Glorification

Theology Refresh: Podcast for Christian Leaders

It’s almost too good to be true.

The Christian doctrine of glorification is stunning, to say the least. Not only we will see Jesus in all his new-creation glory, but we will share with him in it. “When he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

If the Scriptures didn’t make it so plain, we wouldn’t have the gall to make this up, even in our wildest dreams. But apostle Paul tells us we “will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3), and that awaiting us is “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Jesus himself prays to the Father about us, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them” (John 17:22), and perhaps most shocking of all, Peter says we will “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

God’s Glory in Ours

Most of us recoil at the talk of our being glorified like this, and that can be a good instinct. We don’t want anyone to eclipse God’s glory, after all. Our pursuit of glory on the wrong terms is sin and high treason. But our reception of glory from God is a beautiful and biblical reality, and worth steeping our souls in on occasion.

We must let the Bible have its say and learn to see that God’s glory and our glory aren’t necessarily opposed. Ideally, with sin out of the picture, they’re not at odds at all, but mutually enriching. The more God glorifies us in his Son, the more he is glorified. You might say that God is most glorified in us, when we are most glorified in him.

In this new episode of Theology Refresh, author and theologian Michael Horton tells us the story of our glory, and clarifies for us a new creation of glorious resurrection bodies, not floating around in the clouds, but feasting with the richest of meats and finest of wines.