March 23

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity. — Ps 84:11 BSB

Wherever God gives grace, He also gives glory. As Scripture declares, "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." In this sense, even while we are on earth, we are partakers of His glory by being partakers of His grace. Just as in the bud there is the bloom, and in the bloom, the fruit, so in grace is the beginning of glory—grace is glory begun, and glory is grace completed.

What is this “glory”? When viewed as future, in its full consummation, glory means being with Jesus in realms of eternal bliss where tears are wiped away from every face. It means seeing Him as He is, being conformed to His glorious image, and being delivered from all sin and sorrow. It means being free from every temptation, trial, burden, and heartache, dwelling forever in a place where "the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick," where weariness, burdened consciences, and troubled hearts are forever unknown.

In short, glory is having a glorified body reunited with a glorified soul, both filled to their utmost capacity with holiness and happiness, and drinking in the eternal pleasures at God’s right hand. It is unutterable joy and satisfaction, without ever tiring of the bliss.

No human heart can conceive or human tongue express the fullness of this glory. As Scripture says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." Yet, this is the glory God will give to those to whom He has already given His grace. He gives us grace now to carry us through this wilderness of sin and sorrow, and when we reach the other shore, He will give us the fullness of His glory.

Then, the prayer and will of the Redeemer will be fully realized: "Father, I desire that those You have given Me may be with Me where I am, and see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24).

Our right to this inheritance is secured by our covenant Head, and since He lives at God’s right hand to save us to the uttermost, no temptation, enemy, sin, or sorrow can prevent us from reaching the heavenly shore where God has decreed we will land. Satan may set traps to ensnare our feet, indwelling sin may burden us daily, countless lusts may rise up from our carnal nature, and guilt and despair may at times seem to cut us off from eternal life. Yet, where God gives grace, He will also give glory. When He extends grace with one hand, He offers glory with the other. Both are given from the same loving heart and by the same loving God, so they can be said to flow from His hands at the same time.

Even now, we receive a foretaste of this glory in every revelation of Christ’s glory to our souls. As Jesus said, "The glory which You gave Me, I have given them" (John 17:22). This is realized whenever He manifests His glory, and His disciples believe in Him.