Glorified Beings

'Whom He justified, these He also glorified.'

So wrote Paul, near the end of Romans 8. He used the same Greek doxazo as the Gospel writers did, in describing the glorification of God and His Christ. The verb mean 'to render ( esteem ) glorious'. According to Paul's writing; we, those who are, or will be, in Christ, have been glorified, or 'rendered' glorious. In the very same way; we have also been 'rendered', or esteemed righteous in Christ. Based on Revelation 21:27; an old hymn from the 1870s, 'Is My Name Written There?', written by Mary Kidder, has the line that talks about 'Heaven', with its 'glorified beings, in pure garments of white'. We know from reading Hebrews 12:22-24 that this beautiful city, or 'Heaven' refers to the people of God, those who are in, and make up the Body of Christ, and that these 'pure garments of white' refer to Revelation 19:8, and the 'fine linen' which is 'the righteous acts of the saints', those made righteous by God.

I have written on this subject before, more or less, and as I have written before, in other words; I am not saying that just because we have been made ( rendered ) righteous by God, doesn't mean that we have no need to act, or live righteously; on the contrary, we have a duty, a privilege, really,  because we have been made righteous, to live righteously, in love for God and one another.

I doubt if there is anyone out there who would dare to say that he lives right, or righteously, all the time, loving as God loves us, unselfishly 'giving preference to one another' ( Romans 12:10 ), 'forgiving one another', even as God, in Christ, forgave us ( Ephesians 4:32 ), but even though even the best of us fails, at some point, to do everything he should; the fact remains that we have been made righteous, through the righteousness of Christ, and rendered 'glorious' by the estimation of an almighty God.






In this 'season' especially, and even more importantly, all year long; let us remember our Righteousness, and in thankfulness and realization, of our esteemed status, live out our Righteousness before 'the world', taking the dominion that has been given to us in Christ, and bringing 'all in subjection' ( Hebrews 2:8 ( Psalm 8:4-6 ) to God.

Charles Haddon Shank