Grace, Glory, and Gladness Forever
I believe in the life everlasting. Amen.
In the last phrase of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess to believe “in the life everlasting. Amen.” And Question 57 in An Orthodox Catechism asks how the doctrine of everlasting life is a comfort to Christians personally. The answer given to us is this:
A. That forasmuch as I feel already in my heart the beginning of everlasting life, it shall at length come to pass that after this life I shall enjoy full and perfect bliss, wherein I may magnify God forever, which blessedness surely neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither has any man in thought conceived it.
Grace and Glory
It was the Puritan Oliver Heywood who wrote that, “Grace and glory form a blessed connexion; they differ only in degree, not in kind; grace is glory begun, glory is grace consummated; grace is the bud, glory is the Flower.”
We understand that while God’s grace saves us for eternity, it doesn’t take us there immediately. Instead, God has given us something of an earnest deposit on the glory that awaits us. Since being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we’ve been given a brief, dimly-lit preview of the coming main attraction that we will one day see in full color and high definition. What is this early installment of our inheritance? It is the Holy Spirit which Christ has sent to be with us and comfort while we live as strangers and aliens in this dying world.
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).
This is that feeling of eternity in our hearts, as the Catechism alludes to. This is the beginning of everlasting life, for we who have been saved by grace will never die, but enjoy life everlasting. And we should take comfort in knowing that he who has saved us by his grace will save us unto glory.
Comparing our present circumstances to our future glory
Because we are recipients of the grace of God, we are therefore able to endure these temporary pains and sufferings that we face until we die and enter into glory.
The Apostle Paul helped his readers—real people like us with real problems like us— to set their minds on the things above and this everlasting life. Consider first Romans 8:18-25—
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
And also in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1-4—
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
In light of these texts, imagine a giant scale; like one of those old fashioned-kinds of scale with the two arms and a tray on each side.
Now take a moment to reflect upon all of your personal burdens. I’m talking about those things which afflict you in your physical body or in your mind or in your spiritual walk. We all have afflictions which burden us, don’t we? Some of them are internal—physical pain, sadness, anxiety, illness. Others are external: pressures at school or work, family troubles, relational conflict, financial problems, you can fill in the blanks.
As those born of Adam, under the pains of the curse of sin, we all have these different difficulties to greater or lesser extents, and in one way or another, we all find ourselves groaning under that one universal curse of sin.
Here is what Paul is basically saying about all of our burdens and afflictions: They are not nothing. They are certainly large burdens, and we can imagine dropping them on one side of the scale. How large would it be? Surely it would be too heavy to pick up again, maybe like a large pile of boulders; perhaps even bigger than a house.
Now, without dismissing the real heaviness of those burdens, Paul instead proceeds to drop an even heavier weight on the opposite side of the scale. An enormous weight so dense and heavy, in fact, that it would be like dropping the Swiss Alps across the scale from our pile of burdens—and yet infinitely greater than even that.
In essence, this is how the Apostle Paul sets it up for us here in both Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 4. Paul presents to us a comparison of two things: our present sufferings on the one side and our future glory on the other. And essentially, he sets them as weight and counterweight, two sides of a scale. He doesn’t diminish the pain and suffering that we have in life. No, he acknowledges the very real weight of the sufferings of this present world. But by way of comparison and contrast, he also presents the infinite and eternal weight of the glory that awaits all who have trusted in Christ as their living hope.
And the conclusion Paul comes to is this: Our present sufferings have no comparison to the gigantic, colossal, magnitudinous weight of our future glory in heaven with God. In spite of our terrible ailments here on earth, we have an eternal weight of glory to look forward to in the age to come.
Glory and gladness forever
The life everlasting is the crown of our God-given blessings. When we read Romans 8:30, we see these blessings at work in a progressive order culminating with our glorification: “...those he predestined he also called; the called he also justified; and the justified he also glorified.” And An Orthodox Catechism teaches that “after this life I shall enjoy full and perfect bliss.” Let’s consider that eternal bliss which Christians shall share in glory:
1. We shall be forever glad in the company of Christ.
We read in Colossians 3:4, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” And we find similar in Ephesians 2:6—God “...raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Consider for a moment those words, “with him.” Think about how important those two words are to those of us suffering our way through this world but headed for heaven. Glory isn’t glory without those two words. Heaven isn’t heaven without Christ. He is our Savior; our ascended and ruling King; Lord of heaven and earth seated there on his heavenly throne. He is the reason we have hope; he is the object of our eternal praise and worship. And we shall “enjoy full and perfect bliss” as we basque in the warmth and radiance of his glory through an eternity of face-to-face communion with Jesus Christ our blessed Bridegroom and Savior.
