God is bringing many sons to glory. I suppose that “bringing many sons to glory” would cause some to view this as meaning God is intent on bringing many sons to Heaven.
Hardly this!
I do not know how the “Heaven” thing got started. Today, as the Spirit of God is opening the Scriptures to us, we can understand that if God wanted man to live in Heaven (people cannot sin in Heaven, according to the popular understanding), God would have created man in Heaven—which He could have done easily.
But God’s purposes would not have been served by creating mankind in Heaven. God is creating people who can work with the Lord Jesus in removing evil from the creation and establishing and maintaining eternal righteousness throughout God’s creation.
“Bringing many sons to glory” means God is reproducing Himself by forming brothers of the Lord Jesus, brothers who will serve in the many roles and tasks in the Kingdom of God. These brothers will reveal the Nature of God in their personalities. They will be the image and glory of God. Whoever sees them will be seeing the Word of God, Christ, and thus the Personality of God.
