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John
saw Christ in the present Heaven as a powerful shining being, not someone who
would blend into a crowd. Since God Himself is consistently portrayed as
existing in brilliant light, it shouldn’t surprise us to think that in His
presence we too will partake of His brightness. As resurrected beings, we will
indeed bear this physical evidence of being God’s image bearers and living in
God’s presence. To be glorified appears to mean that we may literally shine. If
God Himself is bright, then it seems appropriate that we, His image-bearers,
will reflect His brightness.
BY RANDY ALCORN
They cite two passages:
“The righteous will shine like the sun in the
kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43) and
“Those who have insight will shine brightly
like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to
righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3, NASB).
On the one hand, Jesus
didn’t have a halo after His resurrection, and there’s no reason to believe we
will either.
Christ’s body appeared so
earthly and normal that the disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t notice He
was the resurrected Lord (Luke 24:13-24).
However, at this point He
was not yet glorified.
During Christ’s transfiguration, His clothing “became
as bright as a flash of lightning” (Luke 9:29).
Since this portrays
Christ as King, it makes sense to think He will literally shine in His kingdom
on the New Earth.
John says of the city, “the Lamb is its
lamp” (Revelation 22:23).
As noted earlier, John
saw Christ in the present Heaven as a powerful shining being, not someone who
would blend into a crowd (Revelation 1:12-18).
Moses and Elijah, who joined Christ on the
mountain, “appeared in glorious splendor” (Luke 9:31).
After Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on the mountain, Moses’ face shone (Exodus 34:29-30).
Many believe these
descriptors are figures of speech. Yet in some cases (including Moses’) it was
clearly literal.
Since God Himself is
consistently portrayed as existing in brilliant light, it shouldn’t surprise us
to think that in His presence we too will partake of His brightness.
I believe that as
resurrected beings, we will indeed bear this physical evidence of being God’s
image bearers and living in God’s presence.
To be glorified appears
to mean that, among other things, we may literally shine.
If this seems hard to
imagine, think of a person with drab, grayish, malnourished skin, and then
imagine the same person as vibrant and healthy.
Couldn’t you say the
person shines?
I’ve met people so full of
Jesus that they seem to have a physical brightness.
If God Himself is bright,
then it seems appropriate that we, His image-bearers, will reflect His
brightness.
Now, moving beyond that
weak analogy of our present condition, imagine people in the very presence of
God, who are so righteous, so beautiful, so devoid of sin and darkness, so
permeated by the very righteousness of God, that they have a literal physical
radiance.
That’s not so hard to
imagine, is it?
Shining speaks of glory,
the outward display of greatness and majesty.
Glory is a word associated with rulers. Kings
had glory.
We understandably
hesitate to attribute glory to ourselves, but God doesn’t hesitate to ascribe
glory to us.
As God’s children
we should bear His likeness.
It’s He, not we, who
declares that we are royalty — kings and queens who will reign with Christ.
A. B. Caneday reminds us, “God is the
original; we are the organic image, the living copy. We do not rightly speak of
God as King by projecting onto him regal imagery because we think it is fitting
for God. Rather, bowing before God who has dominion is proper, for man as king
over creation, is the image of kingship; God, the true king, is the reality
that casts the image of the earthly king.”
Hence, our glory as
lesser kings and queens will serve to magnify His greater glory as the King of
kings.
We won’t absorb and keep
the glory given us, but we will reflect it and emanate it toward its proper
object: Christ Himself.
This is evident in the fact that God’s
worshiping children will “lay their crowns before the throne” (Revelation 4:10).
What prepares us to
participate in God’s glory?
Our current sufferings (Romans 8:17-18; 1 Peter 5:1-4).
“For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
Provided we draw our strength from Christ, the greater our troubles now, the greater our glory then.
For
more on the eternal life that awaits us, see Randy’s book Heaven. You can also browse
additional books and
resources on Heaven available from EPM.
Randy
Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the
author of fifty-some books and
the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries.
https://www.epm.org/blog/2018/Jul/11/will-our-bodies-shine-heaven
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