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.
Salvation
This is the first in a series of essays on the
subject of salvation.
The word, save, means "to deliver, to make or keep
safe, to preserve."
In all but a couple of times in the new testament
the word is used as a
verb or a preposition.
To understand the
subject of salvation there are a few rules we must
follow:
1. First, we must know
what we are being delivered from or what we
are being delivered to. For instance, if I say, "I
am saved." That
statement begs the question, "What am I saved from?"
or "What am I saved
to?" Without knowing the "from" or "to" the
statement loses meaning.
2. Second, we must
know the context in which it is used. Most often
the context defines the meaning and application of
words.
3. Third, we need to
know what brings about the salvation. For
instance is the salvation brought about by my
actions or works, or is
the salvation brought about solely by the actions or
works of God and we
are the recipients of that salvation by the grace of
God? To illustrate
the above, someone cried out "Lord, save me."
Without any more
information we don't know if the person was
concerned with the condition
of his soul or if he was concerned with the
immediate surrounding
conditions. As it turns out, Peter was walking on
water to go to
Jesus. When he saw the wind boisterous, he was
afraid; and beginning to
sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. Peter was
concerned with the
immediate surrounding conditions and was crying out
for the Lord to save
him from drowning. He was not at that time occupied
with thoughts of
where he would spend eternity.
There are two
categories of salvation taught in the scriptures.
There
is the category that deals with our eternal
salvation, i.e., our
salvation from the condemning effects of sin, our
salvation from being
dead in trespasses and sins, and our salvation into
heaven's glory
world. All aspects of our eternal salvation we find
is brought about by
God's grace and is not by the works or actions of
man.
The second category
deals with the many timely deliverances God's
people can and do experience in our timely stay upon
earth. Included in
this category are deliverances from ignorance, from
vain worship, from
the pitfalls of life, from going about to establish
our own
righteousness, from this untoward generation, etc.
In this category
certain works or actions are generally required by
the child of God to
bring about the deliverance.
2 Tim. 2:10
illustrates these two categories of salvation:
"Therefore I
endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal
glory." The verse
indicates with the words, "also" and "with," that
these are two
categories of salvation taught in the scripture.
One category as we
have discussed pertains to eternal glory. The elect
in this verse already have eternal glory due to the
work and actions of God and by his grace. The second
category of salvation is conditioned on the elect
performing some work or action in order to obtain
the timely salvation.
This is a conditional salvation. The elect may or
may not obtain this
salvation based on whether or not they fulfill the
conditions
prescribed. The eternal glory is an unconditional
salvation. God has
and will perform every thing necessary for the elect
to obtain eternal
glory.
Next one must already
have been saved from the condemnation of sin and
from being dead in trespasses and sins before he can
experience the
timely category of salvation. Phil. 2:12, 13
illustrates this principle: "Wherefore, my beloved,
as ye have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God
that worketh in you
both to will and to do of his own good pleasure."
Thus we see that
before we can work out our timely salvation God must
first have
performed a work in us that gives us both a desire
(to will) toward God
and his service and an ability (to do) to perform
the service of God."
Therefore, we have to be saved eternally in order
that we might
experience timely salvation.
Forgiveness of Sins
Eph. 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his
blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
grace."
Col. 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the
forgiveness of sins."
The Greek word for
redeem is "lutroo" meaning to release on receipt of
ransom (akin to lutron, a ransom) and is used in the
Middle Voice,
signifying to release by paying a ransom price
(Vines).
The Greek word for
forgiveness is "aphesis" and denotes a dismissal,
release; it is used of the remission of sins
(Vines).
According to Rom. 6:23
"the wages of sin is death." That which we earn
(wages) from sin is really a debt that we owe to
God. The debt is death
(not dying). This death is the wrathful judgment of
God poured out as
retribution for every sin that is ever committed.
Every transgression
and disobedience receives a just recompense of
reward (Heb. 2:2).
Since God gave the law
and God set the penalty for transgression of the law
and sin God is Just then every sin must be justly
judged and the
execution of that judgment carried out. Thus as a
result of our sins we
were all carrying a huge sin debt (the wrathful
judgment of God awaiting
to be poured out on the transgressors).
God could not just
release us from our sins debt without the payment of
that debt. To do so would render God unjust. Since
God is Just the
debt has to be paid. Thus God cannot just forget
about sin and the
judgment of sin. Remember all sins must be judged
and the wrathful
judgment of those sins executed.
Can the sinner pay the
sin debt? Of course and he will except someone
else pay it. Payment of the sin debt requires an
eternal separation
from God and the glory of his power and to be cast
into the lake of fire
of God's vengeance and into the mist of darkness
forever. That is not
the kind of debt I would care to pay.
Can someone else pay
my debt for me? Yes, but he must be without sin
and must have been approved of God beforehand to pay
the debt. Anyone
with their own sin debt cannot pay someone else's
sin debt for they have
their own debt to settle. Jesus was approved of God,
before the world
began, in the covenant of redemption to pay the debt
of those that God
foreknew (Rom. 8:29...30 "for whom he did
foreknow...them he also
justified). It was said of Jesus by the angel to
Joseph that "he shall
save his people from their sins." When Jesus went to
the cross to pay
the ransom price according to II Cor.5:21, "For he
hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of
God in him." Thus Jesus at the cross not only took
our sins upon
himself, but actually became sin for us. During the
three hours of
darkness Jesus suffered the wrathful judgment of God
poured out in
execution of our sin debt. The scene was so awful
that God turned out
the lights (there was darkness over all the earth
for three hours). The
ransom having been paid Jesus said "It is finished,"
and bowed the head
and gave up the ghost. Thus Jesus through his blood
offered himself
through the eternal Spirit without spot to God (Heb.
9:14). According
to Heb. 10:14 this offering was accepted of God,
"For by one offering he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
According to Eph.
1:7 this work of redemption and consequent
forgiveness of sins was a covenant work for it says
that "in whom" (i.e., in Christ) we have
redemption..."
In Eph. 1:4 we read,
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love." Thus God
chose us that he might redeem us and make us holy
and without blame before him in love.
Also in Eph. 1:7 we
are told that this was done "according to the
riches of his grace." Grace is defined as unmerited
favor. We didn't
do anything to earn or warrant or obtain the
redemption or forgiveness
of sins. We were redeemed and forgiven by the grace
of God through the
blood redemption of Jesus Christ. This was a
complete redemption. In
Rom. 8:33, 34 the question is asked and answered,
"Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God
that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh
intercession for us."
Because Christ paid
the complete price, no charge can successfully be
brought against God's elect. God has justified us,
therefore we stand before God in judgment,
justified. Praise be to our magnificent and
wonderful and gracious God who has loved us even
when we were ungodly sinners and has redeemed us by
his blood thus forgiving us of our sins.
