From time to time we will come to thoughts in Scripture that we know we shall never fully understand, at least not until we get to heaven. Glory is one of them. I call it “incomparable,” not only because it resists comparison with anything we know in this life, particularly suffering, which is the contrast found in our text, but because glory is truly beyond our comprehension. At best we only have an intimation of it. And yet, the greatest word for what is in store for God’s people is glory. Our text says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

The first thing the Bible adds to our understanding is that we long for glory because we once enjoyed it. We once enjoyed glory as a race – in Adam. Adam was made “in the image of God” (Gen 1:26-27), which means that man at the beginning had a kind of glory. He was like God, and he may even have been clothed with the splendor of God like a garment. But man today is a disgrace compared to what he once was. He is a fallen being and well described by the biblical name “Ichabod,” meaning “no glory” because “the glory [had] departed from Israel” (1 Sam. 4:21). As far as man is concerned, the glory had departed from his body, his soul, and his spirit.

We enjoyed glory once though, which is why we long for it so much. But it is gone, gone with the wind. What a marvelous thing it is then, when we turn to the Bible, to find that the end of our salvation in Christ is not merely deliverance from sin and evil and their consequences, but glorification. God is restoring to us all that our first parents lost. This is what Paul is beginning to deal with here in Romans, which brings us to our text. But soon as we turn to that text and try to place it in its context, we notice that something greater even than restoration of Adam and Eve’s lost glory is involved. As we read on in Romans 8 we find that we are to have an enjoyment of God and participation in God that surpasses Adam’s.

All this brings us directly to the text. For in Romans 8:18 Paul is comparing the future glory to be enjoyed by God’s people to their present suffering, but saying that the glory far outstrips their suffering. That’s obvious isn’t it? For if the glory we are to enjoy is to exceed even that minimal glory enjoyed by Adam, it is certain that it will exceed the trials we are enduring now.

Finally, if we can appreciate what Paul is saying in this text and get it fixed in our minds, we will find it able to change the way we look at life and the way we live – more than anything else we can imagine. It will provide two things at least: (1) Vision. Focusing on the promise of glory will give us a vision of life in its eternal context, which means that we will begin to see life here as it really is; that is, we need to emerge from the darkness into God’s light. (2) Endurance. Breaking the spell of the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us will give us strength to endure whatever hardships, temptations, persecutions, or physical suffering it pleases God to send us. Suppose there were no glory. Suppose this life really were all there is. If that were the case, I for one would not endure anything, at least nothing I could avoid. But knowing that there is an eternal weight of glory, I will try to do what pleases God and hang on in spite of anything.

Verse 18 has one more word we need to examine; it is the word “consider.” It is the process by which we figure something out. We are dealing with God’s real world, and we are instructed to think this out clearly. Paul writes “I consider that…” meaning that he has thought it through and concluded that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” By using this word he invites us to think it through also. If you are a Christian, I ask, “Isn’t what the apostle says in this verse true? Isn’t the glory to come worth anything you might be asked to face here, however painful or distressing?” If you know that you are part of heaven’s citizenry, you will endure – and say with the hymn writer, “yet how rich is my condition.”

Romans 8:18 Reflection Questions:

What is “the glory that is going to be unveiled for us” depicted in verse 18?

What is it you look towards when you are going through a time of suffering?

When going through suffering do you say “yet how rich is my condition?”