In Roman’s 5:2, we read what strikes me as a peculiar statement, “and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.”
In seeking to understand this, let’s first consider the word, “hope”. Biblical hope is hardly what we think of when we hear that word. When we say, “I hope so,” we generally mean that we would like such-n-such to happen but it might not. Biblical hope is having a confident expectation in something that’s absolutely certain to happen. When God says, “this will happen” and you confidently expect it to happen you have what the Bible means by hope.
So back to our phrase, the “hope of God’s glory.” It’s a sure thing. We are going to participate in it. That’s why we can already rejoice in it. But in what? What does the apostle mean by “God’s glory”?
Perhaps we could define it as the sum of all that makes God so wonderful. And of all the qualities we could list, what I find outstanding beyond words to express is that he treats every aspect of his creation according to the value he’s placed upon it. And when it comes to us as human beings he has given us intrinsic, infinite value. He has made us as valuable to him as the blood of Jesus his Son in that Jesus laying down his life was the price of our redemption.
So God always treats us according to this incommensurable value he’s placed upon us and within us. For all time and eternity no one will ever be able to say that God could have treated them even a tiny bit better than he did. No one. And I’m suggesting that that is his glory.
And here’s the blessed hope: we are going to be made like that. The moment is coming when we too will treat everyone we meet with the same profound regard for their value to God as God himself does. So truly we can rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.
