He Will Be Glorified in His Saints
In what respects will Christ be glorified and wondered at in His saints? I cannot expect to tell you one tenth part of it. I am only going to give you a little sample of what this must mean; exhaustive exposition would be quite impossible for me.
I think, regarding His saints, that Jesus will be glorified and wondered at on account of their number — “a great multitude, which no man can number” (Rev 7:9). But there is quality as well as quantity. He is admired in His saints because every one of them is proof of His power to save from evil.
My eye can hardly bear — even though it is but in imagination — to gaze upon the glittering ranks of the white-robed ones, where each one outshines the sun, and they are all as if a sevenfold midday had clothed them. Yet as I look at them, all these tell me, “We have washed our robes — for they were once defiled. We have made them white — but this whiteness is caused by the blood of the Lamb.”
These were heirs of wrath even as others; these were dead in trespasses and sins. All these like sheep had gone astray and turned everyone to his own way (see Isa 53:6); but look at them and see how He has saved them, washed them, cleansed them, perfected them! His power and grace are seen in all of them.
If your eye pauses here and there, you will discover some that were supremely stubborn, whose neck was as an iron sinew, and yet He conquered them by love. Some were densely ignorant, but He opened their blind eyes; some grossly infected with the leprosy of lust, but He healed them; some under Satan’s most terrible power, but He cast the devil out of them. Oh, how He will be glorified in special cases! In yon drunkard made into a saint, in yon blasphemer turned into a loving disciple, in yon persecutor who breathed out threatening, taught to sing everlastingly a hymn of praise! He will be exceedingly glorified in such!
The Absolute Perfection of All the Saints
Perhaps the chief point in which Christ will be glorified will be the absolute perfection of all the saints. They shall then be “without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Eph 5:27). We have not experienced what perfection is, and therefore we can hardly conceive it. Our thoughts themselves are too sinful for us to get a full idea of what absolute perfection must be; but, dear brethren, we shall have no sin left in us, for they are “without fault before the throne of God” (Rev 14:5); and we shall have no remaining propensity to sin.
There shall be no bias in the will towards that which is evil, but it shall be fixed forever upon that which is good. The affections will never be lustful again, they will be chaste for Christ. The understanding will never make mistakes. You shall never put bitter for sweet, nor sweet for bitter; you shall be “perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
And truly, brethren, He Who worketh this in us will be a wonder. Christ will be admired and adored because of this grand result. O mighty Master, with what strange moral alchemy didst Thou work to turn that sullen, bad-tempered man into a mass of love! How didst Thou work to lift that selfish, greedy man up from his hoarded gains to make him find his gain in Thee? How didst Thou overcome that proud spirit, that fickle spirit, that lazy spirit, that lustful spirit — how didst Thou contrive to take all these away? How didst Thou destroy the very roots of sin, and every little rootlet of sin, out of Thy redeemed, so that not a tiny fiber can be found?
Neither the guilt of sin nor the propensity to sin — both shall be gone, and Christ shall have done it, and He will be “glorified in his saints, and admired in them that believe.”
How the Saved Will Glorify Their Lord as Believers
Now, since my text lays special stress upon believing, I invite you just for a minute to consider how as believers as well as saints the saved ones will glorify their Lord. First, it will be wonderful that there should be so many brought to faith in Him: men with no God, and men with many gods, men steeped in ignorance, and men puffed up with carnal wisdom, great men and poor men, all brought to believe in the one Redeemer and praise Him for His great salvation. Will He not be glorified in their common faith?
It will magnify Him that these will all be saved by faith, and not by their own merits. Not one among them will boast that he was saved by his own good works, but all of them will rejoice to have been saved by that blessedly simple way of “Believe and live!” — saved by sovereign grace through the atoning blood, looked to by the tearful eye of simple faith.
