Your much-loved Pastor John died on July 14. Another one of my heroes, Greg Livingstone, the founder of Frontier Missions, died five days later. Three days ago, James Dobson joined them in the ranks of heaven. In the midst of this sobering season of departures of champions who were old and ripe and ready to go after long and fruitful lives, Perpetua died, and I preached at her funeral two weeks ago. She was twelve. She died suddenly of typhoid fever in Chad, where her parents are missionaries.

So, here I am, sitting at my desk, pondering and praying about what to say at Perpetua’s funeral and in this service here tonight. And the reality that I could not shake was that eternity is so, so much more important than time. To be sure, eighty or ninety years in this life is important. Indeed, eternity hangs on it. But what is ninety years compared to ninety million ages of years? What is time when compared to eternity? And I was so struck that the people around me in Minneapolis, like the people of Southern California, go through their days with scarcely a thought of eternity. This is utter folly.

• “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
• “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him” (Psalm 103:15–17).
• “Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!” (Psalm 39:5).
• “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:24–25).

Eternity is more important than time. Just do the math.

One of the most glorious and terrifying facts is that we do not get to choose whether we exist forever. We will all die. And then Jesus says, “All who are in the tombs will . . . come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28–29). Everyone lives forever, either in the presence of God, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11), or separated from him in “torment” (Luke 16:28).

It is insane to live your life oblivious of eternity.

Hope of Glory

So, I thought it would be helpful — I know it is for me, and I hope so for you as well — to meditate with you for a few minutes on the phrase in Romans 5:2, “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” I invite you to look at it with me if you have your Bibles.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1–2)

It almost goes without saying that the glory of God that we are hoping for is an eternal glory.

• “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
• “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10).
• “The God of all grace . . . has called you to his eternal glory in Christ” (1 Peter 5:10).

Because of Christ, this is our destiny: not annihilation, not hell, but the infinite and inexhaustible greatness and beauty and worth of God — eternal glory.

So, let’s focus mainly on the last phrase of Romans 5:2: “We rejoice in hope of the [eternal] glory of God.”

Why Hope?

My first question is this: “Why, Paul, are you focused on rejoicing in hope?” Maybe you’ll see why I ask this question if we look at what Paul says leading up to this phrase. He says, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). In other words, since Christ has become our substitute and has absorbed all the wrath of God that should have been ours, God has declared us righteous in union with Christ. We are justified — declared just. “There is . . . no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And the totally undeserved, precious effect is peace with God — no enmity, no punitive anger, no wrath, not a whiff of opposition. He is totally for us in Christ Jesus. We wake up in the morning, and we go to bed at night in the sweetness of this confidence: There is peace between us and God.

That’s the first effect of justification by faith: peace with God. The second effect is described in Romans 5:2: “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” This verse makes clear that what we enjoy in this peace with God is not simply the absence of conflict but the infinite energy of active grace. This is the totally undeserved commitment and energy of God to make everything in your life work together for your good. It is a way of saying that, in Christ, there is only mercy. God is never against us in Christ. Even his disciplines are gracious disciplines. His whole disposition toward us is grace. We are enveloped in omnipotent grace. He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, so will he not also with him freely give us all things (Romans 8:32)? Absolutely everything we need for our joy and his glory he will give us. We stand in grace because of justification by faith.

Now, back to my question: Why the focus on rejoicing in hope?

Why didn’t he say, “And we rejoice in the sweetness of peace with God”? Why didn’t he say, “And we rejoice in this all-embracing grace in which we stand”? Why the shift to rejoicing in hope?

“God’s glory alone will be the ultimate beauty and value in the universe for all eternity.”

I certainly do rejoice that I have peace with God — that he is not against me but for me right now. And I certainly do rejoice that I stand surrounded by omnipotent grace that makes everything work together for my good right now. And I’m sure Paul did too. He’s not saying we shouldn’t rejoice in the present blessings of the peace of God and standing in the grace of God. But he does shift to rejoicing in hope. Why?

There are two reasons, at least.

One is that, in this peace and in this grace where we stand, there is so much affliction and sorrow and groaning. And the only way we can maintain joy in this afflicted peace (sorrowful peace, groaning peace) and this afflicted, sorrowful, groaning grace where we stand is hope. He unpacks that in verses 3–5.

The second reason Paul puts the emphasis on rejoicing in hope of the glory of God is that we were not justified ultimately to have God’s wrath and our rebellion taken away — that’s not the ultimate goal. We were not justified ultimately to stand in grace where the undeserved, omnipotent, everlasting, good will of God works all our afflictions together for our good — that’s not the ultimate goal of justification.

Justification, peace with God, and standing in grace are all glorious, blood-bought means by which God brings us to the ultimate goal of our existence and salvation — namely, the glory of God. So, Paul says, “As we enjoy peace with God now, and as we stand in the grace of God now, we are waiting, longing, and hoping for the ultimate good of the gospel: the glory of God.”

Hoping for What?

This leads to my next question: What are we really hoping for? When he says, “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” what specifically are we hoping for? To behold the glory of God, or to become the glory of God? To see it, or to share it?

It could mean that we will, at last, no longer see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12), but rather see, as it were, “face to face” — to behold the infinite beauty of God as it really is — as much as a finite creature can take in the infinite.

