His calling," and here defined still further as "the hope of the glory." There is a parallel

here to the much discussed passage of I Tim. 3: 16, to which we may be able to refer

later. The added information which Col. 1: supplies is that the hope of those to whom

Christ has been preached under the terms of the mystery, is the hope of the glory.

Now, of itself this is nothing new, for glory characterizes the hope of creation, of

Israel, of the heavenly calling, of the overcomers as well as the church of the one body.

We know, however, that just as there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the

moon, so the glory that forms the hope of, say, Israel as a nation, is a different glory from

that which forms the hope of the faithful overcomer. The third chapter will throw light

upon our enquiry. Verse 4 says, "When Christ Who is our life shall be made manifest,

then shall ye also be made manifest WITH HIM IN GLORY." The context emphasizes

the fact that "things above" are to occupy our minds, "where Christ sitteth on the right

hand of God." There, our life is hid, there, in Christ we are already seated, there, our

hope is to be realized. The Lord Jesus Christ will one day "be manifested in glory," not

merely to the inhabitants of the earth, nor to those who are caught up to meet Him in the

air, but to principalities and powers in the heavenlies. The knees of "things in heaven" as

well as on the earth are to bow in recognition of His glory (Heb. 1: 6); and there in that

super-heavenly manifestation of His glory our hope shall be realized.

A very homely illustration may help us here.  When the King of England was

crowned, many thousands lined the route of the Royal procession, and gave expression to

their loyalty by so doing, some, however, for various reasons did not do so, and among

them were those who by rank and privilege had access to the Abbey and to the actual

coronation. What need had they, the privileged nobility, of standing in the streets to greet

the King? So, may be illustrated the hope of the church of the one body. Privileged by

wondrous grace to be present at the coronation of heaven's King, their hope will be

realized before that of others, of different rank, who will rise to meet Him in the air, or

enter into the holy city.

Titus 2: 13 has a similar testimony to that of Colossians, "looking for that blessed

hope, even the manifesting of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Some have said that this teaching is all so vague, and draw attention to the detailed

statements of Scripture wherein the hope of Israel is set before the reader. Chapter after

chapter of Old Testament Prophets unfolds the glories that are coming. Details too are

given concerning the hope of the believer in the Gospels and earlier Epistles. Points of

time, marks in history, signs and indications are given so that the proximity of the

realization of their hope shall be known, but this hope, this is so vague! Instead of such a

remark proving our exposition to be wrong, it lends a strong confirmation when

considered in the light of Ephesians 1:

We believe that in "The Bible" we have "all Scripture," no revelation has been given

since the writing of the Book of the Revelation that was intended to form part of Holy

Writ. Further, we do not believer that any part of Holy Scripture has been lost, or will be

discovered. Many of the writings of Apostles and others may have perished, but not one