2. We shall be forever glad in the freedom from the curse.
Consider what Paul is teaching in Romans 8:22-23. Not just us humans, but even creation itself is groaning under the weight of the curse of sin like a mother screams and groans in the pains of childbirth. But we have hope in a future age when “creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ...And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
In that life everlasting, there shall be no more sinning, no more hurting; no more sickness, no more death. All of the sad results of the Fall will have been reversed by the Second Adam. And instead, we will possess only life with full health, holiness, happiness, and peace unending.
3. We shall be forever glad in the communion and reunion of the saints.
In Revelation 5 we’re given a glimpse into heaven to behold “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” “from every tribe and language and people and nation,” saying in unison, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
And indeed, heaven is one eternal worship service, a corporate assembly of all the members of the body of Christ, from every people group of the earth, gathered together for the purpose of worshiping our one, triune God. This will be our eternal focus.
Additionally, heaven is a place of reunion where we will be reunited with those Christians we knew in this life. Here’s what Thomas Watson says about this:
“The judgement of Luther and Anselm, and many other divines is, that we shall know one another; yea, the saints of all ages, whose faces we never saw; and, when we shall see the saints in glory without their infirmities of pride end passion, it will be a glorious sight.”
I think about those names written and preserved in all of the genealogies of Scripture. If every one of those names represents a person who put his or her faith in Christ for salvation, then we can anticipate meeting them and worshiping our Savior together forever.
4. We shall be forever glad in the tangible delights of paradise.
We can take comfort in the fact that our souls will indeed once again be united to our physical bodies upon the final resurrection—and for all eternity thereafter. As we read in Philippians 3:21, the Lord Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.”
After that Last Day, once Christ has returned to make all things new and reunited our souls with our bodies (albeit, better versions of them), we are to understand that there will be a new heavens and new earth—that is, a very real, physical place, and not just some bright, ethereal place floating around in the sky. No, we will all have physical bodies in that age to come, along with all of our senses.
“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9, cited from Isaiah 64:4).
Think about some of the most amazing scenes you’ve ever taken in with your eyes: Perhaps it was standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon; or on a beach in Tahiti at sunset. Well, Paul tells us that even the most amazing sight or most beautiful sound or most magnificent dream any of us could ever imagine is nothing in comparison to the glories that God has prepared for his elect children in heaven.
The new heavens and new earth will not just be spiritual and ethereal, but it will be really real to all of our senses. We will enjoy many of the same things and experiences that we do now—food, music, beauty—but all of it so much better and in the direct radiance of the light of Christ. Surely there remains some mystery to all the specifics about heaven and the age to come. But here’s what we may be confident of, the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 16:11—“in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
5. We shall be forever glad in the rest of our heavenly home.
We all know what Jesus told his disciples in John 14:2-3, that “In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
I’ve often wondered if there’s this enormous, long-term construction project underway in the spiritual heaven that exists right now. Is that what Jesus was referring to by saying that he is preparing a place for us? Probably not. But whatever the case may be, we do know that there are these mansions of glory being prepared for those who are God’s children; these heavenly houses with innumerable rooms just waiting for us to move into them upon our arrival in that New Jerusalem.
But heaven is more than just a beautiful city full of wonderful residences prepared for us by Christ himself. Even more than that, in heaven we will finally find a home.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...” (Philippians 3:20).
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).
This earth and these bodies are not our home, but just tents, or temporary residences. We’re all just strangers and sojourners here; heaven, on the other hand, is where we belong.
And what else is a home but a place to find rest. Hebrews 4 shows us, while we have one day of spiritual rest in Christ each week while here on earth, there is also an eternal Sabbath rest that awaits us. And oh how we need it! Listen to how the Puritan Thomas Brooks put it:
“This life is full of trials, full of troubles, and full of changes. Sin within, and Satan and the world without, will keep a Christian from rest, until he comes to rest in the bosom of Christ. The life of a Christian is a race—and what rest have they that are still a-running their race? The life of a Christian is a warfare—and what rest have they that are still engaged in a constant warfare? The life of a Christian is the life of a pilgrim—and what rest has a pilgrim, who is still a-traveling from place to place? ...A Christian hears that word [from Micah 2:10] always sounding in his ears, "Arise, for this is not your resting-place, because it is polluted." A man may as well expect to find heaven in hell, as expect to find rest in this world!”
Are you tired, dear Christian? Has this month or year or decade been exhausting for you? Then think about the eternal rest that awaits you and find comfort in that thought.
Everlasting life in an everlasting kingdom
We read in Daniel 7:27 that “his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom” And Luke 1:32-33, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And David himself wrote in Psalm 145:1-3, “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”
The fact that heaven is unending and that our joy and bliss makes all of this consideration of it that much more marvelous even if it’s that much more incomprehensible. Going back to the comparison that Paul is making in both Romans and 1 Corinthians, compared to this life, the next life is essentially incomparable.
May we comfort one another with these truths as we continue our pilgrimage through this world. To Christ be the glory both now and forevermore.
—David Giarrizzo