Five Miracles God Works for All Christians, Part 5 of 5

One of the undeniable truths about getting older is that we’re not getting better, despite what birthday cards might say. We might be getting wiser, or mellower, or funnier. But physically as we age we’re getting fatter, saggier, balder, slower, blinder, and weaker.

That’s even what the Bible says. “…our outer self is wasting away…” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The truth hurts.

But thankfully there’s more to the Bible’s assessment than our wasting away. On the other side there’s a miracle for all Christians. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). 

“An eternal weight of glory” – that’s what this post is about. We’ve talked about the wonderful Romans 8:29-30 miracles that God has already accomplished in the life of all believers in Christ, and we’ve mentioned four of them already: foreknown, predestined, called, and justified.

This post is about the last one: glorified. He brings us safely home. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What does it mean to be glorified? Simply put, it means that God makes us like Him. “Glorified” means transformed on the inside and on the outside. It's what Romans 8:29-30 promises: ...he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...

The inside process has already begun. The word we use is “sanctification,” meaning that we Christians are becoming, in our character, like Jesus. But one day in heaven, that process will be completed. That’s called glorification.

And this, as in all things, flows from Christ’s grace and glory. Just enjoy a few of the other verses from God’s word (my highlights): 

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17).

 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:4).

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10).

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure (1 John 3:2-3).

Glorification is also about “the outside,” too.  I lamented earlier about how “our outer self is wasting away.” Even that will be changed one day. When we die, our spirits pass immediately into the presence of Christ. But that’s really “phase one” of our heavenly experience. Because at the resurrection our spirits will be reunited with glorious, resurrection bodies.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21).

 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-43a).

Glorification means God’s sovereign grace brings us, its unworthy recipients, safely home. From our point of view, living here in the timeline that is our lives, all four of the first miracles happened in our “past.” Foreknowledge and predestination were settled before the foundation of the world. Calling and justification might have been recent if you’re a new Christian, but they still feel like a past part of our journey.

But what about glorification? Anyone who looks in the mirror will have a hard time seeing it as anything but a future event. One day, when we get to heaven. The process may have begun, but it is far from completed, right?

But here’s the wonderful truth: God sees glorification as just as settled and certain as all the others. Each of these five miracles is expressed in Romans 8 in exactly the same past tense (an aorist). In the mind and heart and will of God, our glorification is so sure that He says it has already occurred.

Do you see that this can only be true because of the wonderful grace and sovereign power of God? Our salvation, from start to finish, is guaranteed because of God’s grace and cannot be undone by the weakness of our will. How many people would ever make it to heaven if it depended upon their faith, determination, or holiness? None, not even one.

But God in His grace set up this set of five miracles, like an eternal chain of interlocking and indivisible links. In the purity and freedom of His own will and mercy, He poured out His grace upon hopeless sinners like you and me who would never have chosen Him.

Each of the miracles includes the same unworthy group, and not one is left out. Each and every one whom the Lord foreknew is also predestined, and every one of these is called with the effectual calling of God’s irresistible grace. And each of the ones called is justified. And every last one of the ones justified, is brought safely home, transformed into the image of God’s beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit  (2 Corinthians 3:18).

All praise, honor, and glory, even the glory we will share, unto Jesus!

A small P.S. I was really encouraged, and you might be, too, by a message by John Piper on this subject. Click here.