THE FINAL STAGE OF SALVATION (2)

Today, we are continuing with our discussions on “THE FINAL STAGE OF SALVATION.

When precisely will the glorification take place? Scripture tells us that we will be glorified at His return to rapture the saints (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

The dead in Christ will rise with bodies from dirt to glory. Then Paul goes on to say that we who are alive and remain will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16). This is the timeline, not folklore, not fiction.

The glorification of the believer is not tied to physical death. It is tied to Christ’s return. We are waiting to be revealed with Christ at the resurrection.

This is why Paul writes saying, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19, KJV). 

The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed, not to be forgiven, not to be spiritual, but to be revealed. Because right now you don’t look like what you are becoming. Right now, the world can’t see your glory. But when Christ returns, all of creation will finally see who the redeemed are.

1 Corinthians 50:51-52 tells us how this will happen, “Behold, I shew (tell) you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

That word changed is the heartbeat of glorification. The body you carry now cannot enter eternity. It will be transformed, not replaced, not erased, not forgotten, but transformed. 

This perishable body must put on the imperishable body, and this mortal body must put on the immortal body. 

This means that your glorified body won’t just be free from sin. It will also be free from decay. No more death, no more disease, no more sickness.

But don’t miss this: Paul does not locate this transformation at the hour of your death. He locates it at the last trumpet, when Christ comes and death is finally defeated. Because death is not your gateway to glory. Jesus is.

This is why the early church groaned for His return. This is why they prayed maranatha which means “come Lord.” They did not long to escape the body. They longed to receive their new bodies. 

They didn’t hope for a disembodied afterlife. They were aching for the resurrection. 

This is the pattern: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Him (1 Cor. 15:23).

You cannot understand your glorification apart from His return. The grave is not the end of your story.

When you anchor your hope not in death but in Christ’s return, you’ll begin to live with eyes lifted. 

Suddenly suffering doesn’t feel eternal. Suddenly aging doesn’t feel decline. Suddenly the sting of death is swallowed up in the victory of that coming day.

 

The revealing of Christ is the revealing of you, and this changes everything. You don’t have to guess when it’s coming. You don’t need a secret timeline, or a hidden code. 

Scripture is clear on this: there is one moment of full glorification, and it comes when the sky splits, the King descends, the trumpet blasts and the dead in Christ rise, then and only then will you be glorified. 

And until that day, we wait as those who know this broken world is passing away, and the glory that is coming cannot be stopped.

So, I ask you: Are you waiting for death or for Jesus’ return? Are you living as though glorification is some vague comfort or the fire in your bones? Are you walking through this life clinging to the hope of resurrection or clinging to the illusion that this world will ever satisfy? 

Because the King is coming, and when He comes you will be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet will sound, the dust will rise, and what was mortal will become immortal, what was shame will become splendor, what was weary will become weighty with eternal joy. 

You don’t have to wonder when. You just have to be ready. “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:21).

Let that sink in: Not better bodies, not slightly improved model, but like His. Like the resurrected, glorified, radiant, death-proof body of the risen Christ. That is what awaits you. That’s what He promised.

This body you live in now, this body stitched with weakness, haunted by temptation, prone to pain, stained by time, is not your final form. It is not even your permanent one. It is a seed, a shadow, a temporary vessel for a glory that has not yet appeared. Your knees crack, your skin wrinkles, your mind forgets, your desires drift. 

This frame is called lowly (vile) for a reason, not as an insult, but as a statement of fact. It is mortal, breakable, aging, vulnerable. It was never meant to last forever, but it was meant to be raised.

Jesus didn’t rise from the grave as a ghost, He did not ascend as a vapour. But He stood up in flesh, flesh that could be touched, a voice that could be heard, a body that bore scars yet walked through walls, ate fish at the beach, spoke with friends on their way to Emmaus. 

Jesus was not resuscitated. He was glorified. And Paul says, “That’s your future.”

To be continued!!

 

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

 

Your friend, I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor, HOG).