Union with Christ (11): Glorification

Introduction

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 (Rom. 8:29–30).

God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4–6).

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1–2).

Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel (Heb. 12:22–24).

I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years (Rev. 20:4).

I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:11–16).

He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever (Rev. 22:1–5).

I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen (Rev. 7:9–12).

 

Union the Essence

I have been examining the truth of the union of the elect people of God with Jesus Christ. That union with Jesus Christ is the essence of the covenant and of their salvation. When we say that we have covenant fellowship with God, we mean that we have union with Jesus Christ. Though in the course of explaining the truth of salvation we enumerate many benefits, nevertheless the essence of salvation is union with Jesus Christ.

That this is the very heart of salvation is the testimony of the Reformed creeds. The Heidelberg Catechism sums up the entire comfort and thus the assurance of his salvation for the child of God with these words: “I with body and soul…am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” That the Catechism has in view not only Christ’s ownership and lordship of the elect but also and especially union with Christ, it makes clear when it says, “Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him” (A 1, in Confessions and Church Order, 83–84).

If the essence of our salvation and covenant fellowship with God is our union with Christ, then the essence of our union with Christ is the Spirit of Christ, who is given to the elect, brings Christ into their hearts, abides with them, seals them, teaches them all things, and makes them partakers of Christ and all his riches and gifts. The Spirit unites the elect to Christ; the Spirit regenerates them, calls them, works faith in their hearts, justifies them, assures them of eternal life, sanctifies them, and glorifies them.

That union with Christ is the essence of salvation is also the meaning of baptism, according to the Form for the Administration of Baptism. Speaking of the sign of sprinkling with water, the form says that God the Son witnesses and seals to us “that He doth wash us in His blood from all our sins, incorporating us into the fellowship of His death and resurrection.” Later the form explains that the Holy Spirit assures by baptism that “He will dwell in us and sanctify us to be members of Christ” (Confessions and Church Order, 258). The form teaches this because according to the apostle Paul, the essence of salvation consists in a baptism into Christ: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). The apostle means by “baptized into Jesus Christ” not the sacrament of baptism but the spiritual reality to which baptism points, which is union with Christ and thus saving fellowship with his death and resurrection.

According to the Heidelberg Catechism, union with Christ is also the essence of the Lord’s supper and the reality that we eat and drink Jesus Christ.

Q. 76. What is it then to eat the crucified body and drink the shed blood of Christ?

A. It is…to become more and more united to His sacred body by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us; so that we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwithstanding flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone; and that we live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul. (Confessions and Church Order, 112–13)

Eating and drinking Christ is to be more and more united to Christ by his Spirit. We thus have union with Christ and are more and more united when we eat and drink his crucified body and shed blood.

Being united with Christ, we also then have fellowship with the triune God in Christ. In Christ God is become our Father; he adopts us as his children and heirs, preserves us through this life, and finally presents us in heaven “without spot or wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life eternal” (Form for the Administration of Baptism, in Confessions and Church Order, 258).

 

Riches of Christ

In my examination of the truth of our union with Christ, I rejected the idea of an order of salvation and spoke rather about the riches of salvation that are in Christ Jesus. Historically in Reformed theology some have spoken about an order of salvation, but this seemingly innocuous idea has been corrupted, and it is time that we reject that idea.

For the Protestant Reformed Churches, the order of salvation means a temporal order of salvation’s appropriation. She makes the temporal order of salvation’s appropriation the main thing in salvation. This is because she is interested in giving to man—man regenerated and empowered by grace—a vital place in his salvation. God does his part, and man must do his part too. By a mutual interaction between the grace of God and the activities of man, the believer receives more and more of his salvation and progressively becomes a holier person until he finally obtains perfection in heaven. Man by his believing, obedience, and repentance brings himself (by God’s enabling grace, of course) into the possession of the experience and assurance of his salvation. Man is in a certain sense first for the Protestant Reformed Churches, and this means that man’s responsibility to believe, repent, and obey are the hinge on which the reception of salvation turns.

