There is sufficient connection between these two thoughts – Dominion and Glory – to incline the mind to look at them together. Let it, however, be remembered, that the Holy Spirit has not, in writing Scripture, been pleased to handle truths by subjects – taking (as man would have done) one topic after another, until all were severally considered; and giving each in a way as abstract, and, as internally perfect in itself, as possible. A creed or a confession made by man may so give us truth, or its skeleton, on dissection. What God reveals comes, on the contrary, instinct with Divine power and full of vital energy, and comes in the power of the associations which belong to it. Forgetfulness, or neglect of this, will lead to weakness and feebleness in the faith.
A. Glorified Together With Him
In Rom. 8:17, we read, ἱνα καὶ συνδοξασθώμεν, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together [with Him].”
The person of the Christ, as he now is in Heaven, is the very center and regulator of the truth, given to us in this chapter: Christ up there; Christ in and before God – the present object of the faithful, as being witnessed of to them by the Holy Spirit and their present position and standing; their privileges, experiences, calling and hopes – all according to this blessed truth that they are looked upon by God as one with the Christ. Led by, as subjected to, the Spirit of God, they are sons of God, They know it, for the spirit which they have received is according to that position; it is not a spirit of bondage again to fear, but of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba! and the Holy Spirit bears witness, according to the word, to the same truth of the position of sons, which belongs to the new nature divinely given to us.
In the Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, the blessings of believers are often presented to us, according to the law of the relationship which exists – first, between Christ as the Head of a body, and the members of that body; and second, between Christ, as the second man, and His bride; blessings according to positions taken by the Son as the Christ and assigned to us. In the Epistle to the Romans, we are looked at more in our individuality of being: consequently, the whole question of sin in man, and in the individual, is more gone into in the Epistle to the Romans than in that to the Ephesians, and the blessing is according to a place assigned to us by God in His Family, as placed there around the Christ, who is His Son. The nature given to us, and the place. assigned to us in this new nature, correspond. We “were by nature the children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3); we have been made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Having the divine nature, we are (as we see in Rom. 8) sons of God. For the Spirit of Christ (ver. 9-10), “the Spirit of God who raised up Jesus from the dead,” as given to us to lead us, is the Spirit of sonship. We are sons of God (ver. 14); and we know the blessed position in which grace has thus set us, for we “have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.” The position assigned to us is according to the nature given to us.
The blessing of this gift to us, as is shown in Rom. 8, is manifold. In it are found, through faith in the work of Christ: first, complete deliverance from all that was against; and second, complete introduction into a new world and life – a life, according to which (walking in the light of that other world into which we are brought) we can live to God, and serve Him in the spirit – though the body be dead because of sin. And what a blessedness to be a son of God; a son of God according to the pattern of the Christ. Not a son, as was Adam by creation; nor as was Israel, in the governmental arrangements of God upon earth; but a son by grace, through adoption, enabled, through ability given to us, to know that He, who is the God and Father of our Lord. Jesus Christ, is also our God and Father; and able to say to Him in the energy and according to the new nature, Abba! Father. But, then, not only does the heart, instinct with the new nature, turn and say, in its confiding, happy, though peaceful joy...Abba! but “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (ver. 16). Yes; the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the word, and all His divine actings as a living person toward us (in the care which, as the Paraclete, He has over us) all bear witness that He recognizes and owns us as the children of God. But what a place of holy safety, happy privilege, and amazing honor is this! We are already sons of God; already been called and named sons of God; and we know it; and we have hearts to enjoy it; and a sure witness greater than ourselves (through whom is the word, and from whom is every action, and impulse and regulation of blessing) is acting as God the Comforter (or rather Paraclete, Guardian) towards us, caring for us all through our course, as those whose names are inscribed in