THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE

The Believers

Message Five
 Believers' Future Glorification from Glory to Glory

Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:17-18, 21, 30; Col. 1:27; 3:4; Heb. 2:10; Rom. 9:23; Rev. 21:10-11

I. In the completing stage of God's full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will be redeemed in their body, they will be raptured, and they will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ, which is the judgment seat of God—Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21; Rev. 12:5; 14:1, 15; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10.

II. In the completing stage of God's full salvation, the stage of glorification, the overcoming believers, those who are rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ, will be invited to the marriage dinner of the Lamb, and they will participate in the coming kingdom—the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens—Rev. 19:7-9; Matt. 13:43a; 24:47.

III. In the completing stage of God's full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will be glorified—Rom. 8:17-18, 29-30:

A. Glory is the expression of God—vv. 18, 21; Col. 1:27; 3:4.

B. Although our glorification may appear to be a sudden occurrence, it will actually be the consummation of a process of gradual growth and development in life—Mark 4:26-29:

1. Our glorification will be the issue of our growth in the divine life unto maturity—Heb. 6:1.

2. The believers will not be glorified until they reach maturity in life; their glorification will be the issue of the maturity in life—2 Pet. 1:5-7.

3. Glorification is the issue of transformation, and transformation is accomplished by the gradual and continual growth in life—Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 3:6-7; Eph. 4:13, 16.

IV. For God to glorify us means that the glory which has been sown into us saturates our whole being and is expressed through us—Rom. 8:30; Col. 1:27; 3:4; Heb. 2:10:

A. When our entire being has been permeated and saturated with the element of the divine glory, this glory will come out of us; this is what it means for the believers to be glorified—Col. 3:4; Rom. 8:30.

B. When we experience this glorification, we will be in the expression of the processed and consummated Triune God—Rev. 21:10-11.

V. The glory of God is intrinsically related to the economy of God—Eph. 1:6, 10, 12, 14; 3:21; 5:27:

A. God is a God of glory—Acts 7:2; Eph. 1:17; 3:14, 16; 1 Cor. 2:8; 2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Pet. 4:14.

B. God's purpose is to bring many sons into glory—Heb. 2:10; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:6-7, 12, 14.

C. God created us as vessels prepared unto glory—Rom. 9:23:

1. Sin is falling short of God's glory—3:23.

2. Christ's redemption has fulfilled the requirements of God's glory—vv. 24-25; Heb. 9:5; cf. Gen. 3:24.

3. Through the gospel of the glory of God, God has called us into His eternal glory—2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12.

4. Christ in us is the hope of glory—Col. 1:27; 3:4.

D. We are being transformed into the Lord's image from glory to glory—2 Cor. 3:18:

1. The goal of God's organic salvation, and the last stage of this salvation, is glory—Heb. 2:10; Rom. 8:17, 21, 30.

2. We will enter into the highest stage of oneness—the oneness in the divine glory—John 17:22.

E. The glory of God in the economy of God involves deification—God becoming man that man may become God in life, in nature, and in expression—John 1:14; Col. 3:4; Heb. 2:10; Rev. 21:10-11.

VI. The believers will be glorified with the incomparable glory; this glory will come not objectively from without but subjectively and organically from within them—Rom. 8:18; Col. 1:27; 3:4; 2 Thes. 1:10.

VII. God's glory will be expressed from our spirit to our soul and through our body; the three parts of our being will be the same as Christ is and will be fully saturated with God's glory—1 Thes. 5:23; Phil. 3:21:

A. Christ dwells within us as our hope of glory—Col. 1:27:

1. Christ can be our hope of glory because He dwells within us to be our life and our person—3:4; Eph. 3:17.

2. When Christ our life is manifested, we will be manifested with Him in glory; we will be glorified in Him, and He will be glorified in us—Col. 3:4; John 17:10; 2 Thes. 1:9, 12.

B. In this glory God will be expressed in a full way; this will be the ultimate issue of the dispensing of the processed and consummated Triune God—Rev. 21:11.

 


 

 

Ministry Excerpts:

 

THE COMPLETING STAGE OF GOD'S FULL SALVATION,
 THE STAGE OF GLORIFICATION

The first aspect of the believers' future is their future in the completing stage of God's full salvation, the stage of glorification. The initial stage is the stage of regeneration, the progressing stage is the stage of transformation, and the completing stage is the stage of glorification. Here we have three crucial words that we should treasure: regeneration, transformation, and glorification. Many believers have experienced a good deal of transformation and are heading toward the goal of glorification. Glorification is the completing stage of God's full salvation.

