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God’s organic salvation (3)

Conformation and glorification

Outline

  I. God conforms us that we may have His divine element — the solidifying of God’s organic salvation — Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2:
   А. God conforms us that we may be solidified in the possession of His divine element:
    1. God’s intention is for us to have His divine element in His divine life, nature, and image as His expression but not in His Godhead.
    2. God regenerates us with His divine life that we may begin to participate in His divinity to have His divine element.
    3. After being regenerated, we begin to grow by the divine renewing, sanctification, and transformation until we mature in the divine life to be a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13), being conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).
    4. Hence, our conformation is our maturity in the divine life through which we participate in God’s divinity in full and are solidified in the possession of His divine element.
   B. God conforms us that we may be solidified in the experience of His organic salvation:
    1. In God’s organic salvation, conformation is the consummation of our transformation in life (2 Cor. 3:18); it is also our preparation before the transfiguration and glorification of our body.
    2. Conformation is to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son:
     а. To be conformed to Christ’s death in all things through the power of His resurrection — Phil. 3:10.
     b. To live Christ for magnifying Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ — 1:19-21a.
    3. Such a conformation makes us the reprints of God’s firstborn Son that we may be exactly like Him and be exactly like God in His righteousness and holiness — 1 John 3:2; Eph. 4:24.

  II. God glorifies us that we may have His divine image in full — the consummating of God’s organic salvation — 23, Rom. 8:30; Eph. 4:30; Phil. 3:21; Col. 3:4b; 1 Pet. 5:10a; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10:
   А. God glorifies us that we may arrive at the consummation of the possession of His divine image:
    1. In regeneration God seals us with His Spirit (Eph. 1:13); this sealing Spirit, who is the Triune God Himself entering into us, causes us to bear God’s image, signified by the seal, thus making us like God.
    2. This sealing of the sealing Spirit is like inking, saturating us from within with the glorious life element of God throughout our life, resulting in the redemption of our body (4:30; Rom. 8:23) so that our entire being bears the divine image of God.
    3. At the time of our rapture when we are matured in the divine life, we will be brought into God’s glory outwardly for our glorification — v. 30; Heb. 2:10.
    4. Hence, we will be glorified from within through the lifelong saturation with the glory of God and from without through our being brought into God’s glory. By such glorification we will arrive at the consummation of the possession of God’s divine image.
   B. God glorifies us that we may arrive at the consummation of the experience of His organic salvation:
    1. In God’s organic salvation His glorifying work in us begins with His regenerating us with His life of glory.
    2. After regenerating us, God continues, step by step, with His work of renewing, sanctification, transformation, and conformation to transfuse us with Himself as glory, until the glory of His life saturates our being and is manifested in our body; thus His work of glorification in us reaches its consummation.
    3. Our glorification is the top portion of our divine sonship in God’s organic salvation — Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:23.
    4. The consummation of God’s organic salvation is the New Jerusalem — the universal incorporation of the union and mingling of divinity with humanity — the processed and consummated Triune God incorporated with His regenerated, renewed, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite elect.

  In the previous two chapters we saw the first four items of God’s organic salvation: regeneration, renewing, sanctification, and transformation. In this chapter, the third chapter on God’s organic salvation, we will go on to see the matters of conformation and glorification.

God conforming us that we may have His divine element

  God’s regenerating us is the base of His organic salvation, His renewing us is the building up of His organic salvation, His sanctifying us is the establishing of His organic salvation, His transforming us is the shaping of His organic salvation, and His conforming us that we may have His divine element is the solidifying of His organic salvation (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2).

  In the past when we spoke about conformation, our stress was on the image. This time the Lord has shown us that God’s conforming us is that we may have His divine element. Conformation is related not only to the divine image but also to the divine element. It is not enough merely to have an outward image. What God wants is for us to have His image outwardly and His element inwardly. A person’s picture bears only the image of the person without his element. As those who have been regenerated by God with the divine life, we are not just photographs of God; rather, we are His reproduction. As such, we not only have His image outwardly, but we also have His life and nature with His divine element inwardly. Merely having the image without the element is vain. We must see that with the matter of conformation, the emphasis is not only on the divine image but also on the divine element.

God conforming us that we may be solidified in the possession of His divine element

  At our regeneration God’s divine life entered into us with His divine element. That was the beginning, but with only a small amount of the divine element; that is, we were short of being solidified in the possession of God’s divine element. Following our regeneration, we have to go on further for the divine element to increase continually that we may be renewed, sanctified, and transformed so that the divine element may reach the extent of being solidified. This is conformation.

