can be given to us and others that cannot.
A. His non-communicable attributes are those that are His because He is God—His eternality
(no beginning or end), His Omnipotence (all powerful), His Omnipresence (present
everywhere at once), His Omniscience (all knowing), His absolute Perfection.
B. His communicable attributes are sometimes called His moral attributes: righteousness,
holiness, love, mercy, peace, joy, faithfulness; etc. These attributes can be shared with us.
3. God created human beings for a position of glory. Before the world began, He devised a plan to have a
family of sons and daughters who are made in His image and reflect His glory—created beings He can
have a loving relationship with. For us, this is a glorious position. Eph 1:4-5; Gen 1:26; Ps 8:4-5
a. Sin has disqualified all of us for God’s family and cut us off from our created purpose—cut us off
from glory (Rom 3:23). Almighty God knew that man would go astray through sin, and He devised
a way to recover His family through Jesus.
1. Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ left Heaven, took on a full human nature in the
womb of the virgin Mary, and was born into this world (Jesus incarnated). Jesus is God
become man without ceasing to be God. He is fully God and fully man,
2. Jesus took on flesh so that He could die as a sacrifice for sin and open the way for us to be
restored to our created purpose as God’s sons and daughters, who reflect our Father’s glory as
we live in loving relationship with Him. Heb 2:14-15; I Pet 3:18; Matt 5:16; I Pet 2:9; etc.
B. Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament books, called the message that God commissioned him to
proclaim as the gospel or good news of glory. Paul described his message as the “glorious good news sent
by the blessed God to mankind, the teaching with which I have been entrusted’ (I Tim 1:11, Barclay).
1. What did the word glory mean to Paul? As a 1st century Jew and a Pharisee (religious leader), Paul’s
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concept of the glory of God came from the Old Testament, the portion of the Bible completed by his day.
It records numerous examples of Almighty God, this glorious Being, manifesting Himself, His radiant
presence, in the midst of His people as cloud, smoke, fire, etc. Ex 40:30; I Kings 8:10-11; etc.
a. Paul was a contemporary with Jesus, and at first not a believer in Jesus. He was actually present at
and consenting to the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, who was stoned to death.
1. Paul witnessed Stephen look up to Heaven and proclaim: Look, I see the heavens opened and
the Son of Man (Jesus) standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand (Acts 7:56, NLT).
2. Paul watched Stephen kneel down as he was being stoned and cry out to the Lord to forgive his
killers. Note how seeing the glory of God impacted Stephen (and as a by-product Paul).
b. Paul himself saw the glory of the Lord about two years later, when the glorified, resurrected Lord
Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Syria. At that time, Paul became Jesus’ follower.
1. The light of the glory of God was brighter than the sun. Paul fell to the ground and was
temporarily blinded by the light (by the glory). Acts 9:1-6
2. Jesus said to Paul: Rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to
make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and the things which
I will yet reveal to you (Acts 26:16, NKJV). For Paul glory was more than a “church” word.
2. Throughout his ministry, Paul taught and wrote the same message of glory everywhere he went (I Cor
4:17). Consider some things that Paul said about what he preached.
a. In a letter to believers in the city of Colossae, Paul wrote: God…gave me this task…of fully
proclaiming his message, which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all mankind, but has
now revealed to his people…And the secret is this: Christ is in you, which means that you will share
the glory of God (Col 1:25-27, Good News Bible).
b. Secret is from a Greek word that means something in the plan and purpose of God which has not yet
been revealed to people. Following the first man Adam’s sin, God gave His first promise that He
would undo the damage done by sin and recover His family through Jesus. Gen 3:15
1. Through the centuries the Lord revealed increasing aspects of His plan until the full revelation
came in and through Jesus. Jesus’ sacrifice opened the way for God to forgive sin, indwell His
sons and daughters by His Spirit and life, and then express His glory in and through them.
2. The secret that Paul preached is Christ in us. We were created for a relationship of union with
God. He shares Himself, His life, His Spirit, His glory with us.
3. We don’t become God or gods. He’s always God and we’re not. He is always the Creator
and we are the created. But God’s intention in salvation is to restore His family, restore us, to
the glory He that planned for His family through union with Christ.
c. At the Last Supper, the night before Jesus was crucified, He told His apostles that although He was
going to return to Heaven, relationship with His followers would continue through union with Him.
1. John 14:20—At that time (when I am raised from the dead) you will recognize that I am in
union with the Father, and you with me, and I with you (20th Cent).
A. Words fall short when we talk about how God who is Transcendent and Infinite has chosen
to interact with finite beings. That same night, Jesus used the example of vine and branch.
B. John 15:5—I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in union with me and I
in union with him will bear abundant fruit, because you cannot do anything cut off from
union with me (Williams).
2. Paul was not at this Last Supper. But after Paul’s conversion Jesus appeared to him a number
of times and personally gave him the message he preached (Gal 1:11-12). Note what he wrote:
A. Col 2:9-10—Yet it is in him (Jesus) that God gives a full expression of himself in bodily
form (J.B. Phillips). And you by your union with him, you also are filled with it (20th

Cent); and you are filled with God through your union with Christ (TLB),
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B. Eph 2:10—The truth is that we are the handiwork of God. By our union with Christ Jesus
we were created for the purpose of doing the good actions which God had in readiness, so
that we should devote our lives to them (20th Cent).
d. We get additional insight into the glorious gospel that Paul preached when he wrote that believers
have a treasure in earthen vessels. (We talked about this in the last lesson).
1. II Cor 4:4-6—We preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God…(we
preach) the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
2. II Cor 4:7—But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held
in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious
power is from God and is not our own (NLT). Glory is in us because Jesus is in us.
