DEATH, THE INTERMEDIATE STATE, THE RESURRECTION AND THE FINAL DESTINY — page 13

The moment of the resurrection and glorification of the saints is at the coming of the Lord – the Rapture. It has been called: “The moment for which all other moments were made!” All the righteous who died in ages past, from Adam to the last soul saved in the Church period, will see the Lord's face for the first time together! Those in the bodiless state in hades (sheol) are not yet looking at the Lord's face, although their spirit is with Him in paradise. Currently they are participating in the joys of heaven without the body. But when we are glorified together, we will all see His face for the first time. God purposed that there would be a decisive moment of joy and victory when our eyes met His eyes for the first time. What a moment that will be!

The resurrection for the believer is the complete and final aspect of his deliverance from every effect and consequence of sin (Rom. 8:11, 23; Eph. 4:30). The body of the living saints will “be clothed with immortality”, and the body of the saints who died will “be clothed with incorruptibility” (1 Cor. 15:53-54). We will be “glorified” with Him (Rom. 8:17). The Bible speaks of this as being “clothed with our dwelling from heaven” (2 Cor. 5:2).

The saints who have departed to be with Christ do not properly receive a “new” body at the coming of the Lord, although we often hear people say so. To teach that the saints receive a new and different body at His coming, in a certain sense, denies the resurrection of the body in which they lived. If they receive a new body at the coming of the Lord, the old body will not really be raised from among the dead! Scripture is careful never to say that the resurrection body is new in that sense. When speaking of resurrection, it always says “changed [transformed]” (1 Cor. 15:51-52; Phil. 3:21; Job 14:14). This defines more precisely what will happen at the moment of resurrection. This old body will be raised, changed and glorified “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump” (1 Cor. 15:52 – JND).

When glorified, the saints will not have their diseases and old age etc., but will be in the “dew of ... youth” like Christ (Compare Psalm 110:3 with Philippians 3:21). Their fallen sinful nature will be eradicated forever, and they will sin no more (Heb. 11:40; 12:23 – “made perfect”; 1 John 3:2).

People often speak of those who have departed to be with Christ in the intermediate state as being in glory. We do not intend to “make a man an offender for a word” (Isa. 29:21 – JND), but this is not quite precise, for they have not yet been glorified. The bodiless state is not glory. They will not be glorified until they are called at the coming of the Lord (the Rapture). Christ is in glory now (1 Pet. 1:21; 2 Cor. 3:18) and is waiting to bring His people into that condition of glory at His coming.

This is confusing to some because (in their thoughts) if Christ is in glory, and the departed saints are “with Christ” (Phil. 1:23), then they too must be in glory. This misunderstanding comes from the assumption that the conventional expression “in glory” is a place where the Lord is in heaven. However, it is not a place, but a glorified condition. The Lord Jesus is in a glorified condition in heaven “with” the departed saints who are not yet in that condition.

All the dead who take part in the first resurrection will live and reign with Christ in the heavens during the Millennium (Rev. 20:4-6). They will be morally “like” Christ (1 John 3:2) and physically “like” Christ (Phil. 3:21). Scripture says: “For if we have been planted together with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6:5).