God’s intention being for us to have His divine element

  God’s intention is for us to have His divine element in His divine life, nature, and image as His expression but not in His Godhead. God’s intention is for us not only to have His life and partake of His nature and image but also to have His divine element by having His life, nature, and image. When the first man, Adam, was created, he had the divine image (Gen. 1:26-27) but did not yet have the divine element. Therefore, God immediately brought this man who had the divine image to the tree of life (2:9). Man could receive God as his element by taking in God Himself, signified by the tree of life. Hence, we see that it is not enough merely to have the divine image outwardly. We still need to have God’s divine element inwardly.

Through regeneration our beginning to participate in His divinity to have His divine element

  God regenerates us with His divine life that we may begin to participate in His divinity to have His divine element. God regenerates us that we may have His divine life; this is the base of God’s organic salvation. This is a beginning in which we begin to participate in God’s divinity. After our regeneration we still need to grow. Therefore, we need God’s renewing, sanctification, and transformation until we mature in the divine life. Hence, the stage of conformation is necessary in God’s organic salvation. Not only do we have regeneration, renewing, sanctification, and transformation, but we also have conformation. Without conformation the divine life may have entered into us, but it has not reached the extent of being solidified and matured. Therefore, after regeneration we must pursue the growth in life. Renewing, sanctification, and transformation are our growth in life.

Growing by the divine renewing, sanctification, and transformation until we mature, being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son

  After being regenerated, we begin to grow by the divine renewing, sanctification, and transformation until we mature in the divine life to be a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13), being conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).

  The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ. Christ’s Body is not something empty or formless; rather, it is an organism with a measure of the stature of its fullness in its breadth, length, height, and depth. Thank the Lord that God has regenerated us that we may begin to have His divine element. Following this, we still need to be built up, established, and shaped in God’s organic salvation. However, after we have been shaped through transformation, it is still not enough. We need to continue to grow until we are matured in the divine life to become a full-grown man. Then we can arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.

Through conformation we participate in God’s divinity in full

  Hence, our conformation is our maturity in the divine life through which we participate in God’s divinity in full and are solidified in the possession of His divine element. Many Christians are satisfied superficially with merely being saved to go to heaven instead of going to hell. But today in the Lord’s recovery we have seen that after regeneration, in which we have God’s divine life and begin to have God’s divine element, we still need to experience the growth in life unto a full-grown man.

God conforming us that we may be solidified in the experience of His organic salvation

  God conforms us not only that we may be solidified in the possession of His divine element but also that we may be solidified in the experience of His organic salvation. God’s organic salvation is complete, but in our experience of His organic salvation we need to be solidified. We need conformation to help us in being solidified in the experience of such a salvation.

Conformation being the consummation of our transformation in life

  In God’s organic salvation, conformation is the consummation of our transformation in life (2 Cor. 3:18); it is also our preparation before the transfiguration and glorification of our body. God’s organic salvation begins with regeneration and passes through renewing, sanctification, transformation, and conformation; eventually, He will glorify us that we may consummate in the New Jerusalem. In order to be glorified, we must first be conformed, that is, matured in life. This becomes the preparation work before our glorification. God’s desire is to glorify His people, but He cannot glorify a group of children; He can only glorify a group of grown-up people. Hence, conformation is to prepare us so that God may carry out the work of glorification in us.

To be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son

  Romans 8:29 says, “Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” We have been regenerated to become the sons of God, but we still need to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. God’s only begotten Son had divinity but not humanity; Christ as God’s firstborn Son has both divinity and humanity. We are to be conformed to God’s firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man, that we may be a group of God-men who are exactly like Him.

  When God’s firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man, lived on earth, He lived in the shadow of the cross. His life was a crucified life. Such a crucified life became a mold. To experience being conformed to the image of God’s Firstborn, we must be conformed to His death daily. In Philippians 3:10 Paul says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” On the one hand, we are being conformed to His death in all things through the power of His resurrection, and on the other hand, we live Christ for magnifying Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (1:19-21a).

To make us reprints of God’s firstborn Son

  Such a conformation makes us the reprints of God’s firstborn Son that we may be exactly like Him and be exactly like God in His righteousness and holiness (1 John 3:2; Eph. 4:24). We are reprints of God not only in His image but also in His righteousness and holiness. God’s righteousness is His righteous procedure, and His holiness is His holy nature. We are not only like God in His outward image, but we are exactly like Him in His righteousness and holiness.

