Called to Glory and Virtue by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 23, 1915

Called to Glory and Virtue

By John Norton Loughborough

By J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

THE apostle Peter, when speaking of the high calling of God to us, said, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord." 2 Peter 1: 2.

A knowledge of the character and love of God and Christ will bring to us a sense of the inestimable treasure placed before us, and which it is our blessed privilege to accept, if we confess our sins, and yield ourselves to the Lord for Him to guide us, and work in us to do His will.

Of the dealings of the Lord with us and for us, the apostle says, "According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." 2 Peter 1: 3. That is, He has provided just as freely for the life of holiness as for the temporal life. Regarding the abundant provisions for this life, we quote the words of another: "Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element of life, without which neither man nor animal could live." As Paul said to the Athenians, speaking of all life as sustained by God's power, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 17: 28.

Peter goes on to show that aid for God's service is just as abundantly provided as the preparation for animal life. We obtain the benefit of this "grace" "through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue." 2 Peter 1: 3. The glory to which the Lord has called us is a holy character. This is the real import of the word "glory" as here used. When Moses pleaded with the Lord to show him His glory, He proclaimed before him His name and His character. See Ex. 34: 5-7. The margin of 2 Peter 1: 3, "called us to glory," is, "called us by glory."

As we contemplate the character of the Lord, and His great love manifest to poor sinners, we can say with the apostle John, "We love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John 4: 19. The working out of this is thus delineated by the apostle Paul: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory [character] of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory [character] to glory [character] even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3: 18.

CHANGED BY THE PROMISES

To show how this character may be developed in mortals, Peter continues, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1: 4. As we renounce the world—"the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," 1 John 2: 16—deciding, by the Lord's aid, to follow Him in the way of His commandments, we have the great promise of the Saviour, "If a man love Me, He will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." John 14: 23. "Man needs a power outside of himself to restore him to the image of God." "The soul yielded to Christ becomes His fortress. No authority is known in it but His."

With the indwelling of the Father and the Son, who need fail of the victory? Submitting to God, we may have complete deliverance by the power of an indwelling Saviour. He knocks for admission to our hearts. Rev. 3: 20. May we each say to Him, Blessed Lord, come in, and cast out all that is unlike Thee, and dwell in us as Thou hast promised.