Passage: The Gospel & Salvation | Lesson 08
GLORIFICATIONKevin Chan, Ph.D.| November 9, 2014
“Death with Dignity” – Do you agree or disagree? What if it were you?
On November 1, 2014, Brittany Maynard died from medication to end her life under Oregon’s “Death and Dignity Act”. Brittany was a married 29-year old Californian who had attended UC Berkeley and UC Irvine. After suffering from increasingly severe and debilitating headaches and seizures, she was found to have terminal brain cancer. Doctors told her that she had 6-months to live. After fulfilling her “bucket list” with her husband which included a visit to the Grand Canyon and other world travels, she chose to move to Oregon where she could legally take life-ending medication. Her decision rests upon her belief that she should be able to die with dignity (i.e. “the state of quality of being worthy of honor or respect”). Her last Facebook post said, “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me ... but would have taken so much more.” Do you agree with her decision? If it were you, what decision would you make and what is the basis for your decision?
One Down, One In, One to Go
One way to describe the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ is by viewing God’s salvation plan in three stages: Justification, Sanctification and Glorification. Justification is God’s salvation plan for us from our past condition. He justified us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and saved us from the penalty of sin. God declared us positionally right and has adopted us as His children. Sanctification is God’s salvation plan for us from our present condition. We are undertaking the progressive work along with God’s help to become holy, i.e., to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Even though our sinful flesh still lingers, we can now live righteous and pleasing lives before God because He has empowered us with His word and the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is the only natural outcome of Justification. It allows us to experience God’s righteousness in this sinful world as well as fulfills God’s calling for us to be effective “lights” in this world. The following lesson will cover Glorification and will show God’s salvation plan for us in the future.
The Context of Glorification
1. Bible Usage - Even though the word, “glorification,” cannot be found in the Bible, its concept is consistently found throughout the Bible. The concept is based on references associating the “glory” that will come to believers, Ps. 73:24; Dan. 12:3; Rom. 8:17; Rom. 8:30; 2 Thess. 1:12. The Greek word for “glory” is doxa and it conveys the sense of praise, honor, glory, brightness, majesties, and awesomeness.
2. Definition – “The Ultimate Perfection of Believers in Jesus Christ”
The Basis of Glorification
The basis of glorification is Jesus Christ (Heb. 2:10; 2 Tim. 2:10; Col. 3:4; 2 Thess. 2:14; Rom. 8:23-24; 1 Pet. 5:10). It is God’s sovereign plan that believers are glorified through Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ. Our hope of glorification pends only on Jesus Christ. [Note: Sometimes when words of condolences are given (e.g., “your late-wife lived a wonderful life and now she is among the angels of heaven”), the most important Person of glorification is missing or not given any credit. Instead, how would basing your condolences on Jesus Christ bring true comfort?]
The Three Aspects of Glorification:
The Perfection of the Believer’s Spiritual Nature
a. When will it happen? (cf. Luke 23:43)
At death, a believer’s soul goes directly to God’s presence (i.e. “paradise”, “Abraham’s bosom”, “heaven”), while the believer’s body remains in this world.
b. How will the spiritual nature change? (Col. 1:21-23; 1 Cor. 13:9-12)
First, the believer’s soul will be morally glorified. It will be blameless and holy beyond reproach. There will be no sin in our glorified spiritual nature. We can confidently approach and dwell in God’s holy presence. Second, the believer’s soul will be intellectually glorified. The believer will fully know God as well as himself. God will be fully reveal to the believer such that no mysteries, secrets or concepts will be hidden or incomprehensible.
c. How will we know this perfection will happen? (2 Cor. 1:22, 5:1)
God has given us the Holy Spirit as a seal and pledge of this promise. In fact, the process of Sanctification (i.e. becoming more Christ-like) is a glimpse of this perfection of our spiritual nature in the future. We are experiencing a taste of future glorification. As we experience the transforming work of God in our lives today, we can be assured of His perfecting work to come.
