Today’s Reading:
Romans 8:28-30
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified”.
(vv. 29-30)
God has a process of glorifying a man whom He must have called, justified and in the end glorified. Glorification is the theological term used to describe the final removal of sin from the lives of Christians at the end of time. In biblical studies, glorification exists as one of three parts of the process of the Christian life that includes Justification (being made right with God), Sanctification (the ongoing process of being made holy), and Glorification (the final removal of sin).
God’s process of glorification according to Romans 8:29-30 are as follows:
1. Foreknowledge: God knows more than just knowing ahead of time what we would do and choosing us on that basis. He obviously knew what we would do. The point here is that He knew us personally from eternity past. He said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). And as He said to the people of Israel through the prophet Amos, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). The word ‘know’ is often used almost synonymously in Scripture with ‘love.’ The idea is ‘to know with delight and affection.’ Before we were born, God set His love upon us and entered into a unique love relationship with us (v. 29a).
2. Predestination: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." (v. 29). As soon as some people hear that word ‘predestination,’ they think immediately that God said something like, ‘you people over here will go to heaven, and you over there will go to hell.’ But predestination is never applied to unbelievers or hell in Scripture. It simply means that in eternity past God made a decision about us whom He foreknew. He decided that He would use every circumstance in our lives to accomplish one great purpose: to make us like Jesus. That does not mean we will all be carbon copies of Jesus in physical features, or that we will all have the same personality He had. But it does mean that we will have the same basic character He has loving, gracious, gentle, unselfish, patient, kind, compassionate, and most significant of all, holy. When God created man, He made him in His own image. That image was marred by sin, but God is in the process of restoring it bit by bit, transforming us "...into the same image from glory to glory" as Paul put it in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 3:18). And one day He will finish the job and make us perfect like Christ, "...that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. God's plan is to make many more sons and daughters just like Jesus, in order to further exalt and magnify Him--show off His glory.
3. Calling: "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called" (v. 30a). This is what brings us to Christ. It is not just a gracious invitation, but an effectual calling that results in our coming to Christ for salvation. There is a sense in which the invitation goes to all. As Jesus said, "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). Only those who received God’s call repented from their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord will be saved.
4. Justification: "...whom He called, these He also justified." The sinner who trusts Christ as Savior receives from God's gracious hand the gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17), which allows God to declare him to be righteous--right before God, just as if he had never sinned.
5. Glorification: "...And whom He justified, these He also glorified." We have reached the goal of the whole process of God's purpose for our lives.
Glorification will take place at end of the final trumpet. 1Corinthians 15:52 teaches that this will take place 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. When this takes place, we will experience perfect joy in God’s presence. Jude 24-25 states, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all times and now and forever, Amen”.
It is only those who acknowledged their sins, asked for forgiveness of sins by accepting the call of God through His message of Love, believing that they have been saved and justified by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary. They are the ones that will be glorified at the end of their journey here on earth.
OLAJIDE OGUNFUWA
Prayers:
Lord, I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sin. Lord Jesus, I'm putting my faith in You. Come into my heart and life right now and give me Your eternal salvation, in Jesus name.
Father, help me to view circumstances of my life as an opportunity to grow in the likeness of Christ, in Jesus name.
By the power in the blood of Jesus, I will accomplish God’s purpose for my life, in Jesus name.
Our heavenly Father, Nigeria is in your hand, deliver us by Your mighty hand of power from our oppressors, in Jesus name.
As Christian leaders, we enter into a covenant that by God’s grace we will see every event as an opportunity to grow in the likeness of Christ, in Jesus name. Amen!
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