Welcome back to another video in our series about justification. In this video, we somehow come to the climax of everything. We will talk about the third result of being justified and that is nothing else but the glory of God. We have already seen that when we look to our past, our sinful past we have peace with God. And then the second result was that we had access to God in His grace. That is, now in the present we’ve this access in God’s grace, we know that God will never think about us other than in grace but now Even though we possess these two things already, there’s something that is safe and secure, but it’s still in the future. And that’s the glory of God. We boast or we rejoice in hope of the Glory of GOD. Now you might ask and say, hold on a second, didn’t you mention hope and rejoicing in that same sentence? If you hope for something, you’re not sure about it. How can you rejoice about? There’s something uncertain about the whole thing. No, it’s not. You see, we need to differentiate how we use hope in everyday language and how scripture uses hope. In everyday language, we may say, I hope tomorrow we have good weather or I’ll hope that I will get a salary raise. We’re not sure about it. It might happen, but it might as well not happen. we don’t know. it’s just something we hope. might even turn out to be wishful thinking. but not only do we not know when it happens, we don’t know whether it will happen at all. And that’s the big difference to scriptural use of hope. We don´t know, when that happens but we know that it happened. There is something that is called Christian hope And that directs us to the future. It direct us the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mainly concerns His coming again to receive all those who believe in Him to Himself. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the apostle speaks about those that have no hope. But then he speaks to believers because they had hope and then He unfolds before them that the Jesus will come again. He explains to them the rapture. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes again to receive all those who have believed in Him unto Himself, that He will come unto the clouds and that we will meet Him, and the dead in Christ shall raise first and then we the living shall meet. Him in the clouds, together with those that have been raised. And then eternally we shall be with Him. That is the Christian hope. As I said before, we don’t know when this is going to happen, but we certainly know that it is not going happen. It is something that we can’t see because it’s not here yet. But we wait patiently. until it will unfold. It is safe and secure. Why? Because God has promised so. And when God promises so, who cannot lie, it certainly will happen. That is the Christian hope and that is what the apostle Paul says. The reason for us to rejoice, because the glory of God is ahead of us. Now when we speak now about the glory of God, I would like to remind us of something. In Romans chapter 5, verse 1, we have seen already that we HAVE been justified. This rejoicing of us finds its foundation in God. Because He is the one that has justified us. We are justified through faith, but it is God is the one that has justified us. We cannot justify ourselves, we cannot force God. we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore He can justify us and still remain just. But the point that I wanted to make is, God IS the One that justifies us And there is no such thing as unjustification. Remember, justification is that God declares us just. That is the position, that is this standing that we have before Him. And when God has justified us, there’s no one who can bring any accusation against us. No one can question our position as before God. That is a position that is standing that we cannot lose. And if that’s the case, or since that it the cases, also the glory of God is safe and secure. We cannot loose that. For everybody who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, who believes in the one that died on Calvary’s cross. We know that we have been justified on the principle of faith. It is God who justifies. And as a result of that, we now rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That glory God that awaits us, that is still future, but that future can come any second. And you see, it’s the blood of Christ that entitles us. That is the foundation of that blessing. It is a new birth that we have experienced, where God has given us His life. Remember John chapter 3? You must be born again, when we received eternal life, God’s life God nature that qualifies us, that is also necessary. But here we see the aim, the purpose of God. He wanted man like you and me to be in His glory. That was in the heart of God, and that is something that makes me happy because it makes realize the kind of god I have to do with. It is a god who wanted me, who believes in Lord Jesus Christ, whose now justified by God on the principle of faith to with Him in glory.” That is really the purpose that God had, fully a part of the question of sin. I would like to show you something and we go to the letter to Ephesians, which we already had in one of the latest videos, but I’d like come back to that. I see there’s one thing that we have to learn, I think. Sometimes we need to leave the thought of sin and our responsibility and even the work of Jesus Christ for a minute apart. And we need to go in that sphere, that realm, this time if you like, can’t really talk about time, but where there was only God. And Ephesians 1.3 says, or 4, before the foundations of the world. When there only was God, when there were no sin and no sinners, and there God purposed something in his heart. And that is what Ephesians 1 puts before us, that there was something in the heart of God that He delighted to do. It is the delight of His will that he executed. And what was the purpose of His heart? That is what we read in verse 4, Ephesians 1-4, Just as He choose us in Him, that is the Lord Jesus, before the foundation of the world, That we should be holy and without blame, Before Him in love. Before him, who is that? The God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. That brings us to verse 3. He choose us before the foundation of the world when there was no sin, when not even one single sin committed. He chose us in the Lord Jesus that we should be before Him. And if I was not fit, and all those who also chosen, then He would make us fit. If we were not worthy, He would make us worthy. He will execute His will. And yes, the question of sin had to be answered. God in the light of sins had be satisfied fully. His righteousness had been served. Sin is not an accident. It is something that caught God by surprise. But saving us And answering to the question of sin is not God’s first intent. Saving us from the penalty of sins is NOT God first thought. The first thoughts is to have human beings in His presence. To have us before Him. And therefore make us what we must be to be in his presence Holy without blame before Him in love. That makes me really happy because I’m allowed to see into the heart of God what He intended and then what he executed in time. Romans sees the whole from a different perspective. It looks to man from the perspective of responsibility. There’s none that seeks God, there’s non that does good. But then there are also those who believe in the Lord Jesus and they have been justified on the principle of faith. And because they are justified, because there have that position before God now, God wants them to be in His glory, in his presence. I just wanted to make clear, what is the purpose of God? It is His own glory. If you go to Romans chapter 8, read something else, very remarkable. It starts before the foundation of the world again. It goes into time and goes out of time into eternity again. Romans 8, 29. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That is what happened, so to say, in eternity past. And now comes what happens in time. Moreover, whom He predestined, He also called. Whom He called, these He justified. And whom he justified, he also glorified. We could also translate it as He has justified and He glorifies. Yes? We boast in the hope of the glory of God, and we have seen that it’s still future. For us, it is still… future! But in The Councils of G-d, in His will, It is as though it was present already. It’s safe and secure, And no one can question this. We have been justified, we have peace with God, We Have access to God in His grace and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. What a God we Have to do with. Thank you very much for watching this video and until the next one I say goodbye and God bless.