Chapter 8, Verses 28-30 Part 20 

 

"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.