the Book of Life, and whom He knows to be near to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. A relationship is above all its consequences, and contains more in it than all its consequences. To be a child of God, and to know it; to be owned now in such relationship, not only by God and by Christ in heaven, but by the Spirit of God in the word and in all His personal and individual dealings towards me now, is a blessing which links me up to the living God in all the affections of His heart as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this is a most precious joy to the heart. But the blessing stops not there. When God’s fountain is open, His streams well forth, and each blessing has a tale of eternal fullness to tell; blessing from God never comes alone. So we read, ver. 17, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Such are the hopes which are inseparable from the adopted children. They belong to – they are called now to love as members in – a family which has a bright tomorrow. Redemption has an inheritance for Christ with God. He waits, who is the heir, for the inheritance – ‘tis God’s inheritance as connected with redemption; ‘tis ours, also, who, as now sons, have the hopes of the family of God – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Men have to wait until their fathers, loved in nature, are dead ere they can inherit, and many a heart would rather be without the inheritance and keep the parent. But when God takes in possession, together with His Christ, redemption-glory – we as sons shall be there, and we know that Himself now looks forward to it, for He has bidden us rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and more than this, He, the Christ, has given to us the glory which was given unto Him. Surely, apart from the inheritance itself and the mode of taking it, as associate with Christ, there is food divine in the love which thus gilds the Christian’s horizon for him; If children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Indeed, that the association of us with Himself and with His Christ, is the very object of this portion, is plain. For He goes on: “if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” – Christ and no separation from Christ. Our hearts may well humble themselves as to the little practical association which we realize, in suffering together with Christ. The Lord Himself show us mercy in this respect, and gives us of that moral glory which filled His Son and may fill us, as it has done many Christians even to the overflowing their small vessels; but that moral glory and character never can be, and shine out in a world like this, without suffering. The unselfishness of enlightened love, which seeks not its own but God’s, and seeks, as to man, his blessing in that which is God’s, cannot be here below without suffering. Let no one deceive himself as to this.
But, further, as the suffering together with Him now is the result of association in life with Him, for the life is not in harmony with the state either of our bodies or of the world around us; so, when the Lord of Life has displaced Satan from his usurped position, He will so change our bodies and bring them also into a sphere where all will be in accordance with Himself, and that life which we now possess, as that the glory of it then, shall be as natural a result of its being there, as sorrow now is of our being here. The life has its own moral glory peculiar to itself; of sympathy with God, and devotion to Him and His plans and. ways. Shown it was perfectly in Christ, in humiliation; shown it will be, too, in all the eternal fullness of its source in Him, in redemption-glory. It is in us, and its moral glory can now be displayed in the fellowship of His mind here below; its native, intrinsic, moral glory will have a bright outshining hereafter; but the sweetest part of the portion to come will still be in that it is together with.
The glory here spoken of may, of course, be at first in connection with the kingdom; but it is separable from the kingdom; for it outlasts it, and it is of wider scope. It is the display in glory of association with the Lord.
It is “the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18), as the Lord Himself said elsewhere – “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23). It is “the manifestation of the sons of God” (ver. 19) – “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (ver. 21). And on this bright hour, God has hung the hopes of creation (ver. 20), though no heart has the hope, sentiently and with intelligence, save the us, who, having received the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. This hope in the heart, divinely sustained, being in accordance with that for which creation is kept by God, marks the character of our association, and the intelligence of the association, with the Christ which grace has given to us. We know with certainty of a glory, not yet seen, that is coming; and, therefore, “do we with patience wait for it” (ver. 25).
