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With this lesson we will begin to consider the believers’ future. In their past in eternity, the believers were foreknown, chosen, and predestinated by God. Furthermore, in the past they were created by God but became fallen and dead in offenses and sins. The believers’ present comprises both the initial stage and the progressing stage of God’s full salvation. In the initial stage, the stage of regeneration, the believers have been called by God and separated unto Him; they have repented, believed, and been baptized; and they have been joined to the processed Triune God, redeemed, made a new creation, and saved. Finally, in the initial stage, they have cleared the past. In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, the believers experience and enjoy the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing. They experience God’s redemption continuously, they enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation, they experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity corporately, and they experience this dispensing in other aspects. Eventually, at the end of the progressing stage, the believers will be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God, and look to and wait for the Lord Jesus’ coming back to usher them into their future.
The first aspect of the believers’ future is in the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification. The initial stage of God’s full salvation is the stage of regeneration, the progressing stage is the stage of transformation, and the completing stage is the stage of glorification. We have experienced a good deal of transformation and are heading toward the goal of glorification. The seed of the divine life has been sown into us. Now this seed is growing, developing 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. Glorification is the completing stage of God’s full salvation.
Many believers have only an objective concept of glorification. According to this concept, one day those who have been saved and regenerated will suddenly be glorified. They claim that the glorification of the believers will take place instantaneously at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Certain Scriptures seem to prove this. For example, Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.” However, our glorification will actually be the consummation of a process of gradual growth and development in the divine life. First, we are regenerated; that is, we receive the divine life into us. Then, as the divine life grows in us, it saturates us with the divine element, and this element changes us metabolically so that we are transformed organically. In our Christian experience transformation is simply the growth in the divine life. This can be compared to a plant; as it grows, it is transformed from one appearance to another. This process of growth and transformation continues until the plant reaches maturity, glorification. In like manner, our regeneration is followed by transformation, and transformation issues in glorification. Without regeneration there is no possibility of transformation. Furthermore, if we are lacking in transformation, there will be no glorification. Glorification is the issue of transformation, and transformation is accomplished through the gradual and continuous growth 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 not be an accident; it 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, brought into the full expression of the Triune God, until they reach maturity in life.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will be glorified. God has predestinated and justified us, and now He is conforming us to the image of His firstborn Son. Eventually, we will be fully glorified. Concerning this, Romans 8:29-30 clearly says, “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; and those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
When Paul speaks of predestination, calling, justification, and glorification in this portion of the Scriptures, he uses the past tense: predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. This indicates that every item in these verses, including even glorification, is an accomplished fact. Although we think that glorification is something that will happen only in the future and that in our experience we still have not been glorified, the Bible says that we have already been glorified. Paul speaks in this way because even though as created beings we are subject to time, God is not. He is the God of eternity. With Him there is no time factor. Therefore, in the sight of God, we have already been predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. These matters were accomplished in eternity. This also indicates that our glorification is secured and ensured in the eternal God.
In God’s sight we have already been glorified. Nevertheless, according to our experience glorification will take place in the future. 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. For God to glorify us means that He causes the glory that has been sown into us to saturate our entire being and to be 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.
For the believers to be glorified is to receive the incomparable glory. In Romans 8:18 Paul says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed upon us.” We have not yet been glorified and cannot imagine what this incomparable glory is, but we strongly believe, according to the revelation of the New Testament, that the glory we are to receive in the future is incomparable. Present sufferings mean nothing in comparison to the coming glory.
We have been predestinated to be glorified. This is our future. Today Christ is living in us as our hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Glory in this verse is “the glory” in Greek and denotes Christ, who is God’s expression, the effulgence of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3). Hence, this glory is not a thing but a living person, the indwelling Christ, the all-inclusive embodiment of the processed Triune God. Through regeneration Christ as the glory came into us, and now we have the seed of glory in us as our hope of glory. When Christ returns to glorify us, this glory will come out of us and will be manifested to the fullest extent. Hence, the glory is a hope; it is 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. In Colossians 3:4 Paul says that when Christ our life is manifested, then we also will be manifested with Him in glory. When Christ comes again and is manifested, we will be glorified in Him, and He will be glorified in us, that is, in our redeemed and transfigured body (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21; 2 Thes. 1:10). 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.
