Glorification is the last step of our full salvation. When we are glorified, we reach the climax of God’s full salvation and enter into its full enjoyment for eternity. This is the time all Christians look forward to very much. This is our glorious hope.
What is glorification? It is the process of bringing something or someone into glory. Then, what is the meaning of the word “glory” according to the Bible?
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” According to the Bible, “glory” is just God expressed or the expression of God. When God is hidden, there is no glory. When God is seen and expressed, glory is there.
Man was created to contain the life of God and to express Him with such a life. Therefore, we can say that man was created for glory. But this man sinned, losing his right to receive God’s life. Because of this, man could not express God. So the Bible says he has come short of the glory of God. Glorification is God’s action in bringing us into the expression of God. He does this in a living way.
A carnation seed is a small, round ball and without any beauty, yet it has the life potential to blossom. The blossom is the full expression of all that is in that small seed. It is the glory of that seed. After planting, watering, and growing, this seed becomes a plant. After a while, it blossoms. This blossom is just the seed. When the seed is full-grown, you see a flower. The seed becomes the flower, and the flower is just the seed fully grown. If you have the seed, you have the living hope of the flower. If you have no seed, you have no living, practical hope of a flower. So, within the seed is a flowering life, and this life is the hope of the seed’s glory.
Colossians 1:27b says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” When the gospel was preached to you and you believed, Christ came into you as a seed of life. This seed in you is your hope of glory in the future. Our hope of being brought into the full expression of God is in this seed of Christ.
Today, we don’t look glorious. The Christ inside of us has not grown so much. But from regeneration through the process of sanctification, transformation and conformation, Christ is added into us and grows within us just as the carnation seed grows in the soil. One day, when Christ becomes fully grown, He will “blossom” in us. What has been hidden within this seed will be fully expressed, and we will be glorified!
Colossians 3:4 tells us that “when Christ our life is manifested, then you also shall be manifested with Him in glory.” Christ’s second coming, when He comes to the earth again, is His manifestation. If we would live by Christ as our life today, we will be manifested with Him in glory when He appears. We will be glorified. This glory comes out from within us; it does not come upon us suddenly from outside. First, this seed is sown into our spirit. Then, it grows into all the parts of our soul; and finally, it fills and saturates even our physical body, making us just like the Lord Jesus Himself. At that time, we will become the many sons of God in full.
How glorious that day will be. But now, we all must grow in life so that we will blossom in life at that day. It is not a miracle, but a result of life growing. Second Thessalonians 1:10a says, “Whenever He comes to be glorified in His saints.” This verse tells us that His coming is our glorification. When He comes, we will be glorified in Him and He will be glorified in us! How marvelous! Through God’s salvation, we the sinners become the sons of God, full of God’s life and glory in order to express Him for eternity!