by Rev. James McRobbie ©Pillar of Fire, International |
"For the redeemed,
the glorified state will mean perfect deliverance from sin, sickness, pain,
and death- all that was entailed in the curse." |
Learn more about the power of the Holy Spirit for personal holiness
through Sanctification
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Living Word] [Back: Chapter 12]
[Next: Chapter 14] [Index]
Chapter 13 Contents: [Man and Glorification]
[When Will Glorification Take Place?]
[Our Glorious Bodies]
[What the Bible Teaches refers to
numerous passages from the Bible. Your study will be greatly
enhanced by looking up the verses as you go along. If
you want to look up Bible verses online as you study, clicking
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use the title buttons on your browser screen to move back and forth between
the Bible and this study. All quotations in What the Bible Teaches
are
from the King James Version [KJV] unless otherwise specified.]
Chapter 13: What the Bible Teaches ABOUT
GLORIFICATION
Step
by step in His unique scheme of redemption God in sovereign goodness leads
fallen and sinful men back to Himself. Side by side with the beginning
of transgression in the opening chapters of Genesis, we see the inauguration
of this gracious plan [Genesis 3:15]. This redemption scheme, like all
other phases of the Creator's handiwork, is perfect. Yet this does not
undo the terms of the curse that fell on man at the beginning, except in
the consummation of the church at the coming of the Lord. In compliance
with the divine law, in order that man might in due time be the recipient
of the fulness and perfection of redemption, it is necessary for him to
pass through the portals of death. By this, the earthly body, having served
its purpose, will return to its element, so that the soul, the man himself,
may enter into the state of perfection when he will be clothed upon with
a "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." This "house which
is from heaven" [2 Corinthians 5:1-3], with which we are clothed, is the
celestial or glorified body. God leads all who yield to Him from transgression
to a "new creation," comparable to regeneration and justification, then
by the dynamic cleansing of the Holy Spirit, to sanctification, by which
we will indeed be "perfect in love," and finally to glorification in His
own very presence through the working whereby He is able to subdue all
things.
Man and Glorification
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Glorification has to do with the body
only. It cannot take place in this life, for the terms of the curse upon
the physical body can be absolved only by death. It has to do therefore
with the future glory of man through and beyond death in the life to come.
The glorified body can be explained
only in the terms of God's omnipotence, for He alone is able to raise it
and fashion it after the identity of the earthly tabernacle. The human
body, subject to disease, decrepitude and death, is important, for it is
to be raised. In the spirit realm there was a contention over the body
of Moses at the time of his decease [Jude 9], from which we might gather
that there was importance attached to it. Body and soul are equally declared
to exist in the world to come [Matthew 5:29-30; 10:28]. In this, of course,
we naturally think of the glorified bodies of the saints, but the Scriptures
also show that the bodies of the wicked are to be raised and that they
are to exist hereafter, too [Daniel 12:2; Acts 24:15]. There is no promise
of glorification and blessing for the wicked even though they are to live
in a body beyond. Resurrection will proffer no hope for them: wickedness
will return to wickedness, lust to lust, greed to greed, to suffer in body
and soul through the passing of eternal ages.
For the redeemed, the glorified state
will mean perfect deliverance from sin, sickness, pain and death -- all
that was entailed in the curse.
When Will Glorification Take
Place?
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People are not glorified when they
die. Even if it their exalted lot to go directly to be with Jesus in heaven
at death [Philippians 1:23], yet the glorification of the body does not
take place until "that day" for which all creation groans, approaches [Romans
8:19], even the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The "crown of righteousness"
which St. Paul looked for was not to come to him at death, but at "that
day" -- the day of His appearing [2 Timothy 4:8].
The saints are to return with Christ,
He and they in glorified bodies. "Even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him" [1 Thessalonians 4:14]. How and when will
the change take place? The Word speaks for itself. [See 1 Thessalonians
4:14-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54.] The "dead in Christ" shall rise first.
This is the "first resurrection" [Revelation 20:5-6]. Christ is the "firstfruits,"
afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. "The trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised." Up from the grave they will come! What a
bursting asunder of the tomb there will be! Just as the body of Jesus was
quickened by the power of God so will the bodies of the saints be quickened
through the power of the Spirit. That which is sown in weakness will be
raised in power.
Immediately following the first resurrection
will be the instant change of the living saints, for the "dead in Christ"
shall rise first. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" we shall be
changed. The natural will suddenly change to supernatural; the mortal will
instantly be clothed with immortality.
Conjointly with the instant change
of the saints will be the glorious rapture of the changed ones through
the skies to meet the Lord in the air. We will then be "caught up together
with them [the resurrected saints] in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air."
There will be then (1) the resurrection
of the dead in Christ, (2) the instant change of the living saints, and
(3) the rapture.
What will we do when we gather with
our gracious Lord in that glorious meeting place in the skies -- body and
soul reunited? That will indeed be the crowning day for the loyal children
of God. Here will be the union of bride and Bridegroom. This will be the
wedding banquet of the skies for which will be required the pure and perfect
garment of holiness [Matthew 22:11-13]. Christ's own will gather with Him
at His judgment seat to receive their rewards [Luke 14:14; 2 Corinthians
5:10]. There, glorified together with Christ, they will be feasting in
the highest degree of bliss, waiting the moment when they will return with
Him in glory, while the horrors of the tribulation will be raging upon
the earth.
Our Glorious Bodies
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Christians have their citizenship
in heaven. Their interests are there. How can they be expected to do as
the unsaved masses do? They are constantly alert for the moment when Christ
will return. To Him at His coming will be delegated the power to change
and fashion these bodies of ours like unto His own glorious body. Here
is this classical scripture as it is in the Revised Version [Philippians
3:20-21]:
"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence
also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew
the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his
glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all
things unto himself."
The scene on the Mount of Transfiguration,
when Moses and Elijah appeared with the transfigured Christ, was a foreshadowing
of the coming glorified state of those who will participate in the glory
of the life to come. The "majesty" of that occasion Peter declares to be
an affirmation of the "power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" [2 Peter
1:16]. This goes to confirm that during the millennial age, Christ and
those who will return with Him will have bodies supernaturally adapted
to circumstances in both the celestial and terrestrial worlds.
Whatever Jesus will be at His coming,
the Scriptures plainly teach that we shall be, in His likeness. "We know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him" [1 John 3:2]. Paul reasons
that if we are the children of God we are heirs of God and "joint-heirs
with Christ," and if we are faithful in trial and "suffer with him," we
shall be "glorified together" with Him. Then as a stimulus to fidelity
he assures the suffering saints that the hardships of the "present time"
are so insignificant as "not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us." When Peter exhorted the "elders" to feed the
flock of God wholeheartedly, and with a "ready mind" irrespective of "filthy
lucre," he reminded them that when the "Chief Shepherd" would appear they
would then receive an abundant reward, even a "crown of glory that fadeth
not away" [1 Peter 5:4].
St. Paul in all his "abundant labors"
was constantly "forgetting those things" which were behind; he pressed
"toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"
[Philippians 3:14]. May we likewise "count all things loss" so that with
him we may "attain unto the resurrection from the dead" [Philippians 3:11,
R.V.], when this body of "our humiliation" will give place to one
"Like unto his own glorious
body."
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