Today this glory is still a hope to us because it has not come out of us. Since the seed of glory has been sown into us, we hope to see it blossoming. On the one hand, Christ will come from outside of us; on the other hand, He will come from within us. One day, at His return, Christ as the glory within us will come out of us and be fully manifested. He will be glorified in us, and we will be fully in the expression of the Triune God.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the believers reach the goal of God’s predestination. This goal is our glorification. God has predestinated us for this goal. Hence, God’s predestination is our destiny. Our glorification will be our participation in the goal of God’s predestination (1 Cor. 2:7). We are vessels of mercy, which God 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 “also will be manifested with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). At that time, God’s glory will not only have spread from our spirit into our soul but will also be expressed through our body. The three parts of our being—spirit, soul, body—will be the same as Christ is and will be fully saturated with God’s glory. This is our participation in the ultimate goal to which God has predestinated us in eternity.
Our glorification is also our being called by the God of all grace “into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus” (1 Pet. 5:10). God’s calling us in Christ Jesus indicates that God has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish a complete and full redemption so that He may bring His redeemed people into an organic union with Himself. Thus, we may participate in the riches of the processed Triune God as our enjoyment. Christ is the embodiment of the 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 the God of all grace can call us into the enjoyment of His eternal glory and perfect, establish, strengthen, root, and ground us in the Triune God, thus, enabling us to attain His glorious goal. What a miracle that fallen sinners like us can be brought into God’s eternal glory!
Moreover, 2 Thessalonians 2:14 says that God has called us through the gospel so that we may obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is the glory given to the Son by the Father (John 17:22), which is the sonship with the Father’s divine life and nature (5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). The Son has given this glory to us so that we also may have the sonship with the Father’s divine life and nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in the Son’s fullness (John 1:16). What a glory! God has called us to obtain this glory, the glory of the divine life and the divine nature to express the Divine Being.
According to Romans 8:21, when the believers are glorified, they will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. Although we are sons of God, we have not yet been manifested, for we are still under a veil. One day the veil will be removed, and that will be our glorification. The sons of God will come out from under the veil and will be revealed to the whole creation. Then the sons of God will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom, and the whole universe will behold the sons of God in glory and participate in the freedom of this glory.
As a result of the fall of Adam, the entire creation is under bondage and corruption. All creation, which has been subjected to vanity, is groaning, and it is travailing together in pain until now. Therefore, creation is anxiously watching, eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God in the hope that it will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (vv. 19-23). This indicates that God has promised that we, the believers in Christ, will be glorified and will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. However, creation will share only in the freedom of our glory, not in the glory itself. Although creation will not share in our glory, it will enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. In the future we will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom.
When the believers are glorified, they will be in the glory of the divine sonship. Hebrews 2:10 says that the Father with the Son is leading us, the many sons, into glory. We are sons of God, but we are not yet in glory. Just as a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, we are being led into glory. One day we will be in glory as the many sons of God. Our glorification will be our full sonship. We will be glorified in the divine life and the divine nature to bear the glory of the Triune God for His expression.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will eventually become a glorified son of God. We will all be brought into the glory of God and shine with His glory. This is the full salvation of all those who believe in Christ. At that time, we will bear the righteousness of God outwardly, be saturated with the holiness of God inwardly, and shine in the realm of His full glory as His sons. In this glory God will be expressed in a full way in His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people. This will be the ultimate issue of the dispensing of the processed Triune God.
The first aspect of the believers’ future is in the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification. Our glorification will be the consummation of the process of gradual growth and development in life. First, we are regenerated; then, as the divine life grows in us, it saturates us with the divine element, and this element changes us metabolically so that we are transformed organically. This process of growth and transformation continues until we reach maturity, glorification. This is to be brought into the full expression of the Triune God.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will first be glorified. Our glorification is an accomplished fact. In the sight of God, we have already been predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. In eternity these items have already been accomplished. Therefore, our glorification is secured and ensured in the eternal God.
For the believers to be glorified is for them to receive the incomparable glory. Present sufferings mean nothing in comparison to the coming glory. We have been predestinated to be glorified. Today Christ is in us as our hope of glory. When Christ comes again and is manifested, the indwelling Christ will saturate our entire being, including our physical body. This will cause our body to be transfigured and become like His glorious body. At that time, Christ will be glorified in us. Our glorification will be our participation in the goal of God’s predestination. The God of all grace has called us in Christ Jesus into His eternal glory and is also perfecting, establishing, strengthening, rooting, and grounding us, thus, enabling us to attain His glorious goal. When we are glorified, we will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. When all the sons of God are manifested to all of creation, the whole universe will behold the sons of God in glory and participate in the freedom of this glory. When we, the believers, are glorified, we will be in the glory of the divine sonship. Today the Father with the Son is leading us, the many sons, into glory. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will eventually become a glorified son of God. We will all be brought into the glory of God and shine with His glory. In this glory God will be expressed in a full way in His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people. This will be the ultimate issue of the dispensing of the processed Triune God.
