The Exceeding Riches of God's Grace
Dearly beloved of God, it is Christ in you, the hope of glory! If we are having hope in Christ in this life only, then of all men we are most pitiable.
The course of this evil age does not compare to the exceeding riches of God’s grace that He will show us in the coming ages.
Ephesians 2:7
That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
The length of time – “the ages to come” – is extraordinary, as is that which our Father will display, “the exceeding riches of His grace to us in Christ Jesus”, as well as His attitude in bestowing these exceeding riches of His grace to us – “in His kindness.”
We will dwell in the Father’s loving kindness and tender mercies in Christ Jesus forever. God’s great love for us is the foundation for His rich mercy, and these exceeding riches of His grace to us in Christ Jesus.
Dearly beloved, the gathering together is only the opening event of the ages to come for us.
At the command of the Lord Jesus Christ the dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
When the Lord Jesus Christ gathers us together we will die no more; death will no longer have dominion over us.
We will be raised, or transformed to have bodies like Christ’s glorious body, and we will have the life of the ages; everlasting life.
God determined beforehand that we will be conformed to the image of His Son; he is the firstborn among many brethren. We will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t be discouraged. Our momentary light weight of affliction produces for us an eternal, exceeding heavy weight of glory.
Since we have confessed Jesus as Lord, and believed that God raised him from the dead we are saved. We are born again of the spirit from God. We received a spirit of sonship, whereby we shout, “Abba,” that is, “Father.”
The spirit itself bears witness with our inner being that we are the children of God, and since we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, so that if we do suffer together, we shall also be glorified as heirs. We have the proof of these realities every time we choose to speak in tongues.
Dearly beloved, we should take into account that the sufferings of the present time are not comparable with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Rejoice!
We may live in uncertain times, but God has given us the certainty of His Word, the certainty of who we are in Christ, and the certainty of the witness of the spirit born within us.
Faint not dearly beloved of God. Stand having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; with these things take up the shield of the right way of believing with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the wicked one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Be stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Christ is coming, and because of Christ's accomplishments the Father will show us the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus throughout the ages to come.