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The Eternal Weight of Glory, August 24
We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
, NIV.
The years of self-denial, of privation, of trial, affliction, and persecution that
Paul endured, he called a moment. The things of the present time were not con-
sidered worth mentioning when compared with the eternal weight of glory that
awaited them when the warfare should be over. These very afflictions were God’s
workmen, ordained for the perfection of Christian character. Whatever may be the
circumstances of the Christian, however dark and mysterious may be the ways of
Providence, however great his deprivation and suffering, he may look away from
them all to the unseen and the eternal. He has the blessed assurance that all things
are working for his good....
The Holy Spirit irradiated the soul of Paul with light from heaven, and he was
assured that he had an interest in the purchased possession reserved for the faithful.
Paul’s language was strong. He was not able to find words of sufficient force to
express the excellency of that glory, honor, and immortality which believers would
receive when Christ should come. Compared with the scene upon which his mind’s
eye was dwelling, all temporal afflictions were but momentary, light afflictions,
unworthy of thought. Viewed in the light of the cross, the things of this life were
vanity and emptiness. The glory that attracted him was substantial, weighty, durable,
beyond the power of language to describe.
Yet Paul comes as near to expressing it as he can, that the imagination may grasp
the reality as far as is possible to finite minds. It was a weight of glory, a fullness
of God, knowledge that was measureless. It was an eternal weight of glory. And
yet Paul feels that his language is tame. It falls short of expressing the reality. He
reaches out for words more expressive. The boldest figures of speech would fall far
short of the truth. He seeks the broadest terms which human language can supply,
that the imagination may grasp in some degree the superlative excellency of the
glory to be given the final overcomer.
Holiness, dignity, honor, and felicity [happiness] in the presence of God are
things now unseen except by the eye of faith. But the things which are seen, worldly
honor, worldly pleasure, riches, and glory, are eclipsed by the excellency, the beauty,
and resplendent glory of the things now unseen. The things of this world are
temporal, enduring only for a time, while the things which are not seen are eternal,
enduring through endless ages. To secure this infinite treasure is to gain everything
and lose nothing (
The S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, vol.
6, 1099, 1100
).
In the future we shall see how closely all our trials were connected with our
salvation, and how these light afflictions worked out for us “a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory” (
2 Corinthians 4:17
) (
Letter 5, 1880
).
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