Scripture is uninterested in a temporal order in which the gifts of salvation are supposedly bestowed. Scripture’s viewpoint is not only different than a temporal order, but also scripture never teaches that there is something that man must do to be saved, to experience his salvation, to be assured of that salvation, or to advance from one benefit of salvation to another. For instance, scripture never teaches that man must first repent, and then God will forgive him. The salvation of the elect—their possession, experience, and assurance of salvation—is a pure gift of grace. Scripture’s viewpoint of salvation in its application to the elect is of principles and eternal realities.

By principles I mean that scripture emphasizes in the truth of salvation certain fundamental truths. Scripture teaches on every page that all salvation is of the Lord; that in every aspect of salvation, God is first; that strictly as the result of God’s work, there is fruit in man; that salvation is all of grace; that salvation has its origin in eternal, unconditional predestination; that salvation is unconditional in its origin, reception, and perfection; that salvation is not by the working or the willing of man; that all salvation was accomplished by and stored up in Jesus Christ; that the Spirit of Christ is the worker of salvation who brings that salvation and its experience into the hearts of the elect; and that the purpose of salvation is not so much the salvation of men but the revelation and glory of God as the covenant God in that mighty and wonderful work of salvation in which he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he wills he hardens. These and others are the principles that scripture teaches whenever it teaches the truth of salvation and with regard to whatever benefit of salvation that is in view.

The issue never is what God has done and then what man must do. Salvation is not doled out in a temporal series of steps. Salvation is one whole. It is like a diamond. Salvation can be viewed from many angles, but always salvation is one diamond that is in view, and this diamond of salvation always sparkles with the glory of God and his grace. The issue always is what God has done for the salvation of his people and what he produces in man for his glory and the revelation of his wonderful grace.

That scripture is uninterested in a temporal order of salvation—as many speak of it—is also clear because scripture frequently summarizes the whole of our salvation by a single benefit. So for instance, Paul describes our whole salvation as a translation from one kingdom to another (Col. 1:13); Jesus speaks of our salvation as a regeneration (John 3:5); and Peter calls salvation a calling (1 Pet. 2:9). The Reformed creeds do the same thing, so that Belgic Confession article 23 says, “Our salvation consists in the remission of sins for Jesus Christ’s sake” (Confessions and Church Order, 51). With the description of each aspect of salvation, the point of scripture is not that there are no other aspects of salvation, but when scripture considers each aspect of salvation, scripture views the sinner as completely saved. There is not something that the sinner has to do to get another benefit. Scripture reveals the salvation of the elect as an accomplished fact and not as a process whereby God gives salvation in installments in response to the activities and works of man who has been enabled and empowered by grace to do his part.

Besides, as far as scripture is concerned, the elect church of God was saved in eternity and at the cross. So Paul says in Colossians 1:20 that God “made peace through the blood of the cross.” In 2 Corinthians 5:18, Paul says that God “hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.” And in Revelation 13:8 where John speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” he teaches that the cross of Christ is an eternal reality. The cross was an accomplished fact in the counsel of God, and that fact was made manifest in the world at Calvary. The riches of the salvation accomplished by God in Christ then are applied to the elect in their union with Christ as one whole, complete gift, as a diamond of many facets that shines from whatever angle it is viewed with the glory of our gracious God.

In this examination of the riches of salvation that are in Jesus Christ, I have come now to glorification. The goal of salvation is the glorification of the elect people of God. This is not the final and ultimate goal. That final and ultimate goal is always the glory of God and the praise of his wonderful grace whereby he has saved us in Jesus Christ. The glorification of the people of God serves this purpose. God takes his elect people fallen in Adam and brings them to the heights of heavenly glory. What was degraded and shameful in Adam is redeemed and made glorious in Christ.

 

The Glory of God

What is glory? And what is the glory of which the elect are partakers in Jesus Christ, so that we speak of their glorification? From what were they glorified, and to what are they glorified?

