Blessed Assurance, Part 2

Continuing with our Bible study using the hymn “Blessed Assurance” for prompts, we get to the second line:

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

So, maybe we don’t use the word “foretaste” very often today, but I think of it as a preview or a sample.  When you watch a movie trailer, you get a preview – or “foretaste” – of the movie.  (Sometimes, you get most of the plot and the funniest scenes, too.)  When someone is cooking, lowers the spoon into the pot, and offers you the chance to try out what is being cooked for dinner, you get a “foretaste”.

However, in this excerpt from the song, we run into another term that we might not be able to easily define: What is glory?  Going back to GotQuestions.org, they say, “The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is.” (What is the glory of God? | GotQuestions.org)

That article also refers us to a couple of verses.  Let’s take a look:

For,

“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:24‭-‬25 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1pe.1.24-25.NIV

Quoting from Isaiah, this describes the glory of mere human beings.  It fades away.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14 NIV
https://john.bible/john-1-14

On the other hand, the glory of Jesus Christ is another matter entirely.

Since the author of this song is talking about “glory divine”, we’re looking at God’s glory, though, and not human glory.

So, when we have a “foretaste of glory divine”, we get a preview of God’s glory.  It seems that we might be able to appreciate more of God’s glory in eternity, but there’s some portion of it that can be experienced here on earth, since John recounts (see the verse from his gospel cited above) that he and others had seen this glory.

So, I hope that this blessed assurance (if you have indeed found that assurance through the gift of God through Jesus Christ) and the foretaste of glory encourage you today.  If not, it is available to you!

From Sunday School lesson prepared for September 10, 2023

References:

• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.