Key Words of Salvation

Part Eleven

Glorification

Questions to be Covered

What does glorification mean? Is it guaranteed that a person who is a believer will be glorified one day? To what does glorification primarily refer?

All that the Lord Jesus did on the cross would not be complete unless ultimately we possess a resurrection body. Glorification completes the doctrine of salvation. The concept of the resurrection of the body and it’s transformation is a universal one. This will ultimately happen to both believers and nonbelievers.

Dan. 12:2 – And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

The Scriptures clearly teach that all will eventually receive a new type of body that is suited for eternity. However, the Bible does not speak of the process as glorification when it is referring to an unsaved person.

Definition

Glorification is the final step in the process of salvation. It’s the culmination of the redemptive program of God. It is the

consummation of our personal salvation. Glorification is the final stage of the application of Messiah’s work to us. It focuses on the the resurrection of the body of believers. When believers are glorified, it is then that they will be like Jesus.

Important Fact

Glorification pertains to the resurrection of the body of the believer, not the spirit. The spirit does not die when a believer dies.

1. The Nature of Glorification

WHAT KIND OF BODYWILL WE HAVE?

Paul sheds light on this question for us in his great explanation of the resurrection in I Cor. 15.

1 Cor. 15:42-44 – So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

As a seed is sown into the ground and grows into something far more wonderful than the seed itself, the same thing is true for our body. It will be raised far more wonderful than it was during our earthly life. Our new glorified body will not wear out, will never grow old, nor will it ever be subject to disease, sickness or death ever again. In our glorified bodies, we will see humanity as God intended it to be.

Phil. 3:20-21 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus the Messiah; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

The primary feature of our new glorified body will be it’s similarity to the glorified body that belongs to the Lord Jesus.

1 John 3:2 – Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

2. The Certainty of Glorification

ALLWHO ARE SAVED WILL BE GLORIFIED

All believers who have experienced justification will experience glorification. It is a guaranteed blessing that all true believers can count on.

Rom. 8:28-30 – And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

All who are justified will ultimately be glorified. There are no dropouts during the process of sanctification.

3. The Practicality of Glorification

THERE ARE WONDERFUL BENEFITS TO UNDERSTANDING GLORIFICATION

The more one understands the Bible’s teaching on glorification, the more they will benefit from this truth.

There are several results that spring forth from understanding glorification, but two rise to the surface: hope and holiness.

Rom. 8:18 – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

1 Pet. 1:3-6 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.

1 John 3:2-3 – Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Our longing for our glorification should be great. The more we understand it, the more we will long for it.

Rom. 8:19-23 – For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.