Saturday, September 25, 2010

Glorification

What does it feel like to die and go to heaven? What will the experience of our glorification be like?

There’s a lot we don’t know, but Scripture gives us some leads:

1. There will be a physical transformation. We will be young again. Better than young: immortal. We will be even healthier than we ever felt in the prime of life.

2. There will be psychological changes. Imagine the sense of reliable in knowing that we made it. That we are safe. No harm can befall us. Nothing to fear. No anxieties.

3. Another psychological change will be sinlessness. It’s hard to imagine what that will be like, except as a negation of the unpleasant emotions we feel in a fallen world. But to take a few comparisons:

Some people are born with certain genetic defects which make it impossible for them to enjoy life to the fullest. What is more, they may not even know what they are missing. This is all they’ve ever known. Abnormality is their normality.

Some of them go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years, until a physician discovers their true ailment, and treats them.

Imagine the sense of wonder and relief when, for the very first time, they suddenly experience what life was meant to be.

On a related note, some students of the occult claim that paranormal powers are hereditary. Because their paranormal ability has an occultic origin, it’s a curse. They can do things or perceive things that normal people can’t, but they pay a high price. It’s also said that they can be delivered from their emotional and spiritual oppression. Renounce their ability.

This analysis may or may not be correct. It’s an argument from experience. Subject to differing interpretations.

But suppose for the sake of argument, that this is true. Once again, imagine the sense of relief when, for the very first time in life, they exclaim: “So this is what life was supposed to be like!”

On a related note, there are horror stories in which a demoniac must die before the evil spirit will leave him, then be resuscitated. They have to be “rebooted.”

That’s fiction, but to play along with this scenario, imagine if you were possessed, you temporarily expired, and you were then brought back to life–with the invasive spirit gone for good.

Imagine the sense of relief. Like a rebirth.

When a Christian dies, for the first time in life he will finally feel what life was meant to be.

9 comments:

  1. Perhaps this is just a product of my fallen mind, but I have come to accept something about life. At least it's true for me. And that is that there is nothing sweeter in life than the relief from suffering. Life would not be as sweet (in this fallen world) if everything was just right and beautiful all the time. I would trade, in a heartbeat, an anxiety- and problem-free life for the bliss that comes from the relief from suffering every time.

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  2. Not to put too fine a point on things but maybe I should ....

    1. The physical transformationa waits us in the new heaven when it comes down to be with us in the new earth. After the Second Coming will be the physical transformation.

    But truly we must celebrate and will celebrate that life shall finally be what God intended.

    How many note this ... Jesus carries marks of His suffering in His resurrection body. So, I submit, shall we. Carry somehow marks of the suffering we have endured in this life.

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  3. "When a Christian dies, for the first time in life he will finally feel what life was meant to be."

    It will be more real than the real we have now.

    But we will not be fully experiencing life until Christ makes all things new, and He crushes the devil and death completely, when He brings in the new Heaven and the new Earth.

    That will be some kind of Earth! And that's when, -as John Newton wrote-, "When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
    Bright shining as the sun,
    We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
    Than when we’d first begun."

    Have a wonderful Lord's day. Thanks for serving the Lord the way you do.

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  4. Everything about the physical body says something about its environment: we have noses because we need to inhale air, mouths to ingest food, ears to pick up vibrations and translate them to sound.

    Where there is no air or food or vibrations, what need is there for noses or mouths or ears (i.e., the physicality of existence) other than to remind us of the material existence we once had?

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  5. Steve,

    In your opinion are the concepts of glorification and heaven as described in Scripture also metaphorical in a way similar to the Bible's depictions of damnation and hell?

    In Him,
    CD

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  6. JAMES SAID:

    "Everything about the physical body says something about its environment: we have noses because we need to inhale air, mouths to ingest food, ears to pick up vibrations and translate them to sound. Where there is no air or food or vibrations, what need is there for noses or mouths or ears (i.e., the physicality of existence) other than to remind us of the material existence we once had?"

    As I've frequently pointed out, including just recently, there's a distinction between the intermediate state, which is a disembodied state, and the final state, which is a reembodied state.

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  7. Coram Deo said...

    "In your opinion are the concepts of glorification and heaven as described in Scripture also metaphorical in a way similar to the Bible's depictions of damnation and hell?"

    You ask questions, but you ignore answers. I've already indicated my criteria. Try to avoid an all-or-nothing approach to the issue.

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  8. Steve,

    Perhaps my question was poorly worded, or maybe I'm simply not understanding you.

    I went back and re-read your post and I'm still left wondering if you believe that, when juxtaposed side-by-side, the concepts of glorification and heaven as described in Scripture are metaphorical in a way similar to the Bible's depictions of damnation and hell?

    I'm not trying to ignore your answers, I just don't see them.

    I trust you're having a blessed Lord's Day, in the Lord's house, with the Lord's people today.

    In Christ,
    CD

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  9. Since you haven't told me how you think the Bible depicts heaven, I have no reference point to answer your question on your own terms. I can't tell you what I think is literal or figurative unless I know the details of your conception. How many elements of heaven are you alluding to.

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