Glorified
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and
whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he
also glorified.” In previous essays we have considered God’s action of
foreknowing a people, predestinating those he foreknew, calling those he
foreknew and predestinated, and justifying those he foreknew,
predestinated, and called. In this essay we will consider God’s
glorifying those that he foreknew, predestinated, called and justified.
In Rom. 4:17 we read where God “called those things which be not as
though they were.” God can do this because he is God and because his
promises will come to pass just as He promised. Throughout the
description of the covenant God has used the past tense to describe his
actions. While we are not yet fully glorified in the way we will be
glorified, yet in the mind and purpose of God it is as though it were
already done.
When we were born of the Spirit, we were given a perfect, glorified
spiritual nature as we read in the following verses:
a. 1 Pet. 1:23 ‑ “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God that liveth and abideth forever.”
b. 1 John 3:9 ‑ “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for
his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of
God.” Though we are glorified in spirit having the incorruptible seed
within us, yet in body we are not yet glorified to the extent that we
will be in the resurrection of our bodies.
A comparison is made in 1 Cor. 15 between our unchanged earthly body
and what it will be like after the resurrection when our change comes.
First (v.42) it is sown in corruption and raised in incorruption. That
which is corrupted is brought into a worse condition. When sin entered
into the world, man was brought into a worse (fallen) condition. In the
resurrection we will be raised incorruptible. Our state or condition
will be perfect and it cannot be corrupted. Thus, we will be in a
perpetual perfect condition.
Second (v.43) we are sown in dishonor and raised in glory. Sin brought
only dishonor or disgrace to ourselves. It rendered us unfit for God’s
glory world, yet by the grace of God we shall be raised into a state of
being without sin and without capability of sinning.
Third (v.43) “it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.” Sin has
rendered us so weak that we cannot keep ourselves from dying though we
try ever so hard. Furthermore, once we die, we don’t even have the power
to bury ourselves as someone else must do that for us. Yet in the
resurrection we will be raised up to die no more. Just how much power
we will have, I know not, but it will be sufficient for our
every need.
Fourth (v.44) “it is sown a natural body and it is raised a spiritual
body.” According to v.49 “as we have borne the image of the earthy, we
shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” As we live in this life, we
bear Adam’s fallen image. When we are raised in the resurrection, we
will bear the image of Jesus Christ. As Jesus was/is holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners, so shall we be holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. As Jesus is in his essential
nature, so shall we be in our nature in the resurrection.
Fifth (v.54) mortality shall put on immortality. We currently live in
timely bodies with every event marked by the passage of time. We are
mortal having a beginning and an end. Yet in the resurrection these
mortal bodies shall be changed into immortal bodies having no end.
Because of the actions of God and his promise of glorification, we can
say as Paul stated: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the
law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
How we should praise God for his covenant of redemption in which he
chose us before the world began to be his and then by the terms of that
covenant predestinated our final glorious outcome, calling us into
spiritual life and justifying us from our sins that in the morning of
the resurrection we might stand before him glorified and become
possessors of that glorious inheritance that awaits us! May God add to
your understanding of this wonderful covenant he made with himself
before the world began.