PREPARED FOR GLORY

Robert Taylor

Ephesians 1: 3-10; 2: 7,8; Revelation 21: 10,11

One of the features of which we have been speaking as to the teaching of grace is that it leads us to await the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are awaiting that appearing. The precious fact is that when He appears we will appear with Him. That is what the scripture says, When He is manifested we will also be manifested with Him in glory (Col 3: 4). The scripture we have read speaks of the glory of His grace, which we are to be taking on now. In one sense, as believing on Christ as our Saviour we are fitted for glory. To the thief on the cross, who confessed is name, the Lord says, Today you will be with Me in paradise. We shall be there on the basis of His work of redemption. What He has done in shedding His blood, and has accomplished in that death that He endured, has made a way that the saints may be in glory with Him. But what we have been speaking of is how God's grace has come in to prepare us for glory.

We will not be there as strangers. The grace of God is working today in the riches of His grace to prepare us for glory. We are to be taking it on now. Scripture speaks of the way in which He has moved in His mercy and in His love; "that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory, us", Rom 9: 23. How beautiful that is, that God is preparing us for glory. It is not the time of its display yet; it is still man's day, but the saints are to be taking it on now. I think that is one of the great effects of the teaching of grace that the saints are taking on features of the Man who has already been anointed, features that are foreign to this world but which will be at home in heavenly glory. Mr Darby says in his hymn, 'There no strangerGod shall meet thee'; he raises the question,

'Stranger thou in courts above! -

He, who to His rest shall greet thee,

Greets thee with a well-known love' (Hymn 76)

He is preparing us in His ways and in His grace to be at home in those courts above. It is a very fine thing that when Christ is manifested, when He appears, the saints will be with Him, adding to His glory, the assembly there with Him. When He comes into display the saints of this dispensation, vessels of mercy, who have been formed in His grace will be alongside of the anointed Man. God is working to that end, of the saints having their place in glory. The sufferings of the present time to Paul were very testing; he knew what it was to be alone in prison, chained, and afflicted. What sufferings he went through! What pressure came upon him, and yet he says, "Our way not entirely shut up" (2 Cor 4: 8). As he weighed these things up he says, it is not worthy to be compared with the coming glory. The Lord would encourage our hearts at the present time that He is preparing us to glory. He is bringing many sons to glory, He is bringing us to be at home in these circumstances that are suited to the enjoyment of His love. This book is very rich in how God has acted in His love that He may secure persons to be at home in the full display of what has come out in this dispensation.

So Paul speaks of how God has acted even before the world began. What wealth he brings into these verses as to the way in which God has moved of Himself, glory the end of His ways. What His ways are working out is what He purposed in Himself. Think of God's heart that He purposed in Himself before the world's foundation, before ever sin raised its head to seek to spoil what He was doing. God purposed and He chose us in Him before the world's foundation that there might be persons secured to display the glory of His grace. Nothing can change the purpose of God. What assurance it gives to the soul, as it did to these persons of whom we have been speaking, to lay hold of God's purposes. Indeed the scripture speaks of the unchangeableness of His purpose (Heb 6: 17). Whatever forces have sought to challenge Him, His purpose remains unchangeable because of the One in whom it is centred. He has found a Man in Christ and His work, by whom all His purpose will be effectuated and those chosen ones will be at home in glory. So he says He has marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself. What movements of love that our hearts can never fathom, God moving of Himself and the great end and result of it will be to the glory of His grace when God will be glorified in persons formed in features of Christ.