Many believers hold strictly an objective concept of glorification. According to this concept, one day those who have been saved and regenerated will suddenly be glorified. The glorification of the believers, they claim, will take place instantaneously at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Certain verses seem to indicate this. For example, Colossians 3:4 says that when Christ our life is manifested, we shall be manifested with Him in glory. However, although our glorification may appear to be a sudden occurrence, it will actually be the consummation of a process of gradual growth and development in life. Just as the blossoming of a carnation flower is the issue of the gradual growth of a carnation plant, so our glorification will be the issue of our growth in the divine life unto maturity. A carnation does not blossom until it has reached maturity, and, in like manner, the believers will not be glorified until they reach maturity in life.

The seed of the divine life has been sown into our being, and now this seed is growing within us. As the seed grows, it develops gradually until it reaches full growth, the maturity in life. At that time there will be a "blossoming" of the divine seed within us. That will be our glorification.

The believers' glorification will not be an accident. Rather, their glorification will be the issue of their maturity in life. First, we are regenerated, and then we are organically transformed through the growth of the divine life within us. As the divine life grows in us, it saturates us with the divine element, and this element changes us metabolically. This metabolic change is what the New Testament calls transformation. Actually in our Christian experience transformation is simply the growth in the divine life. For example, as a plant grows it is transformed from one appearance to another. This growth and transformation continues until the plant reaches its maturity. In like manner, our regeneration is followed by transformation, and transformation will issue in glorification. Without regeneration there is no possibility to have transformation. Furthermore, if we are lacking in transformation, there will be no glorification. Glorification is the issue of transformation, and transformation is accomplished by the gradual and continuous growth in life. We praise the Lord that one day we shall reach our maturity, and then we shall be glorified, brought into the full expression of the Triune God.

BEING GLORIFIED

Romans 8:29 and 30 say, "Whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers; and whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." God has predestinated and justified us, and now He is conforming us to the image of His firstborn Son. Eventually, we shall have full glorification.

Since glorification will take place in the future, we may wonder why Paul in Romans 8:30 uses the past tense and says "glorified." Although in our experience we have not been glorified, the Bible says that we have been glorified already. Everything mentioned in 8:30 is an accomplished fact—predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. The reason Paul speaks this way here is that, although we are subject to time, God is not. He is the God of eternity. With Him, as the eternal God, there is no time. Therefore, in the sight of God, we have already been glorified. With God everything is timeless. In His sight our predestination, calling, justification, and glorification are eternal matters. Hence, our glorification is secured and ensured in the eternal God Himself. Nevertheless, according to our experience, glorification will take place in the future.

THE GLORY COMING OUT OF US
WHEN OUR ENTIRE BEING HAS BEEN PERMEATED
 AND SATURATED WITH THE ELEMENT OF GLORY

Romans 8:30 does not say that we shall be put into glory; rather, this verse indicates that we shall be glorified. Glory is the expression of God. Christ, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), has been sown into us as the seed of glory, and this seed will grow until it reaches the stage of blossoming, at which time the glory will come out. For God to glorify us means that the glory which has been sown into us saturates our whole being and is expressed through us. When our entire being has been permeated and saturated with the element of glory, that glory will come out of us. This is what it means for the believers to be glorified. When we experience this glorification, we shall be in the expression of the processed Triune God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 180)

Being Redeemed in Their Body

In Romans 8:23 Paul speaks of "the redemption of our body." To be redeemed in our body is to be glorified (Rom. 8:30c). Hence, glorification and the redemption of our body are synonymous. To be glorified is to be redeemed in our body. No matter how mature we may become in the divine life, as long as we have not been glorified, we have not been redeemed in our body. But when we are glorified, our glorification will also be the redemption of our body. Therefore, the believers will be glorified and redeemed in their body simultaneously.

First Corinthians 1:30 tells us that Christ has become "wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption." In God's full salvation Christ is righteousness (for our past), by which we have been justified by God, that we may be reborn in our spirit to receive the divine life (Rom. 5:18). Then He is sanctification (for the present), by which we are being sanctified in our soul, that is, transformed in our mind, emotion, and will, with the divine life (Rom. 6:19-22). Eventually, Christ will be our redemption (for the future), that is, the redemption of our body, by which we shall be transformed in our body with the divine life to have Christ's glorious likeness (Phil. 3:21). It is of God that we participate in such a complete and perfect salvation, making our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—organically one with Christ, and making Christ everything to us.

