We are saved in the divine life of Christ from self-likeness by the conformation of the life-imparting Spirit (Rom. 8:29b). This is another aspect of the Spirit. Whether we are bad or good, nice or rough, we still bear our self-likeness. Therefore, we need conformation through transformation into the very image of the Son of God. This conformation is for the maturity in the divine life.
The issue of our being saved in the divine life of Christ is transfiguration, in the virtue of the divine life, from our body of humiliation (Rom. 8:30c; Phil. 3:21; Rom. 8:11). The transfiguration of our body is the redemption of our body through the indwelling Spirit. When the indwelling Spirit saturates us thoroughly, our body will be redeemed. The saturation of our body with the Spirit will be the transfiguration of our body. A white cotton ball being saturated with red ink is a good illustration of this. When red ink is injected into the center of the ball, the ink will saturate the entire ball from within. As more ink is injected into the center of the ball, the entire ball will eventually be saturated. At that time, the cotton ball will be "transfigured." The white ball of cotton will have become a red ball of cotton. In the same way, our body will be transfigured and redeemed by the saturating Spirit.
The transfiguration from our body of humiliation is by the redeeming of our body through the indwelling Spirit of the firstfruit, the foretaste (Rom. 8:23). Actually, the Spirit of firstfruit is the Spirit of foretaste. We have the Spirit indwelling us as the foretaste of God, but this indwelling Spirit is not the full taste of God; He is just the foretaste of what God is to us. God is our portion, but in this age we can only have a foretaste. The Spirit of the firstfruit is the Spirit as our foretaste of God as our portion.
Transfiguration is not only by the redeeming of our body through the indwelling Spirit, but also by the saturation of our body of humiliation with the glory, the expression of the divine splendor of the divine life. The transfiguration of our body will not be an accident. It will be the issue of maturity, the completion of the full saturation of the indwelling Spirit.
The seed of a carnation flower has the life of a carnation within it. But if it remains on top of the soil, the life within the seed is concealed. The life is there, but the glory of its life has not been manifested. When the seed is sown into the earth, it grows and grows until blossoms appear. The blossoms are the glory of the carnation seed. That glory is the expression of the splendor of that carnation seed. The glory is the transfiguration of the carnation seed.
When He was on the earth, Christ was the seed of life. The divine life was concealed within Him. Through death and resurrection, He was glorified. The splendor of the divine life came out to be expressed. With the resurrected Christ, there was the expression of the divine splendor, the expression of the divine life. That expression is the glory.