We may speak first of all of the riches of His grace - we have been speaking of some of them - which He has caused to abound toward us in wisdom, intelligence, and made known to us the mystery of His will. What a touch of His grace that God should confide something hidden from the world and men, but in the riches of His grace He has made known to us the mystery of His will, and that all centred upon Christ, the Man of His choice, the One whom He has anointed, as we have been speaking of Him, in Zion upon His holy hill, His King. God has made known to us that the mystery of His will is all centred in Him. It is fine to be able to see how things are working out as we look at Christ. As you look at the book of Revelation you see scenes of confusion upon this earth, confusion in the world and in the air too, but John, in the midst of all these things, is led into the secret of all God's ways, that they are centred in Christ. The book of Revelation becomes intelligible as we see that everything in God's ways is centred in the Man of His choice; things in heaven, things on earth will all be set in their place in relation to Christ. What a touch of His grace that He should give us an insight into His eternal thoughts and purposes! The riches of His grace have come to us to form us so that we will be at home in those circumstances of glory. God speaks of these riches - we have been speaking of some of them too, that God should in grace reach out to settle our debt, and strengthen us by the gift of His Spirit. All these things come into the riches of His grace. But the great end of grace was not only to meet our need but that we will be at home in glory. What an ingathering it will be, the time of display. It is not yet the time of display but that is what grace will lead us into. Today it is being worked out in circumstances that are oppressive. The riches of His grace are forming overcomers, but the great end to which it is leading is "to the glory of His grace". Then there will be something there, as the writer of old says, What hath God wrought! (Num 23: 23). What a wonderment it will be! It brings out the substantiality of those riches of His grace. As I say, it has come in to meet the needs but it has really come in to bring us to circumstances of glory. God is looking on to the time of display, awaiting the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Man who has been rejected - Mephibosheth's King - when he will come in peace. All nations shall adore Him, their gold and tribute bring. What a day it will be when He appears in His glory and in His majesty, when He who has been denied His rightful place will be seen and every knee shall bow before Him, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Well, dear brethren, we are looking on to that. Indeed the enjoyment of His grace would form us so that we are longing to see Christ publicly owned, to see the full result of His work in what He has done in redemption, what He has done for God and what He has done for men. Think of what He has done for God, that God in righteousness will bring in a scene where He shall dwell with men! It says the tabernacle of God will be with men. These things have all been effectuated by what Christ has done and they will be displayed. How full and rich will be the time of display! The apostle speaks of it time and again so that we should be looking for it. We should be longing that He will have His rightful place; He who suffered once must reign. The whole creation will break forth: Worthy art thou. It is beautiful that chapter in Revelation 5 when he is seen in His worthiness. The whole scene changes as Christ comes into His place, when He takes up His rights, when He is seen as the One who is the great operator, the One who has made a way for God to have His pleasure in men. It says that we are to be “to the praise of the glory of his grace". No one else could have accomplished what He has brought out of this scene of confusion, where sin has disrupted everything. What God is bringing out of it will be to the praise of the glory of His grace. God is awaiting it and we are awaiting it too. Soon it will be seen in display in this vessel of which we read in Revelation, having the glory of God. That display is not something that is going to happen miraculously. We sometimes think in relation to the day to come that there will be a sudden change; it will be that, but I think what comes into display is being formed now by the riches of His grace. What John saw was the holy city, Jerusalem. Think of what Jerusalem had been in man's hands, what inroads the enemy has sought to make in that city. But here it is, the glory of His grace seen in this holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God; a creature vessel - ever that - and yet it is unique, "having the glory of God". That is what the riches of His grace has effectuated, that there is a vessel there having the glory of God. As this chapter brings out it is a very substantial thing. It will be the wonder of the universe, not only will Christ be admired, but so will this city in which is displayed the glory of His grace. It says, "having the glory of God, Her shining...". There is something about her that is formed in the time of pressure, in circumstances of sorrow producing character that is suited to the time of display. God will not display anything of man, what will be displayed in a creature vessel is something that is entirely heavenly in character. I think the precious stones speak of some of the riches of His grace in the foundations. It says, "and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb". The riches of God's grace were seen in the apostles, in what was formed in them that bore something of the character of Christ. Think of Peter and these others, what they endured in the way of suffering when here as despised men. Paul speaks of himself, and it would be true of the others, regarded as the offscouring of the world (1 Cor 4: 13). Despised, set at nought by men and the enemy's forces against them, but here they are displaying the glory of His grace as their names are in the foundations, the twelve apostles of the Lamb. How like Christ they were and how like Christ is every feature in this city, in these stones of which we have been speaking and too in the gates. Think of the administration of the city, and then the pearl and the precious stones, something there that is the shining in glory. But my point is that it is being formed now. It is not something unreal, it is something that His grace is forming now that will be at home in the time of display.