Enjoying the Full Divine Sonship of Which
 the Holy Spirit Is the Foretaste (Firstfruit)

When the believers are redeemed, glorified, in their body, they will enjoy the full divine sonship of which the Holy Spirit is the foretaste, the firstfruit. This firstfruit is the foretaste as a guarantee that in the future we shall enjoy the full taste, and that full taste will be the full sonship, which is the redemption of our body, our glorification.

The issue of the enjoyment of the Spirit as the foretaste is the redemption of our body, which is the full sonship. As we are enjoying the Spirit as the foretaste, we are still groaning for and eagerly expecting sonship. The sonship in 8:23 is the full sonship, the consummation of the sonship, not the initiation of the sonship as in Galatians 4:5. The full sonship is the redemption of our body. We have sonship in our spirit through regeneration, and we may also have sonship in our soul through transformation, but we do not yet have sonship in our body through transfiguration. Therefore, although we have received the sonship already, we shall not receive the full sonship until our body is transfigured and conformed to the glorious body of Christ (Phil. 3:21). In the future we shall have sonship in our body. This is full sonship, the redemption of our body, which is our longing and our expectation.

God's Purchased Possession Being Redeemed
 with the Holy Spirit as the Pledge of Our Inheritance

The redemption of the believers' body is for God's purchased possession to be redeemed, with the Holy Spirit as the pledge of our inheritance. Ephesians 1:14 says that the Holy Spirit "is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquired possession." Redemption here refers to the redemption of our body, that is, the transfiguration of our body of humiliation into a glorious one. The Holy Spirit today is a guarantee, a foretaste, and a sample of our divine inheritance until our body is transfigured in glory, at which time we shall inherit God in full. (God's New Testament Economy, ch. 21)

Ephesians 1:14 speaks of the redemption of the "acquired possession." We, God's redeemed ones, are God's possession acquired by His purchase with the precious blood of Christ (Acts 20:28). In God's New Testament economy, the processed Triune God becomes our inheritance, and we become God's possession. How marvelous! We give nothing, and we get everything! God acquired us at a cost, but we inherit God at no cost.

Sealing, dispensing, and transformation are different aspects of one thing. The sealing of the Spirit is a matter of transformation and also a matter of God's dispensing. On God's side, the sealing is the dispensing of His element into us. On our side, the sealing is the receiving of the divine element through the divine dispensing to saturate us, to transform us, and to make us His inheritance.

The Praise of God's Glory—
 God Expressing in His Glory

Eventually, the redemption of our body will be for the praise of God's glory—God expressed in His glory. This is the reason Ephesians 1:14 says that the redemption of the acquired possession is "to the praise of His glory." God's glory is God Himself expressed. God will be glorified, expressed, in the New Testament believers. This expression is not visible today, but one day it will be visible. At that time God's expression through the New Testament believers will call forth the universal praise. Our God will be fully expressed and glorified through us and among us. Then the entire universe will praise His glory. We shall become a corporate body to express God, and that glorification will be praised by the whole universe.

Their Body of Humiliation Being Transfigured
 and Conformed to the Body of Christ's Glory

For us to be redeemed in our body is not only to enjoy the full divine sonship but also to have our body of humiliation transfigured and conformed to the body of Christ's glory. Philippians 3:21a says that Christ "will transfigure the body of our humiliation, conforming it to the body of His glory." When the Lord Jesus returns, our body will be transfigured, fully redeemed, glorified. When we believed in Him, our spirit was regenerated. During our Christian life our soul is gradually being sanctified and transformed. Then at the Lord's coming back our body will be transfigured. This transfiguration is the ultimate consummation of God's salvation. After we have been transfigured we shall be the same as Christ in all three parts of our being.

According to the Operation of Christ Who Is Able
 Even to Subject All Things to Himself

In Philippians 3:21 Paul says, that the Lord's transfiguring the body of our humiliation, conforming it to the body of His glory, will be "according to the operation of Him who is able even to subject all things to Himself." To transfigure our body of humiliation is a difficult matter and needs the operation of the One who is able to subject all things unto Himself. Therefore, the transfiguration of our body is by the great power which subjects all things to the Lord (Eph. 1:19-22). This is the almighty power in the whole universe.

