Glory!

You already are who you will be in Heaven.  Now, I know what you are thinking: “Oh my, I hope not!”  (You were thinking that, right?)

I didn’t say that you are doing what you will be doing in Heaven.  Nor did I say that you feel like you will feel in Heaven.  But there is nothing more that Jesus will do to you other than allow the flesh to finally fall away and remove you from a world of sin.  You are what you will be.

How do I know this?  Well consider this verse

9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:9-10

I realize that there are other passages that speak of us becoming complete.  This is the growth or sanctification process of the Christian life.  I think it is best described as becoming who we are.

All the righteousness of Christ is ours.  We are holy.  The work Christ has done for us is finished, once for all, and we are in Him.

Yes, there will be a day when we lay down everything in our lives that does not belong to the Lord.  No more wrong thinking.  No more wrong actions.  No more suffering.  It will all be gone—and the difference will be almost overwhelming.  Imagine setting down forever the burdens of life!  Under the pain, under the bitterness, under the errors, is the real person.

And the you that is under that burden is the same you that will be in glory forever with Jesus.   Our eternal life began when we entered into Him and He entered into us.  When He became our life, we began to live eternally.  There is no death, only a step from this life to that life.  That’s why Paul told us that death has been “swallowed up in victory.”

Much will be different in that day, but much will be the same.  You will still be you and Jesus will still be Jesus.  And He will still love you and you will be with Him forever.  The great constant, according to Paul, is love—the relationship you have with Jesus.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

 

The washing away of sin and error and pain is what we call glorification—and it is already yours in Jesus!