And then (ver. 26) the Spirit goes on to show the results of this present association in life with the Christ; association, which leads now to sorrow in the flesh and from the world, as also it gives the assurance of a future revelation in glory. But it has a heavenly side, which even now, at the present, is replete with blessing. For God ministers to us amid all our present infirmities, and they may be but the occasion of letting us into the exceeding grace of God. We have infirmities, weaknesses; and we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. This would be sorrowful, if the instruction stopped here. But it goes on to show how the Spirit, and Christ, and God, use the very present infirmities in us poor yet blessed ones, as the means to display the riches of grace. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27). And thus our very infirmities, instead of discouraging us, lead us to a better realizing of the unsearchable preciousness of that life given to us, which is unsearchable by human ken in its sympathies now, in the range of its glory hereafter; and which, just when we realize infirmities, is the means of making us realize dependence, and the near, close watchfulness of God. We know also (ver. 28) our connection with the counsels of God, as turning all to our blessing, because (ver. 29) the end of that counsel is the glory of His Son as to be (not alone in redemption-glory, but) surrounded by many.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did’ foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:28-29). Chief in joy He shall yet be, whose sorrows were beyond those of all others. But the counsel and the plan divine are, that He shall then not be alone in His joy and glory, but surrounded by many brethren. And so we read (ver. 30), “Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
The concluding part of the chapter, in like manner, leads the mind not to dominion, but to association with Christ according to the mind of God. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who (can be) against us? Be that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:31-39).
Faith may scan the wondrous, vast revelation which is here given. Surely, yea, most surely does it portray the blessedness of association with God and His Son, which is ours, as possessing the Spirit of Christ Jesus. He who sets our infirmities before us, to make us know our blessedness, here to silence us in wonder, causes the vision of His plan, and works and care to pass before us; while His Spirit moves our hearts within to say, What shall we say to these things?
B. If We Suffer, We Shall Also Reign With Him. 2 Tim. 2:12.
Moral character, relationship and external manifestation hang together naturally and necessarily before God, whether in good or in evil. He that has usurped power in this world has a character (as of a liar and a murderer from the beginning), and all that is opposed to God may cluster round him and be under his sway. In man’s day He may make darkness to pass for light, and light to pass for darkness; but a day is coming, even the day of the Lord and of God, when all shall be seen in its true color, and be manifested accordingly. The Prince of Life, on the other hand, has a moral character of His own in the perfection of sympathy with, and subjection to, all the good pleasure of God, He has relationships of the most blessed kind; and a time is coming in which not only shall He be owned, as now, on the Father’s throne, though hidden there, but shall stand forth confessed as the Champion and the Victor, whom God delights to honor. His taking His power and reigning will be still in Servant-character. It is well, with such hearts as we have, to recall this to mind; for many a one looks forward to the day of power, without remembering that in that day the gift of power to us will not be the letting of self loose, but the expression of perfect exemption from all selfishness and self-seeking. The power of that day is the power of God and of the Lamb.
As in the Epistle to the Romans, the being glorified together with Christ brings out the blessedness of our association with Him, in all with which He will stand connected in that coming day; so, this passage (2 Tim. 2:12) brings out the truth, most important in its place, that, if now we are associates of Christ’s, realizing our weakness, and suffering from a rude rough world around, as was Timothy, that the time draws near when power, and power of dominion, shall be ours. “We shall reign together with Him.” For He that has loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, has made us unto God and His Father kings and priests; and we shall reign together with Him (Rev. 1:6). When He comes to put down His enemies, He will bring us with Him (Rev. 2:26-27). While He is putting them down, we shall be with Him (1 Cor. 15).
And when He reigns, we shall reign together with Him (Rev. 1:6; Rev. 21). As a stimulant to patient endurance under suffering, and to hardy, courageous warfare, nothing is better than for the soul, amid its sufferings, to bethink itself of the glory and power which awaits it. Only, as has been said before, let the thought of its being fellowship together with the Christ, whether in the suffering or in the glory, be that on which we are set. If we be in association with Him, no burden of sorrow, weakness, anguish or suffering will be found too much for us, for He bears the burden of our load; and if our prospect is association with Him in glory and dominion, there is no fear of the heart’s getting elated or puffed up. The glory is His, and our share of it, though it be an exceeding and eternal weight of glory, is His free gift to us; and the very greatness of it will, even in anticipation, if His person and presence is borne in mind, only humble our souls. Who or what am I, or what have I, or what can I do or be, that the Lord of all glory should have told me plainly, that when He takes His dominion and glory, and reigns, He means me to be there, as a sharer of that dominion and that glory together with Him?