Many of us have heard a deceased Christian’s loved ones say, “They’ve gone home to glory.” This belief comes from Scripture, which says the Lord will glorify those He has called (Romans 8:28-30). Glorification means “the ultimate perfection of believers.” Glorification only comes to Christians, and it happens when we die or when Jesus calls His church home (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Glorification is the culmination of God’s perfect redemption plan, which we see unfolding throughout the Bible.
Key Bible Verses about Glorification
While glorification is not a word used in the Bible, the Bible does speak of glory (both the Lord’s and ours) in numerous places. The effect of our glorification is implicit in the Old Testament and explicit in the New Testament.
Key verses about Christians’ glorification include:
- Psalm 73:24, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward You will take me up in glory.”
- Dan. 12:3, “Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” In this verse, the reference to shining like the bright expanse of the heavens infers glorification.
- Romans 8:17, “[A]nd if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
- Romans 8:30 is a key verse that explains that we will undergo glorification. “And those He predestined, he also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.” The glorification in this verse appears to happen in the past, and in a sense, for us it does because God is timeless. But all other references to glorification in Scripture are part of our future as believers in Christ Romans 5:2; Colossians 1:27). Therefore, our glorification as Christians will have a future fulfillment.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:12, “so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:14, “It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Glorification in the Order of Salvation (Justification → Sanctification → Glorification)
Glorification is the grand finale of the Christian’s life. Our journey to glorification is a progression begun (Hebrews 2:10), sustained (1 Corinthians 1:4-8), and finished by God (Philippians 1:6). No one can bring himself to glorification. Glorification is wholly of the Lord Jesus—the work of God—just as is salvation, justification, and sanctification (Acts 4:12; Romans 3:24; Hebrews 10:10).
The Bible tells us God is the One who initiates our salvation (John 6:44; 14:6), and salvation comes to those the Lord God has predestined to be saved (Ephesians 1:4-5) by the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29-30). Salvation is granted to us by God as we respond to God’s grace and say yes by faith to Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Salvation—true salvation—is a binding covenant enacted by God to man (John 10:28-29). Once the Lord God transfers us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), we will never be separated from Him (Romans 8:35-39). Our salvation is secure from the moment He saves us.
Justification is immediate at salvation. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are justified (declared to be righteous). This righteousness, however, is not our own. It’s Christ’s righteousness in us now that we belong to Him. And so, if the Lord God were to ask us why we deserve to be in heaven, we can say with confidence, “Father, I’m not worthy to be here, but Christ is worthy, and it’s His blood of atonement that covers me.” But God already knows, and when He looks at Christians, He sees Christ, for we are clothed in Him (Galatians 3:27).
Sanctification is the ongoing work of God the Holy Spirit in our lives to conform us more and more into the image of Christ (Romans 15:16; Hebrews 10:14). When we’re born again in Christ (John 3:3, 6), we are like newborn babies. We come into the kingdom of God knowing one thing: we’re saved. The Spirit helps us grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through the study of God’s Word and the ordinary means of grace (the preaching of God’s Word, prayer (individual and corporate, and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper). All these work together as the Holy Spirit guides us through sanctification. We are being sanctified, set apart, made holy, for God. The Lord God said, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44; 20:26; 21:8; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:15).
- Glorification
The Lord Jesus will return in His second advent (Matthew 24:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 1:7; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13). At that time, our bodies will rise from the grave and be reunited with our souls, and we will receive our glorified bodies.
The moment we become Christians, we are in the kingdom of God (there’s a thought to ponder). We are now no longer in darkness (Ephesians 5:8), and we have gained partial glory because we belong to Christ. Look at what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Again, it’s nothing we do. It’s the Lord working in us. We have every spiritual blessing as we walk this earth (Ephesians 1:3). “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3).
Resurrection Bodies and New Creation: What Changes at Glorification?
The state Christians will experience immediately after death will be in heaven as spiritual souls (without a physical body). When Christ returns and all physical bodies are resurrected, our souls will be reunited with our bodies. It is then that we will enjoy our glorified state as promised in the Bible.
