You Will Shine in Beauty

Soli Deo gloria to God alone be the glory. Few phrases have so cleanly captured the heart of Christian theology. For centuries, it has stood as a blazing banner over gospel truth, boldly proclaiming that God alone deserves the highest honor, worship, and praise. And rightly so. As sinners, we fall short of the glory of God, not merely by failing to meet a divine standard, but by preferring lesser glories to His. We want applause, admiration, and affirmation for ourselves credit when we do well, and sympathy when we don’t. But we were not made to be the center of attention. We were made to glorify and enjoy Him forever.

The Reformers understood this. Their rediscovery of the gospel was not just about correcting theological error but restoring the glory of God to its rightful place front and center. In a religious world consumed with human merit, penance, and performance, they recovered the truth: God does not share His glory with idols or with us. “My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 48:11).

And yet, astonishingly, this same God promises to glorify us.

God Gets All the Glory and Still Glorifies Us

Romans 8:30 delivers one of the most stunning promises in all of Scripture “Those whom he justified he also glorified.” This is not a contradiction of soli Deo gloria it is its most powerful fulfillment. For in glorifying His children, God is glorifying Himself.

Paul builds on this thought a few verses later “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” And what is creation longing to see? Not merely the return of Christ, or even the restoration of all things, but “the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18–19). That’s us. The children of God. Glorified. Transformed. Breathtaking.

In that moment, the whole universe will erupt in celebration, not merely because sin and sorrow are no more, but because the redeemed once weak, broken, and ashamed now radiate with a beauty that only God could create.

We Will Be Like Him

The gospel doesn’t end with forgiveness. It doesn’t even end with justification. It leads to glorification to a transformation so radical that the Apostle John could only marvel: “We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Think about that, we will be like Him.

Right now, we’re in process. “We all beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). But there’s a day coming when the process will end, and the fullness of that transformation will shine forth. Our bodies, currently perishable and frail, will be raised in power and glory (1 Corinthians 15:42–43). Our desires will be holy. Our minds will be clear. Our joy will be unshakable.

As John Piper once said, “You can’t put the volcano of God’s joy in the teacup of my unglorified soul.” We will need glorified bodies and minds to fully enjoy the presence of God. So God will do it. He will make us capable of experiencing everlasting joy not merely beside Him, but in Him.

The Glory That Reflects His Glory

Does this diminish God’s glory? Not at all. It magnifies it. Because any glory we receive is borrowed. Reflected. Dependent. Just as the moon reflects the sun’s light, our glory forever whispers of its source.

Philippians 1:11 says that we are “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Even in our glory, God gets the praise. Because He is the author of it. The source. The power behind it.

If He makes us wise, He is still wiser. If He makes us radiant, He is still more radiant. If He makes us breathtaking, He is still infinitely more breathtaking. And at the very height of our eternal glory, we will not look inward with pride we will look upward with awe. We will fall down and worship.

Glory Shared Is Glory Secured

This is the glory God has planned for His people. The glory He secured by the blood of His Son. The glory He is preparing us for even now.

No amount of earthly praise could satisfy us like this. No amount of applause, achievement, or admiration compares with the glory that will be revealed in us. And all of it from the first spark of faith to the final transformation will echo one unchanging anthem. To God alone be the glory.

God will not only forgive us, not only welcome us, not only keep us. He will glorify us.

You will be breathtaking. And your beauty will reflect His.

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