Well, it is not far off, dear brethren. We already have some insight by the Spirit into what it is to be at home in scenes of heavenly glory and to taste something of the sweetness of that love. It is very precious that John writes about the dwelling of God before he speaks of the display of grace. In the order of it, the latter part of the chapter historically would come before the beginning of the chapter, but John is speaking of the preciousness of the assembly's portion as the dwelling place of God. It is the way, I think someone has said, a lover would write; it is far more precious to a lover to be thinking of dwelling than of the time of reigning. How great an influence this vessel is going to have in the day to come when God will be known in the city! The glory of His grace will be seen as God will be known in her palaces and in her gates, "Her shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone". Then it says, too, that the nations shall walk by its light. I bring in these things to show the greatness and grandeur of what is being formed in the present time by the glory and riches of His grace, that will shine in the day of display, when the world to come will be enriched by what God is doing today, ''the nations shall walk by its light". We walk today in the light of Christ and what has come in in the revelation of God in His grace, but here those nations are going to come into things through the assembly enjoying her portion - they will walk by its light. It says its gates shall not be shut at all by day; the position that the assembly will fill in God's administration will benefit the whole earth as enriched by the outshining in display of what God is doing today. May it encourage our hearts. As Paul says, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory". Paul knew the sufferings far deeper than any of us, but he also knew something of the glory. He said, "I know a man in Christ", 2 Cor 12: 2. He had some insight into those courts, as to the place that men were to have in glory through the riches of God's grace, and it was far more to him than the present suffering, so he was awaiting the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. May we be given strength, dear brethren, to be awaiting the appearing. As it says, When He is manifested we will appear with Him in glory (Col 3: 4), a suited companion. There will not be the King and His subjects exactly, there will be the King and His consort, there will be Christ and the assembly - appearing with Him in glory. I think that is the great culmination, that there is a vessel being formed to be His consort, to be alongside Him, to be with Him, all to enhance the glory that belongs to Him because the Man is not complete without the woman - Christ and the assembly. The place that the assembly is to fill in this chapter opens our eyes in wonderment that the whole universe will be enlightened by her shining. But the first thing is that Christ is to have His joy in His assembly. What a joy it will be to Him! The marriage of the Lamb has come, the bride is there, as the Lamb's wife, in all her beauty enriched through what is taking place in the present time.

May our hearts be encouraged. In the days in which we are we are apt to look on them and be discouraged by the sufferings of the present time, but may we be enriched and strengthened to endure. That is a great feature of the Lamb's wife that she is able to endure, and be faithful in the time of His absence so as to be, as I have said already, a suited consort in the time of display. May we be waiting, proving grace upon grace. "For of his fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace" (John 1: 16), and here is a vessel in which that fulness is resident. It speaks about it like that, "the fulness of him who fills all in all", Eph 1: 23. We are being filled at the moment, dear brethren. May our hearts be capable of taking it in so as to have a true valuation of our calling, so that the enemy may not discourage our hearts through the weakness and pressures and the sufferings of the present time; but may we be encouraged to be looking for the glory to see that what is being formed now is something that is taking on these heavenly features. The assembly will not be strange to those courts or to the glory because we are taking it on now; it says, "having the glory of God, a creature vessel still but a glory that is her own. It has been spoken of as a reflected glory, and it may be, but it is her own, it is her glory, she has something that belongs to herself. The fruit of the Spirit's work and the fruit of grace, is something that is unique, that all points to Christ, her Husband, the heavenly Man.

May we be encouraged thus to take on something of it now that grace may have its perfect work so that we are suited through those riches and administrations of love to those heavenly courts in which through grace we will soon have our eternal part. For His Name's sake.