And it could mean that we will not only see the glory of God but be glorified by it and share in it. Paul puts both of those back-to-back in Romans 8:17–18:

[We are] heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. [That’s being changed into the likeness of Christ and sharing in God’s glory.] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [That is a glory we will see.]

And of course, these two will be inseparable, because John says that when we see him we will be like him, because we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

But here in Romans 5:2, Paul could have said, “We boast in the hope that we will be glorified.” He could have put the emphasis there — but he didn’t. He put the emphasis on the ultimate reality of the universe. And that is not us, no matter how glorified we are. It is the God of infinite glory. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Of course, we will not be able to see or glorify God as God in the age to come if we are not made partakers of the joy of God in God (John 17:24–26). The glorifying of God by his people will depend on us having Godlike capacities to know God and enjoy God. Therefore, the glory of God will not receive its proper, fitting, eternal exaltation apart from our glorification.

But when all is said and done, God alone will be God. Glorification does not mean deification! God’s glory alone will be the ultimate beauty and value in the universe for all eternity. Everything about us will be derivative, and God alone will be the original. Everything about us will be dependent, and God alone will be self-sufficient.

“The Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:11, 17). And it will be our joy to have it so.

There is a profound sense in which we will share in the glory of God, and a profound sense in which we will not share in the glory of God. We will be Godlike, but we will not be God — and we will be glad of that. When we shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father (Matthew 13:43), God’s superior, original brightness will give crystal-clear meaning to Isaiah 48:11: “My glory I will not give to another.”

That’s our hope. That’s our eternity. But for now, what is the effect of this hope in our lives? Paul answers with the words “We rejoice.” Joy is the effect. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

The point is that, in this life of affliction and suffering and sorrow and groaning, there’s always reason to rejoice. We have peace with God through it all. And we stand in omnipotent grace that makes it all work for our good. But Paul puts the focus of joy on hope. And he puts the focus of hope on the glory of God. “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

The implication is that this joy in hope is persistent. It is always to be there in the heart of the Christian, no matter what. That’s why Paul goes on to say in verse 3, “We rejoice in our sufferings” — because they work hope.

Persistent Experience

So, if we’re supposed to rejoice when skies are clear, and we’re supposed to rejoice under the clouds of suffering, is there any moment when we’re not supposed to rejoice? No, there’s not.

• “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
• “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Christian joy is not supposed to be a periodic thing but a perpetual thing in our experience. If we respond to Paul by saying, “That’s not possible; that’s an emotional contradiction to the reality of pain in this world,” Jesus responds to our objection one way, and Paul responds another way, but both say essentially the same thing.

Jesus responds, “No, I don’t speak in contradictions. I will say again, as I said in Matthew 5:11–12, that it is precisely when you are being reviled and persecuted that I command you to rejoice and be glad. It is precisely when you are being hated and slandered that I command you to rejoice and leap for joy.” That’s Jesus’s response.

Paul’s response is to give us a glimpse into his own experience. In 2 Corinthians 6:10, he describes himself as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” In other words, Paul won’t let us simplify life by saying that life consists in a sequence of sorrow, then rejoicing, then sorrow, then rejoicing.

At one level of emotional life, there is indeed such a sequence: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). But it is an oversimplification of Christian experience to think that joy in hope of the glory of God should be a periodic reality in the Christian life — sometimes here, sometimes not. Paul won’t let us sequence life like that. In order to illustrate his command to “rejoice always,” he says, “I live in sorrow and yet always — even in sorrow — I am rejoicing.” In fact, he makes the breathtaking statement in 2 Corinthians 7:4, “In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” It’s not in between our afflictions, but in them.

And I would caution you: If you are at the level of Christian experience where that sounds like meaningless double-talk — to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing — you need to put your hand over your mouth and walk with Jesus and his word for a few more years until you have grown into this experience. We don’t judge the Bible. The Bible judges us. When we think the Bible is emotionally contradictory, it is probably because of our own emotional immaturity in Christ.

Most of you seasoned saints know this. I certainly have experienced it in my life. You get a phone call you hope you would never get. You get news you hoped you would never receive. And you kneel by your bed and weep for an hour, and all the while, at the very same time there is joy in the hope of the glory of God. In fact, I would say, the face of Christian joy most of the time is a tear-streaked face. There is simply too much pain and sorrow in this world for it to be otherwise.

Hope for Harmony

Let me close with one application to your situation at Grace Church. I assume, with Pastor John’s departure, that significant decisions will have to be made about the way you move forward. The potential for ruptured relationships and disunity will be great. But it need not be so. What will be the key? Of course, we would all answer, “Love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14). But where does that come from?

Paul said in Colossians 1:4–5, “We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” Love because of hope. And Hebrews 10:34 gives us a beautiful illustration of the way the early Christians were able to love each other at great cost to themselves.

You had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

They went to visit their persecuted brothers and sisters in prison, and as a result their property was plundered. And how did they respond under this affliction? It says, “You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.” Where did that come from? Answer: “since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” It came from hope. Love came from hope — ultimately, hope in glory, the eternal glory of God.

So, Grace Church, in your loss, and in the coming days of transition, “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2). Eternity is vastly more important than time. Yours is going to be an immeasurably joyful eternity in the happy presence of a glorious God. Keep that perspective as you live your vapor’s breath of life that remains, and God will give you peace.