C. Peter the apostle, one of Jesus’ original followers, also preached and wrote some amazing things about the
glory of God. Like Paul, Peter’s concept of God’s glory came from the Old Testament writings and its vivid
descriptions of God manifesting Himself to Israel.
1. As an eyewitness of Jesus during His three plus year ministry prior to the crucifixion, Peter himself saw
the glory of God in and through Jesus.
a. Peter and the other apostles recognized that Jesus is the living embodiment of the glory of God.
God’s glory was shown in the excellence of Jesus’ character and in the power He exercised.
1. John the apostle wrote: The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen
his glory, glory as of the Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14, ESV).
2. Paul wrote: (Jesus is) the brightness of (God’s) glory and the express image of His person;
the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb 1:3, ESV; NKJV).
3. When Jesus turned water into wine in the presence of His apostles, John later wrote: This
miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was Jesus’ first display of his glory (John 2:11).
b. Not long before Jesus was crucified, He took Peter, James, and John to a mountain to pray, and Jesus
was transfigured in front of them. What was on the inside of Jesus showed up on the outside.
1. Matt 17:2—As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance changed so that his face shone like the sun,
and his clothing became dazzling white (NLT). Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking
with Jesus. They were glorious to see. And they were speaking of how he was about to fulfill
God’s plan by dying in Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31, NLT).
2. Peter would later write: We were not making up clever stories when we told you about the
power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with
our own eyes…when we were on the holy mountain (II Pet 1:16-18, NLT).
c. There are some ways in which Jesus is unique because He was and is fully God at the same time He
was and is fully man. However, Jesus, in His humanity, is the pattern for God’s family.
1. Paul wrote: Rom 8:29—God in his foreknowledge, chose (us) to bear the family likeness of
his son (J. B. Phillips); chose (us) to become like his son (NLT). John the apostle wrote:
I John 2:6—Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did (NLT).
2. In the man Jesus, we see flesh indwelled by God, displaying and reflecting the Father’s glory
through His character and His power. We see a treasure in an earthen vessel.
2. In the same letter written by Peter where he recorded wrote that he saw God’s glory, Peter wrote several
lines that give us insight into the glory in believers through our union with Jesus. Note II Pet 1:3-4
a. II Pet 1:3—God’s divine power has given us everything we need to live a godly life through our
knowledge of the one who called us to share his own glory and goodness (Good News Bible).
1. Note that the Lord has called us to share his glory and goodness through our relationship with
Jesus. Note also that what He has given us enables us to live a godly life. A godly life is a life
that pleases God, a life that is lived for God like God (many lessons for another night).
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2. The point for now is that the power to live a godly life is the glory that is in us through union.
Paul prayed for Christians: That you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his
power for (and in) us who believe (Eph 1:19-20); (and) that from his glorious, unlimited
resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit (Eph 4:16, NLT).
b. II Pet 1:4—In this way (God) has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by
means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world and come to share
the divine nature (Good News Bible). We could do a series on this passage, but note these points.
1. When Adam took the human race into the pigpen of sin, corruption, and death God began to
reveal His plan to recover His family. Through the centuries God revealed increasing aspects
of that plan, including promises of what His plan would provide.
A. Paul referenced those promises in his writings. In the context of not being unequally
yoked with unbelievers (don’t allow ungodly people to influence your behavior), Paul
wrote: For you are the temple (dwelling place) of the living God (II Cor 6:16, NKJV).
B. Then Paul cited the Old Testament prophets: As God has said, I will dwell in them and
among then. I will be their God, and they shall be my people…I will be a Father to you,
and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (II Cor 6:16-18, NKJV)
2. God’s plan has always been to indwell His sons and daughters. Because of Jesus’ death, we
can receive God into our being (His Spirit, His life and His glory) when we believe on Him.
A. Jesus’ sacrifice opened the way for us to become sharers or partakers of glory or “God’s
essential nature” (II Pet 1:4, J. B. Phillips). We share (or participate in) the divine nature.
B. We don’t possess God’s nature (God’s glory) in the sense that it becomes ours. It’s like
water in a sponge. The water doesn’t become the sponge, the water infuses the sponge.
1. It’s His glory in and through us. We’re infused, indwelled, and purified by God. It’s
a union. God is in you but He doesn’t take up space. (As always, words fall short.)
2. Jesus doesn’t replace you. He wants you, the you who was created when you were
conceived. God want to bring out that person, you, in the image of Christ, like Him in
character, reflecting Him through your unique being and personality purified.
c. Back to Peter’s statement. We are now sharers (participators) in the glory of God so that we can
live in a way that glorifies God, and so that we can escape the corruption and death that is in the
earth because of sin. There is a present and a future aspect to this glory, this gospel of glory.
1. Present glory: God is in us now to change and empower us to live godly lives. Note what
Paul wrote as he answered the question: Should we keep sinning since God’s grace has been
extended to us? Rom 6:3-4—(No!) For surely you know this: We were baptized into union
with Christ Jesus…in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power
of the Father, so we might live a new life (Good News Bible).
2. Future glory: Our bodies will be made immortal and incorruptible at the resurrection of the
dead. Phil 3:20-21—We eagerly wait for our Savior to come from Heaven, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He will change our weak, mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body,
using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule (Good News Bible).
D. Conclusion: As always, we have much more to say next week. But consider these thoughts as we close.
1. Lessons like this don’t seem practical because we all want solutions to the problems we face. We live in
a broken world, and many problems are not easily fixed. The solution is often a change in perspective.
2. When you know that your roots are in God (He knew you before you existed and chose you for His
family), that He went to great lengths to bring you to Himself (incarnated and died a grueling death), that
He is now is working in you to restore you to all you are meant to be, and that there is a glorious future
ahead for you that will outlast and far outshine this life, it lightens the load of this difficult life.