PARTAKERS OF GLORY

“The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a PARTAKER of the GLORY that will be revealed” – 1 Peter 5:1

Peter described himself as “a PARTAKER of the GLORY that will be revealed” (1Pet.5:1b). Being a Partaker of Glory is however not the peculiar possession of apostles; it is the promised portion of every Believer in Christ: “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2Pet.1:3-4). You can be a Partaker!

Every Believer in Christ has a CALLING to GLORY. Peter prayed for believers in all generations: “But may the God of all grace, who CALLED US to HIS ETERNAL GLORY by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (v.10). The believer has been “called” to God’s “eternal Glory by Christ Jesus”! It is common in our days to use the phrase “called to glory” to describe the death of assumed believers. The idea is that people are “called to glory” only at death! We ignorantly transfer everything concerning glory to the future by-and-by. Perhaps this is why many Christians are either uninformed or ill-informed about our calling to operate in the realms of glory.

Our Calling to Glory is not meant for the by-and-by; it is an accomplished, present-tense reality. For more than two-thousand years, Jesus has been in the ministry of bringing many sons to glory: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many SONS to GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb.2:10). You do not have to wait until death to be “called to glory”! God’s divine power… “HAS CALLED US TO GLORY and virtue (2Pet. 1:3). In the here-and-now, God has already “CALLED US to HIS ETERNAL GLORY by Christ Jesus” (v.10). And He gives us insight into the divine process: “after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (v.10). No suffering in Christ is ever in vain: it’s all part of the Glory process!

How many present-day believers are aware of this Calling? How many have responded to or embraced this Calling? How many of us truly understand the realities of the Realms of Glory? The Bible relates two intricately interwoven spiritual realities – Grace and Glory. Two scriptures come to mind: “Surely He…gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory…” (Pro.3:34b-35a); “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psa.84:11). Grace and Glory are like two ends of the same divine ladder. God is the Giver of both, but we receive them differently. Grace comes to the humble, while Glory is the portion of the wise. For example, the grace for salvation comes to whoever realizes that he or she is a sinner, and therefore humbles him or herself to repent and believe on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary.

Glory is to believers, what grace is to the entire humanity. The Grace of God appeared to “all men” (Tit.2:11). Likewise, the Glory of God has appeared to all believers. Grace comes to all men. The humble receive it. Glory comes to all believers. The wise inherit it. Though grace appears to all people, only those who receive it and the salvation it brings are saved. Similarly, realms of glory are accessible to all of God’s children, but only those believers who appreciate and appropriate “the riches of His Glory” will experience its fruits. As we stand upon the grounds of grace, we “rejoice in the hope of Glory” (Rom. 5: 2). But beyond rejoicing in hope, there are yet higher realms; we are to become Partakers of the Glory!