We must begin with God. God is the God of all glory. This glory is the radiance of his absolutely perfect being. He is goodness, righteousness, holiness, and truth. He is perfect and the implication of all perfection. As such he is incomparable and incomprehensible. He stands alone. He cannot be classified. He is of himself, and he stands by himself. The “Holy One” asks in Isaiah 40:25, “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal?” This glory of God is especially revealed in his holiness. In his absolute perfection he is also absolutely distinct from all other beings. There is none like him, and to him none can be compared.

In 1 Timothy 6:14–16 Paul speaks of this glory:

14. Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

15. Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

16. Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.

No man can see the glory of God, and neither can anyone approach unto it. God exists in himself as the triune God, radiating his own glory. He beholds his glory and glories in himself.

The glory of God must be revealed. Here, too, there is one revelation of the glory of God to which no man can approach and before which no man can stand. This was the glory of God revealed at Mount Sinai in the law, so that we read in Hebrews 12:18–21:

18. Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19. And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

20. (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

21. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

And it is this glory that the writer to the Hebrews describes: “Our God is a consuming fire” (12:29). God reveals his glory in his awesome holiness and perfect righteousness and infinite goodness as he speaks blessing to the righteous and cursing to the wicked and shows himself to be the just avenger of his own glory as the only true God.

This glory is the eternal power and Godhead that God also displays by means of the created things that all men see and hold under in unrighteousness. So Paul says in Romans 1:18–23,

18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

There is no salvation in that revelation of the glory of God, but there is only wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

This is also the revelation of the glory of God that Isaiah saw:

1. In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isa. 6:1–5)

Peter saw this glory of God with Jesus in the boat:

8. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

9. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:

10. And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. (Luke 5:8–10)

That revelation of the glory of God is the revelation that says to all men that they must love God with all their hearts, minds, souls, and strength because God is God and must be served and worshiped as God, and if man does not do that perfectly then this glory consumes him. Before this revelation of the glory of God all men become nothing, all the nations combined are in comparison but the drop of a bucket and the small dust of the balance, and the sinner is consumed for his hatred of God and failure to worship God as God.

 

Glory Revealed in Christ

There must be another revelation of the glory of God, and that is the revelation of God in his glorious grace as the covenant God, who wills and establishes a covenant of grace with his elect people in Christ. This is the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. For Christ is the revelation of the glory of God as God became flesh. So John says,

14. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

16. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:14–18)

Through Moses God gave the law, which is a revelation of the glory of God as the righteous and holy one and includes but a figure of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as the savior. But the reality, the truth and substance of what was shown in the law, came by Jesus Christ, who by grace revealed God as the savior of the unworthy and damnworthy sinner who has assaulted the glory of God and held it down in unrighteousness, but whom God had chosen and appointed to salvation in eternity.

In Jesus Christ is also the revelation of the glory of God at the cross as the God who in love for his people, whereby he appointed them to salvation, shed his own blood to deliver his people from wrath by satisfying his own justice. The revelation of the glory of God’s grace is not at the expense of the glory of God’s justice and holiness. Rather, that revelation of his grace maintains God’s perfect goodness, holiness, and righteousness. He is both just and the gracious justifier of those who believe in Christ because God made atonement in Christ for sin and established in Christ a perfect righteousness for his people. So Paul says in Romans 3:23–26,

23. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

In the salvation of his people, God is just because he satisfied for sin, and he is the gracious justifier of the ungodly sinner who has no right to salvation.

 

Hope in Glory

Because the elect are justified freely by God’s grace as ungodly sinners and have peace with God through Jesus Christ, they also then “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2). The elect shall see God and share in the glory of God and be transformed by that vision from glory to glory!

To see God was the hope of all the saints. It was the hope of Job, who said that he would see God. Abraham saw Christ’s day and was glad. Solomon complained for the church about when they would see God. David sang of seeing God. The book of Revelation shows us the saints in heaven who see God.