At Christ's Appearing from the Heavens

The transfiguration of our body will take place at Christ's appearing from the heavens (Phil. 3:20). At the time of the Lord's coming back, He will transfigure our body of humiliation. Thus, we are waiting for Christ to come back so that we may be brought into the ultimate consummation of God's salvation—the transfiguration of our body.

Having Death in Their Entire Being Swallowed up
 by the Resurrection Life in Victory

For the believers to be redeemed in their body is also to have death in their entire being swallowed up by the resurrection life in victory. The time is coming when the last enemy, death, will not only be destroyed but also swallowed up by resurrection life.

First Corinthians 15:54 says, "Whenever this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word which is written, Death has been swallowed up in victory." The word "whenever" refers to the time that our corrupted and mortal body will be resurrected or transfigured from corruption and death into glory and life. Then death will be swallowed up in the victory of resurrection life. This is the consummation of the resurrection we share in God's New Testament economy through redemption and salvation in Christ. This resurrection begins with the making alive of our dead spirit and is completed with the transfiguration of our corruptible body. In between is the process of the metabolic transformation of our fallen soul by the life-giving Spirit, who is the reality of resurrection. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 181) 

WITH THE INCOMPARABLE GLORY

The believers will be glorified with the incomparable glory. In Romans 8:18 Paul says, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us." Here we see that the coming glory is incomparable. The present suffering means nothing compared with the coming glory. Because we have not yet been glorified, we cannot imagine what this incomparable glory is. Nevertheless, according to the revelation in the New Testament, we may be assured that this glory will come not objectively from without but subjectively and organically from within us.

GOD'S GLORY BEING EXPRESSED
FROM OUR SPIRIT TO OUR SOUL
 AND THROUGH OUR BODY

Realizing the Hope of Glory Which Is Christ in Us

Colossians 1:27b speaks of, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Here Paul says not only that Christ dwells within us, but also that He dwells within us as our hope of glory. In Greek "glory" in this verse is "the glory." Christ is the mystery (v. 26) which is full of glory now. This glory will be manifested to its fullest extent when Christ returns to glorify His saints. Hence, it is a hope, the hope of glory. Christ Himself is this hope of glory.

Christ can be our hope of glory because He dwells in our spirit to be our life and our person. According to Colossians 3:4, when Christ our life is manifested, we shall be manifested with Him in glory. He will appear to be glorified in our redeemed and transfigured body (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21; 2 Thes. 1:10). When Christ comes, we shall be glorified in Him, and He will be glorified in us. This indicates that the indwelling Christ will saturate our entire being, including our physical body. This will cause our body to be transfigured and to become like His glorious body. At that time Christ will be glorified in us. This is Christ in us as the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27 indicates that the glory with which we shall be glorified dwells in us right now. This glory is not a thing—this glory is a living person, the indwelling Christ, the all-inclusive embodiment of the processed Triune God. This very Christ is now the seed of glory within us. As the blossom of a carnation flower is in the carnation seed, so our glorification is in Christ as the seed of glory dwelling in us. Eventually, the growth of this seed will issue in the "blossom" of the believers' glorification.

Every believer in Christ, without exception, is like a carnation seed. Through regeneration, the life of glory has come into us, and now we have a seed of glory within us. The life that we have within us as a seed is the life of glory. This is Christ in us, the hope of glory. The Christ who is God's expression, the effulgence of God's glory (Heb. 1:3), is the One who has come into us to be our hope of glory. In the past we may have realized that Christ is the eternal life in us. Now, with Colossians 1:27 as the basis, we need to see that the Christ who is in us is also the hope of glory. Our hope of glory is the indwelling Christ Himself.

This glory is still a hope to us because, as yet, it has not come out of us. Since the seed of glory has been sown into us, we all hope to see it blossoming. One day, at the right time, Christ will come to be glorified in us. This means that He will come out of us. On the one hand, Christ is coming from without; on the other hand, He is coming from within us, for He has been sown into us as the seed of glory. This seed will grow until it reaches the stage of blossoming, and then the glory within us will come out and be expressed. When we experience this glorification, we shall be fully in the expression of the Triune God.

