If even Adam and Eve could have shone with the glory of God, how much more will believers, whom God intentionally glorifies, shine with His glory? In fact it appears that it is just that that the Lord is saying in Matthew 13:43, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Daniel also spoke like this when he said, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” (12:3) Considering Grudem’s argument on this text, it seems that it would be wrong to take it in a metaphorical sense. Resembling God, who lives in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16), His glorified people will shine with a brilliance He has given them.
It appears that this glory with which God will clothe His saints will not only be a shining brilliance, but a glory that radiates from the person as a deep, enchanting beauty. Physically speaking, our bodies that have suffered the devastating effects of the fall, are far from what they will be in the presence of God. There they will be arrayed in such perfection that the heavenly host will have to gasp at what God has made. Man is made in the image of God—God made man more like Himself than He made any other creature. As every eye in creation, even the most powerful angels gaze at true humanity in Christ and the entire race of Christians God has drawn into glory through His work, they will unanimously confess that truly, human beings are creatures who resemble God more than any other creature in the universe.
God’s people will be exquisitely beautiful to look upon, breathtaking in form, complexion, composure, demeanour. Scripture speaks of King Xerxes sending for his wife, Vashti, to display her beauty to the dignitaries at his banquet. The reason he wanted to do that was because she was lovely to look at (Esther 1:11). As I described in my blog on Deuteronomy 21:11, beauty has an arresting power. What Xerxes wanted was for his wife to simply walk in her royal garments and elegance before the people so that they could drink in the emotional impact of being confronted with outstanding beauty. If this beauty, and powerful response in the heart of a person who sees beauty, takes place in this fallen world, how much more shocking will be the beauty of God’s people whom He has deliberately glorified.
As it is with God, it appears to me that this beauty will go beyond the initial spectacle that meets the eye of the beholder. It will be a beauty that is beyond the entrancing, dazzling glory emanating from the glorified person. It will be a beauty that leads the hungry, yearning observer through the capturing smile of the eye, deeper and deeper into the kind intentions of the heart. And in the new, wonderful, deep, rich, pure, delightful, beautiful, intentions of that heart will be the epitome of that glory. Every glorified saint will look at every other glorified saint, no longer divided by even the slightest schism, completely loving and kind. Entirely overwhelmed by the same desire—to live Jesus Christ, the most glorious expression of personhood ever conceived in the mind of the infinite God. To express the kind intentions of God, they are now able to grasp and exercise. This brings us to Paul’s next statement.
Older
Top
