Our glorification is also our being called by the God of all grace “into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus” (1 Pet. 5:10). God’s calling us in Christ Jesus indicates that God has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish a complete and full redemption so that He may bring His redeemed people into an organic union with Himself. Thus, we may participate in the riches of the processed Triune God as our enjoyment. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the bountiful life supply to us. It is in this Christ, through His all-inclusive redemption and based on all His achievements, that the God of all grace can call us into the enjoyment of His eternal glory and perfect, establish, strengthen, root, and ground us in the Triune God, thus, enabling us to attain His glorious goal. What a miracle that fallen sinners like us can be brought into God’s eternal glory!
Moreover, 2 Thessalonians 2:14 says that God has called us through the gospel so that we may obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is the glory given to the Son by the Father (John 17:22), which is the sonship with the Father’s divine life and nature (5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). The Son has given this glory to us so that we also may have the sonship with the Father’s divine life and nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in the Son’s fullness (John 1:16). What a glory! God has called us to obtain this glory, the glory of the divine life and the divine nature to express the Divine Being.
According to Romans 8:21, when the believers are glorified, they will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. Although we are sons of God, we have not yet been manifested, for we are still under a veil. One day the veil will be removed, and that will be our glorification. The sons of God will come out from under the veil and will be revealed to the whole creation. Then the sons of God will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom, and the whole universe will behold the sons of God in glory and participate in the freedom of this glory.
As a result of the fall of Adam, the entire creation is under bondage and corruption. All creation, which has been subjected to vanity, is groaning, and it is travailing together in pain until now. Therefore, creation is anxiously watching, eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God in the hope that it will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (vv. 19-23). This indicates that God has promised that we, the believers in Christ, will be glorified and will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. However, creation will share only in the freedom of our glory, not in the glory itself. Although creation will not share in our glory, it will enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. In the future we will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom.
When the believers are glorified, they will be in the glory of the divine sonship. Hebrews 2:10 says that the Father with the Son is leading us, the many sons, into glory. We are sons of God, but we are not yet in glory. Just as a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, we are being led into glory. One day we will be in glory as the many sons of God. Our glorification will be our full sonship. We will be glorified in the divine life and the divine nature to bear the glory of the Triune God for His expression.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will eventually become a glorified son of God. We will all be brought into the glory of God and shine with His glory. This is the full salvation of all those who believe in Christ. At that time, we will bear the righteousness of God outwardly, be saturated with the holiness of God inwardly, and shine in the realm of His full glory as His sons. In this glory God will be expressed in a full way in His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people. This will be the ultimate issue of the dispensing of the processed Triune God.
The first aspect of the believers’ future is in the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification. Our glorification will be the consummation of the process of gradual growth and development in life. First, we are regenerated; then, as the divine life grows in us, it saturates us with the divine element, and this element changes us metabolically so that we are transformed organically. This process of growth and transformation continues until we reach maturity, glorification. This is to be brought into the full expression of the Triune God.
In the completing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of glorification, the believers will first be glorified. Our glorification is an accomplished fact. In the sight of God, we have already been predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. In eternity these items have already been accomplished. Therefore, our glorification is secured and ensured in the eternal God.
For the believers to be glorified is for them to receive the incomparable glory. Present sufferings mean nothing in comparison to the coming glory. We have been predestinated to be glorified. Today Christ is in us as our hope of glory. When Christ comes again and is manifested, the indwelling Christ will saturate our entire being, including our physical body. This will cause our body to be transfigured and become like His glorious body. At that time, Christ will be glorified in us. Our glorification will be our participation in the goal of God’s predestination. The God of all grace has called us in Christ Jesus into His eternal glory and is also perfecting, establishing, strengthening, rooting, and grounding us, thus, enabling us to attain His glorious goal. When we are glorified, we will enjoy the glory of the children of God with its freedom. When all the sons of God are manifested to all of creation, the whole universe will behold the sons of God in glory and participate in the freedom of this glory. When we, the believers, are glorified, we will be in the glory of the divine sonship. Today the Father with the Son is leading us, the many sons, into glory. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will eventually become a glorified son of God. We will all be brought into the glory of God and shine with His glory. In this glory God will be expressed in a full way in His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people. This will be the ultimate issue of the dispensing of the processed Triune God.