The Call to Glory
Another one of the effectual calls of God is the Call to Glory. The term, “effectual,” means that the cause brings about the desired effect without failure. Thus, when God calls the result is sure and will not fail. In the New Birth, God calls and the person whom he calls is born of the Spirit. This is effectual. The call to Glory is like the call of the New Birth. It is effectual. God calls and those who were dead in the grave rise to life. There is no chance of failure and this action is completely independent on the actions of men. This is also referred to as the “call to the resurrection.”
Several verses speak of this effectual call to glory:
1. John 5:28 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
2. 1 Thes. 4:16 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
3. Job 14:14 “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. 15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.”
4. Job 19:23 “Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! 24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! 25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”
5. 1 Cor. 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
6. Dan. 12:1 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
This doctrine of the effectual call to glory is consistent with the covenant of redemption: Rom. 8:29, 30, “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.” All of the elect will be changed at the great day of the resurrection and fashioned like the glorious body of Jesus Christ. There will not be lacking one of the Elect that will be changed. This is an effectual call to glory.
The Lord himself makes this call to glory in the resurrection. It is He who descends from heaven and it is He who shouts and the dead come forth. It is by the power of the voice of the Son of God that the dead are raised up. This power was manifest in the resurrection of Lazarus from the grave: John 11:41 “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”
Just as Job, we shall see the Lord in our flesh, and we shall be glorified as a consequence of God’s effectual calling to glory.