Justification, sanctification and glorification are terms used to describe three basic workings of God in the lives of His children. But in today’s world of semantic apologetics, their meanings are often misunderstood and tend to melt together into incomprehensible babble (and we all know God doesn’t like babble… see Gen. 11:8-9).
The first two words are relatively easy to understand. Justification, in its religious context, is the simple act of accepting Christ’s gift of eternal life. One of God’s qualities is that he is a just God. His righteousness requires Him to be. Our sin offended God’s righteousness, and thus a price had to be paid to appease God’s wrath. That price was death (for the wage of sin is death). Because of sin in our lives, we are condemned to hell. God sent His son, Jesus Christ (who lived a sinless life), to pay the cost of our sin so that we would not have to. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was ample payment (because he led a sin-free life) to cover our sins or justify God granting us freedom from our debt. Thus, when you accept Christ’s payment for your sin, you are justified in the eyes of the Lord and given the gift of eternal life. Justification is an instantaneous action. It occurs in a mark-able spot in time and affects your spirit. Your spirit is the real you that lives on eternally after the death or your physical body and sanctification (I’ll get to that in a second) of your soul (which is your mind, will, and emotions).
After your spirit is justified, your soul is sanctified by the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. When you are “saved” (justified) you do not miraculously become a perfect human being with no struggles or weaknesses. You are still prone to sin. We are told to “die daily” to the flesh (the soul). When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, the Lord teaches our souls to submit to the authority of our spirit, which has been given to God at justification. Sanctification is a process by which sin is weeded out of our lives day-by-day. It is a process that occurs until the day we die. It is this process that places us all at different points in our walk with the Lord. In God’s eyes we are all justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, but we are at different places along the process of sanctification. Sanctification can also be viewed as a way to measure spiritual maturity.
Okay, so that was the easy stuff. The concepts of justification and sanctification are pretty much commonly accepted within the Protestant Christian community. But what is our glorification? This is a bit more difficult to define and slightly controversial. People get really cautious when we start talking about the glorification of man. But I think it is something the Lord has promised us. I want to be careful in my explanation, however, and clear that all glory goes to God in all things. His glory can pass through us, however, and that is our glorification. Well that’s all fine and dandy, but it’s a bit vague. What does it mean? How does it work?
Recall a time in your life when the Lord has shared some bit of revelation to you, has shown you truth about who He is. It may have been in a quite time with the Lord, or during a conversation with a fellow brother or sister in Christ. When God shares with you truth about Himself, He is giving you a small glimpse of His glory, a little insight into who He is. This is usually a very humbling experience. A greater revelation of who God is only naturally reaffirms our meekness in His grand design. The comparison is unreal. Now, think about what it would be like if the Lord revealed all of Himself to you at one time. Imagine that He gave you all the answers to all the questions, explained all of His ways, and revealed all of His glory to you. Scary thought! The only person lucky enough to get a slight glimpse was Moses and remember how God had to stick him in a cave for his own protection!
The first two words are relatively easy to understand. Justification, in its religious context, is the simple act of accepting Christ’s gift of eternal life. One of God’s qualities is that he is a just God. His righteousness requires Him to be. Our sin offended God’s righteousness, and thus a price had to be paid to appease God’s wrath. That price was death (for the wage of sin is death). Because of sin in our lives, we are condemned to hell. God sent His son, Jesus Christ (who lived a sinless life), to pay the cost of our sin so that we would not have to. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was ample payment (because he led a sin-free life) to cover our sins or justify God granting us freedom from our debt. Thus, when you accept Christ’s payment for your sin, you are justified in the eyes of the Lord and given the gift of eternal life. Justification is an instantaneous action. It occurs in a mark-able spot in time and affects your spirit. Your spirit is the real you that lives on eternally after the death or your physical body and sanctification (I’ll get to that in a second) of your soul (which is your mind, will, and emotions).
After your spirit is justified, your soul is sanctified by the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. When you are “saved” (justified) you do not miraculously become a perfect human being with no struggles or weaknesses. You are still prone to sin. We are told to “die daily” to the flesh (the soul). When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, the Lord teaches our souls to submit to the authority of our spirit, which has been given to God at justification. Sanctification is a process by which sin is weeded out of our lives day-by-day. It is a process that occurs until the day we die. It is this process that places us all at different points in our walk with the Lord. In God’s eyes we are all justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, but we are at different places along the process of sanctification. Sanctification can also be viewed as a way to measure spiritual maturity.
Okay, so that was the easy stuff. The concepts of justification and sanctification are pretty much commonly accepted within the Protestant Christian community. But what is our glorification? This is a bit more difficult to define and slightly controversial. People get really cautious when we start talking about the glorification of man. But I think it is something the Lord has promised us. I want to be careful in my explanation, however, and clear that all glory goes to God in all things. His glory can pass through us, however, and that is our glorification. Well that’s all fine and dandy, but it’s a bit vague. What does it mean? How does it work?
Recall a time in your life when the Lord has shared some bit of revelation to you, has shown you truth about who He is. It may have been in a quite time with the Lord, or during a conversation with a fellow brother or sister in Christ. When God shares with you truth about Himself, He is giving you a small glimpse of His glory, a little insight into who He is. This is usually a very humbling experience. A greater revelation of who God is only naturally reaffirms our meekness in His grand design. The comparison is unreal. Now, think about what it would be like if the Lord revealed all of Himself to you at one time. Imagine that He gave you all the answers to all the questions, explained all of His ways, and revealed all of His glory to you. Scary thought! The only person lucky enough to get a slight glimpse was Moses and remember how God had to stick him in a cave for his own protection!
Exodus 33:19-23
19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” 21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Even then Moses only saw the Lord’s lower back side. The fella barely lived to tell about it! Pay attention to how he had changed after his encounter with the Lord:
Exodus 34: 29-30
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
The reality is that in our incomplete process of sanctification, could not withstand full revelation of God. We would not survive, could not live, if God was to fully reveal Himself to us. So what does all this have to do with glorification? Well, glorification, like justification, can be marked at a specific point in time. It occurs upon our physical death. When our bodies die and our spirits ascend into heaven, our soul finally comes into complete and full alignment with our spirit. We
“die to the flesh” once and for all. The Lord has “been faithful to complete the good work He started in us.” The sanctification process is made complete. Basically, you go to heaven to “be with the Lord.” When you get there, however, the Lord is not hidden from you. You will see the fullness of His glory. You will understand all the things of the Lord. That is our reward. We will spend eternity in the full revelation of the Lord. Not only will we be able to bare witness to the fullness of His greatness, because of the completion of His work in us, we will be a reflection of His glory. That is our glorification. The glorification of man is our being made in the image of God, and being a full reflection of all His glory. We can only be seen as truly and completely made in the image of God when we are fully stripped of all unrighteousness. Only then are we truly a mirror image of Christ and the honor of reflecting His righteousness is our glorification.
“die to the flesh” once and for all. The Lord has “been faithful to complete the good work He started in us.” The sanctification process is made complete. Basically, you go to heaven to “be with the Lord.” When you get there, however, the Lord is not hidden from you. You will see the fullness of His glory. You will understand all the things of the Lord. That is our reward. We will spend eternity in the full revelation of the Lord. Not only will we be able to bare witness to the fullness of His greatness, because of the completion of His work in us, we will be a reflection of His glory. That is our glorification. The glorification of man is our being made in the image of God, and being a full reflection of all His glory. We can only be seen as truly and completely made in the image of God when we are fully stripped of all unrighteousness. Only then are we truly a mirror image of Christ and the honor of reflecting His righteousness is our glorification.
No comments:
Post a Comment