1 Pet. 5:10 - Christ will perfect you

10 And, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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Christ will perfect you; after you have suffered

vs. 10 - "a little while" - The suffering is only for a short time. The beautiful part is we are God's own, and He will bring us to perfection. He will strengthen us.

"called you to his eternal glory" - Jesus, the Son of God, has been with the Father from infinite eternity to infinite eternity. The glory that is the Father's is also the Son's. "He has taken us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." (Col. 1:14)

How glorious is God? Moses who dealt daily with God while leading the Israelites out of Egypt begged to see God. See: Ex. 33:18-23 - "Then Moses said, 'I pray You, show me Your glory!' And He (The Lord) said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.' But He (The Lord) said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!' Then the LORD said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.'"

The prophet Isaiah had a vison in which he saw the Lord. Isaiah was so overwhelmed he thought he was going to die. Isa. 6:1-5 - "In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.' And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"

The prophet Ezekiel also had a vision in which he saw God sitting on his throne. See Ezek. 1:26-28 - "Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking."
In all instances when people "see" the Lord they are overwhelmed by His glory. We cannot adequately describe or comprehend the majesty and wonderousness of God. We are knocked back on our heels or farther. We are blinded by the brilliance - imagine being in a blackened room, total darkness, and suddenly a whole wall of klieg lights turn on. We are blinded and freeze. It is much, much more than that.

We will be in that light. We will not be blinded. We will see clearly! We will be in the presence of God's glory and will rejoice and be glad.

Four things (among others) that Christ does for us.

- "restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish" -

1. restore - This word has the meaning, or sense of "to mend" (what has been broken or rent); "to repair"; "perfect"; "complete"; "make one what he ought to be". -- I love that last one - to make us what we ought to be - beings that have a close and loving relationship with God. That which was lost with the original sin of Adam, has been restored to us. Praise God!
2. confirm - The idea of this action is to "to make stable"; "place firmly"; "set fast"; "fix"; "make firm"; "to render constant" -- We are not to be unstable, wavering in our Christian life. We can be sure, we can be confident that we are Christ's. If we are in His hands, no one, no being (spiritual or otherwise) can snatch us away. He has promised it.
3. strengthen - Our soul is empowered - from the concordance: "to make one's soul strong", "strengthen one's soul". -- Our soul, our spirit, without Jesus is weak and broken, sinful. Our soul, with Jesus, is as as strong as He is. The only reason we do not conquer all, is we still fall prey to our old nature. Stronger is He that is in us, than he that is in the world.
4. establish - God is doing this so we are permanently part of the kingdom. The meaning of the word is "to lay the foundation"; "to found" (to set up, especially with provision for continuing existence); "to make stable". -- Again, I love the idea of provision for continuing existence. God is in this for the long haul. This is not a temporary thing, it is for real. We are encouraged so that we will not just be along for the ride, but given all we need to be full participants in the kingdom. Not serfs, not dummy robots, but fully functioning members that do His will and see the rewards He has promised.

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