According to Romans 5:1-2 a believer in Christ, having been justified by faith, enjoys 1. peace with God, 2. entrance into the grace of God and 3. a hope of the glory of God. "And we exult in hope of the glory of God." The glory of God is the ultimate destination of every believer. We most often refer to this destination as heaven, the dwelling place of God. But Paul is careful here to emphasize not the place to which we are headed, but the experience we all anticipate. We anticipate the experience of being the presence of God and seeing His glory. We are reminded in the book of Jude that the Lord is "able to make us stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy." Nothing we will ever see in this life can compare to this vision of God's glory. In addition to seeing the glory of God, a believer also anticipates sharing in this glory. A believer anticipates being glorified. We are told in 1 John 3 that "when He appears we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. Paul is not simply reminding us that this is the future for a believer, but that all believers share the hope of this glory. This means that this experience of God's glory is not only highly anticipated, but absolutely certain. The certain hope of this glory creates a response in us. We "exult" in the hope of this glory. This word exult combines the ideas of rejoicing and boasting. Internally we are filled with joy at the prospect of God's glory, and externally we are boasting in it. We boast in it by prizing it above all other goals and ambitions in life. We boast in it by prioritizing our lives according to it. Ultimately the glory of God we prize is found in Jesus Christ our Lord, so as Paul says elsewhere, may we "press toward the mark of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." We exult in hope of the glory of God.
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