To see God is the great hope of the church. We will not see God in his naked deity. That is impossible. No man has seen nor can see God. We will see God as his glory is revealed in Jesus Christ, his Son, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So the glory spoken of in Romans 5:2 is God’s own glory. And it is God’s own glory as he reveals it in Christ and shares it with his people. To see the glory of God in Jesus Christ is to have that glory transform you. You will be like him because you will see him as he is. You will be lifted up into that glory and participate in it and be a sharer in that glory.

And the apostle Paul says that this glory is our “hope.” Hope is the expectation of great good. And so Paul is saying that we expect to see the glory of God in his Son, Jesus Christ, to be with him and to be like him in that glory, transformed from glory to glory! It is our hope only as we stand in the grace of the ungodly sinner whom God has justified and who has peace with God.

If you are a good person and an obedient person who stands before God in that goodness and obedience, then, of course, you can have no hope. Then you must labor and labor and labor, and you can never have any hope. In the end all your labors will bring you to hell. No, there is no hope in that way of obedience.

There is only hope—that is, the expectation of great good—as we stand as ungodly sinners whom God has justified by faith in Jesus Christ and who have peace with God. Then there is hope. That hope is the expectation that we shall receive from God a share in the glory of God in Jesus Christ, whom we shall see with our eyes and not another and by whose power we shall be translated from glory to glory.

And in this we boast. That is the word. Boast! The King James Version says “rejoice,” but it is stronger. We boast in this. Let he who boasts boast in the Lord. That means that the glory of God, in which you will certainly share, is your joy, treasure, and most precious possession. That you boast in it means that you boast not in yourself—in your obedience, goodness, repentance, or good works—but you boast in the grace of God by which and in which you stand at peace with him now and forever as the ungodly sinner whom God justified in Christ.

To know the glory of God is our glory and salvation. The sinner who was damningly ignorant of God, who was degraded in his hatred of God, and who was simply described as darkness—the very antithesis of light and thus the very antithesis of God—is glorified in the knowledge of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. So the apostle says, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

 

The Glory of the Head

This glorification of God’s people is simply the extension of and their participation in the glory of their Lord and head, Jesus Christ. Christ was glorified in that he sat at the right hand of God, and he received from God the promise of the Spirit. The elect are lifted up with Christ because they are members of Christ. So the apostle says in Ephesians 2:4–7,

4. God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

7. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Whomever God quickens, he raises up and sets in heavenly places. To be raised up and set in heavenly places refers to the glory and dominion of the church over all things. God by his exceeding great power raised Christ from the dead and set Christ at his own right hand and gave him dominion and power and glory and honor. God made Christ head over all, the victorious Lord of all who has all power in heaven and on earth. He is exalted to God’s right hand. In his hand Christ holds the book of God’s counsel, and Christ does all God’s pleasure. Christ controls every creature and moves each one infallibly to its appointed end.

We partake with Christ of his glory, dominion, and honor. As the head is glorious, so must the body partake of that glory and dominion. The elect church and the individual believer are lifted to the heights of dominion and power and sit already in heavenly places. All those elect children of God who were dead, he quickens, raises to an immortal glory, and exalts to victorious dominion over sin, death, the world, the kingdom of darkness, hell, and the grave.

All this is done to us with Christ. Without him we are nothing. Without him we are dead. Without him we walk according to the course of this world. Without him we are only slaves of Satan. Without him we fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Without him we are only worthy of condemnation.

I want to impress this on you. You are alive, but you do not ever possess that life of yourself. You possess the life of Christ as you are with him and in him. It is not we who live, but Christ in us! As the head, he was raised to immortal life; as the head, he went to heaven to appear in the presence of God for us; as the head, he was exalted and became a quickening Spirit by whom the whole body lives. We are nothing in ourselves. All our life is hid with Christ in heaven. We live now, yet not us, but Christ in us; and the life that we live, we live by the Spirit of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.

