But let us prove this statement by the only authority we have, the Word
of God. Let the Scriptures give an answer to the simple question, "Is
the first resurrection and to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air
the prize for a holy, consecrated, faithful conduct and life, or is it
a free gift of the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ?" The answer
to this from the Scriptures is clear; it is put in every epistle as the
result of grace and not as the reward for faithfulness and service. To
cite all the New Testament passages which acquaint us with the
wonderful truth of what grace has called us to and made us in Christ
Jesus would fill page after page, and if we would ponder over them and
search in its blessed depths under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
would fill our hearts with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." How
clear it is seen in _Romans_. In the fifth of Romans we read of the
blessed results of justification. It is not a question of _doing_ from
our side, but it is _God's doing_, for everyone who believeth on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Peace, perfect peace, towards God. Every believer
has it with God in virtue of the blood of the cross. There peace was
made. The second, access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand,
and the third result of justification, rejoicing in hope of the glory
of God. And this hope of the glory of God is nothing else than what we
have in the first epistle of John, "We shall be like Him for we shall
see Him as He is." Read also Romans viii:29, 30, "For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son (in resurrection on the day of His coming for His Saints) that He
might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also
justified and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
Justification and glorification are inseparably connected. They cannot
be severed. Both are from the side of God, the result of the finished
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has justified and God has
glorified. The glorification begins when our Lord leaves the Father's
throne and comes into the air to meet those whom the Father has given
to Him. Not one will be left behind. And who are they whom the Father
has given to the Son? Everyone who believed and came to the Son.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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