  This is the work of conformation that God is doing in us to carry out His organic salvation to the uttermost. This is God’s heart’s desire and good pleasure in us; this is also the ultimate goal that God has concerning His chosen people, that is, to make us jasper stone and consummately the New Jerusalem.

God glorifying us that we may have His divine image in full

  God glorifies us that we may have His divine image in full; this is the consummating of God’s organic salvation (23, Rom. 8:30; Eph. 4:30; Phil. 3:21; Col. 3:4b; 1 Pet. 5:10a; 2 Tim. 2:10; Heb. 2:10).

  Glorification, the final step in God’s organic salvation, brings the conformed believers into the glory of God. Many Christians today have a wrong concept that our glorification will take place merely in the twinkling of an eye at the Lord’s coming back. They do not see that glorification is not only instantaneous but is also a gradual process. Glorification is accomplished through a gradual process, beginning with regeneration, continuing through renewing, sanctification, transformation, and conformation, and finally arriving at glorification by which we have His divine image in full.

God glorifying us that we may arrive at the consummation of the possession of His divine image

  God’s organic salvation has not only the base, the building up, the establishing, the shaping, and the solidifying but also the consummating. God glorifies us that we may arrive at the consummation of the possession of His divine image.

In regeneration God sealing us with His Spirit

  In regeneration God seals us with His Spirit (Eph. 1:13); this sealing Spirit, who is the Triune God Himself entering into us, causes us to bear God’s image, signified by the seal, thus making us like God.

The sealing Spirit saturating us from within with the glorious life element of God

  This sealing of the sealing Spirit is like inking, saturating us from within with the glorious life element of God throughout our life, resulting in the redemption of our body (4:30; Rom. 8:23) so that our entire being bears the divine image of God.

  On the one hand, God’s glorifying us is the glory of God saturating us from within. At our regeneration we received the sealing of the Spirit. This sealing Spirit within us saturates us daily, continually, unceasingly, and constantly. Eventually, the result will be the redemption of our body in our glorification.

At the time of our rapture in maturity, our being brought into God’s glory outwardly

  On the other hand, God’s glorifying us has an outward aspect; that is, at the time of our rapture when we are matured in the divine life, we will be brought into God’s glory outwardly for our glorification (v. 30; Heb. 2:10).

By such glorification our arriving at the consummation of the possession of God’s divine image

  Hence, we will be glorified from within through the lifelong saturation with the glory of God and from without through our being brought into God’s glory. Whereas the inner saturation is a lifelong process, our being brought into God’s glory outwardly will be instantaneous. By such a glorification we will arrive at the consummation of the possession of God’s divine image.

God glorifying us that we may arrive at the consummation of the experience of His organic salvation

  God glorifies us that we may arrive at the consummation of the possession of His divine image. Furthermore, He glorifies us that we may not only be built up, established, shaped, and solidified in the experience of God’s organic salvation but also arrive at the consummation of such experiences.

God’s glorifying work in us beginning with regeneration

  In God’s organic salvation His glorifying work in us begins with His regenerating us with His life of glory.

Through His work of renewing, sanctification, transformation, and conformation, His glorifying work in us reaching its consummation

  After regenerating us, God continues, step by step, with His work of renewing, sanctification, transformation, and conformation to transfuse us with Himself as glory until the glory of His life saturates our being and is manifested in our body; thus His work of glorification in us reaches its consummation.

Our glorification being the top portion of our divine sonship

  Our glorification is the top portion of our divine sonship in God’s organic salvation (Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:23). God’s economy is that we may become sons of God to inherit all His riches. The day is coming when our body will be redeemed and we will enter into the top and full enjoyment of the divine sonship.

The consummation of God’s organic salvation being the New Jerusalem — the universal incorporation of the union and mingling of divinity with humanity

  The consummation of God’s organic salvation is the New Jerusalem — the universal incorporation of the union and mingling of divinity with humanity — the processed and consummated Triune God incorporated with His regenerated, renewed, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite elect.

  Dear brothers and sisters, our future is the Lord’s coming back. We are not here miserably longing for His return so that our afflictions may be over quickly and we may be released from the bondage of slavery. Rather, we are awaiting the Lord’s coming back by daily experiencing His organic salvation. We are waiting not by sitting passively but by being saved actively day by day. We cannot remain in the stage of regeneration; rather, we must cooperate with the Lord for Him to renew, sanctify, transform, conform, and glorify us so that God’s organic salvation may be accomplished in us for the fulfillment of His eternal economy.

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