By faith! Is that not what the apostle means by “in Christ”? We are in him by the bond of faith. We are engrafted into Christ by a true and living faith. We are made partakers by that faith of all that Christ possesses. We are joined with him, made bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, his holy bride. Whatever is possessed by Christ, the head, is enjoyed by the church, his body.

By faith, then, surely also means that this life with Christ is an article of faith. We believe this truth that we are alive and exalted with Christ. We lay hold by faith on this reality and say, “Being dead in trespasses and sins, we have been quickened together with Christ. Now there is no condemnation, and there never was condemnation to us in Christ. Sin in us is put to death; the dominion of Satan has been broken.”

This life in Christ belongs to the things unseen. It does not yet appear what we shall be. We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him. Yet how far away that seems. We are in body and soul yet on the earth. It does not appear that we reign gloriously with Christ over all, but we are often the subjects of the oppression of the ungodly, the assaults of the world, and the temptations of Satan. It does not appear that we exalt triumphantly over all our foes, but we appear to go down to defeat time and again. We have these heavenly treasures, this immortal life, in earthen vessels. We lie in the midst of death; we live in the body of this death, mortal, corruptible, weak, and shameful.

Nor does it appear fully that we have been delivered from sin’s power. For this is the case with us according to the apostle Paul in Romans 7:22–24: While we have a delight in the law of God after the inner man, we find in our members another law, warring against the law of our mind, to bring us into captivity to the law of sin. The flesh wars against the Spirit, so that we cannot do the things that we would. The good that we would, we do not, and the evil that we would not, that we do. And we cry out, “Wretched men that we are! Who shall deliver us from the body of this death?”

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of those things not seen, and the certainty of our future glory. We rise above and out of our deep misery and shame by faith. By faith we lay hold on Christ and look upon our crucified Lord, who shed his blood for us and for whose sake God has forgiven us all our sins. By faith we stand before God reconciled to him through the death of his Son. By faith we believe that God raised Christ from the dead and set him at God’s right hand and that we are quickened with Christ and raised with him. By faith we know that we are in Christ, that he is our head and that we are his members who are inseparably united to Christ, so that he is responsible for us; his work is imputed to us; what he does we do; what is done to him is done to us; that when he died, we died with him; and that when he was raised, we were raised with him and ascended far above all heavens. That is an accomplished fact in Christ, and by faith, faith alone, that is all ours.

 

Glory in This Life

By faith this resurrection, exaltation, and glorification of the church is also our present experience. Now! We live! We are raised and sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus! Alive in the midst of death, that is true, but alive. Alive to God. Alive to the truth. Alive to heaven and to spiritual things. Alive to the things of the Spirit that we thought were foolish in our sinful ignorance. Given power to become the sons and daughters of God.

This life and glory for the church is not merely what will be realized in the future. This life and glory is the present reality for the church. Christ comes to us in this life as we lie in the midst of death. He takes up his abode with us. He engrafts us into himself by faith and indwells us by his quickening Spirit. This is first. Christ implants within us the seed of regeneration, the beginning and principle of his resurrection life. We die to sin, and we are made alive to righteousness. He makes us new creatures. Quickened with him, all things have become new.

And alive and not able to die, we advance ever more toward the perfect day. We are alive, yet the perfect manifestation and realization of this glorious life, body and soul with our whole being, without the possibility of sin or death any longer, is still to come. Raised with him now, we shall be raised in perfection. Our sitting with Christ shall be made perfect when we will live and reign with him in heaven, sitting on thrones and ruling in the whole perfect creation after sin, death, and the grave all go down to everlasting defeat.

