We are Called by God through the Gospel to Obtain the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ

2 Thes. 2:14 To which also He called you through our gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God has called us through His gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 2 Thes. 2:14).

Paul didn’t say that through the gospel God wants to save us, deliver us from hell, and bring us to heaven; rather, just as through sin we come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), through believing into the Lord and being saved daily we are called unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When He was on the earth the Lord Jesus had the glory from the Father by having the divine sonship – He expressed God the Father in full as the Son of God, and in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and be expressed. Now Christ has given His believers the glory which He has received from the Father (see John 17:2).

We as believers in Christ have received from Christ the divine life and the divine nature to be the many sons of God who express God the Father in the Son in His fullness for God’s glory (see 2 Pet. 1:4; John 1:16).

God desires to gain a corporate expression in humanity, and He will obtain this in full in the New Jerusalem. Today, in the church age, the many believers in Christ are the many sons of God who have God’s life and God’s nature, those who are called by God to obtain the glory of God.

The whole creation has been subjected to the corruption which comes through sin, and they are all eagerly expecting and looking forward to the glory of the revelation of the sons of God.

When we are being fully brought into God’s glory, when God can break through in us to fully transform us and conform us to His image, we will be revealed as the sons of God and the entire universe will enter into freedom!

In a very real sense, in the spiritual reality the entire creation is “cheering us on” to be regenerated, transformed, and glorified, so that all the creation would enter into the freedom of the revelation of the children of God (see Rom. 8:21).

Let us be brought on to maturity and let us be brought on to glory as the many sons of God following our Leader, Pioneer, and Forerunner, Jesus Christ, the One who cut the way into glory!

We are called by God through the Gospel to Obtain the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ

God chose us unto salvation in eternity past, and in time He called us unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 2 Thes. 2:13-14). The goal of God’s calling is not so that we may be sinless, perfect, ready to be raptured by the Lord and go to heaven to be with Him, or any other natural religious concept many Christians have.

The goal of God’s calling and the goal of His salvation is for the believers in Christ to be glorified in Him so that they may express God corporately for God’s glory. God the Father gave Christ His glory (see John 17:22), and this glory is nothing else but the Father’s divine life and nature (see John 5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (John 1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3).

As the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance, Christ is the image of the invisible God and in Him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell bodily. Now Christ has given us God’s glory so that we as the many sons of God with God’s life and nature (John 1:12-13; 2 Pet. 1:4) we would express God in Christ for God’s glory.

This is something mysterious yet so wonderful. We have been born of God through our believing in Jesus Christ, and now as sons of God we have been given God’s glory so that we may express God in Christ for His glory.

Whenever we live according to the mingled spirit, allowing the divine life to spread in us and live in us, we express God in Christ. God has called to obtain the glory of the divine life and the divine nature to express the Divine Being, and today we can have a foretaste of this.

All Creation is Eagerly Awaiting the Glory of the Revelation of the Sons of God

Rom. 8:19 For the anxious watching of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God.

When God created the universe everything was glorious, and all the angels and heavenly creatures rejoiced. But due to the fall of Adam, the head of all creation, now the entire creation is under the bondage and corruption. The creation which was perfect and free is now subjected to vanity and death, and corruption is operating freely.

The whole creation is groaning and travailing together in pain until now, being under a curse and under bondage. Man as the head of creation is also subject to corruption, decay, and death, and many men live a life of vanity.

When we receive the Lord Jesus and were born again, we entered the kingdom of God and we were called to obtain God’s glory. The divine life with the divine nature in us is glorious and ready to express God, but we are “veiled”, hidden, not openly manifested.

As we grow in life, cooperate with the Lord to be transformed and matured, the consummation of the process of God’s organic salvation is that we will enter into the glory of God: we will be glorified by God in Christ! The whole creation is anxiously watching and eagerly awaiting the glory of the revelation of the sons of God, yearning to enter into the freedom of our glory.

The last step of God’s great salvation is to bring His many sons into glory. Romans 8 tells us that God’s work of grace upon us began with His foreknowing, passed through His predestination, calling, and justification, and will end with His glorification (Rom. 8:29-30). Also, Rom. 8 tells us that the whole creation eagerly awaits the revelation (glorification) of the sons of God, in hope that the creation itself will enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-21). This will be accomplished by the Lord’s coming back (Phil. 3:21), at which time we will be manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4); this is our hope (Col. 1:27). This glorification of the sons of God, as the goal of God’s salvation, will last through the millennial kingdom and will be manifested in full in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23). (Heb. 2:10, footnote 3 in Recovery Version Bible)

The creation is silently “cheering us on” to grow in life, be transformed, be matured, and be glorified so that we will be revealed as the glorious sons of God expressing God corporately in Christ for His glory (see Rom. 8:19-23).

One day, as a normal result of our growth in life and being led by Christ into glory as the many sons of God, we will be glorified and we will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom, bearing the glory of the Triune God for His expression!

Of course, this not for us to receive glory from men or to be worshipped by others, but it simply is our entering into God’s glory by expressing Him corporately, and God will get all the glory! What a glorious destiny we have as children of God!

All of God’s genuine children will eventually be brought into God’s glory to express Him in full. All of God’s children will eventually bear the righteousness of God outwardly, they will be saturated with the holiness of God inwardly, and they will shine with His glory as His many sons!

Today we can have a foretaste of this in the church life as we enjoy Christ, live Christ, and express Christ, and the full taste, our full glorification by God in Christ, will be in the New Jerusalem!

Lord Jesus, thank You for calling us through the gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Save us in the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth so that we may obtain the glory of our Lord. We don’t want to settle for “going to heaven” or “being good Christians”; we want to arrive at the goal of Your calling and the consummation of Your salvation, our entering into God’s glory! Lord, glorify Your many sons so that Your many sons may glorify You in Christ. Bring us all on to maturity through transformation and conformation to Your image so that we may express You in Your glory!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Truth Lessons—Level Four (vol. 4, lsn. 51), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem, week 8 / msg 8, Having the Glory of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # For the glorious revelation / Of the sons of God to come, / All the creatures wait, expecting, / That they all may free become. / All creation groans together, / Subject now to vanity, / Looking for their full deliv’rance / From corruption’s slavery. (Hymns #970)
  # In my spirit He regenerated me, / In my soul He’s now transforming me. / He will change my body like unto His own, / Wholly making me the same as He. / Now in life and nature He is one with me / Then in Him, the glory, I will be; / I’ll enjoy His presence for eternity / With Him in complete conformity. (Hymns #948)
  # I’ll be raptured into glory, / In the Holy City dwell— / New Jerusalem, New Jerusalem; / With the overcomers shouting, / How our praises then will swell, / In the New Jerusalem. (Song on the New Jerusalem)