Did you ever, as a Christian, think, “I can’t wait until glory, when I won’t hurt (cry, mourn, etc.) anymore”?
That’s part of our sure hope, that our bodies will be renewed and will never again suffer the effects of the fall (Genesis 3:1-24; Romans 5:12-21). The Bible doesn’t tell us everything, but we can surmise that our glorified bodies will:
- Include our minds as well. We will understand all the Lord has decreed for us to understand. So often we think, “Wow, I’d sure like to ask the Lord…” Our glorified minds will comprehend that we don’t have to know everything but what the Lord reveals. We won’t question His perfect provision.
- Not wear out because we will live forever in glorified bodies (2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 2:10; 1 Peter 5:10). Think of Moses and the Israelites during the forty years in the wilderness. Not even their shoes wore out. And Caleb was recorded to say, “And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as He said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming” (Joshua 14:10-11). This was just an earthly body. What a foretaste of a glorified body!
- Be perfectly like Christ because we will see Christ as He is (1 John 3:2). We will be perfectly (and we cannot say this word enough) conformed to Jesus’ image (Romans 8:29).
- Incorporate our hearts, too. Consider all that Jesus taught to His disciples and to the crowds who followed Him. When He told the rich young ruler in Luke 10:27 to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as himself, Jesus knew the man couldn’t. None of us can! And when Jesus spoke to the crowds during His sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), again, no one on earth can obey what Jesus commanded. Jesus spoke law, and He is the only One who could fulfill the law with perfect obedience (Luke 4:21; Colossians 2:14). But Jesus is the gospel, and He brings grace to all who believe in Him (John 1:16).
When He glorifies us, we will be able to love Jesus and our neighbors with all our mind, strength, heart, and soul. And so, have a look at all Jesus taught in the gospels, and all the Apostles and disciples wrote in the rest of the New Testament. When we are glorified, we will be able to obey all He commanded. Can you imagine loving with such vigor and unfettered hearts?
The best part is we will be able to worship the Lord Jesus in full spirit and truth, and will indeed love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, as we couldn’t in our mortal bodies.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:52-57).
We will be glorified because of Christ Jesus and what He has done (atonement on the cross – John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:24), is doing (preparing a place and interceding for us – John 14:3; Romans 8:34), and will do (receive us in glory – Ephesians 5:27). That’s how much He loves His church (us).
Ligonier Ministries writes, ““The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes the essence of the doctrine of glorification when it contrasts the resurrection of the unjust and the just on the last day: “The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. . . . The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor: the bodies of the just, by His Spirit, unto honor; and be made conformable to His own glorious body” (32.1, 3).
What’s the Difference Between Glorification and Sanctification?
While it’s not as cut and dried as it sounds, glorification is the end result, and sanctification is the road we undergo by the power of the Spirit to get to glory.
Colossians 1:28-29 states, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Since all Christians are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), until He returns and we are glorified, we all proclaim Christ—His death and resurrection (Philippians 3:10).
As we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). It’s all His work in and through us as we remember the gospel—what the Lord Jesus has done for us.
Why Understanding Glorification Matters for Our Christian Lives
As we are sanctified, we come more and more to understand God’s grace. It’s by grace we are saved (Ephesians 2:5), and we need the gospel every single day—lest we forget the matchless grace bestowed upon us. Our glorification is inextricably linked to Christ’s resurrection (1 Corinthians 15).
We can be hard on ourselves when we feel we’ve failed in our daily walk. But we cannot forget nor neglect His lavish grace upon us (Hebrews 4:16; James 4:6). 1 Peter 1:13 reminds us, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
It’s more than okay to be heavenly minded because when we sin, we know our pardon has been bought by Christ on the cross (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23; 1 John 1:9). We set our hearts and minds on what’s to come, and that’s what helps spur us on to share the good news with a lost and dying world, which is as close as our unbelieving friends and family. Look ahead. Look up. Your redemption (and your glorification) is drawing near (Luke 21:28).
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