The glorification of the people of God consists in essence in receiving the gift of the Spirit. By that Spirit and through his work, the people of God are made heavenly creatures. They are separated from the old, dead, sin-filled, cursed body and age of Adam. And they are engrafted into the new, living, righteous body and age of Jesus Christ. By the Spirit’s presence and work in their hearts, this glory is already perfect, so that they are not able to sin. Though they sin in the flesh, they are not able to sin in their hearts. So John says, “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” (1 John 3:9). John cannot mean that they never commit a sin, for the whole scripture testifies that the people of God yet sin. Rather, John is speaking of the reality of regeneration in the hearts of the children of God. In their hearts by the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, the children of God enjoy the perfect freedom of not being able to sin, loving God, and hating that which is evil, although at the same time their flesh and the body of death is totally depraved. This is the beginning of eternal life in him that will be perfected in the day of Jesus Christ.

Implied in the truth of the glorification of the church is the church’s preservation in salvation and grace. The preservation of the church is that act of God’s grace whereby he preserves the church and every elect member of the church in union with Jesus Christ by the Spirit of Christ in faith and the assurance of faith unto the very end that God appointed for her in glory, so that the church fights the good fight of faith and can never fall away from the grace that she has received. The confession of the preservation of the church in faith and salvation is the burden of the fifth head of the Canons of Dordrecht. The heart of the doctrine of the Canons in the fifth head regarding the preservation of saints is summarized well in articles 6–9:

Article 6. God, who is rich in mercy, according to His unchangeable purpose of election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own people, even in their melancholy falls; nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace of adoption and forfeit the state of justification, or to commit the sin unto death; nor does He permit them to be totally deserted, and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction.

Article 7. For, in the first place, in these falls He preserves in them the incorruptible seed of regeneration from perishing, or being totally lost; and again, by His Word and Spirit, certainly and effectually renews them to repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for their sins, that they may seek and obtain remission in the blood of the Mediator, may again experience the favor of a reconciled God, through faith adore His mercies, and henceforward more diligently work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

Article 8. Thus, it is not in consequence of their own merits or strength, but of God’s free mercy, that they do not totally fall from faith and grace, nor continue and perish finally in their backslidings; which with respect to themselves is not only possible, but would undoubtedly happen; but with respect to God, it is utterly impossible, since His counsel cannot be changed, nor His promise fail, neither can the call according to His purpose be revoked, nor the merit, intercession, and preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated.

Article 9. Of this preservation of the elect to salvation, and of their perseverance in the faith, true believers for themselves may and do obtain assurance according to the measure of their faith, whereby they arrive at the certain persuasion that they ever will continue true and living members of the church, and that they experience forgiveness of sins, and will at last inherit eternal life. (Confessions and Church Order, 174–75)

 

Preserved and Persevering

Implied by the truth of the preservation of the church is the church’s perseverance in grace. The Word of God over his elect church from eternity in election to everlasting life in heaven is “sin shall not have dominion over you.” The fruit and effect of that powerful word is that the church is moved to work out her own salvation with fear and trembling, to crucify the flesh, to put on the new man, and to run with patience the race that is set before her.

The divine word of God over his church in Jesus Christ is summarized by the apostle Paul in Romans 6:14: “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” This is not an exhortation to the church but a statement of the word of the gospel over the justified church in Jesus Christ. She is not under law, and so she cannot be condemned for her sins. She is under grace, and so enthroned in her heart is Jesus Christ. Christ proclaims his lordship in her heart and will not let sin have dominion over her. And the word to the church therefore is,

11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Rom. 6:11–13)

Being justified freely by his grace, the law does not reign in the church, and so sin does not reign in the church. And the battle of faith all her life long is the victorious advance of the church against sin, Satan, and the whole world until she receives complete and total victory in the new heaven and new earth, where righteousness dwells, when all things are made new, and she rejoices world without end in the presence of God, where there are joys and pleasures forevermore.

Thus the apostle summarizes the whole wonderful work of God to save the sinner from eternity to eternity:

29. 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.

30. 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. (Rom. 8:29–30)

The apostle says this not to teach some temporal order of salvation. But he says this to teach that as all things are of God, through God, and to God, so also is the salvation of elect sinners.