Call to Worship, April 5 2015
We worship our God who raised His Son from the grave and will raise His people from the dead. He will not only raise His people but in the final accomplishment of redemption he will glorify them with Christ. “Each saint of God who dies has his own appointed season and therefore his own time to depart and be with Christ. We can see that this event is highly individualized. But it is not so with glorification. One will not have advantage over another—all together will be glorified with Christ. However glorious is the transformation of the people of God at death, this is not their glorification. It (death) is not the goal of the believer’s hope and expectation…Preoccupation with the event of death indicates a deflection of faith, and of hope…Glorification is the complete and final redemption of the whole person when in the integrity of body and spirit the people of God will be conformed to the image of the glorified Redeemer… When heaven’s design will reach its grand finale…a perfect coincidence of glory…a heavenly congruity…The terminal phase of union with Christ.” (John Murray, Redemption Accomplished And Applied, Ch. 10 on Glorification, 174-181)