“We have it even before we do.” It may sound like a contradiction at first glance, but it isn’t. It’s just a timing question.
Primitive Christianity presents the idea that a person may have something which is promised by God before the person actually has it. What is promised by God is so certain that it’s only a matter of time until what is promised is literally received. Abraham, for example, was given the land by promise (Genesis 12), but he lived and died without ever receiving it (Hebrews 11). The land is his. He has it in prospect, given by a covenant promise which cannot be broken, and even death won’t prevent him from receiving it - when the Messiah returns.
It is recorded in Jesus’ prayer that he prayed not only for the disciples who followed him prior to his death, burial and resurrection in the 1st century but also for all of his disciples down through the following centuries.
”I pray not only for them [the disciples made during his three year earthly ministry in the 1st century], but also for those who believe in me [disciples made down through the following centuries] because of their message [the gospel]. I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. I gave them the same glory you gave me, ...”
(John 17:20-22a, TEV)
The disciples of Messiah who didn’t yet exist at the point in time when Jesus prayed for them, have already been given the same glory which God had given to him. We should think about that.
***
I was born in the 1950’s. (Readers are invited to think of the century and decade they were born in.) I’m a 21st century disciple of Jesus and I have been given the same glory, by Jesus in the 1st century, which God gave to him. I had it before I even existed, but I have it now only in prospect. I‘m looking forward to actually receiving it. I will be glorified in the future, I will literally receive what Jesus gave me nearly 2,000 years ago, when he returns.
Disciples of Jesus have glory stored up with Jesus in heaven. It is their reward, not their destination, that is in heaven. Disciples of Jesus will actually receive the glory that Jesus has with him and has long ago given them at his future parousia (second coming). They will have positions in his glorious government and manage the earth with him in the restoration of all things.
Primitive Christianity presents the idea that a person may have something which is promised by God before the person actually has it. What is promised by God is so certain that it’s only a matter of time until what is promised is literally received. Abraham, for example, was given the land by promise (Genesis 12), but he lived and died without ever receiving it (Hebrews 11). The land is his. He has it in prospect, given by a covenant promise which cannot be broken, and even death won’t prevent him from receiving it - when the Messiah returns.
It is recorded in Jesus’ prayer that he prayed not only for the disciples who followed him prior to his death, burial and resurrection in the 1st century but also for all of his disciples down through the following centuries.
”I pray not only for them [the disciples made during his three year earthly ministry in the 1st century], but also for those who believe in me [disciples made down through the following centuries] because of their message [the gospel]. I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. I gave them the same glory you gave me, ...”
(John 17:20-22a, TEV)
The disciples of Messiah who didn’t yet exist at the point in time when Jesus prayed for them, have already been given the same glory which God had given to him. We should think about that.
***
I was born in the 1950’s. (Readers are invited to think of the century and decade they were born in.) I’m a 21st century disciple of Jesus and I have been given the same glory, by Jesus in the 1st century, which God gave to him. I had it before I even existed, but I have it now only in prospect. I‘m looking forward to actually receiving it. I will be glorified in the future, I will literally receive what Jesus gave me nearly 2,000 years ago, when he returns.
Disciples of Jesus have glory stored up with Jesus in heaven. It is their reward, not their destination, that is in heaven. Disciples of Jesus will actually receive the glory that Jesus has with him and has long ago given them at his future parousia (second coming). They will have positions in his glorious government and manage the earth with him in the restoration of all things.