Participating in the Goal
 of God's Predestination

When we have been glorified, we shall participate in the goal of God's predestination. First Corinthians 2:7 indicates that God has predestinated us to obtain His glory that we may express Him. God's glory is God expressed. We are vessels of mercy which He has before prepared unto glory (Rom. 9:23), and He has called us into this glory (2 Thes. 2:14; 1 Pet. 5:10). Christ Himself is our hope of glory, and today we exult and boast in this hope of glory (Rom. 5:2). When this hope, Christ, is manifested, we shall also be manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). That will be the redemption of our body, the transfiguration of our body. At that time God's glory will be expressed from our spirit to our soul and through our body. The three parts of our being will be the same as Christ is and will be fully saturated with God's glory. This is what it means for the believers to be glorified, which is the ultimate consummation of God's full salvation. This glorification is also the ultimate goal to which God predestinated us in eternity.

In the completing stage of God's full salvation, the believers will reach the goal of God's predestination. This goal is our glorification. God has predestinated us for this glory. Hence, God's predestination becomes our destiny. In the future the believers will enjoy their eternal destiny—glorification—as the goal of God's full salvation.

In God's Eternal Glory,
 the Glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ

First Peter 5:10a tells us that the God of all grace has called us "into His eternal glory in Christ." "In Christ" indicates that the God of all grace has called us through all the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish the complete and full redemption so that He may bring His redeemed people into an organic union with Himself. Thus they may participate in the riches of the processed Triune God as their enjoyment. All the steps of the divine operation are in Christ, who is the embodiment of the processed Triune God becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the bountiful life supply to us. It is in this Christ, through His all-inclusive redemption and based on all His achievements, that God can be the God of all grace to call us into His eternal glory and to perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us in the Triune God as the solid foundation, thus enabling us to attain unto His glorious goal. What a miracle that fallen sinners can be brought into God's eternal glory!

In 2 Thessalonians 2:14b Paul tells us that God has called us through the gospel "unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." The glory of the Lord is that He is the Son of God the Father, possessing the Father's life and nature to express Him. To obtain the Lord's glory is to be in the same position as sons of God to express Him.

In John 17:22 the Lord Jesus said in His prayer to the Father, "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one." The glory which the Father has given the Son is the sonship with the Father's life and divine nature (John 5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (John 1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). This glory the Son has given to His believers that they also may have the sonship with the Father's life and nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in His fullness (John 1:16).

The glory of the Lord Jesus is that the Father has given Him the Father's life and nature for Him to express the Father. This is the glory the Son has given to us. This means that the Son has given us the Father's life and nature so that we may be able to express God the Father. What a glory! God has called us unto the obtaining of this glory, the glory of the divine life and the divine nature to express the divine Being.

Enjoying the Glory of the Children
 of God with Its Freedom

When the believers are glorified, they will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. Romans 8:21b speaks of "the freedom of the glory of the children of God." All creation aspires to enter into this freedom. Even though the creation will not share the glory, the creation will enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Due to the fall of Adam, the entire creation is under bondage and corruption. Romans 8:19 through 21a say, "The anxious watching of the creation eagerly expects the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption." The creation will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For this, "the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now" (v. 22). The universe is groaning and travailing in birth, awaiting the revelation of the sons of God so that creation may be freed from corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Although we are sons of God, we are still under a veil. One day this veil will be removed, and that will be our glorification. The sons of God will come out from under the veil and be revealed. Then the whole universe will behold the sons of God in glory and participate in the freedom of this glory. Therefore, we, the believers in Christ, shall be glorified, but the creation will only share in the freedom of that glory, not in the glory itself. In the future we shall enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom.

IN THE GLORY OF THE DIVINE SONSHIP

Finally, when the believers are glorified, they will be in the glory of the divine sonship. Hebrews 2:10 tells us that the Father with the Son is bringing us, the many sons, into glory. We are sons of God, but we are not yet in glory. As a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, we are being led into glory. One day we shall all be in glory as the many sons of God. Our glorification will be our full sonship. We shall be glorified in the divine life and the divine nature to bear the glory of the Triune God for His expression.

The Ultimate Issue of the Dispensing
 of the Processed Triune God

All the sons of God will be brought into this glory. Then as the glorified sons of God, we shall shine with the glory of God. This is the full salvation of all who believe in Christ. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will eventually become a glorified son of God bearing the righteousness of God outwardly, being saturated with the holiness of God inwardly, and shining in the realm of His full glory as one of His sons. In this glory God will be expressed in a full way. This will be the ultimate issue of the dispensing of the processed Triune God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 180)