DEATH AND GLORIFICATION

          The final two steps in the Biblical Order of Salvation are DEATH and
     GLORIFICATION.


                                                             DEATH

          For the Christian, death is not the end of life, but just another step toward
     receiving the rewards and blessings promised by God to those who are faithful
     to Him.
          "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not men, knowing that
     from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the
     Lord Christ."  Colossians 3:24

          Each one of us will die one day, unless the Lord returns before that day comes.
          "It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment ..."  Hebrews 9:27a

          "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may
     receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."  2 Corinthians 5:10
     Believers will be rewarded for the good they've done, but will not be judged for their sins,
     as those were blotted out by Christ's atonement for them.

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          Life on earth ends for the believer at death, but continues for eternity, in fellowship with
     God in heaven.
          "Jesus said to her (Martha), 'I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me,
     though he die, yet shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do
     you believe this?"  John 11:25-26

          Believers will rise to new life with a glorified body, because Christ paid the penalty for
     their sins and rose from the grave.


          DEATH leads to the final step in the Biblical Order of Salvation - GLORIFICATION.


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          GLORIFICATION is receiving a glorified body like Christ's at the moment of physical death
     here on earth.
          Paul tells of the glorification of the believer's body using the past tense for a future event to
     stress its certainty.  We take on the image of Jesus.
          "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
     in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."
          "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified,
     and those whom he justified he also glorified."  Romans 8:29-30

          Jesus changes our weak and sinful bodies to be like his glorious body.
     "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
     transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to
     subject all things to himself."  Philippians 3:20-21

          There will be no more pain or sickness or sin or death when we get to heaven.
     "So it is with the resurrection of the dead.  What is sown is perishable;  what is raised is im-
     perishable (No more sickness and death).  It is sown in dishonor;  it is raised in glory (no more
     shame because of sin).  It is sown in weakness;  it is raised in power (no more frailty in
     temptation).  It is sown a natural body;  it is raised a spiritual body" (no more limits to the
     time/space sphere).
          "If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  Thus it is written, 'The first man
     Adam became a living being';  the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  But it is not the
     spiritual that is first but the natural, and the spiritual.  The first man was from the earth, a man
     of dust;  the second man is from heaven."
          "As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven,
     so also are those who are of heaven.  Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we
     shall bear the image of the man of heaven."  1 Corinthians 15:42-49


         John MacArthur comments on 1 Corinthians 15:45-49:
         "Adam was created with a natural body, not perfect, but good in every way (Gen.1:31).
     The 'last Adam' is Jesus Christ (Rom 5:19, 21).  He is saying that through the first Adam we
    received our natural bodies, but through the last Adam, we receive our spiritual bodies in
    resurrection.  Adam's body was the prototype of the natural, Christ's body of the resurrection.
    We will bear the image of his body fit for heaven (Acts1:11; Phil.3:20-21; 1 John 3:1-3) as we
    have borne the image of Adam's on earth."

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          This concludes the series on the Biblical Order of Salvation.

          The Bible shows us that God's people are ELECTED, CALLED, REGENERATED
     (Born again), CONVERTED, JUSTIFIED, ADOPTED, SANCTIFIED, AND GLORIFIED,
     through God's power and grace.