Big Picture Unifiers and the Glory of Christ

~5 min read

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By Jay Wegter

The cosmos and its contents are the thought of God.
The creation is a perfect co-mingling of physical and moral order.
The Son of God is Creator: all things were made by Him and for Him, both material and immaterial.
All things are upheld and sustained by Christ (the Logos) and exist for Him.
God is energizing a clash between worldviews: between human and divine wisdom (the cross) (1 Cor 1ff.).
God is redeeming individuals amidst this clash of worldviews—a clash of light versus darkness.

God has an infinite propensity to delight in His own glory, and an infinite propensity to share Himself.
The ground of the creature’s happiness is the eternal unbroken communication of God to the creature.
Christ brought everything into harmony with God’s holiness both by redemption, and by judgment.
Sinners can only regain the true knowledge of the divine by God’s glory in the face of Christ.
God’s glory in the face of Christ reveals the connection of God’s essential glory to the salvation of sinners.

Christ’s Lordship over all is both personal and cosmic.
Christ is the consummation of all things; it is the Father’s intent that He have first place in everything.
God reveals Himself in the ground, terms, and benefits of the new covenant.
Romans 11:33-36 is the ‘Mount Everest’ of theology.
The elect are chosen by God and effectually called so that they might gain the glory of Christ.
Beholding the glory of Christ changes us into the likeness of our Lord.
In order for the church to be spiritually healthy, she must regularly feed on the glory of Christ.

Christ has all power for the sake of the church, and to subdue all His enemies and all her enemies.
Christ is the forerunner and the prototypical heavenly man.
Christ as the last Adam is our probationer—His obedience is imputed to His people.

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The formation of a new humanity in Christ by the reclamation of the image of God is God’s glory story.
By God’s grace Christ gives the elect His own right relatedness to the Holy Trinity so that the elect which form His Body are given the glorious benefits of the communal life of the Trinity.
The new nature granted by the Spirit through the Person and work of Christ enables the elect to behold the glory of the Lord—this entranced vision of the Lord changes us into His likeness.
Salvation is inseparable from receiving the Father’s testimony concerning the Lordship of His Son—He (Christ) is exalted to God’s right hand—God has made Him both Lord and Christ.

Believers are so close to Christ in their union with Him, that God the Father contemplates them in His Son.
The incarnation was to fulfill the eternal covenant of redemption, to save those given by the Father to the Son by the pledge which was made before time.
The gospel gives us the greatest gift imaginable, God Himself.
Our temporal affliction now is completely disproportional to the weight of glory that is to come.
Beholding the glory of Christ now is beholding God in our nature; in beholding the glory of the Lord we see by faith the destiny of redeemed humanity.

The world to come will not be subject to angels but to redeemed human beings.
In the new heavens and the new earth, we will have perfect dominion (no more curse, perfect harmony with the creation), and perfect nearness to God; He will dwell among us.
The glorified church will perfectly express God’s image since she will possess God’s communicable attributes.
Every virtue of a perfect family: love, belonging, security, uniqueness, dignity, order, discipline, and complementarity will be our experience in the Kingdom; the elect are members of an immutable family.

The elect will inherit the world.
Prayer communes with God as Creator, Lord of providence, Lawgiver, Redeemer, covenant Father, Mediator, and Paraclete.
God will not glorify His grace apart from a pre-condition He sets before granting that grace—namely the elimination of all possible human merit.

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QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

What evidence is there that God regards His own holiness with utter seriousness? How will His holiness affect the future of the creature and the cosmos?
Why is the purpose of the cosmos to serve as a stage for God’s moral majesty?
Why did God bring a human being (Jesus of Nazareth) into the heart of the Holy Trinity? Why is the answer joined to Christ’s two natures, Son of God and Son of man, and the fact that the redeemed are the sons of God?
What is the greatest divine assurance that God is eternally committed to the people He has redeemed? Why in connection with this question is it significant the Christ is designated a Priest after the order of Melchizedek?

Why does God say that His righteousness is the source of man’s salvation? How is His righteousness displayed and vindicated in man’s salvation?
What does it mean that God does all things for His Name’s sake? What does it mean that God makes Himself His own cause?
What does it mean that God is exceedingly jealous for every single beam of His glory? How is this jealousy a function of His zeal for His Name? Why does Scripture say that God made a Name for Himself?
What is the significance and weightiness of being created in the image of God? What creational calling flows from this our created identity as His image and likeness?

What does it mean that God’s character is the immutable law of the universe? Why wouldn’t idolatry, rebellion, and sinful passions alter this law in any way? Why is this a great cause for fear of God?
Why does God take great delight in those who take refuge in Him?
Why do both the acts of redemption and reprobation vindicate God? Why does that oft-repeated phrase in Ezekiel, “and then they will know that I am the Lord,” refer to the actions of God ‘clearing His Name’?
Why is the cross of Christ an even stronger statement of what God thinks of sin than hell itself?