The Perfection of the Believer’s Body
a. When will it happen? (1 Cor. 15:42; 1 Thess. 4:16-17)
The believer’s body will be glorified at the resurrection of believers, which is connected to the 2nd coming of Christ with the saints.
b. How will the body change? (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 50-58)
The believer’s body will conform to the glorified resurrected body of Jesus Christ. The body will be imperishable, glorious (honor & praise-worthy), powerful, and spiritual. The body will also be incorruptible and immortal. The resurrected body of Jesus is the prototype of the believer’s glorified body. This body will bear the image of His body and be fit for heaven.
c. What is a “spiritual body”? (cf. Luke 24:36-42, Jn. 20:19-28)
It is hard to describe, but it certainly will be Spirit-filled. It is not a spirit or ghost. It will be physical. The body will be able to eat or consume food. It appears the glorified body will not be limited by time & space.
d. Why is bodily perfection significant? Why not leave it to spiritual nature?
God demonstrates His complete power over sin by reversing the ultimate consequence of sin, i.e., death (1 Cor. 15:50-58). By glorifying the believer’s body, He takes away sin’s last stronghold.
The Perfection of the Believer’s Order with Creation
a. When will it happen? (Rom. 8:19; 1 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-2)
This perfected order will appear at the glorious revealing of believers, when the 1st heaven and earth pass.
b. How will Creation change? (Is. 65:25; Rom. 8:19-22; 1 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-2)
Creation will be at peace and be set free from corruption. A new heaven and earth will arrive.
c. Why is the change to Creation significant to believers?
The perfection of the believer’s order with creation restores God’s intended position for man relative to Creation as well as within His Kingdom. This will demonstrate God’s glorious plan over all things and over all time.
- Man was created to rule over creation (Gen. 1:26, 28; cf. Gen. 2:6-8)
- Man’s “ruler”-ship was lost and his work was cursed and corrupted by sin (Gen. 3:17-19, cf. Gen. 4:20, 21, 22; 11:3)
- Believers will reign (i.e. “rule”) in God’s coming Kingdom with Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:12, cf. Rev. 21:22-27, 22:3-5, 1 Thess. 2:12, Rom. 8:20-21)
Conclusion
Glorification is God’s final and ultimate act of salvation for believers. It is the perfection that all those who believe in Jesus Christ can look forward to with great anticipation. In light of this (2 Cor. 4:16-5:5), we can live with hopeful perseverance by the following:
- Recognize and identify the temporal-ness of this broken and sinful world and its values
- Remind yourselves constantly of God’s promise of eternal glory through Jesus Christ
- Live with the future in mind (e.g. choose things of eternal values over temporal values).
“Death with Dignity” [Some Closing Thoughts]
Brittany Maynard’s end-of-life situation and suffering must be horrible. I do not want to belittle it. Knowing how my late-wife Susie suffered in the hospital for 7-months, it would be insensitive and uncompassionate for me to simply say, “just bear with it.” Pain is real. It really hurts. It is horrible. However I cannot go to the other extreme to justify the comment of, “Because I hurt, just shoot me dead now.” Perhaps a pragmatic solution is to provide appropriate comfort (i.e. medically) during the time of treatment.
However the question I would like to ask is, “what is the UNDERLYING reason why one would choose to take the path of medically assisted suicide?” I wonder if there is a self-centered need to be in control of one’s fate in the midst of uncontrolled circumstances and make the most of one’s life and final statement in this world as if that would be the lasting legacy of one’s life. How would it be different, if any, for a believer in Jesus Christ?
As far as my late-wife Susie and I, we had decided early on that this world is broken and placing our hopes and worth in this world are futile. This is what the Bible tells us. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have a trustworthy promise of glory and of eternal perfection. We can persevere and look to that with great confidence and courage.
Most of all, our Model in end-of-life decisions is Jesus Christ. He died a very undignified earthly death. He was completely obedient to the Father and kept His focus on the Father’s will and eternal values (i.e., to save us from our sins). In the end, God was pleased and He glorified Him above all (Heb. 12:1-3, Heb. 2:9, Phil. 2:8-11).
End-of-life decisions are not simple to make especially as medicine becomes more advanced (i.e. people live longer than ever before) and the world becomes more humanistic (i.e. society puts self-determination and self-dignity on an ever higher pedestal). Thankfully we have a Model to remind us of what truly matters in eternity (i.e. not earthly “death with dignity”) and of what glorious blessings will come to those who are faithful to Him to the end.
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