"The Wise Shall Inherit Glory."
"The wise shall inherit glory," is the promise of the word of God. The wise are those who fear God; for "Unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." Job 28:28. The promise therefore is that they who fear the Lord shall inherit glory. Glory is set before us as that for which we are to seek equally with immortality and the honor which God alone can give. Paul tells us that God, in rendering to every man according to his deeds, will give eternal life "to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality." Rom. 2:7. But what is this glory for which men are to seek, and which the wise shall inherit? It is not simply honor and exaltation; for the word which we have just quoted says we are to seek for glory and honor; it is something different from that, as it is also different from immortality, yet is associated with these blessed gifts which God will bestow upon the faithful. This glory is the glory of God, and the glory of God is light. In Rev. 21:23, of the heavenly city, we read: "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it." When Moses came down from the mount, after having been there the second time forty days and forty nights, his face shone so brightly that Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid and fled (Ex. 34:29-33); and Paul says that it was "glory" with which his countenance shone. Peter says that Jesus "received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount." The apostle here certainly makes direct reference to the transfiguration of Christ, and says that there he received "honor and glory." Now the record of that scene is that "His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light;" "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow so as no fuller on earth can white them." When Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus, "suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven," and he heard a voice saying unto him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Paul, telling of this several years afterward, said: "At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me." This light was the glory of the Lord Jesus. And so will he appear when he is revealed from Heaven. Says one who in holy vision saw it: "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had bright beams coming out of his side, and there was the hiding of his power." Hab. 3:3, 4, margin. This is the glory that the wise shall inherit. This is the glory which they shall receive "who by patient continuance in well doing seek for" it. Man once possessed this glory. When God made man, and all upon the earth, pronounced it all very good, and gave man dominion over it all, that is the time of which the psalmist speaks: "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." Ps. 8:4-8. That this refers to the beginning when man was created, is made plain by Paul's comment on this text: "For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." From these scriptures it is clear that in the beginning, man was crowned with glory and honor, and that all things were put under him; but that by sin he lost all this, so that now we see it not so. Yet instead we see Jesus who has stepped into man's place—lower than the angels; we see him in man's place, crowned with the glory and honor which man lost; we see him standing thus to redeem man from death, and to crown him again with glory and honor. And as we have read from Peter that it was at the transfiguration that Christ was crowned with this "honor and glory;" as then the glory of God shone from his countenance and enveloped all his figure; as he then stood in the place which the first Adam lost, it is evident that when man was in the beginning crowned with glory and honor, the glory of God beamed from his countenance and enveloped all his person, and that his appearance was like the appearance of Christ, though undoubtedly in a lesser degree of glory, when he stood on the holy mount crowned with glory and honor. From this it is likewise plainly apparent that when our first parents sinned, the glory departed, and then they knew they were naked, and were ashamed. And so by sin man not only lost his life, but he literally lost the glory, and the honor, as well as the dominion which God gave him. But, although all this was lost to the race by the unfaithfulness of the first Adam, it is all restored by the faithfulness of the second Adam, to all who will accept it at his worthy hands, and by patient continuance in well doing seek for it in him. Out of Christ, neither life, nor glory, nor honor, nor dominion, beyond this world can ever be obtained by any of the children of men; for he "was crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." And "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." But "as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God." And "the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." "There is suffering ere the glory." But on this subject of suffering as compared with the glory, we have the estimate of one who was a pattern of longsuffering to all who should after believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says: "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." It was not in the form of a provincialism that Paul used the word "reckon," but in its real sense of making an estimate, of casting up an account, of striking a balance. He had experienced suffering such as it is safe to say no man since has endured. His life was a life of suffering, even as expressed by another, "a long martyrdom." Yet taking it all, and making the most of it, it was not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. In another place we see the account as he has drawn it out and shown the balance. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." There is the balance sheet of the life of the true Christian. Glory stands against affliction. A weight of glory stands against light affliction. An eternal weight of glory stands against a moment of light affliction. Nor is that the full computation. That is not the392full balance. Here it is: Against a moment of light affliction there stands "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4:17. Notice particularly that Paul does not say that these sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to us, but revealed in us; that is, of which we shall be partakers in ourselves, which shall be a part of us, and which shall shine forth from us. Now we shall offer a few scriptures showing when and how this shall be. Peter says: "Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, . . . might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." "And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Peter 1:6, 7; 4:13; 5:4. These texts show that it is at the coming of the Saviour in his glory that the wise inherit the glory and honor as well as the immortality which they seek. As to how this is accomplished, John tells us: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2. "As he is," is this: His head and his hairs are white like wool, as white as snow; his eyes are as a flame of fire; his feet are like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his countenance is as the sun shineth in his strength. Rev. 1:14-16. And Paul says: "We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. 3:20, 21. And the effect of this change will be as is suggested by Paul in another place: "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." 1 Cor. 15:41, 42. And as the Saviour himself says: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:44. And by Daniel he says: "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." Dan. 12:3. Nor is that all. Such are to dwell in that holy city of God which has the glory of God. They shall walk in the light of that beautiful city, which has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, because the glory of God lightens it, and because the Lamb, whose glory is above the brightness of the sun, is the light thereof. And they and the bright city shall dwell upon the earth made new; when "the wilderness shall be like Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord;" where "joy and gladness shall be found, thanksgiving and the voice of melody" (Isa. 51:3); where "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Heb. 2:14); and when the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed because the Lord reigns "in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." Isa. 24:23. "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." Isa. 54:17. The wise shall inherit glory. "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling; and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 24, 25.
J. We should remember that though the truth is essential to us, we are not necessary to the truth. The question is not, will the Third Angel's Message triumph, but shall we triumph with it?