that, too, has been climbed, still vaster and grander ranges rise into
view. Every fresh addition to our Christlikeness increases our power of
discernment, and every added power of discernment unfolds a larger
vision and a more glorious and alluring hope. All believers in Christ
Jesus have been saved. All believers in Christ Jesus are being saved.
All believers in Christ Jesus will be saved. And therefore, says the
apostle, always wear the helmet of hope, "the hope of salvation."
Now perhaps we cannot better draw this meditation to a close in more
immediate and practical purpose than by just gazing upon one or two of
the hopes of the apostle Paul, if perchance by God's good grace we may
appropriate them to our own souls. For he, too, is wearing the helmet of
hope, the hope of salvation. What, then, does he hope for? What mighty
hope is throwing the energies of its defences upon and around his soul?
Here is one of his hopes; look at it: "In hope of the glory of God." He
wore that hope, and he wore it like a helmet, and he wore it night and
day. He had gazed upon the glory of the Lord, the wondrous light of
grace and truth which shone in the face of Jesus Christ. And now he
dared to hold the glorious hope of becoming glorified with the same
glory. He dared to hope that his own soul would become translucent with
the holy light of divine truth and purity. It almost makes one catch the
breath to see such spiritual audacity. One has read of young boys
trembling with artistic sensibility, bowing in the presence of the
world's masterpieces in art or music, and becoming possessed with the
amazing hope of one day sharing the master's light and glory. But here
is a man who has been prostrate in the presence of his God. He has been
humbly gazing upon "the chief among ten thousand and the altogether
lovely." And now, in a daring which yet quiets the soul in reverence and
prayerful lowliness, he tells his fellow-believers that he lives "in
hope of the glory of God." What a hope! The hope of being glorified with
God's glory, of being made gracious with His grace, of being made
truthful with His truth, of being sanctified with His holiness, of being
transformed into the same image, from glory unto glory! I say, what a
hope, and therefore, what a helmet! With a helmet like that defending a
man's brain, what a defence he has against all the petty devilries which
seek to enter among our thoughts in the shape of mean purposes, and
petty moral triflings, such as so often invade and desolate the whole
realm of the mind! What a hope this is, and what a helmet; "the hope of
the glory of God."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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