This, too, shall make Jesus glorious: all of them, weak as they were, were made strong by faith; all of them personally unfit for battle were yet made triumphant in conflict because by faith they overcame through the blood of the Lamb (see Rev 12:11). All of them shall be there to show that their faith was honored, that Christ was faithful to His promise and never allowed them to believe in vain.
All of them standing in heavenly places, saved by faith, will ascribe every particle of the glory to the Lord Jesus only. They believed and were saved, but faith taketh no credit to itself; it is a self-denying grace and putteth the crown upon the head of Christ.
Glorified in Their Risen Bodies
I want you to reflect that Jesus will be glorified in the risen bodies of all His saints. Now, in heaven, they are pure spirits, but when He shall come, they shall be clothed again. Poor body, thou must sleep awhile, but what thou shalt be at thine awaking doth not yet appear. Thou art now the shriveled seed, but there is a flower to come of thee that shall be lovely beyond all thought.
Weakness, weariness, pain, and death will be banished forever; infirmity and deformity will be all unknown. The Lord will raise up our bodies to be like unto His glorious body. Oh, what a prospect lies before us! Let us remember that this blessed resurrection will come to us because He rose, for there must be a resurrection to the members because the Head has risen. Oh, the charm of being a risen man perfect in body, soul, and spirit! All that charm will be due to Christ, and therefore He will be admired in us.
Admired in All Them That Believe — Without Exception
Then let us think of the absolute perfection of the church as to numbers: all who have believed in Him will be with Him in glory. The text saith, He will be “admired in all them that believe.” Now, if some of those who believe perished, He would not be admired in them; but they will all be there, the little ones as well as the great ones.
You will be there, you poor feeble folk who, when you say “Lord, I believe,” are obliged to add “help thou mine unbelief” (Mar 9:24). He shall be admired in all believers without a single exception, and peradventure there shall be more wonder at the going to heaven of the weak believers than at the stronger ones. Heaven will ring with notes of even greater admiration that such poor creeping worms of the earth should win the day by mighty grace.
Suppose that one of them should be missing at last! Stop the harps! Silence the songs! No beginning to be merry while one child is shut out. It is the glory of Jesus that as a shepherd, He has lost none of His flock! As the Captain of salvation, He has brought “many sons to glory” (Heb 2:10) and has lost none; and hence, He is admired, not in some that believe, nor yet in all but one, but He is “admired in all them that believe.”
Does this not delight you, you who are weak and trembling — that He will be admired in you? There is little to admire in you at present, as you repentantly confess; but since Christ is in you now and will be more fully manifested in you, there will erelong be much to admire. May you partake in the excellence of our divine Lord and be conformed to His likeness that He may be seen in you and glorified in you.
The Eternal Safety of All His Believing People
Another point of admiration will be the eternal safety of all His believing people. There they are safe from fear of harm. Ye dogs of hell, you howled at their heels and hoped to devour them; but, lo, they are clean escaped from you! What must it be to be lifted above gunshot of the enemy, where no more watch shall need to be kept, for even the roar of Satanic artillery cannot be heard?
O glorious Christ, to bring them all to such a state of safety, Thou art indeed to be wondered at forever. Moreover, all the saints will be so honored, so happy, and so like their Lord that they, and everything about them, will be themes for never-ending admiration.
You may have seen a room hung round with mirrors; and when you stood in the midst, you were reflected from every point: you were seen here, and seen there, and there again, and there again, and so every part of you was reflected; just such is heaven. Jesus is the center, and all His saints like mirrors reflect His glory.
Is He human? So are they! Is He the Son of God? So are they sons of God! Is He perfect? So are they! Is He exalted? So are they! Is He a prophet? So are they, making known unto principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God. Is He a priest? So are they! Is He a King? So are they, for He hath made us “kings and priests unto God” (Rev 1:6), and we shall reign forever and ever!
Look where you will along the ranks of the redeemed, this one thing shall be seen — the glory of Christ Jesus, even to surprise and wonder.